andout

Yes, I think Arthur Payne is still with us.....Not sure about his birth date though, what I can find is, he was born 28.8.23 making him 94 now!

Brown met Clarke on a couple of occasions in 1967.....Clarke was beaten both times.

Check out page 17 of Years gone by Bob......it was only last year this was discussed....but an update would be good!

Speedway Researcher website is one of the great history sites for Speedway results....obviously very incomplete as they don't seem to post until they have a complete year. But there is a wealth of information out there....for me when I want to know the result of a particular meeting, its the first stop!

There was a 3rd Division Riders champs Final at Walthamstow on 23rd October but not sure if this is related to what you want. Results are available here... http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/walthamstow1950.pdf

My favourite place to watch Speedway (well, other than New Cross).....some great meeting there. Used to sit on the wall between the dog track and Speedway track near the start line. I watched pretty well all the meeting there from 1964 to 1972......Really "Happy Days".

Yes, I was there at BOTH meetings the Hammers had in Tilburg and Amsterdam.....talking to the riders before the meeting, what happened later was a huge shock for me.....

Complete listing here: http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ghs-aust---yugo.php

Well there you go, everything you wanted to know about Len Dillon but was afraid to ask!!! LOL wait a minute....you didn't.....LOL

Actually you are probably right, if I remember rightly Kyle broke his hand or something in it in his very first ride and rode the other four in pain, could have been different if that had not have happened.....doubt very much he would have made it to the GP series but he would have done much better if that had not happened. The one rider that would have done well on the International scene would have been Len Dillon, doubt you have heard of him, however he swapped flat track for Speedway at the age of 35 (I think) then went on to win 8 National Speedway titles, he was a natural. Len's qualification to the World Championships was always through the American rounds....BUT in those days of the Ford and Dillon it wasn't the regular 16 rider championship that we all know....both riders were usually paired against the very best of the Californians meeting the SAME riders a few times..... Even in the US Open in Owego, New York, Gary Ford had to beat the best Owego riders and Californians in the qualifying....and usually did beat them but its another story in the Final for Gary, which I won't go into here.

gustix....not quite sure why you have Rob Fisher as "Generally regarded as anglo-Canadian".....True he has English parents but was BORN in Canada, has a Canadian Passport and is a Canadian in every sense. Same for Gary Ford, born in Canada to English parents but a Canadian in every sense. Could be the same, though I don't know, for Sean (Change name to Shawn) Venables.

Ditto for me too norbold.....I did meet Jack Milne at Costa Mesa many years ago and of course Tommy Price was the boss at West Ham.

Rob Fisher (Bob's Canadian born son) had a couple of outings with Coventry.....not sure of the years 80's or 90's.

Sorry gustix, didn't mean it to sound like I wrote it......

since I am in Canada, think I'm well aware of our site! Thanks

Might be wrong but I think Canadian Rob Fisher had a very short career in the UK with Coventry.

Unfortunately there never was a real attempt to get formal Speedway team racing going, prime reason....Distance! This is a very BIG country! Without lots of sponsorship money it would have been a disaster anyway. Yes of course, we put put made up teams to create interest but never attempted league racing as we know it.

Can someone out there tell whether the programme for this event exists or not please? This was rained off....

Mike Faria retired as of this week....

Believe it or not it was not that significant, we, my parents and I (I was a young lad then) didn't even know until the following week when we and many many more went to the gates to find out that it had closed....one sad day of many...the next for me was the loss of West Ham...

Close observation gustix.....however Flat Track is also on the decline....from days gone by there used to be over a hundred riders show up ready to race, these days lucky if you get maybe fifty. Major sports in North America beat everything else into the ground and of course get all the money, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey,Football (not Soccer) reign supreme. Motorcycle Sports.....nothing!

Not enough riders Bob....probably an average of nine or ten and most of them are getting older.....no new young lads are interested in Speedway. Bikes don't go anywhere else except on a Speedway track. I would be very pleasantly surprised if Speedway survives in this country. There has been no Speedway at Paris for a couple of years now, only flat track.....so our only track is now Welland,as always!

Hey Bob, this is making me feel really old.....I remember seeing 13 of them....the only one's I did not see or do not remember are Payne, Brand, Close, Long, Svensson and Wright but I do vaguely remember Long.

I am looking for old GP Tickets and Passes to complete my collection. If anyone has any they wish to trade for the many spares I have, please let me know.

Oh dear...here we go again.....my programme is filled out in good handwriting and there are differences.... 5 (7) 13221 9 7 (11) 01322 8 11(16) 02212 7 13 (15) 12120 6 I think I would take yours arnieg as correct but its interesting, even Russian fans make mistakes....LOL