Grachan

Blimey! They've just mentioned on Radio 5 that Great Britain have qualified for the Speedway World Cup Final. There's a thing. I got all excited there for a couple of seconds.

If anyone is interested, I wrote an article for the Oxford magazine The Chronicle about my trips to the Autorace meetings, and I've copied it online at: http://www.geocities.com/gam_noticeboard/autorace.html There's a few pictures there too.

Didn't Canterbury have one Sean?

Does he still look like Jason King from Department S?

They were called The Saxons according to my trusty little book. Hmmm, doesn't really work does it. Should they not have been 'The Normans'? Hastings Saxons is a bit of a mouthfull anyway - it doesn't really roll off the tongue well. How about Hastings Conquerers? What do you think? Much better I reckon. Track length 388 yards. I wish they still made tracks that size. Rode in the National League Third Division 1948-49. Is that it? Just 2 years. Came sixth in 1948. Promoter - Charlie Dugard. Interesting that Eastbourne closed in 1947 and opened again in 1950. Must be some connection there methinks. Most appearences: Ken Middleditch, 85. Most points: Jack Grierson, 766. Never went. Wasn't born.

David, There is a video available on the history of Bristol Speedway. You can get it HERE if you're interested.

I also recall that Good Ol' Bernie Leigh used to love it at Bristol.

Coincidentally I have said programme right here on my dusty old desk. It was one of a few oldies I found in the loft a short while ago and brought down to read. Daily Mirror Open Tournament: Edgar Stangeland: 0-2-3-F 5 (I seem to remember he broke his leg after helping build the track) Vaclav Verner: 1-3-F-2-3 9 Peter Collins: 2-2-2-2-0 8 Ole Olsen: 3-2-3-3-3 14 (The Winner.) Dave Jessup: 1 (withdrew) 1 John Titman: 0-0-2-1-1 4 Martin Ashby: 2 (withdrew. Better than Jessup though, which was all that mattered!) 2 Doug Wyer: 3-1-3-1-1 9 Chris Morton: e/f-0-0-0-2 2 Phil Crump: 3-2-1-3-3 12 Joe Owen: 1-1-1-0-2 5 Steve Gresham: 2-3-2-3-2 12 Ivan Mauger: 2-3-2-3-3 13 John Davis: 1-1-1-F 3 Scott Autrey: 3-3-3-2-2 13 John Louis: ef-0-0-1-1 2 Tom Leadbitter (Res): 1-0-1-0-F 2 I think that the efs by Louis & Morton in thier first riders were actually them pullingout of the race due to the surface, and their efforts after that were very half-hearted. Phil Crump also beat John Louis 2-1 in the Golden Helmet. Heat 13 result was: (Awarded) Gresham, Leadbitter (f-inj), Davis (f-inj) Stangeland (f-inj)!!

I went to the opening meeting at Eastville. It wassomething of a disaster race wise, with several riders - including Martin Ashby, who I was a fan of - walking out because the track was so bad (they were effectively riding on the Greyhound track). The crowd was huge though, and there was a traffic jam on the motorway, which passed behind the 1st & 2nd bends. People were actually stopping their cars to watch the racing.

How about this for a score chart - Swindon v Halifax, Friday 8 April 1977. Swindon 62 1. Martin Ashby 3-3-3-3 12 2. Soren Karlsson 2'-2'-3-2' 9+3 3. Bob Kilby 3-3-3-3 12 4. Jan Andersson 3-2'-3-2' 10+2 5. Bobby McNeil 2'-3-2'-2' 9+3 6. Geoff Bouchard 2'-2'-1 5+2 7. David Ashby 3-0-2' 5+1 Halifax 15 1. Henny Kroeze 1-ef-2-0 3 2. Tom Godal 0-f-0 0 3. Graham Plant 1-1-1-1-1 5 4. Ian Cartwright 1-2-0-1-1 5 5. Chris Pusey 0-0-0-0 0 6. Geoff Pusey 0-0 0 7. Mike Lohmann 1-0-1' 2+1 Blooming reserves let us down!!

Just in case anyone missed it the first time, there is brief footage from that first ever Swindon v Oxford match HERE.

The oldest currently competitive rider in Japan is 64 years old, so you never know!!

I don't know how old you are, SJW, but if that was around 1971?? time it could have been Jimmy Ogisu, who came over to ride in the Internationale.

Don't wish to go off topic but as you already have: Swindon 21 Oxford 56 is one louder.

I think Mitch Shirra did too.

Here are some not particularly brilliant pictures that I took in 1987. They are from a match between Newbury Town and a Motorcyclists XI, which was a benefit match for Motor Cross Rider David Stirland, whose brother played for Newbury (and was also in the same 1st Hungerford Cubs Six-a-side team as myself that won the six-a-side cup a few years earlier with a suburb display in the final over 1st Kintbury - but I digress). Picture 1: The teams pose for pictures slightly to my right. On the far left are Steve Schofield and Simon Cross, with Martin Yeates a bit further along. Picture 2: Simon Cross prepares to, er, cross. Picture 3: Goalie Martin Yeates and a big, beery looking bloke, leave the field.

I remember a horrendous crash between Bob Kilby and Ivan Mauger at Swindon on the pits bend. I'm not sure what injuries they suffered now, but Ivan was excluded and Killer was unable to come out in the re-run. More recently was Andre Compton's crash at Sheffield when he broke his ankle. He slid off his bike and was run into by James Birkenshaw. It was one of those where the whole crowd gives out a gasp and falls silent.

I was going to buy this month's copy at Swindon last night, but they were still selling the Kenny Carter edition. Looks like I'll have to wait another week to get it.

Slightly flawed is, if anything, an understatement and claiming that they show the best rider hasn't neccesarily won is not true. It may be interesting to see how much they have averaged, but the fact is riders don't score points in the GP because of the format. Using that method, a rider coming fourth in the final would get a 0 point average for that race, whereas a rider winning a first round eliminator would get 3.00 for that race. It just doesn't add up, but well done for doing it anyway.

You can get it from http://www.bellevuezoo.co.uk If you select the 'Speedway' menu it brings up a whole load of archive videos for sale. I've bought 3 of them and they're all very interesting. The one featuring Swindon v Oxford is No 6 in the Aces of Yesteryear series.

It's from a video called 'Aces of Yesteryear', which has loads of old clips from various tracks. I haven't got anything else from mdi-80s or before I'm afraid. I'd love to see some 70s stuff myself, as that was when I started going and it would be great to see Martin Ashby and Bob Kilby on top form round the Abbey one more time. Be great to see Shawn McConnell as a Robin again too. I remember TV were there filming a match agains Coventry when he was in the team. I think it was one of the epic Midland Cup ties which kept finishing level, so I'd love to see that. I have a few late 80s videos though, if they're of any interest. There's a couple from Screensport, and a couple of Swindon videos such as the 1967 team 'Champs are back' meeting in the late 80s. That was a good evening. Before heat one I was wondering if Bob Kilby would still be able to show his suberb gating skills from the past. THIS is what happened.

Spot on Frigbo. I couldn't have put it better myself.. and didn't.

Same as me Liontamer. I don't normally know when it's on, but caught one accidentally in the middle of the night and it's not half as entertaining without her. She was a really good presenter and had a good rapport with the riders. I saw her presenting some car racing the other day. Be interesting to know if they see this as a step up or a step down in her career!

I remember seeing the Swindon team play in a charity Ice Hockey match once.

I've got a few Crumpie autographs too. The old pits at Swindon were brilliant from a spectators point of view. You really could get right up next to the riders. It's such a shame they changed them, though maybe it's better for the riders to have more that a wire fence between themselves and the crowd!