star ghost

Johnny was at 4 foot 9 inches "big" the smallest speedway rider known. As stated he suffered some hair-raising crashes including one where he took out 20 yards of fence at the Firs after clipping the back wheel of Roy Moreton of Swindon. Johnny also rode for Ipswich for a time. Incidentally the photo of Johnny on John's Defunct Track site is on the Yarmouth Bloaters entry, not Norwich's section

What makes me think you are an author mate

Re Oxford v Norwich 1964 The teams met Home & Away in the Britannia Cup, National Trophy and National League. 6 matches in all. The last match was on 27 August, in the League. This one featured the title fight "Bishop v Levai" Oxford won all the trophies that season except the early season Easter Cup which Norwich won. Only a few weeks after that night at Oxford Norwich were "wiped out by the builders"

Leicester was always an enjoyable track to visit as was Hyde Road. Others I liked were the Southern Area League tracks, Rustic but homely, and a great bunch of people involved at each of them.

Mention of Oxford in 1964 reminds me of the Scratch race Final when Norwich visited Cowley. The riders were Ove Fundin & Arne Pander as expected but the others were surprisingly Johnny Bishop and our Sandor Levai, two riders occupying lower order spots at the time. Bishop planted Sandor into the fence so Sandor flew for him in a flurry of fists. Ronnie Genz and Arne also had "words" that night and Genz & Colin Gooddy refused to ride in the second half.

Jimmy Gooch was quite good with his fists. He laid another rider out in the pits one night. Oddly enough "Gentleman Aub" Lawson got involved at Wimbledon one night. Maybe with Cyril Brine from memory. Cyril Roger was another of the Norwich riders who could handle himself well. Many rumours went around about Clive Featherby as well.

Len Read, ex-Norwich Stars, Plymouth Devils and Liverpool Chads had his belated 90th birthday party last week and Billy Bales was there. He still looks good enough to be on the track. Others attending included Phil Clarke, Trevor Hedge & Tich Read

I think Billy Bales should be mentioned here. Despite a long time in the game his only World Final was as a Reserve replacing the injured Aub Lawson. It seemed as if Billy always suffered a serious crash every time he was about to make the big breakthrough. These injuries definitely kept him from the real top bracket of Speedway. Arne Pander is a definite entry here as well. And who knows what Malcolm Flood might have achieved in time. Joe Owen also a possibility

Danny Dunton rode as "loan spell" with Norwich Stars in May 1953. These matches were in the Coronation Cup Competition. I think D D had a number of "loans" in that season. The 1959 "Reserve League" started after the Britannia Cup matches where the No. 7 did not get programmed rides in the 15 heat match. He then rode in a 4 man team over 5 heats in a Junior League. When the National League started over 18 heats that season the Junior section was dropped. After some matches this reverted to the 15 heat + Junior League system but a number of matches were never raced. Any Contract rider not in the top 6 was allowed in so even Phil Clarke and Johnny Chamberlain rode for Norwich in the competition. Tommy Sweetman rode for Norwich in the National Trophy when teams were 10=a-side for the one season it was so.

This gets more involved than I thought. You could???? add the Reserve & Junior Leagues of the various years and double up most riders totals that way. It has certainly been interesting reading. However I would say as the current Belle Vue are a different track it possibly could be counted differently. As for Wal Morton at Bristol the reference can be checked on Speedway Researcher in the pre-war section Happily we are all fair-minded followers of this sport and there is no slagging off in this thread

I would add that George Major rode for Norwich in Easter & Britannia Competitions in 1964. Both of these were Official S C B recognised Competitions under the National League banner of the day. I agree that the poster who started it all should say what counts. , Even if it robs "our Wal" of his "rightful place" at the top. I would also add Crayford to Nigel Sparshott's list. He started in the Anglian League there.

I did point out when I first listed Wal's teams that irish tracks like Belfast may not count but on the strength of oddfossengens posting I left them in. They are British Isles anyhow, hardly the same as counting Continental teams.

Fred was with Newcastle pre-war but after the war he joined up with the Hodgson brothers, Frank & Jack, riding for the Middlesbrough Bears under the Management of Harry Whitfield. He could well have ridden at Newcastle during the short 1945 season. In 1946 the Bears were Northern League Champions and in 1947 they won the Division Two title. Fred then joined West Ham Hammers in Division One for the 1948 season and later joined Oxford Cheetahs (in 1954 I think). I think he retired following his days with Oxford. Kid usually did well at the Firs when he came to visit in the League matches, being a solid middle order team-man.

Caister Road Stadium is still in use today. It now houses stock-car and dog racing. The surface of the track is now tar-macked. Every so often someone asks about Speedway maybe returning but I feel costs would be prohibitive. When there was a recent opening of a revamped area of the Stadium one of the guests was Billy Bales who was the leading Bloater in the years that Speedway was at the Stadium. The Defunct site has a lot of good stuff on it. (Try the Norwich entry )

Not being able to get Watneys Red Barrel nowadays is a definite PLUS point. The only drink worse than that was Watneys Starlight. As far as Newport goes I always looked forward to seeing them as they had the great Sandor Levai in the team when they came to Kings Lynn. One of my favourite riders for sure. The track was round the football pitch and it always looked a peculiar place to ride. Lynn didn't do too well there most times

Peter Bailey (Ipswich & Coventry) died in traffic accident outside Coventry Speedway on 27 April 1974

Riders Deaths, on track and other causes, are shown on the Speedway Researcher website run by Ron McNeil and Jim Henry

Very sad news ........ Goodbye to a Speedway Legend

Possbly gone to print before any write-up available

On 12 July 1955 in the National Trophy match v Norwich Ron had 2 rides as number 8 for West Ham. The programme editorial said that West Ham were giving him a chance in his comeback after 4 years out. The League was run on 7-a-side so Ron was the additional rider needed. In heat 4 the finishing order was Harry Edwards, Terry Courtnell, Don Lawson, Ron Johnson. Ron's second ride was in heat 14 and Harry & Don were gifted a 5 - 0 for us when Terry and Ron both fell. In the second leg on 16 July at the Firs Stadium Ron took second place in heat 4 behind Don with Fred Brand in third from Terry. Ron was put out in heat 11 as replacement for Alan Smith but trailed in last. Hardly surprising really. The finishing order was Ove Fundin, Aub Lawson, Split Waterman in that race. In heat 14 Ron finished at the back again in a 3 - 3. Peter Morrish in his 1946 - 1964 book shows Ron as scoring just 1 point in League Matches for West Ham and in his season review for West Ham he says Ron's attempted comeback was "painful for his admirers" I suppose Ron also rode a number of second half,s that season also. I hope this is of use to you Ray

I know Danny Dunton is still alive but heard he was wheelchair bound after an accident

Tommy Johanssen signed for Kings Lynn but was nicked by Hull before he rode for the Stars

Always pleased to help Brian

I can add that Ron (the Scottish one) also turned out for West Ham during a comeback attempt.

Possibly Billy Bales who rode for Yarmouth Bloaters 1948 to 1951 (inclusive of his National Service years) = 4 Billy joined Norwich Stars for the 1952 season and continued until closure of the Firs after the 1964 season = 13 Allocated to Sheffield Tigers for 1965 he continued until his retirement at the end of the 1969 season = 5 This totals 22 seasons when Billy rode here in England True Billy missed most of 1951 in the U K. due to serving in the forces but he rode Speedway in those days in Egypt. Having said this I think Jimmy Squibb would be the rider with the longest career in Post War Speedway. Another who might be considered is "Hurri Ken" McKinley who was riding for many seasons.