YeOldPitGate Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago I mentioned Ronnie Russell on a previous thread, I had probably stopped going to speedway by the time Ron took over Rye House I seem to remember through reading the speedway star around that time he through everything into it but again from memory it cost him an absolute packet. Did a quick google and found this great article I didn't realise he got involved at Arena Essex later but I guess this was with Terry his brother, has anyone else got any great stories and jinks from lively promoters over the years, I seem to remember again after I had stopped going to Lynn stories of Buster lying on the track to stop as race going ahead.  http://speedwayplus.com/showered_in_shale_m.shtml  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 7 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 7 hours ago I would love to hear if anyone has any stories on why Bill Barker and Simmo fell out at Lynn, I was still going at this point and at first it seemed to herald a new dawn we had on paper a powerhouse team but half of them went from unbeatable around Lynn (Bo Peterson) to terrible around Lynn, dear old John Davis could only ride the boards but not in Henka style, JD always struck me as more suited to longtrack than speedway. The first season Simmo was the front man and then abruptly left leaving Bill to soldier on alone, Bill's winter talk in's pre internet days were brilliant, he should have been in stand up and had no problem telling fans they were being stupid and half the time the audience were in the aisles with his one liners. He never outright said why he had fell out with Simmo but it was obvious something had happened as Bill alluded to with some right old quips along the lines of "has any one seen Malcolm ?" silence from the audience followed by "well if you do can you let him know some people would love to speak to him, namely me" lol. Terry Linden and the lottery ticket, Colin Pratt wanting Lynn thrown out of the league as we were so bad for a couple of years mid 80's lets here some stories of ducking and diving. Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arnieg Posted 7 hours ago Report Share Posted 7 hours ago Well there's Bill Barker, the Commonwealth Final takings and the flatulent dog ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 7 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 7 hours ago 1 minute ago, arnieg said: Well there's Bill Barker, the Commonwealth Final takings and the flatulent dog ... Go on Arnieg I must have stopped going at that point I think my final year was when Richard Knight went to Berwick and Mike Lee made another aborted comeback, what's they about bill and the farting dog and the commonwealth takings ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 7 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 7 hours ago Just did a quick google and it seems whatever the reason Simmo and Bill fell out over it resulted in Simmo being banned from holding any offical position in speedway for five years, whatever was the old rascal up to ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikebv Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago (edited) 49 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said: Just did a quick google and it seems whatever the reason Simmo and Bill fell out over it resulted in Simmo being banned from holding any offical position in speedway for five years, whatever was the old rascal up to ? Not paying his electric bill? I remember one night at Kirky Lane v Coventry when Colin Pratt and several of his riders complained about the track being "too heavy' which ended up with a track inspection and work done on it, which seemed to be lasting forever.  Pratt and a few of his riders were on bend one, pointing out various issues to the track team as they made changes, and whilst pointing this out, John Perrin emerged from the adjacent pits with a bucket full of shale, and presented it to Pratt.. When interviewed by the centre green presenter Perrin told him that he had told Pratt that he could take it back to Coventry with him to use on his track, given his track didnt ever have any shale on it... In an interview with the Speedway Star the week after, Pratt got asked what his response was... He said that he told Perrin that he would never tell him how many onions to put on the burgers that John sold from his many burger vans, so Perrin shouldn't tell him how to prepare a Speedway track... Edited 6 hours ago by mikebv Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 54 minutes ago, YeOldPitGate said: Go on Arnieg I must have stopped going at that point I think my final year was when Richard Knight went to Berwick and Mike Lee made another aborted comeback, what's they about bill and the farting dog and the commonwealth takings ? Â 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YeOldPitGate Posted 6 hours ago Author Report Share Posted 6 hours ago Very dubious Iain Bill was yet another promoter who was probably reasonably wealthy when he got into the game most likely skint five years later. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted 6 hours ago Report Share Posted 6 hours ago 6 minutes ago, mikebv said: Not paying his electric bill? I remember one night at Kirky Lane v Coventry when Colin Pratt and several of his riders complained about the track being "too heavy' which ended up with a track inspection and work done on it, which seemed to be lasting forever.  Pratt and a few of his riders were on bend one, pointing out various issues to the track team as they made changes, and whilst pointing this out, John Perrin emerged from the adjacent pits with a bucket full of shale, and presented it to Pratt and told him he could take it back to Coventry with him to use on his track, given his track didnt ever have any shale on it... In an interview with the Speedway Star the week after, Pratt got asked what his response was... He said that he told Perrin that he would never tell him how many onions to put on the burgers that John sold from his many burger vans, so Perrin shouldn't tell him how to prepare a Speedway track... I have posted this before but Was a big fan of John Perrin, straight talking northerner, he didn’t care who he offended, had some laughs in his company whenever I raced at or for belle vue, I know he was owing money to riders from time to time but he never owed me any, Graham dury was a marmite character too, riding for Graham I found him awkward but when not riding for him we often had long chats about the sport and he often backed me when I was speaking my mind about the sport, he offered me team managers job at Birmingham which I turned down and he told me he didn’t understand why I turned it down but respected me for not just taking it if I didn’t want it 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoundTheBoards Posted 1 hour ago Report Share Posted 1 hour ago 4 hours ago, YeOldPitGate said: Bill was yet another promoter who was probably reasonably wealthy when he got into the game He was reasonably wealthy the day after the Commonwealth Final.   Ooops, I mean whoever stole the takings was reasonably wealthy the day after the Commonwealth Final Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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