Our review of Stephen Waller's new photography book - "Ipswich Speedway: A Decade in Pictures".
Published in conjunction with the Evening Star it features the best of Stephen's work
from Foxhall Heath (and beyond) since 1998, up to and including the present season.
A selection of photographs from the non-league venue that operated in the
early fifties and again in the early seventies. The stadium, now demolished, was located
on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
Canadian Division Three champion Graham 'Pirate' Wale recently
visited the UK and stayed with the Middleditch family. Pictures of his
trip can be found in the gallery of his website.
Graham, a sprightly 63 years old, has recently purchased his first GM
after riding Weslake and Jawa engines for more years than he cares to remember.
"Eddie Rigg was one of my favourite riders in the 1950s - I was a London-based Bradford supporter (of sorts!). I also liked Ernie and Norman Price...another story ...and Oliver Hart. I had no idea that Eddie died in such sad circumstances. A very touching tribute to one of speedway's great chacacters in an era when speedway was a 'different sport.'"
"Is there a speedway track in the world that Charles McKay hasn't been to? Glad he's decided to share the pictures with those of us who can only dream of visting so many weird and wonderful places. Thanks Charles!"
Former rider Bobby Duncan recently fulfilled his dream to
ride a speedway bike once more. He travelled from his home in Norway to the
Ostersund circuit in Central Sweden. As well as getting in some track time, he
also took some pictures of the circuit.
Gerald followed Cradley Heathens from the seventies through to the nineties. A period
that saw the club become one of the sport's glamour outfits.
We're aware of intermittent problems with our 'www.speedwayplus.co.uk' url. Please
use 'www.speedwayplus.com' to substantially improve your chances of accessing the site.
Robert McNeil is looking for videos/photographs covering his racing career
- Can You Help?
"Hey Mr Belton, can you suck up to the Aussie's a little more in your book 'Hammerin Round'. My Grandfather Colin Watson hardly gets a mention in your book but he showed them all a clean face at the end of a lot of races. Nice pictures of Fearless and Stone though not one picture of CW being one of the standard bearers of leg trailing. I guess you can only put so much in a book, but West Ham, the east end and Colin 'Coy' Watson go hand in hand."
Lee Dunton on "Were speedway caps ever awarded?":
"RE being capped for your country, I can only remember that when racing for your country you kept the race jacket that you raced in as a momento."
Peter Hosking looks back on the career of the former Edinburgh, Exeter,
Wembley and Poole rider. Although overshadowed by his legendary brother, Wayne was a talented
but painfully unlucky rider who, given an even break, may well have achieved much more
in the sport.
Eddie's Granddaugther Trish Gorman was delighted with the response
to her recent appeal for information about Eddie. She's pulled together this
list of Eddie's key achievements and milestones and would be delighted to hear of
any additions or amendments required. Trish would also love to receive copies of any
articles about Eddie's time as a rider.
Barry first saw the sport in 1977 at Eastbourne so there's an Eagles bias to
this selection. He finds room for one of the great entertainers - The Jellyman.
Pete Wrathall is helping to organise a Long Eaton reunion. He is looking for any
riders and fans interested in attending. The reunion will be held at the Bridge Inn,
Longmoor Lane, Long Eaton on the 14th June. Tickets will be £5 and will include a
buffet, raffle and memorabilia. Anyone interested should contact Pete on 01332 872187
or 07970 419170.
David McAllan - Speedway career in images
To celebrate David's Speedway career Ian Adam, Glasgow Track Photographer and Brian Logan, First Bend Action Videos have put together a double DVD featuring pictures and videos from his years as a speedway rider. Disc 1 contains hundreds of pictures by the UK's top speedway photographers, including Mike Patrick, along with some early snaps from the McAllan family album. Disc 2 contains over 90 minutes of video showing David in action at various tracks round the UK during his career.
The cost of this double DVD is £12.00 if collected from the Glasgow Track Shop or
£14.50 posted to any UK address.
Everyone involved in the production of this DVD have donated their services total free
meaning that 100% of the cost of the DVD goes directly to David's fund.
Copies of the DVD can be order from the following web link.
"Hi, a Silver Surfer here, ex Monarchs supporter and 'boo' to all those Newcastle Diamonds and Glasgow Tigers riders! (Only joking! They gave us the best ever meetings! And we just loved them when one of their team members 'guested' for us! I have just come across this site. Greatly enjoyed this article. I had the pleasure of being taken by Barry and Wayne Briggs Mum 'Scrooge' to a meeting in Christchurch in 1974 when I was over there to see my hubby ride in the 10k cycle track event in the Commonwealth Games. Quite different from the UK events!"
"Jim McMillan - What a modest interview for an absolute hero. Jimmy had all the talent to be a world champion, if only he could have gated more consistently and been a bit more ruthless. He had superstar quality without superstar temprament.
It's great to know that his experience is being used to the benefit of the sport. I would like to be the first to suggest that Jimmy should take over (as soon as possible) track preparation for international events. He was a racer who shone on racing tracks - for the benefit of modern supporters I would like to point out that it is not an offence to provide a track with more than one racing line, nor id it forbidden for riders to pass each other. Ole has tyre packing down to a fine art and has even maaged to reduce some Polish tracks to processional tracks. STOP before we bore the Sky TV public to death!!
I have great memories of Jimmy Mac and his uncles, Dougie and 'Oor Wullie'. I seem to recall that Jimmy was strongly advised to complete his apprenticeship (sheet metal worker) before seriously trying speedway (aged 21). Good advice from his dad - unfortunately misplaced, on this occasion. How good could wee Jimmy have been if he had started at 16?
I was a little disappointed that he did not mention big brother, Bill who rode for Glasgow in the mid seventies. Bill drifted between reserve and second string - however I remember the night he scored a maximum!! Unfortunately, a one-off. Bill emigrated to South Africa (I think). Younger brother, Dougie had too much sense and gave speedway a wide berth."
Graham Cooke is the man behind the innovative and always-interesting
Blunsdon Blog. It's the website that allows fans a peak behind the scenes at Swindon
and an insight into the hard work that goes into getting a speedway meeting on.
We caught up with Graham to find out more about the website and the impact that it's had.
Mark has followed the Workington Comets for over thirty years.
We received the sad news this week that Dennis Beeforth, who contributed
pictures of the Redcar circuit, has passed away.
Condolences to his family and friends.
Brad Muller wants to hear from young British riders interested in competing
in Perth this winter. Brad can be contacted at
bradpmuller@hotmail.com
David Smith is looking to replace his lost collection of Paisley Lions
programmes - Can You Help?
David McAllan - Speedway career in images
To celebrate David's Speedway career Ian Adam, Glasgow Track Photographer and Brian Logan, First Bend Action Videos have put together a double DVD featuring pictures and videos from his years as a speedway rider. Disc 1 contains hundreds of pictures by the UK's top speedway photographers, including Mike Patrick, along with some early snaps from the McAllan family album. Disc 2 contains over 90 minutes of video showing David in action at various tracks round the UK during his career.
The cost of this double DVD is £12.00 if collected from the Glasgow Track Shop or
£14.50 posted to any UK address.
Everyone involved in the production of this DVD have donated their services total free
meaning that 100% of the cost of the DVD goes directly to David's fund.
Copies of the DVD can be order from the following web link.
"I
have to agree with Jim on his selection of Sandor Levai. Being a Belle Vue regular starting in the
sixties I had the great fortune of watching some real tryers and Sandor was allways a real crowd
favourite. It was a sad loss when Sandor had to move on but he still performed wherever he rode.
A wonderful ambassodor for the sport."
"I was present at the second and last meeting at Ashington for the
Northumberland Open Championship. To be frank, the track was awful and most of the riders weren't
keen to race. 6 programmed riders failed to attend for various reasons and of those who did ride,
4 pulled out during the meeting. Times ranged from 74.4 to 84.2 in a 2 man heat 10. Phil Crump
however wasn't fazed by the mayhem and strolled to a 15 point max. Geoff Penniket must have lost
a fortune in this ill-fated venture, that in retrospect was doomed to fail."
"I know Bob Ferry very well - he does have a really good sense of humour and fun. In support of
his
stance regarding the Dave Gifford article, I would just like to say the following.
We the people
of Sunderland are sick and tired of everyone running down our City (to be fair Dave would not be
aware of this).
It is not just the Speedway world - we do NOT get any cover from the local
Television companies either. We are the BIGGEST connurbation in the North East and yet we have to
feed on the scraps left over from Middlesbrough and Newcastle. This is NOT a rant at either of
those two places - both of which are great places to visit - but a plea for fairness.
Even in
Speedway we have only had five years of operation, the last time in the early 70's. To close,
most people in Sunderland are very proud of their City and do not like it being criticised. I
realise that this response may make a few people think that we in Sunderland have a siege
mentality - WE DON'T. We just want a level playing field. Sunderland is a great place - WHY NOT
COME AND HAVE A LOOK!!!"
Norman Jacobs' much anticipated history of New Cross Speedway is published this month
and we're delighted to bring you some extracts from the book. These sections cover
parts of the 1934, 1937, 1948, 1961 and 1963 seasons. For those wondering, the book
title refers to the 'Frying Pan' nickname given to the small track at the
South East London venue.
Jim is now based in Northern Ireland but has watched speedway for forty years
and has been a regular at both Cradley Heath and Wimbledon.
We were saddened to hear of the premature death of Newport promoter
Tim Stone last weekend. Jeff Scott has penned a fine tribute to him which
can be read on his
'Showered in Shale' blog.
Tracy Holmes is looking for some 1973 copies of Speedway Mail
- Can You Help?
"Hyde Road, Manchester - the traditional and not forgotten home of the Belle Vue Aces.
Although a Londoner, I made several happy visits. It was indeed a sad day when speedway
ended there. "
"I was also an avid fan of the Chads in the early fifties. The team then was Peter
Robinson, Alf Webster, Buck Whitby, Harry Welch, Len Read, Reg Duval, Peter Craven, Bill
Griffiths and Georgie Newton, the last of the leg trailers (not forgetting Tommy
Allott). Doug Serrurier had then retired. I have a 1951 programme with a photo of the
whole team."
"In 1972 Roger Wright rode at Hackney as well, so he must
have some average for that year with Hackney."
Quite correct, Roger appeared in 14 meetings for the Hawks scoring 36+6 for
a four point average. He also appeared for Teeside that season (8.56 from 22 meetings).