Promoters who were characters over the years

[proud panther]

Cyril Crane was mad back in the day, but a very genuine person with the fans that I knew.

[speedwaysliders]

Right or wromg Bob Dugard always showed passion for the sport and when he and Eastbourne used to come to Arena Essex for matches i just couldnt wait for the match to come around and begin as the friction mounted even more so when Jon Cook was in the Lakeside pits!! I sooooooooooooooooo much miss that passion as todays matches you get nothing!!!BLAND build ups to matches is the norm these days.

[M.D]

1 hour ago, speedwaysliders said:

Right or wromg Bob Dugard always showed passion for the sport and when he and Eastbourne used to come to Arena Essex for matches i just couldnt wait for the match to come around and begin as the friction mounted even more so when Jon Cook was in the Lakeside pits!! I sooooooooooooooooo much miss that passion as todays matches you get nothing!!!BLAND build ups to matches is the norm these days.

Got a few stories about Bob, especially When Adam Shields and Jon Cook left for Lakeside..

Edited Tuesday at 07:06 PM by M.D

[YeOldPitGate]

15 hours ago, M.D said:

Got a few stories about Bob, especially When Adam Shields and Jon Cook left for Lakeside..

C'mon then M.D you can't leave us all hanging after that ?

[Dave_minall]

I have a lot of respect for the late Tim Stone - he was definitely marmite to a lot of people, but he was always very nice, welcoming and respectful to us during my (short) time riding for the Mavericks. You always knew where you stood with him and he never minced his words. Plus the man lived and breathed Newport and it's such a shame things went the way they did there.

I'll never forget we used to go down there every Sunday in the winter to practice, and planned to sleep in the van the night before, he offered us the option of putting our van in the pits (there was a lot of travellers in the area and often targeted Newport as a place to pitch up) and letting us sleep in a VIP box with heating - to which we gratiously accepted. He said "under no conditions are you to go outside before I get here in the morning though, the guard dog will have your pants down" - one night someone tried to break in and we found a pair of absolutely shredded jeans in the pits the morning after 😂😂😂

Edited Wednesday at 11:16 AM by Dave_minall

[The White Knight]

5 hours ago, Dave_minall said:

I have a lot of respect for the late Tim Stone - he was definitely marmite to a lot of people, but he was always very nice, welcoming and respectful to us during my (short) time riding for the Mavericks. You always knew where you stood with him and he never minced his words. Plus the man lived and breathed Newport and it's such a shame things went the way they did there.

I'll never forget we used to go down there every Sunday in the winter to practice, and planned to sleep in the van the night before, he offered us the option of putting our van in the pits (there was a lot of travellers in the area and often targeted Newport as a place to pitch up) and letting us sleep in a VIP box with heating - to which we gratiously accepted. He said "under no conditions are you to go outside before I get here in the morning though, the guard dog will have your pants down" - one night someone tried to break in and we found a pair of absolutely shredded jeans in the pits the morning after 😂😂😂

Three cheers for the dog. 👍🤣

[Bear_Bottom]

😉

[Bunce]

On 11/25/2025 at 4:41 PM, proud panther said:

Cyril Crane was mad back in the day, but a very genuine person with the fans that I knew.

Was it Cyril, who after a dodgy refereeing decision, climbed up and polished the glass outside the referees box, saying he hoped it gave him a clearer view of the race?

[stevehone]

11 minutes ago, Bunce said:

Was it Cyril, who after a dodgy refereeing decision, climbed up and polished the glass outside the referees box, saying he hoped it gave him a clearer view of the race?

Buster

[Bunce]

4 hours ago, Bunce said:

Was it Cyril, who after a dodgy refereeing decision, climbed up and polished the glass outside the referees box, saying he hoped it gave him a clearer view of the race?

 

4 hours ago, stevehone said:

Buster

Thanks Steve. I knew it was one of the two of them, just couldn't remember which one!  So many funny things happened at Saddlebow Road, but my favourite must still be the "exploding" Witches!  Don't suppose you have any photos of them?

[SteveArena]

Terry Linden doing a runner from Berwick. 1991 I think.

[YeOldPitGate]

3 hours ago, SteveArena said:

Terry Linden doing a runner from Berwick. 1991 I think.

Terry had no equal when it came to running a lottery, but another great site in my days at Lynn in the mid 80-s to early 90's was Bill Barker wandering around the stadium shouting "raffle tickets who wants to buy some raffle tickets" it was always worth buying a couple just to try and get the inside scoop from Bill on anything you wanted to know about re the team.

[GeneralMelchett]

Reading through this its clear we have had a few characters over the years - Simmo going missing seems to be a theme as he quit Arena mid way through 1989 after his ankle injury, never to be seen again. Always had a soft spot for leaping Len when Andrew was riding for Arena he was usually around.

I always had a lot of time for Peter Thorogood - down to earth fella and they ran a tight ship at Arena - mainly cos they had too! When Terry Russell and Ivan Henry came in i felt he was cast aside somewhat (unfairly) and then when they quit to head off to Hackney - he was back rescuing us in 1996! By all accounts the Northern tours were very much what happens on tour stays on tour!

 

Edited yesterday at 02:40 PM by GeneralMelchett

[Dave Goddard]

On 11/27/2025 at 4:17 PM, Bunce said:

 

Thanks Steve. I knew it was one of the two of them, just couldn't remember which one!  So many funny things happened at Saddlebow Road, but my favourite must still be the "exploding" Witches!  Don't suppose you have any photos of them?

There's a bit of footage of that on one of the Crashes and Cockups videos, can't remember which year it was.

[Preston Comet]

3 hours ago, GeneralMelchett said:

Reading through this its clear we have had a few characters over the years - Simmo going missing seems to be a theme as he quit Arena mid way through 1989 after his ankle injury, never to be seen again. Always had a soft spot for leaping Len when Andrew was riding for Arena he was usually around.

I always had a lot of time for Peter Thorogood - down to earth fella and they ran a tight ship at Arena - mainly cos they had too! When Terry Russell and Ivan Henry came in i felt he was cast aside somewhat (unfairly) and then when they quit to head off to Hackney - he was back rescuing us in 1996! By all accounts the Northern tours were very much what happens on tour stays on tour!

 

I remember going to Swindon a few times watching Bradford in the mid 90's when Peter Thorogood was promoter, and he would always have a walk round to the back straight to say hello to the Dukes fans. Always seemed a real decent bloke.

[arnieg]

35 minutes ago, Preston Comet said:

 

 

Edited yesterday at 06:59 PM by arnieg

[Normski]

20 hours ago, GeneralMelchett said:

Reading through this its clear we have had a few characters over the years - Simmo going missing seems to be a theme as he quit Arena mid way through 1989 after his ankle injury, never to be seen again. Always had a soft spot for leaping Len when Andrew was riding for Arena he was usually around.

I always had a lot of time for Peter Thorogood - down to earth fella and they ran a tight ship at Arena - mainly cos they had too! When Terry Russell and Ivan Henry came in i felt he was cast aside somewhat (unfairly) and then when they quit to head off to Hackney - he was back rescuing us in 1996! By all accounts the Northern tours were very much what happens on tour stays on tour!

 

Loved it when Arena Essex came to Berwick a late night drink became an early morning drink haha great days