Bavarian

Rex Powell's 1935 Tasmanian speed record of 116.8 m.p.h. was established in a meeting organised by the Tasmanian Motor Cycle Club at Baker's Beach, on the North-West Coast, on the 28th of January 1935. Powell, on his 499cc o.h.v. Rudge machine, covered the flying quarter mile during the speed trials in 7.7 seconds, being equal to 116.8 miles an hour. The previous record of 104.6 m.p.h., held by Jimmy Cridge of Launceston, riding a 493 o.h.v. B.S.A. motorcycle, had been established at Baker's Beach, on January 18th, 1932.

Rex Powell was quite prominent in Tasmania as a diver of a B.S.A. side-car in various motorsports events the late 1920's. He established a new side-car record in the Launceston to Hobart motor cycle race in September of 1929. His then side-car passenger Percy Bryant would later become one of his main rivals in the dirt-track speedway events held at the Hobart Speedway in the 1929/30 and 1930/31 seasons. Rex Powell had bought himself a Rudge dirt-track bike in 1930, which he used also for the beach racing, and speed record attemts, too. In the very first speedway meeting held in Tasmania, Rex Powell rode in the solos, as well as in the side-cars events. In this inagural Hobart dirt-track meeting, Powell's first competitive race was a solo handicap heat, which he finished in second place behind the winner Les Moore (the father of the later world speedway champion Ronnie Moore). In January of 1931 Rex Powell, on his dirt-track Rudge, was challenging his former sidecar passenger Percy Bryant in a best-of-three match race for the Tasmanian Solo Championship. Powell, though, was beaten 2-1 by Bryant. Rex Powell was one of the most prominent members of the Southern Tasmanian Motor-cycle Club. He was described as a "crack" rider, having won a large number of trophies to his credit. Being a skilled mechanic, he carried out all his own tuning. Powell set up a Tasmanian speed record, riding his Dirt Track Rudge at Green's Beach, Tamar Heads, Tasmania, on April 25, 1930, averaging 104.5 miles-per-hour over a quarter of a mile, on his three-and-a-half horse-power Rudge-Whitworth motor-cycle. The previous record was 97 m.p.h. and 100 miles an hour had not previously been registered on a motor-cycle in Tasmania.

As far as I know Robert Lambert will no longer get a German license. He is British, and represents the ACU in international Events. Fofr this year he is, like every other foreign rider, regarded as an A-grader in this year's Bundeliga. He will take up one of the A-grade positions for the foreign riders (non DMSB license holders) in the DMV White Tigers team.

Which in English language is called the Ascension Day.

Does anybody know why Declyn Adams does not ride speedway anymore?

Nicki's love life makes Headlines in the Danish Press http://www.bt.dk/motorsport/se-billederne-nicki-pedersen-scorer-ung-bikini-model

None of the Russians in ice speedway racing is a professional rider, that is simply not possible to make a living from the very few meetings and the poor earnings offered in this sport. They are all Amateur riders, just like ther Westerners, but of course, the Russians have a better set-up at their clubs (who pay for, own and maintain the bikes), and much more opportunities to practise.

I have just found out that Karl Killmeyer was still alive until late last year, he died just short of his 92nd birthday (born 29 Oct 1923, died 23 Oct 2015)

Great discovery, Doug, I knew about his song, but until now had never heard it anywhere.

The former Soviet Union had some speedway tracks in her Asian Republics, for example the track were Sergey Darkin originally came from, Fergana in Uzbekhistan. There have been one or two speedway tracks in Kazakhstan as well. Kazahkstan now has ice racign at Almaty. And of course, Mongolia had ice speedway racing at Ulan Bator in the late 1960's until the mid 1980s. An attempt to get ice speedway racing started in North-eastern China was made a few years ago.

Malaysia was tried in 2007, but for some reason it lasted just one season. Here is the old BSF Topic http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=35360&hl=malaysia I wonder if the ambitious project (as was recently mentioned in Speedway Star) of Gary Hay and Jimmy Ogisu, and backed by the Yamaha Motorcycle Company, to stage a speedway meeting in Tokyo this year will ever become reality, I have strong doubts about this. Perhaps with BSI/IMG on board it could be done?

Totally agreee with Mr. Appelby. I couldn't care less for a competiton like this, with made-up Pairs/Pairs representing some obscure sponsors. It is a shame that such a "Mickey Mouse" competition gets prime time tv all over Europe on EUROSPORT, as it won't be worth much.

Very interesing question. It is high time to get a training track started in Scotland. Are there any Scottish speedway riders around in 2016 at all? Who?

At least we got to see some live pictures from Oz for once, even though most of the racing wasn't very exciting. The commentary team did o.k., until they lost it a little bit towards the end, but overall they were not too bad.

But it would not have been so controversial with a 3-2-1-0 scoring in the final. Would have been much easier to accept if Kurtz won it WITHOUT scoring a point for a tape exclusion.

First time that I see a rider win a major speedway championship by scroing a point from a tape touching exclusion in the decisive final race. Stupid rules there in Oz. Why make this so complicated, just keep the regular 3,2,1,0 point score for the final, or at least, don't award a point for a non-finisher in that final. This is ridicoulus.

Manfred Seifter is the correct name

A speedway meeting in the Arabian dessert. Now that is a surprise, but surely a bit risky for the promoters to put this on. What crowd do they expect to turn up to watch this pre-season event in the UAE?

QUEENSLAND STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Rockhampton Showground, Queensland. Final: 1st Mason Campton (NSW) 2nd Tyson Nelson (Queensland) 3rd Josh Grajczonek (Queensland) 4th Tyler King (NSW) VICTORIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Olympic Park Speedway, Mildura, Victoria. (Dec.5) Final: 1st Ty Proctor (Victoria) 2nd Brodie Waters (Victoria) 3rd Jordan Stewart (Victoria) 4th Justin Sedgmen (Victoria) NEW SOUTH WALES STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Tamworth Equestrian Center (180m Indoor Speedway), Tamworth, N.S.W. (Dec.12) Final: 1st Tyson Nelson (Queensland) 2nd Mason Campton (NSW) 3rd Jack Holder (NSW) 4th Taylor Poole (NSW) SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Gillman Speedway, Adelaide, S.A. (Dec.12, 2015) Final: 1st Rohan Tungate (NSW) 2nd Max Fricke (Victoria) 3rd Sam Masters (NSW) 4th Ty Proctor (Victoria) WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STATE SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP over 2 rounds at Collie (Dec.5) and Pinjar Park (Dec.12) Overall: 1st Daniel Winchester (WA) 2nd Frank Smart (WA) 3rd Doug Scoble (WA 4th Ethan Ballantyne (WA) There is a wonderful comment written by Australian journalist Peter White in last week's Speedway Star: Quote: "And so ends one of the most farcial seasons of state title stagings in the sometimes wonky history of speedway Championships in Oz." "What a sad joke this summer's east coast Scenario became. A New South Wales rider (Mason Campton) drove up to Rockhampton and won the Queensland Championship. Seven nights later, a Queensland rider (Tyson Nelson) drove down to Tamworth and won the NSW Championship! "On the same night as the NSW Championship, two of NSW's best (Rohan Tungate and Sam Masters)turned their backs on their own state title and travelled down to Adelaide where Tungate won the South Australian crown - a Championship that contained only four home state riders, despite having one of the best speedway tracks in the country (Gillman Speedway). "The riders probably see nothing wrong with this at all, their main objective being to finish in teh top four anywhere within the main four states (NSW, Qld, Vic, SA) in order to secure/sustain their visa/work permit eligibility in the UK. And many of teh public probably see nothing wrong with it either - especially the Adelaide fans who wouldn't have had a title Meeting without the influx of visiting interstate riders. But at the end of the day, serious students of speedway must surely see it as making a mockery of the sport. "Motorcycling Australia should restrict state titles to riders from their own state - except in the case of South Australia, where they don't have enough competitive riders to create a field. However, the SA title should be held on a date that doesn't clash with the other states, so riders like Tungate or Masters HAVE to contest their home state Championships. Their Absence devalued the NSW title at Tamworth significantly. [...]

here is an interesting report about female speedway riders in Western Australia http://www.motorcyclingwa.org.au/News/TabId/7721/ArtMID/16845/ArticleID/1625/Women-lose-all-fear-when-it-comes-to-bikes-with-No-Brakes.aspx

Here are some early season solo speedway results from New Zealand Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (4 October 2015): Solo "King of Rosebank" Final: 1. Dylan Moohan 2. Chopper Bagshaw 3. Caleb Glew Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (25 October 2015): Solo "Summer Cup" Final: 1. Jason Bunyan 2. Sean Mason 3. Jamie Moohan Oreti Park Speedway, Invercargill (31 October 2015): Solo "Brian Reed Memorial" Final: 1. Jake Gillespie 2. Bradley Stockton 3. Connor Spriggs Moore Park Speedway, Christchurch (14 November 2015): Solo Final: 1. Jake Gillespie 2. Andrew Aldridge 3. Ryan Moss Rosebank Speedway, Auckland (15 November 2015): Solo "Best Pairs": 1. Sean Mason & Ryan Terry-Daily 2. Dylan Hancock & Tony Hendry 3. Bradley Andrews & Michael Patey Oreti Park Speedway, Invercargill (29 November 2015): Solo "Burt Munro Challenge" Final: 1. Grant Tregoning 2. Ryan Terry-Daley Oreti Park, Invercargill (6 December 2015) NEW ZEALAND JUNIOR U21 SOLO SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIP Final: 1. Jake Turner 2. Jake Gillespie 3. George Congreve 4. Billy Graham

This meeting is on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyvF0qr9y8g Not sure if it was because of the previous day's rain postponement, but there were only six riders taking part in this NZ U21 solo final, and more than half of them were not really competitive.

Without guaranteed coverage on EUROSPORT the SEC and the SBPC will have no chance of survival. Company owned pairs/teams instead of national sides hardly makes this Micky Mouse speedway series any more appealing for the tv/media and fans. A stupid move by OneSport and one that will make BSI/IMG smile.

Yes, Andrew "Bill" Barrett rode for Arena Essex, Canterbury, Oxford and Cradley during his UK speedway career, which was for a few years in the mid-1980's

He's an Aussie, isn't he? Was also known as "Bill" Barrett in his speedway career, which would have been in the 1980s or early 90s. Now an Aussie ice racer would be some novelty, I guess. There have been a few New Zealanders racing on the ice, most prominently Bruce Cribb, of course.