cyclone

Ron Johnston (nb the "t" was dropped off for some reason ?) was born at Milton Douglas, Duntocher & emigrated to Oz when aged six. A photocopy of his birth certificate appears in 1948 Stenners Supplement, page 213, with dob of 24/2/1907. Did Gordon McGregor never make the reserve berth in a World Final ?

Wouldn't by any chance be a mispronounciation of Dave Rattenbury - world famous purveyor of Speedway Souvenirs, the length & breadth of the country ??

I was on that train (apparently the longest passenger train in terms of carriages going across Europe at that time). It had two engines pulling it along (apparently red Russian diesel beasts !). It was magic & remember in particular :- A field in East Germany which was full of Russian tanks on manoevres. Passing through a massive rail marshalling yard in Poland early in the morning which had the awesome site of a multitude of steam locos (apparently the were US made, provided under the Marshall Aid Plan) warming up. Hassle with Border Guards returning when we were going into East Berlin & they wouldn't let the train move until all Union Jack flags were taken in from the windows. My mate having the foresight to bring bog rolls with him which were invaluable when there were none in the carriage WCs BTW tmc, there were quite a few Scots there supporting the British riders also. Definitely a memorable trip & I could fill pages on this.

The BBC has a website where you can download film clips from the programmes. Try :- .nation on film It mentions a a 30 second silent Motorcycling - Scrambling shot. As I'm not au fait with downloading film clips perhaps someone else can try

Surely Norman Parker was riding for Coventry or Harringay when you were born ??

Afraid not - your probably thinking of Dave Stevens. DW first started going to Speedway when Crayford opened up near his home in Welling in 1968.

Might well have been another Kiwi called Rim Malskatis who rode one in his first season with Long Eaton in 1965.

Same Guy - amazingly all his stats were calculated manually !! Believe he still pops up at the odd meeting - Bryn Williams should be able to provide more info. as Bryn, Dave & Chris Golding used to travel about together when they followed Crayford & Hackney in the 60s/70s.

Believe Graham Jones of Berwick was still riding JAPs in the late 70s/early 80s. Mike Broadbank apparently had a 4-valve JAP conversion when riding for Newport in the NL which some of the Bristol boys nicknamed the "Threshing Machine" !

Another film also made in 1933 called Britannia of Billingsgate starring John Mills also features Tom Farndon, Ron Johnson, Gus Khun, Colin Watson, Arthur Warwick, and Claude Rye as "Dirt Track Riders".

One of my favourites is the one in Ireland when Will Hay is the new station master and Moore Marriott and the tubby youngster his not so friendly colleagues <{POST_SNAPBACK}> It's called Oh Mr Porter and agree it's a classic

Done Exeter vs Reading & Reading vs Exeter also 3 in day Peterborough vs Berwick 11am Oxford vs Wimbledon 3pm Reading vs Exeter 7.45 pm & also remember doing Birmingham vs Wolves 11am Rye House vs Eastbourne in afternoon and ended up with Internationale @ Wimbledon in the evening

Thanks for correcting my ossified memory Norbold. It's one of those things that stuck out at the time but obviously I mixed up Ted with Alan. As it involved Rye House, wonder if this was the inspiration for Uncle Len to inflict his silly double point TR/TS rules on us last year

2. Fred Mockford introduced the starting gate - think it was at Crystal Place about 1932, though he could have done it later at New Cross in 1934 ?? 6. Johnnie Hoskins claimed it was him @ Wembley in 1929 7. Belle Vue & Exeter 12. I seem to recall it was Canterbury vs Rye House & it was Ted Hubbard with the split personality

There are pics of programme covers for Portsmouth Copnor & Portsmouth Tipnor in the Old Programme Gallery of the speedwayswapshop site . click here

Well you do not know whether or not such threats would be carried out, as you were not on the receiving end, so do not kid yourself that you know how some nutter might react Fact : - At the end of 2002 season, Peter Carr was assaulted in the riders car park at Ashfield by two "uninvited wellwishers" which resulted in him sustaining a collarbone injury, and he is not the first rider to have been attacked. So "Mr Security Know All" , how are you in a position to guarantee that Andersen might not suffer the same fate or worse.

See Jan Staechmann on Yahoo, has summarised a report on Danish media to the effect that Hans withdrew from tonight's meeting as result of death threats made by English fans. If true, those responsible have plumbed far lower depths than any of the alleged misdemeanours of Mr Andersen. Just imagine the damage such actions will have if the media here get there hands on this publicity. For anyone on here who thinks this is funny, I wonder how they would feel if they were subjected to such treatment. It will also give those who wish to object to the very presence of Speedway in their vicinity plenty of ammunition. We, the fans, will end up being stereotyped as psychopaths who should not be tolerated near decent law abiding neighbourhoods.

For what it's worth you can view programme cover images of High Beech from 1928 - 49 (incldg 1st ever ) by following this link:- here and entering Old Programme Gallery

In the circumstances I think Worky should be entitled to a guest as they should not have their KOC chances jeopardised in order that the BSI parasites can use their rider at such short notice.

In view of the farces of riders deliberately not finishing in order to fall 8 pts behind (Stoke vs Glasgow, Eastbourne vs Poole, Newcastle vs Reading), it has been suggested to revert to previous tac sub after 6 pts behind. However lets not kid ourselves, riders still threw points away to fall 6 pts behind also. The only solution to arrest this growing trend, is to scrap all forms of tac subs/tac rides, and revert to only permitting reserves to take additional rides in hts 1 -14, with each rider guaranteed a minimum of 3 rides. It ain't new - this is how it used to work in the good old days when the sport had some credibility.

Ken Last (Norwich late 50s/60s) was an unfortunate name as was Mick Bates (Mildenhall), who no doubt had a torrid time when the school roll was read out

Buggy Fleaman (Cardiff 1929). A perfect pair would have been Merv Salt (Teeside ?) & Adrian Pepper(Peterborough) or Gary Rolls (Hackney) & Paul Bentley PS Recall a rider called Bingley Cree who I rodefor Poole in 1948, is this who Mr # Name Removed # is thinking about ?

I was at this meeting, age 14 and stood right at the starting gate (I was one of the first through the turnstyles having queued from 5.30pm). Merlin's account is accurate. Peter Craven did start off scratch. Willie Templeton took part in the original start, but was unfit for the re-run(believe he fainted) and was replaced by reserve Dudley McKean. Norman Nevitt replaced Peter Craven. I have written notes in my programme at the time, which confirm this. If DD wishes to accept fiction, that is his prerogative, but please do not patronise those who were there, regarding "fading memories"

Well ML interesting that you do not refer to the following utterance from yourself:- "Plenty of snide remarks have gone on on the board Cyclone as well you know seeing as you were part of some of it." Please enlighten everyone as to what hard facts you have to support your allegation, or else do the decent thing and apologise for your unfounded statement. Rest assured I do not suffer from paranoia, nor am I initimidated by wee bully girls

You really should read things more carefully ML before responding. If you like to reread my response re stifling, you will see it refers to John Campbell's actions, not of those running the Chatzone. I'm afraid to disappoint you ML, but I never called Mr C a plonker, though I must admit I am not as sensitive as yourself when this term was used in the context it was. Likewise as my identity on this board should not be known to you, unless you are surreptitiously ferreting Forum members id's (touch of 1984 perhaps ), which is highly improper, how can you accuse me of making snide remarks elsewhere ?