Bavarian

Reg Kavanagh did ride in Germany in 1930, but he was not very successful and he certainly wasn't a star attraction when he appeared in dirt-track events at Cologne, Essen and Dortmund in April and May of that year. I am not aware of Reg Kavanagh ever winning a championship or setting a track record anywhere here in Germany, but my records for that period of German speedway are incomplete. All I could find was one rather lucky win for him in the final of a handicap race at Cologne on May 4, 1930, in an event spoilt by bike problems and falls, when the race leader Joseph Herzogenrath fell on the last lap. And Kavanagh once rode in a track record attempt, unsuccesfully, at the first international meeting held at Dortmund on Sunday, May 25, 1930. His four laps time of 1:49.8 was 14! seconds slower than Walter Buttler's new record of 1:35.0 who shattered the existing record of 1:38.8 held by Herbert Drews of Danzig. For the first time Reg Kavanagh's name shows up in my German dirt-track records on April 19, 1930 (Easter Sunday) in the inaugural meeting at Essen, where he was one of seven foreign riders. The names of the others are Tom and Jack Middlehurst, S.L. Robinson, Harry Gresty (?), Pat O'Hara, and "the Australian" Shuttleworth. This meeting attracted a 5,000 crowd. German Fred Buttler set a four lap record of 1:29.0, Robinson of England was second fastest. There were several competitions, the Inauguration Trophy, Prize of Essen (both were won by Peter Schiffer of Cologne) and the Golden Glove, plus a couple of and match races (Harry Herzogenrath of Cologne beat Shuttleworth 2-0 while Fred Buttler of Hamborn and Middlehurst tied 1-all). Kavanagh was one of the four finalists in the "Golden Glove" event, which was won by Tom Middlehurst (England), ahead of Harry Herzogenrath (Cologne), with Peter Schiffer the other finalist. On the next day, Easter Monday, Kavanagh rode in Cologne, where Slider Shuttleworth was the big star and the darling of the Cologne crowd. Shuttleworth won the track record attempt over four laps in 1:25.0 and also won the scratch race final, ahead of Robinson (England). Shuttleworth was only beaten in the handicap final, he started from 70m behind the scratch mark. That race was won by the Hans Müller of Hamburg (20m handicap), with Shuttleworth second and Reg Kavanagh (20m handicap) third. Reg Kavanagh rode in a couple of unofficial "Internationals" here in Germany. On Friday, May 2, 1930, in the third meeting of the season at Cologne, he was in the England team that lost 6-25 against the German team, that consisted of Harry Herzogenrath, Joseph Herzogenrath, Schauer, Schiffer, Wenzel and Schaaf. England rode with Shuttleworth, Kavanagh, O'Hara, T.Middlehurt, J.Middlehurst and Robinson (individual riders' point scores unknown). Two day's later on Sunday, May 4, 1930, that same England team was again beaten by a German team in another meeting at the Essen track, this time they lost the contest by 19 points to 12. Interestingly in a meeting at Dortmund on May 25, 1930, Reg Kavanagh and Pat O'Hara teamed up and representeed Ireland in an unofficial international match against Germany. The two German riders chosen as their opposition were not among the leading German riders at the time, but only middle-order men. They were Johannes "Hannes" Wunder of Hamburg, who was the better of the two, and Anton "Toni" Jenau of Bochum. It was a contest over three heats (4,3,2,1 points) and for the record Germany won by 19 points to 11. These are the match details: Heat 1: Wunder, Jenau, O'Hara, Kavanagh. Heat 2: Wunder, O'Hara, Kavanagh (fell remounted), Jenau (fell). Heat 3: Wunder, Jenau, O'Hara, Kavanagh. GERMANY 19 Johannes Wunder 4, 4, 4 = 12 Anton Jenau 3, 1, 3 = 7 IRELAND 11 Reg Kavanagh 1, 2, 1 = 4 Pat O'Hara 2, 3, 2 = 7 The last time I find Reg Kavanagh's name in a race report here in Germany is for a meeting at Cologne on Thursday, May 29. He won one of the three heat races in the contest for the "Blue Ribbon of the Rhine" but came last in his semi-final race behind Werner Schauer (Lüneburg) and Max Plambeck (Hamburg). Schauer went on to win the final. That's all I have on Reg Kavanagh's dirt-track exploits of 1930 in Germany.

Just came across this topic once more and wonder if anybody could add any information about the 1975 venture to establish speedway racing in the Philippines. I know that John Langfield and some other Australian riders went there in mid-1975 and that one of the Aussies, Steve koppe broke his arm in a crash at teh Manila track. This was briefly mentioned in an Australian race report in November of 1975 in the Speedway Star magazine, but I have found no other info. Who was behind this venture, was it an Australian or an American effort to start the sport in the Philippines?

Except for the Bakerfield meeting in February and the annual USA vs The World event at Auburn in October there is not a single International Speedway Test scheduled to be held this year anywhere in the world. There is nothing in Britain, and even Poland now seem to have given up on it as well. How dissappointing !

Tough luck for Paddy Erhart, just before she was set to make her British debut. She had a nasty fall in Friday nights' Liga Nord meeting at Meissen and sustained a broken collar bone, operation on Monday, which will obviously keep her out of action for severall weeks. Too bad, as she was in such good form lately. https://www.instagram.com/paddy.racing/?fbclid=IwY2xjawE33bBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHVm53jZ258_xTzXsGDzICdNCC9C4nmoNlh4-yXBSc5ijJvJ9g0dxrxdyqA_aem_xSaO9btoGQ21UMNmFXLq8A

Yes, he is

results here https://live.baansportfansite.nl/event/855/fim-flat-track-world-championship-round-3-kings-lynn.html

Cheers Arnie ! Yes, together we saw her racing at Olching last year. She has become even better since, and a couple of weeks ago at Landshut, Patricia 'Paddy' Erhart was the first female rider to beat Celina Liebmann in an official race on a 500cc speedway bike. Celina got her revenge in the final heat of that meeting, but anyway, Paddy is not so far behind Celina anymore.

Great ! Paddy Erhart is my favorite. She will give Celina a run for her money! Celina has much more experience though and will most probably win the title again.

Does anyone know if any of our German girls are coming over to compete in the British Championship at Leicester?

https://fimflattrack.com/halbert-completes-meissen-mission-to-lead-2024-fim-flat-track-world-championship/

No

Paco comes into the Landshut team today against Opole. He was supposed to replace Victor Palovaara but now Kim Nilsson is off sick so Palovaara is back in and Paco replaces Kim. There is another change in the Landshut line-up, Ben Iken makes his debut, he is replacing the other junior rider Marlon Hegener Marius Hillebrand will be the number 16 rider for Landshut

You can https://shop.exacteditions.com/speedway-star

In Speedway Star this week, there is an interesting comment of Artem Laguta who was asked for his opinion on Tai Woffinden's disappointing season in Poland. Quote: "To be honest, I don't know the reason for Tai's weaker performance this year. We don't talk to each other on an everday basis - everyone who knows me is aware that my English is not fluent, so it is hard for me to get information. On the other hand, Tai has struggled from the beginning of the season and it seems to me that it is not necessarily the issue of the equipment he uses."

I don't understand why Laguta wasn't replaced by a junior after his tape exclusion? In the very next heat when Tarasenko broke the tapes, Tarasenko was replaced by a junior!

Britain is in a run-off for third against Denmark and Czechia. Now Boughen has another chance to shine!

In the late 1970s there was a speedway rider from Luxembourg, Raoul Schiltz. Schiltz was mainly a grass tracker, but did also ride in some speedway meetings here on the Continent. To the best of my knowledge he was the only speedway rider the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ever had.

GB Ashton Boughen

Number 16 on the start list for the SGP 4 at Malilla is a girl, but they wrote her name wrong. The correct name is Stepanka Nyklova, and she come from Liberec in the Czech Republic.

In the summer of 1953 Ronnie Moore for the last time rode for Australia in a test match against England at Wembley on August 13, 1953 http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/engvaus2.htm In the autumn of 1953 (after the world final) Ronnie rode for New Zealand in their first official test series in England. The first test was at Wimbledon on September 14, 1953. http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/engvnz.htm

Every now and then there are riders with unusual or exotic speedway backgrounds. One of them is MARIO HÄUSL, who is half German and half Seychellois. The seventeen-year old rides as a junior in the Polish League team of the German speedway club Landshut Devils. Mario, "The Pride of the Seychelles" is pictured here in Landshut racing gear, together with his mum. The Seychellois people ar a unique blend of Créole, Indian, Chinese, French and British Bloods. https://www.nation.sc/articles/18870/speedway-talent-mario-husl-signs-with-ac-landshut-