MajorMauger

Vaclav Verner couldn't have been no older than early 70's? Shock to me cause he always seemed such a healthy. fit bloke! Amazing to watch at Exeter and I well remember the Czech tours of the early 70's on the 2nd Division tracks where he made a massive impression with his daredevil riding! Was still a force on track in the early 90's!

Unorthodox riding style due to his tall height but he was a very good 2nd Division heatleader while with Eastbourne in the late 80's! Yes he was the winner of the notorious unlicensed junior meeting at Hevingham near Norwich on a cold lunchtime just after Christmas in 1976 in front of over 2000 fans! Still convinced had this venue got the go ahead it would still be in operation now and very likely in the top Division cause the support levels in the Norwich area were good and would of seen the venue develop into a bonafide stadium!

Great work by the IoW promotion since their rebirth although I still and will always maintain that "Islanders" is such a better nickname (because it is original and can only be associated with an Island team of which the IoW are the only one!)than the "Warriors" which has been around for donkeys years when I believe Wigan were called that! Back to the main subject point - Len Silver is one of the all time greats and still continues to produce the goods at Kent. OK he is cantankerous, thinks he's always right and doesn't accept others opinions, but I'm sure Kent speedway would be worse of without his input! That said, Kent speedway will sooner rather than later have big decisions to make cause with their healthy support and impressive facilities, the clamour for the Kings to operate at a higher level has already begun so eventually in order to maintain interest, avoiding going stale (like Rye House did under Uncle Len), they will have to move up a level!

If you was going to lay money on one rider injuring himself in this way, you'd of put it on Josh Bates. That said how many thousands of youngsters have been messing about on sledges this week? I remember messing about with ice skates in 1963 which was a much worse spell than this current bad one!

Kai Niemi for me! Rode in the British League for 15 years from the mid 70's to early 90's when nearly all the Worlds top riders competed in it when it was the World toughest speedway League and for many of them years had averages of 6+. Rode in a number of World Finals pre the GP years when you had to qualify on merit rather than wildcards. Also must be noted that Niemi had to get through the notoriously hard Nordic final then the Inter Continental final which often had a stronger line up than the final itself. At Bradford in 1985 he was in the top 6 scorers!

The vast majority of professional football clubs in this Country run at a loss and that includes the big clubs! Iconic sports venues like Coventry speedway should have preservation orders put on them preventing them being demolished! The fact that their are parties who would take on the stadium and reopen it regardless of profit or loss margins speaks for itself. Anyway, has the Stadium been a burden on the Local or National tax payers? I'd suggest that the stadium has increased the local economy and gave a few jobs to locals! While I've got nothing against Mick Horton and appreciate that running a British speedway track in modern times isn't easy, Chris Harris' pretty damning assessment of him in this weeks speedway star says as much as you need to know about him!

There must have been 3-5000 at the dog meeting at Romford when I went and we parked although it was difficult to find a space. Now in current times I doubt if hardly any team meetings in British speedway get more than 2500 at the most! Speedway at Romford Greyhound stadium could work I think!

I've been to Romford greyhound stadium and there is lots of noise and the main London, Liverpool St to Norwich is right next to it. I can't imagine one night of speedway a week 25 times a year in the summer with strict time limits, acoustic barriers and the pits area situated in a position in the stadium where its noise is kept to a minimum like Birmingham would be a problem?

Len Silver got the bug again after the 1999 homeless Rye House Rockets rode in the Conference League, racing their home matches at Mildenhall and Eastbourne. Without the initiative of the fans who decided to do this, its doubtful Rye House would of got going again! Yes they maybe a futile exercise but Cradley for instance have been a major pull at 3rd Division level, pulling in big crowds home and away, bringing on up and coming young riders and keeping the clubs name alive!

In a perfect world we'd have no homeless teams competing in Leagues but if allowing these teams to run eventually leads to them finding a new track or in Rye Houses case in 2000 a return to their stadium then their existence is justified!

Yes it was a scandal that such a well supported sports team, the Romford Bombers were forced to close cause of one blokes campaign. Ironically, the blokes son was a "Bombers" regular and the guy moved soon after winning his campaign. I'm convinced that had Romford speedway been allowed to continue, the Bombers with their huge support would of eventually gone into the top flight and become one of the biggest club sides in the Country, probably much the same as Ipswich speedway did who opened the same year as Romford in 1969! I believe the stadium was knocked down in the late 70's because the football team were struggling and couldn't afford to keep it open, how ironic again! I also think that reopening Romford speedway at the Greyhound track would also be viable even in current times and would be the closest thing we'd have to a London track!

Like others have rightly pointed out Ron Bagley along with John Berry and John Louis are the names that spring to mind when casting your mind back to the formative days of the current incarnation of Ipswich speedway which began in 1969 on a new track inside the stock car which was the old original speedway track! Indeed while John Berry is correctly credited with being one of the best promotors ever, the assistance he received from Ron helped him achieve this! Ron Bagley was one of the few riders who rode on both the outside and inside Ipswich tracks, indeed he rode for the Witches in both eras which I'm not sure anyone else did? He was instrumental in helping to nurture the careers of Witches legends John Louis, Billy Sanders and Tony "Shrimp" Davey as well as many others in them wonderful years in the 70's. His team riding with Louis in 1970/71 at Foxhall was masterful! I recall him starting out at Caister Road, Great Yarmouth riding for the Bloaters alongside Geoff Pymer. He will also be remembered by older Mildenhall fans cause he was team manager in 1979 when the Fen Tigers won the National League. He also had a short less fruitful spell trying to turn around the fortunes of an ailing Workington speedway in the early 80's before drifting away from the sport. Alongside another Ipswich speedway legend, "Noddy", Ron should have a spread in the 1st meeting programme! If there was an Ipswich Witches speedway hall of fame, then Ron Bagley would be most definitely in it!

In fairness Joe Jacobs was never going to be more than a 6pt 2nd Division rider at the very most! But he's had less chances than many 2nd/3rd rate foriegners! If he'd of been about in the 1970's Joe would of had more rides for teams!

Henny Kroeze by a proverbial mile! Held a regular place in the top flight and was a half decent rider around Halifax! Even rode in the 1987 World Final in Amsterdam when he was seeded in being the best Dutch rider even then, when he was way past his best!

Silly question when you look at the results! Armando Castagna by a preverbial mile!

Noddy always said he started watching speedway when John Berry and Joe Thurley reopened Ipswich in 1969 which is now 48 years ago, so I'd say he was in his 60's? I well remember him from the 1970's and he must have been in his 20's then? A unique character!

A great character who you'd bump into all over the place at various speedway tracks especially his beloved Ipswich and nearby Mildenhall! One of his greatest achievements was hitchiking to the Ukraine in 1990 for the World U21 Final fittingly won by Ipswich's own Chris Louis! Yes at one time he was a cobbler amongst other things. I believe he often worked at shops where he knew that someone, either a rider, promoter or a fan lived nearby so he could hitch a lift to the speedway! He can't have been any older than late 60's? Speedway's much the worse without this one- off character!

Mauger went home at the end of 1958 and didn't return to British speedway until 1963 I think! Ivan didn't ride League speedway in 1982 and 83. He only returned in 1984 to help out a desperately shorthanded Exeter on their return to the British League where he managed to blackmail the authorities into allowing him to ride home meetings only!! Simmo didn't ride in 1988 when he was co-promotor at King's Lynn! Scotty had his first League rides in 1994 for Peterborough and has been going ever since apart from a brief spell at the start of one season where he tried missing Britissh speedway in a failed attempt to enhance his GP career. If you count complete years of racing then Scotty I think started racing in junior grasstrack in the mid 1980's! Rob Hollingworth retired in 1986 and came back via amateur speedway in late 1998!

Les Collins' last League season was in 2003 for Glasgow!

I was a Mildenhall speedway regular in 2001 and can definately confirm that Simmo didn't ride that season for the Fen Tigers. I'm sure his last League season was in 1993 when he had a few meetings for an injury hit King's Lynn. I saw a few of these last appearances where unfortunately he was miles of the pace.

Simmo rode League speedway from 1963-87 then had one season spells in 1989 and 1993. Can't recall him riding in 2001. although I believe he spoke to Mildenhall but certainly never rode for them! I know he rode grasstrack into the 2000's!

Johnny Chamberlain made a decent contribution to the Norwich Stars teams of the 1950's! Many of ex Firs regulars still left will still mention his name when talking about the good ole days of Norwich speedway! Johnny Chamberlain made a decent contribution to the Norwich Stars teams of the 1950's! Many of ex Firs regulars still left will still mention his name when talking about the good ole days of Norwich speedway! Johnny Chamberlain made a decent contribution to the Norwich Stars teams of the 1950's! Many of ex Firs regulars still left will still mention his name when talking about the good ole days of Norwich speedway! Sorry for the messed up post, must be my general technophopia! R.I.P Johnny Chamberlain!

And also financing a rider wanting to try his/her luck at speedway racing is much more expensive now than what it was in the late 50's. A revival is not impossible but very, very difficult in this modern age of many other attractions and kids nowadays more interested in looking at screens!

OK meeting but Mildenhall are too strong on their home turf which made Lakeside with their 3 passengers, easy pickings! Unfortunately due to the large number of teams in the 3rd tier and the shortage of riders, journeyman tyre packers like Laurence are needed to enable teams to make up the numbers. I'm sure if their was better options about then Lakeside would of done something about it! Yes the whole Lakeside set up with dropping down the Leagues, the lack of meetings, Jon Cook not even bothering to go to away matches and the team not serious challengers seems very stale and just going to through the motions. This doesn't bode well for the future.

West Ham was a wonderful big fast track and the stadium was huge, although it still had created good atmosphere even if under a fifth full! I often wonder whether West Ham Hammers speedway team would have survived up to the present if the stadium had been saved from redevelopment?