speedyguy

Any update from Russell Paine regarding his meeting on Tuesday this week (April 8 2008) with Spanish town councillors regarding his proposed track and if they have given their sanction to the venture?

I'll keep a jaundiced eye on the suggested Rhonda venture in much the same way as I do Russell Paine's project. I don't really hold out much hope for either of them. I know Rhonda well - it's where my brother-in-law lives.

I have had a rethink - it says that 'Sprouts Elder rode for Wimbledon in 1930.' (joke of course!) Yes, that could be P1928's Russian quote translated into Chinese.

The latest Russell Paine developments in Spain look interesting but I'm sceptical about it getting off the ground although I hope to be proved wrong. Additionally, I have heard that a dirt track is planned for the Rhonda region, to be used for cars and will probably be laid to USA sprint/midget car track specifications. But it could also be used for speedway bikes as such tracks are in New Zealand IMO. My contact from Malaga was rather hazy and not personally interested. He just mentioned it in a matter of passing talk. However, he is an in-law so I'll see if he can find out more for me.

Hey Ray! What does this mean. I managed P1928's Russian fairly easily - but Chinese! Is it something to do with chow mein twice without noodles? speedyguy

The more I look at this, the sadder it makes me feel. A tremendous amount of effort - then frustration at the end of it all. Rider-promoter Ted Gibson had the right idea (to a certain extent when he promoted in Spain in the early 1950s). He just set up deals at various bull-rings and, because the tracks were so small, just staged three rider races.

I was thinking of those articles when he led a campaign in the SLP at the end of 2005 to try and save Wimbledon Speedway. Did you participate in that effort with a response... The first "Russian' rider I saw was 'Igor Baranov" at New Cross in the early 1960s. Guess things have moved on since then under Mr Putin? What exactly does your comment in Russian text mean? So far as I can make out it reads as follows: The national league of [spidveya] represents the rating of the racers of the open command championship of Russia on by the [spidveyu] Can you confirm for me? Many thanks.

I found this. It tends to look like a John Hyam article in the South London Press!!!

Playing tricks!

Wasn't Archie Windmill a pre-war rider at Barnet? Also, I believe, so were Percy Brine (Cyril's older brother) and their brother-in-law Dick Geary.

It depends on how you view the word speedway? As a sport or as a venue where racing takes place. There are many speedways in the USA - and they only stage car race meetings. In the 1930s and 1940s there were many UK venues which were described by their promoters as grass speedway. Abridge most likely was one of them.

I do recall Marshall Pugh, your comments on him, and the Ian Hoskins venture in Majorca, for which Reg Luckhurst was the rider-manager. Pugh did have second-halves at Canterbury but, from I remember, had problems adapting from the 250cc engine bikes they used in Spain (modified road bikes) to conventional speedway bikes. Not really a Spanish rider, as my memory serves, but the son of Brits who had gone to live there - maybe?. I believe the whole venture was dealt with in some depth in a series or articles by Ian Hoskins which appeared in 'Speedway Mail' sometime in the mid-1970s. Memory serves me that Hoskins told the old story about a Spanish speedway venture - good crowds at the start, then just a loss of interest. There were Spanish riders - I have no names - in these meetings.

I am certain that in pre-war Spanish speedway there were two brothers, Poto Primo and Poto Segundo. There was also a rider I have as Sans from pre-war days but that could be the Amelian Sanz that you have listed. Arche rode again after the war. My records show that in 1949 these riders were active Gomez II, Ayuso, Vinals II and Quesada. The annoying thing is that a custom of Spanish sport is identifying participants by surnames only. I do know that quite a few English riders have raced in Spain over the years - from before the war like Cliff Parkinson to many after the war including Dennis Newton, Ted Gibson, Dave Collins, Johnnie Hayles, Bluey Pay, Vic Ridgeon and Reg Luckhurst. Alberto Sirvan, from the 1950s, was definitely Spanish but I am certain only raced in meetings in France. Amazing what you can learn from a 1970s dirty weekend in Benidorm!

Wal Morton rode for King's Lynn in the only two meetings they staged in 1953.

A list of USA Open Championship winners going back to the early 1930s can be found on this yahoo discussion group: http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway

Over the years I have made a study of Spanish speedway - especially the post-war attempts that involved Ted Gibson, Wally Mawdsley and Ian Hoskins. This embraces the years between 1948-1971. All had initial success, then attendances fell away. Two very good friends of mine, with whom I am still in contact, Dave Collins and Vic Ridgeon, rode in Spain in 1953 - and it was from them that I gained the information on how crowds start off very large then declined as interest rapidly declined. Spain also tried speedway in the years before the start of the Civil War in 1936. Spanish riders appeared at several London tracks in the early 1930s and I am certain they also had a rider in the qualifying rounds of the first World Championship in 1936. A further add to not knowing anything about Speedway in Spain. In Tom Stenner's early 1930s classic 'Thrilling the Million" he mentions that the King of Spain and his family were regular visitors to meeting at speedway track in Madrid. Yes, I was at the launch of speedway's return to Wimbledon at the stadium (was it 2001?). As I was there in my capacity as a local newspaper reporter, the questions I asked about break-even crowds etc were acceptable, as were the others that I put forward. I feel the questions I asked were in order and it was as a result of them that afterwards I had a discussion with the then press officer Barry Pickering. It also led to the start of a long-standing friendship with the then main promoter Dave # Name Removed #. I seem to remember in your brief stay at Plough Lane, trying several times to contact you by phone - it was never very successful, in the end I went to Dave # Name Removed # - and that was a different and fruitful affair. Steve Ribbons quote: Let me explain, and I will say it loudly enough so that you can hear it through your ear trumpet. - ONE DIRTY WEEKEND IN BENIDORM BACK IN THE SEVENTIES DOES NOT MAKE YOU, OR ANYONE ELSE AN EXPERT ON SPANISH SPEEDWAY.: quote That's great! In 1971 I married a Spanish woman, we are still married. Over the years I have made many visits to Spain to see the now Spanish side of the family. Luckily, none of them to Benidorm. I have tried to watch speedway on SKY with them and they just don't want top know - but watching the Moto GP is another matter for them.

Who was the tallest rider in speedway.....? La Ronde! PS: Sometime back I saw an excellent photo of Wolves' James Bond in a collision with Sunderland's Dave Collins. Probably taken in 1965. It appeared in the Vintage Speedway Magazine.

And the cuckoo usually arrives at this time of the year...!

There was some stuff about Papua New Guinea on http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/oldtimespeedway some months ago.

That's a really incredibly informative Post. Well done! I enjoyed reading it.

Just read in the 'Non-League Paper' (Sunday March 23) that the FA's £200million investment into grass roots football could in time grow to £700million, thanks to additional income which is expected to come from the likes of the Football Foundation, local government, and the FA's partners which include Tesco and McDonald's. Sadly, speedway will never be able to match that sort of cash for its development. Or does anyone in speedway have any ideas on how it could raise this sort of cash input could be raised to follow the improvement of its facilities (GRA stadiums excluded! ).

Back to dear old Wal Morton. He spent most of 1945 riding for Bradford - and looking at the results for that season would appear to have been the Boomerangs leading rider.

Exactly the point I was making. The GRA only controlled a handful of tracks (four) of which two are still staging speedway. The article tended to indicate they had a major influence on speedway which they do not have.

I think you will find Southern Rovers were formed to fill a gap in the Southern Area League following the closure of Brafield.

The as dear old Wal rode at two different tracks in Bradford - Odsal and Greenfield - will that add another total to his 1946-64 total?