Wessex Wanderer

Very enjoyable meeting. Good racing, enthusiastic riders and a crowd enjoying themselves. That is what Speedway SHOULD be about. After the shennanigans, arguing and petty sniping about EL rules, team make ups and postponements it did a lot to restore my faith that Speedway in the UK does have a future. The Paul Starke incident apart, everyone concerned can take a lot of credit for this one. As far as that incident was concerned maybe there needs to be a rule whereby if a rider causes a race to be stopped when an opposition rider is in the lead and the race is not awarded then there should be a 4 point deduction from the "offending" team regardless of the outcome of the rerun. Might be a bit unfair to "innocent" fallers every now and again but nowhere near as unfair as the other team losing a well earned 5-1 through an error by an opposition rider. Whatever, one incident should not detract from an excellent evenings entertainment. Please Sky can we have a lot more Premier League matches. Maybe even an occasional dip into the National League too. :)

Absolutely has to be Hyde Road. Pretty much any 4 evenly matched riders would be good but: Peter Craven, Oliver Hart, Mark Loram and Tomasz Gollob would be a race fit for the Gods. :) On another scale how about Ken Sharples, Jim Squibb, Jack Millen and Nicki Pedersen on any track with Nicki off the 15 metre mark. Ouch!

I remember doing a weekly column for the SM in the 1970's about Weymouth. The Wildcats rode on a Tuesday then and the deadline for copy was 1st thing Thursday. That meant that my opportunites for writing the column (and it was definitely freehand in those days!) was late Tuesday evening (after a post meeting session in the Weymouth bar - bit dodgy), before work on the Wednesday (even more dodgy with a much battered alarm clock) or Wednesday evening. Naturally the Wednesday evening was easily the best option but in the pre internet days that meant long after the last post had gone from the local post office. Luckily the GPO also ran the Travelling Post Office services on the rail network in those days and the Weymouth to Waterloo service called at Dorchester South station. So Wednesday evenings always ended with a stroll over to the station to meet the train at about 11.30 to post it through the letter box actually on the side of one of the TPO carriages. Kept in place by a very strong spring the cover opened outwards and care had to be taken to make sure you still had all your fingers as it closed! There was an additional charge for using this service - I had to put an extra stamp on the envelope (I seem to remember that it was an extra 2-3 pence). Seems like a totally different world to today's state of instance communication. I really liked the Speedway Mail. It may not have had the glossy image of the Star but it was always an interesting read. Ray Collins

Done. Good luck with your course.

Very sad news. Very good international class rider. Like most of the other 25,000 at Wembley in 1964 I will never forget that incredible meeting when Gennady and Gab Kadirov formed an all action third pairing for the Russians. Standing there with everybody chanting "we want the Russians" after the meeting is an indelible memory. RIP Gennady

Can't have an all time Wimbledon team without Ron How. Not sure who he could replace from the last two mentioned teams though. Hey, weren't there 8 man teams for a lot of the Wimbledon glory years - problem solved!! Really enjoyed this thread - Norbold and TMC legends themselves. Merry Xmas everybody.

I expect others more local to Barrow will be able to provide dates, statistics, more detail etc etc but briefly: Barrow started at Holker Street with a track around the football pitch. Space dictated that there were "corners" rather than "bends" but nevertheless it seemed a pretty decent race track from my one and only visit. I think it started in 1972 with multi World Champion Ivan Mauger among the promoters. By the way, ignore any reference to them being called "The Happy Faces" - they used a "happy face" as the logo on their race jackets but the promotion quite deliberately and specifically chose not to have a nickname for the team. Can't remember what colours they used. One or two years later they were named the Bombers using blue and yellow race jackets. Blue background with large yellow circle and blue "B" inside. They finished at Holker Street after a big proposed rent hike by the footy club (I think). Park Road was one of the most picturesque tracks ever - out of town and set against a background of lakeland hills. It was quite a small track with short straights. Cracking race track. Opened about 1977 it only survived initially for a couple of years (maybe only one). They were called the Furness Flyers, again wirh blue and yellow colours. Chris Roynon (father of current day rider Adam) tried a revival in 1985 and they did ride a couple of meetings that year but it was also at a time when the National League was deliberatly becoming "more professional" and had a very strict minimum points limit. Tracks like Barrow could not compete with the richer ones (it turned out that some other newcomers that did sign up star riders were unrealistic and closed after 1 or 2 seasons of financial struggle) and basically could not raise a team of sufficient strength. If only there had been a third tier in those days a lot of tracks could have been saved over the next 3-4 years. They were called the Blackhawks and colours (I think) were red and black. I did go to Park Road for the match against the Wildcats in early 1985 but on arriving we were informed by Chris of the postponement and the situation regarding their league membership. What a pity, he was still working on the track which looked in superb condition. Whether they later staged any open licence meetings I am not sure but it always seemed such a shame to me that a track should be closed more or less by Speedway politics itself rather than any outside influences. Hope this helps you

Very sad to hear this. Ken was a mainstay of the Weymouth Royals back in the early 1960s. Captained the side for one or two seasons. Personal memory is of him beating Charlie Monk and Jon Erskine in the final of one of the Wessex Championships in one of the best races I have ever seen.. Fondly remembered by all old time Weymouth fans. RIP Ken.

My first NL meeting of the season so a good reminder of what I am missing. Would agree that it was an entertaining and enjoyable meeting despite not too much passing. First time I have seen Adam Ellis and was very very impressed. Although not scoring as many as Adam I also thought Josh Bates looked good. Must remind myself to make an effort to see more NL Speedway next year.

Guy Benfield was a regular second halfer at Weymouth in 1977. Not sure where else he rode or when but I seem to remember that he came from the Southampton area. Ray Collins

I always thought Bob was Welsh - although he was a Bath resident. As for Howard Cole, I think my "belief" stems from a couple of articles in the Star many years ago - whether it was that he was born in Wales or had Welsh parents/grandparents I cannot remember now but put that down to fuzzy memory brought about by so many birthdays! You are quite right - it was Gerald Pugh, not Graham (that memory again!). Although he rode mainly in the lower leagues he was a good scorer at those levels for a few years. Love these sort of discussions.

re Welsh team How about Howard Cole, Bob Hughes and Tom Brown. And maybe Graham Pugh (from the 50's). Also Mick Powell - a very promising junior who was badly injured in the early 70's. At least I think they were all Welsh and I am quite willing to be corrected. I was also told once that Graham Drury was part Welsh but that may have been a viscious rumour.

Good as Eric was the answer must be Nigel. Both really exciting top class riders. Would be a huge boost for GB at international level if we had them now.

Yes, that is what happened. In retrospect it was one of the things that gave Speedway one of its most stable periods ever. Despite some "unpopular" moves it did ensure that all 19 (yes, 19) teams were at least reasonably competetive and, I am sure, actually led to far LESS rider moves from season to season which made for much better team identity. For instance after Poole won the BL in 1969 their only loss for the 1970 season was Bruce Cribb who moved to Exeter with Mike Cake going in the opposite direction. It also did not lead to any shenanigans about manipulation of rider averages. I admit that I was among those who were not overly keen on it at the time but time is often a good teacher! Just think, a league of 19 with no "steamroller" teams and only the odd weak one (injuries happened then too), where teams were more or less set for the season riderwise and everyone could get on with watching it. The crowds were sooooo much better too! As others have said, some triangular switches solved more than one issue (an example would be Alan Cowland to Hackney, Roy Trigg(?) to Wolves and Tommy Sweetman to Exeter one year). I too believe it was Ole Olsen who eventually brought the scheme to an end. Popular at the time but no way was it in Speedway's interest in the long term.

Hi Steve Sorry such a delay in replying but I have recently moved and am still in the process of unpacking "unessentials" such as old programmes. I no longer have a lot of my Weymouth records/stats, only the programmes so: The 3 August meeting was rained off - this is from the following weeks programme v The Midlands. I have a completed programme for the 31 August match V London but it is not in my writing so I can't swear by it but it does appear to be OK. The meeting definitely took place (again a mention in the following weeks programme). Scorers: Weymouth: Buster Brown 12, Frank Bettis 9, Pat Flanagan 5, Bob Hughes 5, Pete Sampson 8, Terry Keates 5, Alby Smith 6, Ken Vale 5. 55 London: Ray Harris 5, Dave Hemus 2, Sandy McGillivray 8, Mike Keen 4, Bill Osborne 7, Bob Warner 1, Jack Giddings 1, Ray Cousins 1. 29 Ht 1 Brown, Bettis, Hemus, Harris 77.0 Ht 2 Hughes, Osborne, Flanagan, Warner 79.6 Ht 3 McGillivray, Keates, Keen, Sampson ef. 76.8 Ht 4 Smith, Vale, Cousins, Giddings 81.2 Ht 5 Brown, Bettis, Osborne, Warner 76.8 Ht 6 McGillivray, Flanagan, Keen, Hughes ef. 78.2 Ht 7 Sampson, Harris, Hemus,Keates 78.6 Ht 8 Smith, Keen, Giddings, Hughes ef. 79.8 Ht 9 Brown, Sampson, McGillivray, Hemus 76.4 Ht 10 Bettis, Osborne, Flanagan,Harris 77.8 Ht 11 Vale, Keates, Warner,Cousins 79.8 Ht 12 Brown, Bettis, McGillivray, Keen 76.6 Ht 13 Harris, Hughes, Flanagan, Hemus 78.0 Ht 14 Sampson, Osborne, Keates, Warner. no time Hope this helps. Ray Collins A match against Rye House was ridden on 17 August (for which a completely new programme was issued) and won 48-42 by the visitors.

Sad to hear this. Totally agree with others who have said he was very much underrated but his record of league titles along with his World Final appearances underline what a fine rider he was. R.I.P Ron

Hi Steve Correct scores: Mike Vernam 0 (2 reserve rides) Clark Facey 3 (0 EF 3 F 0) Ted Hubbard 2 (Ex-2M 1 Replaced EF 1) Chris Robins 2 (1 0 1 0 0) Hope this helps

Would help if you gave some indication of when. If it is early/mid 60's could very well be Graham. Second halfer around the South West tracks. Regular at Weymouth. Not sure about team appearances but probably a few for Exeter. Hope this helps

Thanks for the reminder Tracy. Still remembered at Weymouth. Skipper of our "all time greats" team. Such a tragedy that such a great guy should die so young. RIP Vic

Will be a great shame if its not run but I am not surprised given some of the stupid criticisms from a small number of people. The "Something upset me so I'm not going to play next year" types of posts can easily lead to a vounteer organiser questioning whether it is worth it. So those critics can go away and no doubt find somehting else to bugger up. My thanks go to the organisers for setting up a worthwhile competition which I am sure the majority of us thoroughly enjoyed.

One vote for Holta - must be Wessexboy dreaming again.

Yesterday I received a "Residents Survey" from the local Conservative party. The specific questions were pretty political but there was one very inviting section "Please tell us about any other local issues which concern you.". Well I needed no prompting on that one did I. My reason for posting on here about it is that such surveys are often binned before reading so I wanted to let forum users who are also local residents know that they have a chance to express their views on the terrible way the Wildcats have been treated by their property development landlords. Doesn't matter how you answer the rest of the questions (for gods sake don't be abusive or silly though!) but get your views in about Speedway. Make sure your non computer friends are also aware of this. Whether it will do any good is of course open to question but doing nothing will DEFINITELY do no good.

Owners are a property company who bought the footy club which included all the site then hived off the club (minus the surrounding land). Footy club is now pretty much landlocked by the car parks and track etc which it previously owned! None too clever of the footy club over the years as it continuously "mortgaged" itself for short term cash investments in efforts to "push on" to better things. Now they are a couple of levels below where they used to be and are in yet another financial crisis. I feel sorry for their fans and workers who are still dedicated to them despite having their future jeopordised by unbelievable mismanagement (sound familiar?). So as far as the Wildcats are concerned we are an object lesson in how one or two people can destroy a community of about 400 for their own ends (whatever those "ends" might turnout to be). Its does not look good GreyhoundP. Such a shame after Brian White's initiative in bringing Speedway back to Weymouth and the consortium's fight to get permanent planning permission.

Congratulations Mildenhall. Delighted for you. Now if only somehting similar could happen to the Wildcats.

Despite the circumstances this was a positive meeting/rally. Really good attendance despite the weather, timing and unavoidable short notice ( I could name at least 20 regulars who couldn't make it due to work and other commitments.) At the very least it dispels claims that Weymouth Speedway is not viable. Properly run there is no reason why it should not flourish. These are very hard and frustrating times for Weymouth Speedway but hopefully we can eventually emerge stronger than ever.