MajorMauger

All 3 of my local tracks have been defunct for a spell after the initial first time ever of opening up! Ipswich had a chequered, struggling history in the 60's and it looked like Foxhall was lost completely to speedway in the late 60's when the original track was tarmaced for car racing. In 1969, John Berry and Joe Thurley as legend says, climbed the perimeter fence, surveyed the vast Foxhall arena and came up with the idea of carving a new track inside! - Since 1969 Ipswich speedway have been ever presents in League speedway and can probably claim to be one of the most stable tracks still operating! King's Lynn shut in 1996 while major improvements were made to what was at the time a crumbling stadium that had been possibly earmarked for the site of another warehouse. Nowadays the Norfolk arena has been improved with decent facilities and is a popular venue for speedway and stock cars. Mildenhall first shut in 1989, remerging in the 2nd half of 1991 with a new track and concrete terracing on the 1st and 2nd bends. A mid season 2nd Division closure followed in 1992 before a successful 3rd Division revival began in 1994. Another mid season closure occurred in 2010 but since then they have been a well supported Sunday afternoon speedway outfit. Other places like Wolves, Berwick, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Sheffield, Birmingham, Poole, Plymouth, Scunthorpe, Leicester and others have reopened at either their former venues or new venues after spells of no inactivity! So to answer your question Yes it does happen but obviously its hard to restart again especially in modern times with modest crowds and huge construction and land expenses. Lets hope that places like Coventry, Oxford, Bradford, Rye House, Cradley, Southampton, Norwich, Arena Essex, Stoke, Buxton, Newport, Exeter, Bristol, Workington, Hull and others can at some point stage speedway again!

I keep including a Workington angle in part of all my posts on this thread! I agree wholeheartedly about your views on speedway in Norwich Brian! Norwich Stars speedway at the Firs was an institution not only in Norwich and Norfolk but also East Anglia. I know many people from Suffolk and Cambridgeshire went to the Firs regularly. Speak to anyone 70+ years of age in the Norfolk area and its highly likely they took in spectating at the Firs at some point. As you say with the ballroom and Firs pub (now a Tescos!) across the road, the social scene around the speedway was tremendous! - Was Sandor Levais wife really 6'6"? - Sandor wasn't over tall! I've heard it said that Norwich City FC had a lot of influence on the local Council in them days and saw the speedway as big rival in terms of crowd pulling so made things difficult for the numerous attempts to reopen speedway in the City. Nowadays with the Canaries getting 27,000 sell outs despite one of the poorest seasons I've ever seen, a speedway track wouldn't be any threat! I'd be interested to know how many people from Norwich go regularly to watch speedway at Ipswich, Mildenhall and King's Lynn. I'd suggest it wouldn't be more than a few hundred at the very most so like you say I don't think a new speedway track in Norwich would be any threat to the local tracks, in fact it would help to stimulate extra interest and fans? The Norfolk Showground is in my opinion the most ideal location for a new speedway track in the Norwich area! I've always liked Derwent Park as a speedway venue but Workingtons history there is one of initial boom - early 70's in the 1st era then 1999 - 2004 in the second coming then when the novelty wears of it struggles to be viable as the crowds drift away. Therefore I reckon the best chance of a viable long term Workington speedway set up is for a self owned Somerset/Scunthorpe like venue at Northside where all income streams go to the speedway. - That said a Somerset/ Scunthorpe like venue would go down well in Norwich!

That's wonderful news about Bordesley Green Brian, but surely the owner Phil Bond must be getting a bit long in the tooth (like myself!) if he was running things there in 1984? What are the long term prospects for the venue continuing as a motorsports (or as the name of the venue says - Wheels) venue? I've long thought that while Birmingham Wheels wasn't right for Birmingham speedway, with the location being in the middle of the Country a National speedway training venue would of found an ideal home there. Then again I've often thought if funds could subsidise it a Birmingham 'Wheels' or Birmingham 'Bulls' National League team. Makes a nice change for a motorsports venue to be retained rather than built on. Any more latest news regarding the Workington Northside plans?

The great Brian Buck, Mr Birmingham speedway! I've always read your almost exclusively spot on views with much interest and followed your long campaign to get back speedway back to Birmingham from the 1986 Bordesley Green closure time. Thankfully the Brummies are well entrenched back at their spiritual home, Perry Bar! - Has the Wheels site shut for good now? Cyril Crane and Martin Rogers with a lot of help from the then very strong Norwich speedway supporters club got land behind the Marsham Arms in Hevingham and ran a Black licence meeting using junior riders + David Crane without the consent of the speedway control board in early December 1976 on a very cold day as I recall. The crowd was quoted as over 2000 which wasn't bad considering the time of the year, next to no facilities and the riders were mostly under 16. Cyril eventually got fined by the speedway control board for staging an unlicensed meeting, I recall legendary Ipswich promotor John Berry being a loud critic of the meeting. Although the local Council had allowed a small number of practices and meetings to take place on a trial basis before a hoped for future full planning application, they later became very anti speedway at the site no doubt finding Cyrils rebellious stance against the control board unappealing. I think eventually the Council used the dodgy blind entrance (if coming from North of the venue, most fans from the City would of entered the venue from the South!) as the main reason for not allowing it to become a permanent venue for speedway. Shame cause I think the venue had potential, the issues with the entrance could have been overcome if the Council had really wanted to with signage, a 30 MPH zone and maybe traffic lights on racenights. Cyril intended to run in the old National League in 1977 and at the time I'd imagine it would have been well supported. Its possible that eventually facilities would have been built up over time like a grandstand and concrete terracing, the Norwich team running out of there would of moved up into the British League and it would still be running up to present times. - I still maintain that a Norwich speedway track could run even in modern times without adversely affecting the attendances at nearby Ipswich, Mildenhall and King's Lynn cause many Norwich locals who didn't go to speedway would be enticed to become regulars. Not sure with King's Lynn already called the Stars, what the new Norwich team would have been called? - I suspect John Berrys opposition to the unlicensed meeting had much to do with him being worried about losing some of his crowd to the new track. The land is still unused to this day and is not near to any housing apart from the adjacent Marsham Arms pub. Today I still think this would make a good venue for a Norwich speedway stadium. Back to Workington. As Brian Buck would testify, 3rd Division speedway was the saviour of Birmingham speedway and has led to the club returning to the 2nd tier. So 3rd tier racing at Northside would be better than no speedway and is a good starting point. Hopefully the plans on the Northside venue bear fruit and Workington Comets return to League racing. Ironically while I've never been to Northside I'd imagine it wouldn't be to much different to what Hevingham was all them years ago!

On the contrary, Laura Morgan made it public that running Workington speedway was a loss making exercise during the last title winning season and after winning the League was very non committal about running which was proved when speedway didn't run at Derwent Park in 2019. If anyone wanted to take on Workington speedway at Derwent Park and were serious about it, things would of happened during the last 2018 season or even in the 2018/19 winter to ensure the clubs survival. I'm sure any would be saviour was put of by the debts Laura Morgan accrued. The current plans to build a new Workington speedway track on the Northside training track sound promising and look to offer the only realistic way that League speedway will return to the area. The fact that the would be speedway promotion would also own the site (after building it themselves) and subsequently have the rights to the all income streams attached would make the chances of the venue being financially viable much more likely. A Somerset/Redcar/Scunthorpe like set up at Northside that could develop over time while in operation could work I reckon. Heres hoping we see the Workington Comets back in League speedway soon!

If Workington had regular viable crowds in its last years of operation they wouldn't of closed and would still be operating out of Derwent Park! - The old adage of use it or lose it certainly applies in this instance. I remember in the 80's right through to 2002 King's Lynn speedway struggled along year after year in the top flight with supporters saying it was top flight or nothing. I think the King's Lynn owners wanted to drop down into the old National League as early as 1986 but supporters always had the attitude of not wanting it so managed to convince the promotion to not do it. - Fast forward to 2003, after another poor struggling top flight campaign in 2002 King's Lynn finally bit the bullet and dropped down which was a blessing in disguise as the move revitalised the club and eventually led to the club returning to the top flight! - Nearby Ipswich have also had a new lease of life after dropping down a couple of times and then eventually returning to the top flight! Top flight racing isn't the be all and end all. Us in East Anglia know that very well cause more often than not NL fare at West Row on a Sunday afternoon is better value than top flight racing at nearby Ipswich and King's Lynn! Anyway my original team in speedway Norwich Stars have been absent now since 1964, a whopping 56 years and counting. I think 3rd Division speedway in Norwich would be welcomed with open arms!

Graham Jones (the first one by the way not the 1980's/90's Stoke and Wolves rider!) had his first League rides for Boston in the early 70's before going to ride long distance for Berwick for many years so wasn't completely a one club man!

You can say that about many Businesses in these unprecedented times!

World class riders like Craven, Briggs and Fundin used to race at Yarmouth mainly in the open licence years and produced good racing. Likewise Lakeside, Armadale and Newcastle are three of the more awkward shaped tracks of recent years and all have produced good racing! Indeed the awkward shape of the Great Yarmouth track would be beneficial at National League level cause the requirement to turn sharp into the corners would help to improve up and coming riders skill levels much in the same way as Buxton did for many years!

Sad that a stadium that used to stage well attended speedway and stock car meetings until under 4 years ago and would still be to this day is in such a state. Its a long shot but hopefully, somehow ownership can be reverted to a leisure company who can reopen the venue for speedway, stock cars, greyhounds and other events!

Did a sterling service at many tracks for a lot of years. One of his great feats was building Romfords track from scratch in a couple of weeks! He was still helping out in the late 90's when Dingle Brown ran Mildenhall! He must surely have been in his 90's when he passed away?

Running a reopened Great Yarmouth speedway in the National League would be the only way to have any chance of the venture being financially viable cause holiday makers would boost attendances if the meetings were advertised and relying on an area that hasn't staged speedway since 1961 to provide a reasonable hardcore of regular fans would be optimistic to say the least. This is considering that when Yarmouth last staged speedway from the late 40's to 1961 they struggled for crowds outside of the holiday period in an era when crowds were much larger than those of modern times!

My abiding memory of Smallmead in its latter days was that it was a decent stadium apart from the ageing main stand and the car park that needed resurfacing. Replace the main stand and sort out the car park and you would of had a very good speedway stadium!

Bill Dore and his daughter Pat Bliss ran both the speedway and the greyhounds at Smallmead. It doesn't take a genius to work which one of the two sports was the only profitable one! Therefore I'd say that greyhounds did subsidise the speedway. Subsequent speedway promotions after who didn't run the greyhounds as well, lost money!

Yes a tragedy when one considers when Smallmead was originally built in 1975 Reg Fearman got a 90 something year lease on the land which obviously got changed and apart from a new main stand needed the stadium was still in a decent state. Although for the last 20 years of its existence at least, the greyhounds subsidised the mostly poorly attended speedway meetings. The idea when Smallmead stadium got demolished was for a new stadium elsewhere in Reading featuring speedway, greyhounds and incorporating a casino. Could this type of set up be built at Smallmead? I've always felt that a Somerset type of set up could be built on the Smallmead site, with the facilities slowly being improved as time goes on. - Multi use would be necessary to give it any chance of being viable. - stock cars, greyhounds, all weather pitches, speedway training track?

Sorry I forgot the Premiership is the top flight of speedway now, I was thinking of the Premier League which was the name of the 2nd Division until a few years ago. Your right and the reason that many teams would go to Saturday nights is cause that's the best night to attract a crowd which is why I think that night is the only viable chance for a reopened Bradford speedway to get break even plus crowds. Look at the woeful Tuesday night crowds in 1997 at Odsal, Rye House wouldn't of shut down had they been allowed to stay racing on Saturday nights and Leicester would still be in the top flight if they could of stayed on Saturdays in that league!

2nd Division speedway on a Saturday night would undoubtedly be the best way forward for a reopened Bradford speedway, I'm convinced midweek speedway would get lower crowds. Why do you say it will never happen?

Yes you are correct, Brafield raceway near Northampton (which last staged speedway in the late 60's) was converted to shale last season. Could a Northampton Rhinos speedway team be a viable propersition at Brafield? As for Yarmouth stadium, its still going strong up to date including reopening during this virus lockdown spell for behind closed doors greyhound meetings. I still maintain that speedway in Yarmouth during the months of June to early September could be viable cause stock car racing draws decent crowds to the venue during the summer months even though the number of entrants can be low due to the midweek nature of the racenights.

Whilst like all speedway fans especially those who went to the venue in the last era when the track was wider than it was in the previous speedway eras there, I hope that speedway can return to the iconic Odsal stadium, I have reservations considering the all conquering first ever EL champions of 1997, the Bradford Dukes more often than not rode in front of crowds under 1000. That 1997 team featured Loram, Havelock, Screen, as well as Josh Larsen, David Walsh and Garry Stead a team that should have attracted viable crowds. A lot of meetings at Odsal that year were staged on Tuesdays which undoubtedly had an adverse effect on crowd levels. Its a shame that the Shay previous home to the Halifax Dukes has been rebuilt cause I've no doubt that speedway would be viably supported in the town. That said combined with stock car racing, then speedway might just be able to hold its head above the water. To ensure the viability of speedway and stock cars at Odsal, racenights have got to be Saturdays and the speedway team should be called the Bradford & Halifax Dukes (with old red, white and blue Halifax colours with the iconic elephant which I believe was something to do with a local regiment) to represent the wider area. I believe Steve Rees has stated he has had interest from existing speedway promotors which is a must cause Rees is a stock car racing man with only a short abortive spell in speedway at Stoke in the 1990's. Like I said I hope it happens cause speedway is stronger with more tracks but those who invest money in to make it happen will be brave persons indeed!

The biggest sport in the world football wouldn't survive on gate receipts alone! The last two sentences I quite agree with and think that the sport in this Country would likely do alright out of it?

The title of the thread indicates exactly what you are saying it isn't! - "England's best" - The very reason why I never mentioned double World Champion Welshman Freddie Williams! Get what you are saying about World team cups and the Pairs wasn't about for most of Nigel Boococks prime in the 60's when he almost certainly would of seen service for an English pairing. Whilst high scoring heatleader form in the British League is a major indicator of a riders top level ability, all 7 riders in this list were out and out number 1's who had regular top average returns for many years so its hard to separate them there. That's why I have used World title successes as my measuring stick hence why Simmo is top of my list! For the record I think Scott Nicholls is up with the best English riders but theirs no way he would have won as many British titles if he'd of ridden in the 1965 - 1992 era when there was a lot more higher level English (and Brits for that matter) riding and at least 10 riders in a British final had a genuine chance of winning! + Its a hard call to make either way for sure but ones things for certain all 7 riders were top level riders during a golden age of speedway that doesn't look like being repeated.

Interesting thread! I'd seriously dispute your claim these are Englands finest especially with the complete omission of any of Englands 7 individual World Champions messrs Price, Craven X 3, Woffinden X 3, Collins, Lee, Havelock and Loram and that's before considering others! Although without doubt the 7 riders you name were all fine riders! I'll play the game and name the riders in the order who I thought was the best out them! 1, Simmons - World no 2 in 1976, and 3 pairs and 4 World team cup golds. One British final win. Had his first League rides in 1963 till 87 then 2 short spells in 1989 and 1993! 2, Louis - World No 3 in 1975 as well as 1 pairs and 3 World team cup golds. One British final win. 1 BLRC win, the only rider out of the 7 to do so. 1st League rides 1970, Last - 1984. 3, Wilson - a few World finals, best placing 4th in 1971, one pairs win and 4 World team cup wins. One British championship win. League speedway 1963 - 1979. 4, Nigel Boocock - 8 World finals, best placing 4th in 1969, No pairs wins best placing 2 3rds, 3 2nd places in the British finals, 1 World team cup win. Rode League speedway from 1955 - 1980. 5, Terry Betts - 1 World final came 12th, 1 World pairs win in 1972, 2 World team cup wins. One 2nd in British final. Rode League speedway from - 1960 - 1979. 6, Martin Ashby - One World final came 11th, one World pairs came 3rd, 2 World team cup wins, No top 3 British final appearances. Rode League speedway from 1961 - 1980. 7, Eric Boocock - 3 World finals best placing 7th, pairs one attempt came 3rd, 2 World team cups best finish 2nd, 1 British final win. Rode League speedway from 1961 till 1974 then a short stint in 1983. Stats courtesy of Wikipedia!

A name synonymous with the sport from the 1950's till at least the early 90's I think.

I remember him in NL in the 80's as a classy smooth rider!

Oval track racing - Simon Wigg, top speedway. longtrack and grasstrack rider over a 23 year career must be the obvious one!