speedyguy

In a STUK meeting? I guess Kenny Roberts at Haldon in the late 1970s is another qualifier? Where's the rest of this thread gone?

It did not happen overnight, but as the subsequent seasons from 1986 progressed, for my part I felt that interest locally for speedway was declining. The fact that the season ended dramatically in early season 1991 I feel compounds that opinion. But then, as I want to make clear, that is just how I saw things happening.

All I did was refer to a quote from the book by Don Scarff where the phrase closure in 1986 is mentioned. Even if he did make the comment years on, the words about a closure in 1986 by Don Scarff do appear in the book. Howard Jones' excellent book does not say things started to go wrong in 1986 - I said that based on Don Scarff's quote and what I saw happen in the seasons following on from 1986. Are we getting through now..?

WIMBLEDON DONS The story of Wimbledon Speedway Edited by Howard Jones 106 pages, more than 200 photos £15.99 (post free) from (cheques/postal orders only) Speed-Away Promotions, 19, Arundel Road, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire FY8 1AF. Aside from all the debate on a minor point - and that is how things should be - this book is an excellent publication. I strongly recommend it to ALL speedway followers - not just Wimbledon fans.

P1928 - please explain this?

Yes, Tommy Jansson's death was the grass roots of "the end" leading to the debateable "1986 closure" and the end for top class speedway in 1991.

How old is 'Papa" Kennis? Seem to remember him in Belgian results about 25 years ago?

You may be interested to know that he also rode in France in 1967 in a squad that also included, George Bason, Stan Tebby, Bob Warner, Nigel Rackett. Sorry, I have no other details about him.

Fair enough - but not my definition that it was a "closure." I was just quoting from the new 'Wimbledon Dons' book. Please don't shoot the messenger!

A nice clarification of the situation. And even then it would seem the GRA were not in favour of spedway at Plough Lane - even less so in this era. Thanks very much for the reply Norbold.

Because that was the year a closure was announced, saved only by the intervention of Don Scarff and his consortium. But there was a closure in 1986... Only the intervention of a Don Scarff led consortium kept the club going then - but the rot had set in for the sport at Plough Lane. Yes, the loss of Tommy Jansson was a key factor for the decline that followed in the latter part of the 1970s onwards. The heart went out of that once great club. Jansson's role at Wimbledon until his untimely death justifies my view that there was still good speedway and promotion at Plough Lane until that happened.

The book, with which P1928 had so much contact, has this to say in regard to 1986: Page 84, starts bottom of third column: an item dealing with the programme for the May 29 1991 meeting: DON Scarff said in his programme notes for Belle Vue's visit on May 29: "When the closure was announced at the end of 1986, I was one of a group of people who got together to keep things going, but now it is my sad task to close the doors for the last time." That happening in 1986 was IMO the begining of the end of speedway at Plough Lane. The sport did carry on for nearly five seasons, but there was none of the magic I remember - especially in the years of the late 1940s through until the end of the 1970s.

Because, IMO, that was the year the heart went out of Wimbledon, followed by a switch of leagues and a further loss of interest locally in speedway.

Well I did!

South London Press is a four borough newspaper - Lambeth, Wandsworth, Southwark and Lewisham - plus extensions into those boroughs surrounding these. In hindsight, and the fact there has been no speedway at Plough Lane since 2005, I think it's lucky the book got any coverage at all. It did, in fact, get far more space than the preview for this Sunday's V8 Stock Car World Championship at Plough Lane, and nearly as much as this Saturday's greyhound racing.

It also debates that taxed theme of the Dons 'most spectacular rider' - at least? And raises the vexed question - did the sport REALLY die at Plough Lane in 1986? Remember space is at a premium in a local newspaper - when there are football teams like Crystal Palace, Charlton, Millwall and AFC Wimbledon plus several more senior clubs, boxers and rugby union also jostling for space.

From the South London Press, Friday September 19, 2008: RECAPTURING PAST GLORIES By JOHN HYAM WIMBLEDON DONS The story of Wimbledon Speedway Edited by Howard Jones 106 pages, more than 200 photos £15.99 (post free) from (cheques/postal orders only) Speed-Away Promotions, 19, Arundel Road, Lytham St. Annes, Lancashire FY8 1AF. The first match I saw at Wimbledon on Thursday April 29 1948 actually featured Wembley beating Belle Vue 52-31 in a National League match. This was because Wembley were based at Plough Lane for six weeks while the Empire Stadium was in use for that year’s Olympic Games. But I had seen the Dons in action many times before that when they were visitors to my first speedway love, the now gone but not forgotten New Cross team. In the late 1940s, New Cross were often compared with the Dons - and for most of the time until their closure in early 1953, New Cross held sway over their south London rivals, as they had also done in the pre-war seasons between 1929-39. The book concentrates on a period from the 1950s through until the demise of top-class racing at Plough Lane on June 5 1991. Then, the sport went out on a damp note at the closedown meeting with the match abandoned at heat eight because of rain. But the closedown was no real surprise. Wimbledon had been in decline for years before that. As far back as 1986 there was speculation that it would fold. The book has a bright modern feel. There are many excellent team photos - going back as far as 1931 which feature great riders such as Vic Huxley and Ray Tauser. There are also photos of two riders who I regard as being the most spectacular in post-war years to have worn the club’s race-jacket. They are that great legtrail-style rider Oliver Hart and the hustle-bustle thrillmaker Lloyd ‘Cowboy’ Goffe. In the days when tracks were deep cinder surfaces rather than the shale of modern times, their spectacle has never been repeated. The ‘Wimbledon Dons’ book gives an insight from the days when speedway was a mainstream sport to the lesser dimensions of the ill-fated venture into Conference League racing between 2002-05. It is well worth a library place.

Poll results for oldtimespeedway The following oldtimespeedway poll is now closed. Here are the final results: POLL QUESTION: Was the original world championship formula (qualifying rounds to a one-off final) preferable to the present Grand Prix format? CHOICES AND RESULTS - No., 2 votes, 9.52% - Yes., 19 votes, 90.48% For more information about this group, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway For help with Yahoo! Groups, please visit http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/or.../web/index.html

106 pages - plus cover pages.

Different publisher, different type of book. One a factual book on a club, the other the memories of a top speedway personality.

That's very profound. I tend to agree with you.

Any ideas on how the Poll is likely to finish?

Sadly, Jerzy Szackiel fell a victim to unwarranted hype after his world championship victory. Completely unjustified 'mickey taking' all in the cause of a so-called 'good story' IMO.

Harsh words indeed on Egon Muller. He was one of the most professionally prepared riders speedway, grass and long-track racing has ever seen.