Thanks to Graeme Coleman for these pictures of the Opole circuit in Poland.
We're always looking for track pictures - even additional or updated pictures from the tracks we already have
on the site. If you're heading for a track this summer, why not take your camera and send us a few snaps?
Andy followed the sport in the seventies and rediscovered it during the decade just ended. He's a fan of the Swindon Robins.
Richard Austin reports that all bids for the Orange County Fairgrounds have been far below expectations. As such, Costa Mesa's
future seems a little more secure at the moment. The new season will open in April.
Barry Dalton is looking for a programme from a meeting that Peterborough raced in Germany in 1977 - Can You Help?
D.W.Withams has pointed out that our popular Programme Generator had not been updated to reflect
the re-introduction of the white helmet colour. Should be rectified now.
"I remember that night very well
but it was Geoff Snider who Tom Owen knocked off first and then me after his exclusion light had been put on, going into the third turn. I remember
everyone going mad at Tom and the Paisley crowd wanted to lynch him.
Tom Owens tactics that night was a bit unsporting and I believe its because I was beating him and he didnt like that due to the fact we didn't get on
at Barrow. Neil McFarlane was also complaining I think he is the only rider to be banned
from a meeting? On the subject of Brian "Pogo" Collins he was never beaten around Paisley till the Champion of Strathcylde beat him in that meeting
and that was ME!!! Great times and the Paisley people were great."
"Totally agree you have 4 of the greatest riders Fundin, Harrfeldt,
Bertola, but most of all REIDAR EIDE. Wonderful rider, great with supporters. Pity norway has stopped producing the like of those two and Dag and Ulf Lovaas,
Oyvind S Berg. Remember Sverre at Meadowbank - invincible and brilliant. He and Hurri-Ken tore us apart."
"Had
to comment on the claim in the latest `all about' feature that speedway could `decline to the 1950s level! Speedway is full of myths and one of the
greatest is the claim that the mid to late fifties was a dark age. Yes, the number of tracks declined steeply, many of which had been rocky for many
years. In addition the fact that all the big London circuits except Wimbledon had disappeared by 1957 has always prompted the very London-biased
speedway media to write off the period. completely. The truth is that the hard core of speedway that remained in the years 57, 58 and 59 was generally
healthy and the promoters that had survived laid the foundations that the Provincial League revival could be built on. I doubt that anyone who
watched speedway under Ronnie Greene at Wimbledon or Charles Ochiltree at Coventry in that era considered failure. Norwich too was very successful
and well-supported at the period. Consider one or two points about the mid to late 50s. The crowds at the surviving tracks were far higher
than anything we see today. It was the era that saw arguably some of the best years of Briggs, Fundin, Moore and Peter Craven - how could that
possibly be a dark age? "
"My heart is very much with Dudley
Jones thoughts on a single meeting World Final along with the GP's, but my head says no. Firstly, how are all these Qualifying rounds going to be
fitted in with an already busy GP and WTC schedule? Secondly is a British round going to excite the crowds? Not if the British Championship of recent
is anything to go by, with Premier League riders there to make the number up. The riders that brought the British Final alive in the old days were
the likes of Briggs, Mauger and Moore. The only way to spice up a British Final would be to re-open it to Commonwealth riders like Holder, Crump and
Adam Shields, then you get people complaining that its not a "British" final. And where is this single meeting World Final going to be held?
If the complaint about the GP's is processional racing on slick tracks what reason is there to believe the track would be any different at World Final?
It would probably be in one of the very stadiums that now stage a GP. Assuming interested countries staged the World Final in rotation it means that
we would get one at Cardiff perhaps once every 5 years if we were lucky. Is that really what people want? And when we had one in England would
it be sufficient to fill Cardiff as well as the GP or would economics mean that fans would have to chose one or the other? Nobody loved the old style
World Final more than I did and I would give anything to go back to the days of Briggo winning his six Britsh Finals at West Ham and Wimbledon
but we have to accept that times have changed. Its still speedway and I still love it, but it is different now and we cannot turn the clock
back however much we would like to."
"I read this article with great
interest, and I must agree with Dudley, I much prefer the one off World Final, am very anti GP as this totally destroyed the excitment of the World
Championship. I am also convinced that the loss of the one off World Final has greatly hurt the chance of this country producing an Individual
World Champion. As Dudley states certain riders could produce a brilliant performance on one night, one rider who springs instantly to mind is
SCOTT NICHOLLS, time and again SCOTT has proved he can mix it and beat the best in Individual Meetings. I'm also sure that if the one off World Final
was still being staged Tony Rickardsson, wouldn't have got within sniffing distance of IVAN MAUGER'S SIX WORLD TITLES."
Tracy Holmes with another interesting picture from the archives. This time it's the
New Zealand test team and one of the key assumptions you'd draw from this picture would probably be quite wrong!
John Wheeler is trying to track down information and photographs relating to former rider Les Wheeler. Les was John's uncle
and the family would love to know more about his shale career.
Jack is a Belle Vue fan of long-standing and narrowly missed out on seeing the great Jack Parker in action around Hyde Road.
Brett Tinkley from Bright Star Designs has produced a new website
for young Aussie Nick Morris. Nick has signed for the Glasgow Tigers but will start the season on loan to Buxton Hitmen. You can find out
more about him at nickmorrisracing.co.uk
"Good to see Rob picking a team of riders who rode for
Wembley in the '70s, and good to see that the Lions are not forgotten. Losing that prestigeous stadium was a big blow for all of Speedway. Thanks
for your comments, Rob, but as I was reading it, I blushed so much that my glasses steamed up!!"
"Re Mike Wilson's feedback about Mike Fullerton,
ex Bradford Baron, Berwick Bandit, and Paisley Lion claiming to hold the track re cord at Paisley Love St-he's perfectly entitled to do so because
it's true-I was a trainee referee at the time, and as part of the hands on training you sometimes did 2nd half timekeeper-it was on one of those nights
that Fully did his track record (an unusual occurrence for a second half) and as I was also club statistician I could verify it with my other hat
on-no mean feat as the likes of Ivan Mauger also rode there. Fully was one of the fastest starters in the league at the time and if first out
of the gate at Love St was virtually unbeatable. "
"I was a big fan of Belle Vue in the late seventies and early
eighties and I had some fantastic nights in the Aces pub. I think the pub was built for the fans because the Hyde Road stadium didn't have a bar.
The fans and also the riders would head over to the Aces after the meeting and it was always a great night. The pub had photos all over the walls and
also a speedway bike near the bar. I think this belonged to Peter Collins. Fantastic memories."
" Re: comments on the Aces pub there were indeed many pictures
of the Aces riders behind the bar as well race jackets from various clubs mounted on the walls in lounge bar also Jap bikes. Monday night was our
main night after the training school which members of the Glossop & District supporters Club of which I was a member used run on Monday nights in
the season and Saturday mornings in the winter, and believe after 3 hours helping the the pushing off, sorting mechanical troubles and picking
them up when they fell off a refreshing beer was very very welcome indeed."
"Have to agree that 1981 was one
of the best world finals ever. I also went to Boston on sunday, seem to recall it was Edinburgh, vaguely remember Rob Hollingsworth and Tony Featherstone
riding, did you see two tipsy scotsmen? We drove up to Scunthorpe for a meeting on monday, that was against Edinburgh."
Dudley Jones proposes running two world championships in parallel - one to satisfy the
need for a GP circus and one to provide a big night out at the end of the season.
Our former photographer Matt Davis has launched his own business providing branded leisure wear.
We're pleased to bring his quality merchandise to your attention.
Roger now lives in Canada but started watching speedway in the UK. He's a familiar face around British tracks on his
periodical tours in the company of 'Tiger Tom' Marriott.
Mark Dell's friend has a programme from a meeting at Zamalek Speedway in Egypt from 22 December 1928. He's looking for more information
on the meeting - Can You Help?
Andy Davidson wonders whatever happened to Steve Clark the former Rye House Rocket - Can You Help?
"This young man, perhaps only
twice as old as me at the time, was the best ever rider that I have ever seen. He really did know what balance was all about, as he very rarely touched
his foot in the dirt. He didnt need to. "
"Reading the Peter Craven article
brought back many memories of the Hyde Road track and Peter himself. I was born next to the old stadium and my early years were infused with the
noise and smell of those Saturday nights. I started watching the Aces on a serious basis in 1963 and of course Peter's death overshadowed a
wonderful season. What a team that was. Fond memories indeed!!"
"Ivan Blacka, nice to see you still take an interest
in speedway, my connection? I worked as a bar manager in Dalkeith, when you rode for Monarchs, talked the owner into coming along one night, then sponsoring
you. "
"I would just like to say that I
agree 100% with this article. I think Speedway would take a tremendous step forward if the points raised by Mick Clargo were addressed. I too
have been arguing for a long time against the Grand?? Prix, Play Offs, Double Points (this one is a disgrace and VERY unfair). Speedway is a
FABULOUS spectacle and in having four Riders going round a Track to claim points is a VERY simple Formula. How complicated do you have to make it?
It is not the Supporters who will ultimately be responsible for the demise of Speedway, it will be the "Rules, the Damned Rules and the Statistics"
(to paraphrase a famous expression) brought in by the Promotors. I would love to see Speedway survive for many, many years to come - However -
I am not overly optimistic. Speedway MUST present itself as, most of all, a FAIR Sport - at the moment it cannot claim to be that. (Double Points)
There is too much meddling with the Rules - Supporters aren't sure about some of them because they are changed that often. I cannot claim the
longevity of Mick Clargo - I never saw Peter Craven (sadly) but I have been attending Speedway since 1964. I honestly believe that MOST of the
changes since those days have been to the DETRIMENT of our Sport rather than the BENEFIT. "
"I loved the "Good Old Days" article by Burt Tyrrell.
Can Burt be pusuaded to tell us something about these old-time riders that most of have only read about in history books-Jack and Norman Parker,
Tommy Price, Bill Kitchen,Split Waterman and the rest. What were they like as personalities, what were they like as riders, who were the good
mechanics and who was slapdash with their bikes, who were the hard men amongst them. Love to hear more on this."
"Barry your recollections were fantastic, I am researching
the old Davies park speedway where Dicky Case started riding in 1929, actually he started in Toowoomba his home town. As an ex Rye house hopeful
myself circa 1962 I found the article great, tell us more!"
"Re Jim Henry's comments on push bars -
Tai Woffibnden and some others rode a similar machine at Armadale in 2008 so perhaps the design is not quite so new. I agree with JH that they
were/are a pain to push and without wishing to mention the H and S words, potentially hazardous (also more difficult to lift in and out of vans)."
Steve is based in Yorkshire and watched the Dukes at both Halifax and Bradford. Not too surprising then that Kenny Carter
is his all-time fave.
Thanks to David for the above picture he took at The Shay in Halifax in the late 70s or early 80s. David is now
based in Canada but has fond memories of watching at Odsal in the fifties.
"Mike Fullerton the old dog, he hasn't changed
much except for no trace of hair whatsoever. I know him well and even late into his career was a hard charger { vastly experienced }. He insists he
is still the Paisley track record even now as the track sadly closed not long after. Mike raced in the first NZ over 40's championship a couple of
years ago and was lightning quick from the tapes despite being well into his 50's."
"I agree entirely with the comment by
"Anonymous" that perception is everything when it comes to the World Championship-trouble is, I genuinely feel the perception these days is that it
is not a true World Championship because in essence not everybody is given the same opportunity to reach that status-as I think I suggested in
my original article, it is perceived these days as an event run by a few people for effectively an elite group of riders, give or take a small
number of qualifying rounds of sorts raced here and there, in which event while it certainly deserves some sort of an Elite status, by effectively
excluding most of the practitioners of the sport it somehow is much less of a "World" event. I'm not arguing about the inclusion of the likes of Tai
Woffinden, a very gifted rider and world class performer of the future, but if you were to look at the criteria for his inclusion I suspect you
might find they were not quite the same as those by which other riders in the UK and abroad were effectively excluded from the chance to ride. "
"I've seen pictures of the inside of the pub in my speedway star
collection! It had drawings of riders hanging up behind the bar! Collins, Wilkinson, Morton - I'll search it out!"
"Sorry but the new cover design for the bike shown
in this week's edition may look wonderful but is fundamentally flawed and dangerous as it has been designed by someone who has never tried to push
off a rider. The push handle bar immediately behind the seat is too far forward. The push bar above the rear spindle allows a safer push off with the
pusher clear of the rear wheel. With the push bar behind the seat the pusher has to push at an angle and run beside the wheel. "
