TwoMinuteWarning

A great disappointment, as it was such a comprehensive site, and very quickly updated too. Thanks, Tomaz, for all the effort that you put into it over the years, it really was very much appreciated.

5-team League this year: Fri May 14 Salavat v Togliatti Thu May 20 Togliatti v Vladivostok Thu May 27 Balakovo v Vladivostok Fri June 4 Salavat v Vladivostok Sun June 13 Oktiabrsky v Vladivostok Fri June 18 Togliatti v Salavat Thu June 24 Oktiabrsky v Togliatti Thu July 1 Balakovo v Salavat Wed July 7 Togliatti v Balakovo Thu July 8 Vladivostok v Oktiabrsky Wed July 21 Togliatti v Oktiabrsky Thu July 22 Vladivostok v Salavat Wed Aug 4 Oktiabrsky v Salavat Sun Aug 8 Vladivostok v Togliatti Fri Aug 13 Balakovo v Oktiabrsky Thu Aug 19 Balakovo v Togliatti Thu Aug 26 Salavat v Oktiabrsky Sat Sep 11 Oktiabrsky v Balakovo Mon Sep 13 Salavat v Balakovo Thu Oct 14 Vladivostok v Balakovo Russian Championship 1st Leg - Wed Sep 8 - Balakovo 2nd Leg - Wed Sep 22 - Togliatti 3rd Leg - Sat Oct 16 - Vladivostok Russian Under-21 Championship Sep 2 Togliatti Russian Under-19 Championship Sep 25 Balakovo

A bit late, but I don't think any Russian Superleague results have been published yet: Round 1, 26 Jan at Togliatti Togliatti 28 (D Khomitsevich 16, D Ivanov 12) Ufa 23 (N Krasnikov 17, D Bulankin 6) Kamensk Uralsk 19 (E Krysov 11, D Goloszejkin 8) Sterlitamak 17 (I Kononov 9, A Szyszegov 8, N Rjabokon 0) Luchowicy 15 (I Drozdov 15, S Makarov 0) Saransk 11 (J Bazejev 6, A Gawrylkin 5) Uczaly 10 (M Bogdanov 8, A Sawin 2) Round 2, 27 Jan at Togliatti Ufa 27+3 (N Krasnikov 18 +3, D Bulankin 9) Togliatti 27+2 (D Khomitsevich 15, D Ivanov 12 +2) Sterlitamak 18 (A Szyszegov 8, I Kononov 6, N Rjabokon 4) Kamensk Uralsk 17 (E Krysov 9, D Goloszejkin 8) Uczaly 13 (A Sawin 8, W Aznaurov 3, M Bogdanov 2) Saransk 12 (A Gawrylkin 9, J Bazejev 3) Luchowicy 11 (I Drozdov 9, P Tschajka 2)

Only other team members I know were Moff Jones (who had several meetings for West Ham Reserves in NL Div.2 that year - was he an Aussie?) and Dave Hynes (a new name to me)

I have: July 17 Dagenham 49 Smallford 34 (from Dagenham Post) July 31 Rye House 37 Smallford 46 (from Speedway News) Re June 19 Rye House 44 Smallford 39, this was advertised as the Herts Championship Cup - 2nd Leg, though it could also have been counted as a league match, of course. The 1st Leg had been due to be held at Smallford the previous Sunday, June 12 (no result available) Re July 10 Smallford v Dagenham, I'm not sure if this match was ridden, as on the same day a combined Romford/Dagenham team was riding againat a "Putt Mossman Internationals" team at Dagenham There was a dispute at Dagenham in August which prevented the track being used for speedway meetings. Last meeting I can find is Bank Holiday Mon 1 Aug, then nothing until the reopening on Sun 9 Oct. While this dispute continued, I don't believe that either Romford or Dagenham rode any league matches, either home or away. This effectively meant that the league was more or less abandoned, though a couple of matches were staged involving the other teams. The only speedway at Dagenham during the closure period appears to have been a practice session on Thu 11 Aug - when a young rider, David Jackson, was thrown over the handlebars of his machine and died. It was the 2nd death at Dagenham in three months.

Today (5th) at Christchurch - World 18+3 beat New Zealand 18+2 Details at bottom of this page: http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/nzvrow.htm

A DVD of the movie has just appeared on eBay uk (no, it's not me who's selling it!)

See http://macgor.proboards.com/index.cgi?boar...mp;thread=14526

Quite right, and while we're at it lets shut down Backtrack who printed the story, and prosecute Malcolm Simmons who wrote it! So much for free speech and democracy!! Get real. The lives of sportsmen are discussed and debated throughout all aspects of the media, which is as it should be. Speedway is not a special case, nor is any particular rider or official. Personally I hope that Andy has been found not guilty - or maybe he has already?

Just noticed that Dick Barrie says in Speedway Star that the top 4 in the championship (excluding Holder) will represent Australia in the World Championship GP qualifiers this year. Don't think I had read that before, or maybe I missed it. Presumably the riders must have been aware of this? Anyway, good luck to Messrs Batchelor, Ward, Schlein, and Gathercole in Europe.

Just found an ad for Wembley, Sat 16 July, 1938 : SPEEDWAY CAR RACING - Wembley Gold Cup Championship, 16 Ace Drivers. This was just a car meeting, no speedway on the programme. But if they were having a meeting to themselves, I'm sure there would have been a practice first.

I haven't had that problem, Derek. Maybe your broadband speed was too low at the time? Try it at a less busy time. There is no sound on that clip, by the way.

My favourite article isn't even mentioned in the preview above! When friends and I saw Zdenek Majstr score a maximum for the Young Czech team at Canterbury in their, and his, first UK match in 1969, we immediately dubbed him The Complete Nutter. Maybe he wasn't really a partly-out-of-control fence-scraping lunatic with no regard for his own safety - perhaps it was just that the track was just too small for him? But that Czech team were some of the hardest, toughest, most forceful riders we had ever seen, and we made every effort to watch them on that and subsequent tours - we were never disappointed. It's sad that his career ended so early due to injury (and that his appearances in the UK were so few), but his quote in the article - "I don't know why I crashed so often" - made me smile. I was just surprised he didn't crash more often! He's something of a cult hero now, someone who crops up in conversation occasionally, someone very special to those of us who admired him. Thanks for the memories, Zdenek - and thanks to Vitek Formanek for reviving those memories.

Certainly wasn't a criticism of Backtrack, Tony, more an implied criticism of Speedway Star, where I expect to read the latest news - did they suppress the story? Or maybe I just missed it? BTW, Simmo's Column is excellent.

Can I suggest that, for some late 1920's - early 30's clips, you need to search for "dirt track" But to find the rare coverage of the famous High Beech Feb 19 1928 meeting, you need to search for "cinder track" - the clip is called "Greyhound's Racing Rival". The racing bears very little resemblance to the sport as we know it today. Many of these clips are now also available on youtube.com

Average gate at Poznan this year (including play-offs) was 5,800

Only if the Leszno GP has been moved from the 24th April !!!???

Now, apparently, from www.smokeandrubber.com, but link takes you to buying it from Amazon. Or from Artifex Media, B2 Endeavour Place, Coxbridge Business Park, Farnham, Surrey GU10 5EH

Yes, a couple of friends of mine were at the Marketa that night, too, as I guess were others who had visited the country for the Golden Helmet that weekend. But then crowds for Czech league and domestic championship meetings are rarely more than a few hundred in my experience, it's the big names that bring out the crowds.

You're thinking back to when speedway was a sport, jeffster! Alas, like all sports at the top level now, it's all about MONEY :rolleyes

Daniel Davidsson won the indoor meeting at Linkoping last Saturday. Results at http://www.piraterna.com/Default.aspx?nodeId=1479

etc etc??? You mean he had more than ONE hit? And there's me thinking that his Greatest Hits album contained 14 versions of Wimoweh (the original, instrumental, re-mix, extended re-mix, backwards, etc)

Only other Brewer I know of is John "Satan" Brewer, Stoke 1961

Not thinking of the Dutch Golden Helmet, Doug, are you? (Last held at Veenoord last september)