26th June 2008

Book Extract: Tears and Glory Arnie Gibbons has documented the 40 year history of Reading Speedway in his first book - "Tears and Glory - The Winged Wheel Story". In this extract from the book you can read about the Racers' first season, as members of the brand-new British League Division 2.

Book Review: Tears and Glory Find out what you can expect from Arnie's book.

COMPETITION RESULT: Thanks to all who entered our competition to win a year's subscription to Classic Speedway magazine. We asked you to identify the riders, management and stadium in the England team picture on the front page of the www.retro-speedway.com website. The answers, which most of you got 100% correct, were: Riders: Michael Lee, Chris Morton, John Davis, Peter Collins and Dave Jessup. Management: Ian Thomas and Eric Boocock Venue: Wroclaw Congratulations to our competition winner: Garry Payne For more information about Classic Speedway magazine (and other excellent books and publications) visit www.retro-speedway.com

Johno's Testimonial Harry Ward trekked up to Coventry on Sunday to join the thousands paying tribute to Steve 'Johno' Johnston. Here are Harry's thoughts on the day and a couple of pictures from the event.

David Craven is looking for details of a fatal crash at Odsal in the 1950s - Can You Help?

Francis Brown on Track Pix: "Get it before it goes! Do any readers live near Nelson, Lancashire? There used to be a track at the Seedhill Football Stadium on Carr Road, Nelson. The ground was demolished in 1980 to make way for the M65 motorway and the site remaining today looks little more than a gravelled bomb-site. However - on the north-west flank of the land runs a brick wall, partly obscured by scrub and bushes but still bearing signwriting for the home and away speedway teams, numbered 1 to 8. Seemingly this was the back wall of the pits and is the only evidence I could find of the existence of the track during a recent visit. Sadly, I had no camera with me and - I understand Nelson FC have plans to return to the site, rebuilding their ground which (I presume) will entail demolition of the former pit-wall, extinguishing forever yet another piece of memorabilia. If somebody happens to be passing, with a camera, it's easy to park across the road and there's free access to the land in question! " Click here to leave your own feedback

 

19th June 2008

Catching Up With... Retro Speedway Retro Speedway have just launched "Classic Speedway", a new magazine covering the sport from its earliest days right through to the early nineteen seventies. The new publication replaces the well established "Vintage Speedway Magazine" but has a broader scope and will focus on more recent times. We fired some questions at editor Tony McDonald to find out about this latest project and the other things his company is up to.

COMPETITION: WIN A YEAR'S SUBSCRIPTION TO CLASSIC SPEEDWAY We've teamed up with publishers Retro Speedway to give away a one-year's subscription to the brand new Classic Speedway magazine. To enter, all you have to do is answer the following question: When you visit the website www.retro-speedway.com the intro page features an England team from 1980. Name all five riders, the management duo with them, and state which track this photograph was taken at.   Entries should be emailed to: comp@speedwayplus.com by no later than Wednesday 25th June, 2008.

Track Pix: Eskilstuna More pictures from Sweden this week. Charles McKay was the photographer who took these pictures of Eskilstuna (Smederna).

David McAllan's website has been totally revamped in preparation for his farewell meeting at Glasgow in September. You'll find the new look site, and details of the first confirmed participants, at davidmcallanracing.co.uk Top tuner Ashley Holloway has launched a website to raise the profile of his business - Ash-Tech. Although primarily of interest to riders, it offers an insight into the tuning process and the associated costs. The Belle Vue start girls now have a website.

John Mullen on Why Do They Ignore the Young?: "With ref to article about riders ignoring the youngsters. At Berwick the riders go into the stand after meeting to meet the fans and post meeting anyone can go talk to riders where the vans are parked and get photos and autographs." Phil Thompson on Riders to Remember: Murray Burt: "Good to read about Murray. I remember him as one of my favourite riders when I first started watching speedway. I always wondered what happened to him - now I know!" Click here to leave your own feedback

 

12th June 2008

Riders to Remember...Murray Burt Tracy Holmes writes about another Kiwi hero. Murray rode in the UK for Newcastle and Nelson in the late sixties, but his career in New Zealand was longer and took in a spell on four wheels also.

Track Pix: Malilla Graham Cooke from the Blunsdon Blog took these pictures on his tour of Sweden in 2007. The book he produced detailing the trip are still available from his website.

Dream Team: Ian Muir Martin Ian remains a Sunderland fan, despite the fact the sport hasn't been staged in the city for over thirty years. In this dream team he recalls some of his favourites from the days at East Boldon.

John Cox is trying to find out more about the career of his Grandfather Fred Law. Fred rode in the sport's early days in the UK at King's Oak - Can You Help? Jerry Welsh is looking for DVDs of Poole, Somerset or IoW either at home or away - Can You Help? Bones websites have been busy of late setting up sites for young Sam Martin and the not quite so young 'Tiger' Tom Marriott. The fifth book in Jeff Scott's 'trilogy' - Concrete for Breakfast - is now available from methanolpress.com

Mike Rennie on Liverpool: "Fond memories of Brian Craven at Stoke. His style was unforgetable - very low bike and leg out - terrific. I now live in Wiltshire and went to the Robins last night - it's the most exciting sporting spectacle anywhere." Chris Holmes on Mildura: "I always enjoy seeing Track Pix and was intrigued to see Mildura featured after listening to so, so many references to "the man from Mildura" by a certain Sky commentator. I used Google Earth to find Mildura and it wasn't hard to identify where the speedway track was situated on the edge of the town. It's set me off now in search of tracks with evocative names in other parts of the world. " Click here to leave your own feedback

 

5th June 2008

"We can all have a beer afterwards!" An Interview with Steve Johnston (PDF Version) Alex Raby meets one of the sport's most popular and longest serving characters. Johno's career has been more nomadic than most and he reflects on some highlights, talks about his televison work and looks forward to his upcoming testimonial.   The Johno Testimonial Brandon Stadium, Coventry Sunday 22nd June 2008 at 1pm

Track Pix: Gniezno (PDF Version) Belle Vue fan Trev Picken visited the home of Polish club Start Gniezno after the recent Leszno GP. The pictures show an excellent attendance for a third-tier clash between Gniezno and Rovno (Ukraine). Trev was particularly pleased that he managed to beat Charles McKay to this venue - unless of course Charles knows differently!

Dream Team: Juliet Brown (PDF Version) Julie is a Newport Wasps fan hoping that her team will be back on track next season. In the meantime here's the fantasy team she'd love to watch in action.

Our speedwayplus.co.uk address is still not working. We've been told that technicians are working to solve the problem but we don't really believe it. Please ensure your bookmarks are set to www.speedwayplus.com to ensure you can always find us. Richard Austin seeks information on the Liverpool teams of 1957 and 1959 - Can You Help? Glasgow's Trent Leverington and Robert Ksiezak have new websites. Both lads play a big part in the Tigers' community education scheme. Those interested in Slovenian speedway may wish to check out photographer Saso Kljucaric's website and the e-Speedwaytv news page. James Henry Chalkley is still looking for information on the fatal crash at West Ham in 1953 - Can You Help?

Graeme Stapleton by Tracy Holmes Graeme Stapleton has been in the wars. Discovering his house was on fire, he suffered a heart-attack trying to save it. The house was lost but thankfully, Graeme wasn't. He was rushed to Christchurch hospital where he spent the week recovering. Then he was transferred to Darfield hospital, closer to home for another week. He is now staying at friends until insurance sees that his home is rebuilt. The former pig farmer is now into Boxer dogs. He is doing well and anyone that knows 'Stape', will be aware that this wont keep him down for long. Anyone wishing to send him their regards can do so through me raebo_nz@hotmail.com or send them to: Graeme Stapleton, c/o V. Ratahi, Davies Road, 1 RD, Glenroy, Canterbury, 7673, New Zealand. I'm sure he would love to hear from you.

Leigh Parslow on 70 Years of Rye House Speedway: "The excerpt from the '70 years of Rye House speedway' couldn't be more apt. I don't think Kelvin would agree ever that he was excluded as a result of his riding skills!! However, we'll have a good laugh when I remind him of the incident. My children (his grandchildren) especially enjoy the tales of old, sporned from when he is wound up from watching speedway at Mildenhall, or on Sky Sports now!!! " Click here to leave your own feedback