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They are to all intents and purposes, the public face of speedways administrative body. They are by far the worst leaders the sport has ever seen. Both are totally inarticulate, totally unimaginative , totally unable to project themselves or the sport, totally unable and unwilling to comunicate with the fans in a meaningful way, and totally unable to seriously consider any outlook on the sport but their own. Other promiters may have simialar flaws but these are the two front men who should be selling the sport. Quite seriously, what progress has the sport made since they have taken over the reins , despite Chapmans bluster at the outset ? They are the worst of a bad bunch. Beyond useless.

Kids are simply not interested in Speedway because they have far more things nowadays to keep them interested and get their 'kicks'.. And, just maybe, what we considered 'exciting and adrenalin fuelled' is to the average teenager (who goes on 'killing sprees' and 'saves the world' from the comfort of their bedrooms every night), not anywhere near as exciting or adrenalin fuelled to them.... What does amaze me is why clubs charge school age teenagers to get in.. They don't go now so it would be zero loss letting them in for nothing, and you would at least (for those who own the food outlets) sell more Coke and Burgers. Teenagers also 'hunt in packs', so getting your teenager to go with you on their own is sometimes akin to removing blood from a stone.. Letting them in for free would mean they and their mates can all attend together to 'hang out', well away from the 'old man'.. Whether any of them transfer to become paying customers further down the line is the big unknown, however one thing is for sure... You will have far more chance of getting them interested later in life if they have sampled the experience several times.. And being 'sheep' the more that attend , the more that will follow.. And if nothing else, it would make the crowds look bigger, which can only reflect the sport positively, and lower the average age of the crowd demographic considerably...

While this thread maybe full of aggression, the forum as a whole is packed with ideas from long standing, thinking and committed fans about how to improve the sport. Some are ridiculous, some are unworkable and some require the injection of unfeasibly huge amounts of cash. Some, however, might just be worth a try. Problem is, with the exception of Barry Bishop, Neil Watson, Jayne Moss & Laurence Rogers not one single promoter or team manager engages with fans on this forum. Indeed, most of them treat it with utter contempt and even loathing. I should point out that Barry attracts 4 likes for every post he makes, a truly remarkable reflection of just how much his contribution is valued. Even if paying customers make constructive comment or suggestion, then, they aren't even read. Its also indicative of just how those who run the sport view the fan who pays every week. The number of accounts of the quite dreadful way paying customers are treated is damning - I know, I have had some of that. I'd say that much of the vilification is deserved. For me, the worst is the cheating, one-upmanship and culture of favours and corruption at the heart of the sport that leaves fans totally disillusioned. Its a bit of a long shot to say that without the decision to prevent Workington riding on Fridays last season the Comets might have survived - a decision motivated by the most appalling self interest - but it certainly didn't do them any favours. I could probably name half a dozen occasions when rulings have been made that were completely contrary to the rules of the sport at the behest of one promoter or another. The BSPA can legitimately blame the weather, landlords, riders, the press and heaven knows who else for the problems that the sport faces. But they can't get away from that one and I don't think the damage it has done can be overestimated.

translations can be found by using the app on your smart phone . it works for all forms of language . but this one may have it goosed . lolololol

There's only one way to get kids interested in Speedway. Every club should send their team manager and club captain to secondary schools around their local areas. Bikes on show and clips of the racing, crashes and also embrace the subject of injuries and death within the sport. Students will fully embrace the rough side of the sport as this is what will get them interested with their youthful, fearless mentality. Then also every student should be given a full, in depth letter and usb stick with the same presentation that can be shown to the parents. Within this, a free training school voucher so any brave parent can allow their adolescent to experience just how tough this sport really is. Only this way will the sport get back to the full stadium days and keep Speedway alive for decades to come. It's the only way to get the young to understand and appreciate just how tough and exciting this sport can be. Taking a student to a meeting where there's no racing, no crashes etc will put them off for life. They need to understand the hard side of the sport, it'll gets their juices flowing.

You’re right Mike - and your first paragraph hits the nail on the head - it was aimed at some of the Kings Lynn ‘fans’. The purpose of my proposed bet was to see if any of these people who are adamant that Kings Lynn will collect the wooden spoon (or to be battling with Ipswich to avoid this) would be brave enough to ‘put their money where their mouth is’ and, unsurprisingly in my view, nobody has taken up the opportunity. The bet was simple - Kings Lynn succeed and these people would £50 to the BEN fund - a price worth paying. If they don’t succeed, I would pay £50 to the BEN fund and all these negative people ‘win’ as they could take great pleasure in saying ‘I told you so’ along with Speedway benefitting from the great work the BEN fund do. Ultimately, it was the long winded way to get to the point that, no matter what is offered, you will never please everybody. I said a few months ago, people would moan if we signed Woffinden, Zmarzlik & Dudek, and I stick by that. Drop the negative attitude, get behind the sport and the team, and lets actually look forward to the 2019 season, I for one can’t wait - if the predictions are right for the remaining team spots, it will be a team of triers and a team I think the fans can connect with. Putting my tin hat firmly on now . . .

You mean standing at Blunsdon on a wet and windy October night isn't glamorous??? Seriously though, I agree about the perception... Non-speedway folks always perceived it as being "blokes riding around in circles:, and "first out of the gate always wins". Oh yeah, we are are so quick to dismiss them as idiots. However, us speedway folks cannot be absolved from blame, particularly looking at some of the stuff on here these days. Perception, eh? "It's not as good as good as it used to be!" Why not? Or the ridiculous statement that 90% of riders in the 60's were better than the world's best today? You think you can really quantify that? I am one of those who believe that the racing WASN'T noticeably better back in the good ol' days. There were aspects pf the sport - quite a few in fact - that were better, but when it comes down to it, it is justa case of us looking through rose-tinted specs. As a young lad, I was enthralled by the sight of strapping he-men and gladiators called Norman, Jack, and Harry, wrestling these powerful steeds through waist=high cinders! As a 56-year-old, I see little tattooed kids riding around on bikes that sound like lawnmowers on helium... Yes, tracks have changed. Machinery has changed. PEOPLE have changed.The reality is that speedway was - and still is - a case of four men racing 500cc bikes (with no brakes and no gears) on shale ovals. Despite the change in sounds and smells, that's exactly what it is. What we have to do is be realistic, and accept that WE are just as much at fault. It's not just speedway either, but when we convince ourselves that our biased - and inevitably negative - views of everything (based on how it USED to be), there is always going to be a problem, Of course, the administration of the sport (particularly in Britain) has been questionable for a number of years, but speedway racing is still speedway racing. Steve

You're one to speak with the posts you make I thought, at one time, it was a different language in "Wuckintun"!

Swindon do well they really try hard to encourage young kids to get interested Lee Kilby has done a great job in that respect the kids in the pits with there parents before the start great to see.

Seems a good idea as several of the "Poole Posters" wouldn't be able to attend if the practise was held during school hours.

I know Lynn's team is not out there, but know what it will be. Lynn usually only make changes when injuries happen and it worked out in 18. But if there where no injuries I guess no changes would of been made...And Lynn would have fallen by the way side.

He chooses to walk up the grass bank, then complains about it. I’m sick of climbing the fence to get in at Monmore Green, especially with the barb wire and don’t get me started on using a ladder at Swindon, whilst carrying a baby.

New Updates Service Bandits home meetings in 2019 now have a dedicated Twitter updates service. Heat results posted seconds after the chequered flag www.twitter.com/LiveBandits

The subscribers to the new company, British Speedway Promoters Ltd, are listed below with details from their latest available financial statements on Companies House. These financials are basically the value of the company at the end of the 2017 season, the accounts for 2018 will not be filed until much later this year. Net worth Company Club Accounting date Audited Form 2017 Belle Vue Speedway 2017 Belle Vue 31.12.17 No Micro Entity (270,730) Berwick Speedway Promotions Berwick New Co Birmingham Speedway Company Birmingham New Co Edinburgh Speedway 1986 Edinburgh 31.12.17 No Micro Entity (164,226) Glasgow Tigers Speedway Glasgow 30.11.17 No Abridged 598,136 Wight Warriors Speedway IOW 31.12.17 No Abridged (54,841) Cearnsport Kent 30.6.17 No Abridged 143,509 Newspeed 2003 Newcastle 30.11.17 No Micro Entity 22,302 South West Power Promotions Plymouth 31.12.17 No Micro Entity (73,946) Poole Speedway Poole 28.2.18 No Micro Entity 76,881 Redcar Borough Bears Redcar 28.2.18 No Abridged (202,501) Somerset Speedway 2011 Somerset 28.2.18 No Micro Entity (21,831) Crewsline Stoke 30.4.18 No Micro Entity (580) Swindon Speedway 2013 Swindon 30.11.17 No Micro Entity (103,033) Slade Tipton Wolves 28.2.17 No Abridged 20,600 LJM Asset Manangement Workington 31.12.17 No Micro Entity 217,598 Scunthorpe Raceway Scunthorpe 31.12.17 No Abridged 8,110 Heathens Speedway Club Cradley 30.11.17 No Full (33,791) MFT Team Mildenhall New Co

Bit of a cheat really as he rode for Sheffield in 1993, so not in the period mentioned initially. He was pretty pants though... I always had a soft spot for Eastbourne in their early BL days as they had a conveyer-belt of untried foreigners in that period.

I thought the same, but that appears to be his correct (or full) name. If you recall, last week, we were talking about Leonard Raba, and I said that the only legitimate point Raba scored was when he beat Franz Kreimoser in a challenge against Reading. That was Kreimoser's only meeting. I did think about Adi, but he was better. Steve

Really? You gotta be kidding me! What have I said that is offensive ? Just remind me how it is perfectly okay for you to say "f... You" on a public forum, yet I have made a speedway-related joke about suffering from wind (with no foul or inappropriate language) and you are beside yourself? Steve (or whoever you think I am...)

You know what, when I saw the name "gustix", it brought back memories of wind "gusts". That made me think of all the times I suffered from wind! Then - and this is the cool thing - wind led me to kites! There was a speedway rider called Alan Kite! Steve

Sorry mate but I cant share your optimism, It would serve no purpose to keep such an important talisman to British Speedway, a secret. I'm of the belief that, this is one of the reason why the Stars have been reluctant to show their hand. Rest assured had Niels been riding this season it would have been shouted from the rooftops, loud and clear....

No problem, questions aren't stupid if you don't know the answer. It's a minus, so it's a net deficit. The company has more liabilities than assets. And they are the majority.

That's the value of the pies, they're down as antiques

Actually, it was "Bernd", although I have seen it spelled three different ways. We thought he was part-Irish, and called him "Bernd O'Doormat"!!! Steve

"It was important in regard to the midget car demonstration" So what you are saying it was a totally unrelated response to the post that iris123 made, it has nothing to do with "speedway", but it was important to you as you wanted to see midget cars at Wimbledon? You whine about me deviating??? Steve

Which is relevant to a speedway discussion how? Steve

Which is commendable. The BSPA should have a coordinated marketing plan that can be implemented and consistently pushed forward by each club. The PR on speedway that eminates from Rugby and most clubs is very poor and amateur. Marketing and competition for the leisure pound is extremely fierce and very expensive...it isn’t a quick fix and gaining paying customers through the turnstiles requires sustained attention to detail and lots of hard work and vision.

Really?! What do Helen, Hayley and Christine do then?

Report from the meeting including the crash and also a coming together of Woryna and Jancarz,which probably cost Woryna the title as he was in the lead at the time!! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Individual_Speedway_World_Championship https://www.filmothek.bundesarchiv.de/video/584825?q=dirt+track+speedway&xm=AND&xf[0]=_fulltext&xo[0]=CONTAINS&xv[0]

I thought the sport was all about attracting younger fans!!! Anyway this 'Poole Poster' will be there from 1.30pm (probably a bit earlier in fact!! )

This is real pie in the sky stuff. Schools don't entertain commercial presentations unless they're getting some serious cash back there way. And seriously, do you really mean "Come and have a go at this dangerous sport, a broken neck will be good for you"?

As a Lakeside fan who has made quite a lot of visits to Kent over the past few years, I have to take issue with these comments. One of the reasons I make those visits is that I find the racing very good indeed, and I can watch while sitting in a seat instead of standing on a dirt pile as at my home track. I want the race day to become Saturday simply because it will make the journey easier for me with traffic not being a normal issue as it can be on a Monday. Sorry, just a selfish view.

So the learned Mr Godfrey said: "We can let even them in for free..." (Not sure if he actually said that or it's a typo in the Star) ".......................But they don't come back the next week." So the obvious conclusion is people do not want to buy the product you are offering. Ask yourself why. Speedway has an image problem and a reality problem. The image is that first out of the start usually wins, most races have very little passing and for the most part nothing of note actually happens during a race. The reality is that first out of the start usually wins, most races have very little passing and for the most part nothing of note actually happens during a race. Once you fix the reality, you will have started the process of fixing the image but it won't happen overnight. You fix the reality by fixing the tracks. Comparisons with F1 are utterly spurious - an annual event in each country with millions of pounds invested by global corporations.

You couldn't spell fence, let alone build one or plan one.

All down to me, so they’ll be totally unbiased

Really? BV strongest top 3? Swindon 4th? Wolves 6th. I just can’t agree with that.

It's not the racing.. it's all about perception. Formula One is awful racing.. but look at the popularity and the glamour.

Basically agree with the sentiment but good luck at maintaining interest and attracting new regular or returning fans with that fixture list. Speedway is a mess and the EoES may also say do one in the summer but naff all from July 15 until September 5 (currently the last programmed 2019 fixture) is beyond a joke.

The benefit of hindsight? Really? Do you really need hindsight to see that spending vast amounts more than you are bringing in, and racing on nights dictated to by your employees, rather than for the benefit of your customers, is anything other than a ludicrous business plan?.. Do you really need hindsight to see that trying to run a bona fide Sporting Championship, whilst sharing competitors with your rivals on an adhoc basis, is laughable and brings zero credibility to the very competition you are spending ridiculous sums trying to win? Do you really need hindsight to see that you have, annually, lost thousands of fans due to your operating model and business plan and replaced them with very, very few new fans? I would suggest anyone who didn't spot the current shambles being the obvious conclusion of their actions, must have very, very poor vision indeed, and not having hindsight is the least of their worries...

Go back twenty five years or so and there were considerably more attending the dog bowl on a Friday night than attend the NSS currently on Mondays.. .. Sadly I would say the NSS is simply fifteen to twenty years too late to be successful... The 'lost generation' of fans show very little signs of coming back and 'newbies' are very much conspicuous by their absence... A shame for the sport in general not just for the Aces..

The five-page interview with Rob Godfrey in this week's Speedway Star certainly provides food for thought. Firstly, we can only take what we see quoted at face value and perhaps he said more which couldn't be included for space reasons. Benefit of the doubt. While I don't profess to know his background or what he does or doesn't do for the sport today, I've never spoken to the man, there are a number of points raised that I'd like to respond to and are worthy of further critical analysis (sorry to waffle on and hope you stay awake till the end!: SEMI-PRO OR AMATEUR? Rob alludes to, if not quite advocates, the idea of British speedway becoming semi-pro in the future, which (as I suggested in another recent BSF thread) it needs to do NOW in the short-term if it is to survive with any credibility left. He effectively spells it out just why this is the case when referring to the recent demise of Championship treble winners Workington. And the nail is well and truly smashed on the head in a separate, much smaller, item in the same issue of the Star in which Workington promoter Laura Morgan reveals that running the second tier club has cost her around £750,000 in total and that another injection of £75,000 would be required simply to run this year, when Comets would surely expect to incur at least the same loss, if not more given how hard it would be to repeat their 2018 triple. Later in the piece, Rob cites his own Josh Auty as one rider who "seems to make it pay" competing only in one league. If Auty can, who don't many others? As long as promoters keep paying them collectively more than what turnstiles and sponsorship income, they will continue to spend (waste?) money on expensive machinery, engine tuning, mechanics and fancy transport. Only the promoters can stop this happening. FULL-TIME PROMOTERS The question of professional promoters is a double-edged sword. Rob says that of the modern day regime, "not one of us needs to do it". Therein lies one problem: rightly or wrongly, they are not running their clubs on a full-time, 24/7 basis and don't depend on the sport for a living - unlike the likes of Fearman, Ochiltree, Silver, Dunton, Wilson, Thomas, Mawdsley, etc in days gone by. It was their livelihood - yes, of course, there were less counter-attractions competing for fans' money and - but they still had to work hard for it. For many (if not all) of today's ilk, speedway is a hobby they can indulge (for a while at least) to feed their egos. Unfortunately, the sport in Britain has been denigrated so much over the years that there is no turning back. COUNTING THE COST Rob reveals that winning the league (Div 2) in 2012 cost Scunthorpe 30 grand, suggesting Sheffield probably paid a similar price in their pursuit of honours. Later, he gives Glasgow as a prime example of a club that has the slickest PR machine in the country . . . yet still cannot attract sufficient crowds to meet their running costs. This, in itself, tells you all you need to know about promoters over-paying riders. The sums just don't add up. Yes, of course, riders deserve to be paid handsomely for the risks they take. But no business will survive, long-term, if it continues to ignore the basic rules of life: don't pay out more than you can afford. COMPARING THE PAST As for Rob's line about speedway today being "far, far better than it ever was", provocatively reproduced on the Star's front cover, I reckon thousands of our customers at Retro Speedway would vehemently disagree! To be fair, Rob is duty bound to promote his club and modern speedway in general, and in doing tries to discredit the past and (to paraphrase Harold Macmillan) convince his punters that "you've never had it so good". So we must assume that he never had the privilege of enjoying the likes of great entertainers such as Peter Collins, Chris Morton, the Morans, Bruce Penhall, Michael Lee, Ole Olsen, Jan O. Pedersen, Simon Cross, Malcolm Simmons, Mark Loram (started in 1987) . . . the list really is endless and I've not even mentioned the innumerable BL2/National League favourites who thrilled the crowds week in, week out. If he was talking about the Grand Prix, compared to the old and long-winded World Championship qualifying system, I'd be inclined to agree. The GPs routinely serve up tremendous entertainment and invariably top quality racing, where riders of equal ability are well matched. But comparing the GPs with the Elite League matches I've seen on telly is more often than not chalk and cheese. Riders strung out by half-a-lap isn't entertainment, nor any sort of advert for domestic speedway. From what we read, the point Rob doesn't seem to grasp here is that the days of a reserve or middle order man popping out of the gate and holding a world class rider at bay for all four laps are long gone and now rarer than a truthful MP. Speed, and the riders' unquenchable thirst for it, has helped kill the sport as a spectacle, although here the promoters of the mid-70s must shoulder a lot of blame for failing to nip the four-valve revolution in the bud before it sent costs spiralling out of control and that's where we are today. PROMOTING - HIGHLIGHTS PACKAGE I was encouraged to read of the BSPA's plans for a revamped website with hopes to include free-to-air matches. In the same issue I read that Poland will be airing a magazine-style show every Monday. So it begs the question: why haven't the BSPA done a deal with Go-Speed and all the individual DVD filming companies covering the tracks to put together, say, a weekly 30-minute show showcasing the past week's highlights, complemented by interviews with promoters and riders on current topics and burning issues? Would not a sufficient number of fans not be prepared to pay a nominal 50p or £1 per week throughout the season to cover production costs? The show could be offered as a download from the BSPA site with the same show being uploaded to YouTube a week later (if it hit YT at the same time, there would obviously be no point in paying the small sub). For obvious reasons, these edited highlights would not include any from 'live' BT Sport matches. British speedway desperately needs to harness its relationship with BT Sport if it is to have any hope of attracting a national sponsor, or backers for each of the three divisions (alas, Rob did not mention this failure on the BSPA's part). The BSPA already has the ideal experienced and knowledgeable anchor man/presenter on its pay roll in Nigel Pearson, while two or three of the best people producing DVDs could be tasked to edit the best action clips and interviews. Reality is, though, a weekly highlights download via the BSPA site or uploaded to YouTube probably won't attract one new supporters, especially a youngster who can't take his or her eyes off their smart phone for more than a few seconds. This will sound crazy to some, but promoters' priority should be to do all they can to KEEP their existing supporter base and TRY to win back those who have been disenfranchised over the part 10 years. Forget chasing new, young fans . . . speedway just doesn't cut it with them and very probably never will again. So forget them for now and focus all energies on keeping what you have and winning back the old faithful with fresh ideas, well prepared tracks and a professionally run sport. Only last week we at Retro Speedway were delighted to take on five new subscribers to our bi-monthly Backtrack magazine. OK, five in a matter of days is really nothing. But not in the context of where British speedway is now it isn't. They are five people who enjoyed reliving past memories but are now engaging with the sport again. Facebook is the biggest factor in this: whether you personally log on to FB or not and regardless of your personal preferences (FB, forum or Twitter), more and more of the older generation are signing up to Facebook's social media platform to 'chat' to kindred spirits - and that is where the BSPA should be looking to re-recruit former fans who might be tempted back into stadiums. This is where they will find their target audience. SOCIAL MEDIA Rob again uses Glasgow as his best example of a club that does social media very well. But he is wrong to excuse others clubs for not emulating them, or even going close to doing so, by using costs as an excuse. Having a good mate who runs a successful non-league football club, I can confirm that a good promo video was produced for them for as little as £750 . . . or, to put it another way, the equivalent of what some riders in UK speedway earn in one night. Running good Twitter and Facebook platforms is very inexpensive - all that's needed are the right people to manage and execute it to an acceptably professional standard and who have the imagination to offer what supporters should expect from these services. DOUBLING-UP, GUESTS AND RACE FORMAT While Rob was of course asked about how the rampant use of guests and doubling-up does untold harm to the sport's image, he dismisses very lightly the suggestion that the problems would be eased by cutting team numbers from seven to six and adopting a new heat formula (six-man teams have been used in the past). Am I missing something here? British speedway doesn't have enough riders of a certain minimum standard to staff its three leagues, and yet the hierarchy blindly sticks with seven-man teams even though virtually every club in the land is inevitably soon forced into calling up guests and doubling-up riders. Rob admits: "We don't have a big enough crop of riders without doubling-up, which is what causes all the problems". We know what the problems are, Rob. What we desperately need from people like you who govern and run the sport are solutions and ideas. Six-man teams (even in the short-term, until the young Brits coming up are up to scratch in a few years' time) won't eradicate the needs for guests, R/R and doubling-up but surely it's a no-brainer as at least a starting point . . . or please tell me why it isn't? What disillusions me more than anything when I read comments from promoters in the wake of another BSPA AGM is the chronic lack of ideas and innovation. I mean, why aren't one or two competitions run on slightly different formats and rules? Where's the variety - if not in terms of team numbers, then at least in competition formats? Even the rightly much-maligned England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had the gumption to realise that fans needed more than a staple diet of four-day Championship games and the sport has generally reaped the benefit of introducing two DIFFERENT limited-overs formats, the 50-over one-day league and T20 knockout comp, which are replicated in all major cricketing countries. I'd like to see a promoter come up with something a bit radical and off the wall. Put on a 16 or 20-heat meeting that embraces different sections: team racing and individual events; perhaps throw in a couple of match-races (Golden Helmet & Silver Helmet - remember them?); a few handicap races where the top riders start off the back grid; a 4-heat 250cc juniors event; maybe even a ladies' race (look how much national publicity is afforded to women's football and cricket at domestic and international level ). Indeed, why not run the KO Cup along these lines for a season on an experimental basis? Supporters might actually look forward to attending, because it's DIFFERENT. But with British speedway, it's the tired, predictable same old, same old. Lots of ongoing, familiar problems, very few solutions.

U have to feel for berge having to drive himself to the airport and wash his own bikes , its called work what we do before we come and watch u work !

I'm really looking forward to this season. To have so many NL riders join the Championship league. Good luck to them all., Only one thing would have pleased me more and that was to have in every team 6 & 7 National league riders to even it out.

That's how he operates sadly. He was speedyguy, jack keen, and many more. Banned from here, and banned from the very tranquil speedway yahoogroups site. Now he's just plain old John Hyam. Bitter, pedantic, negative, miserable as sin, and sadly, living in close proximity to me now i'm based in South London. Anyway, Hope you're well r&r.

He took a bit of getting used to when he came to West Ham as he had, of course, ridden for our hated rivals, Wimbledon. But with his all action style and his dashes round the fence, the "'eart throb" quickly won over the Custom House crowd. He could be relied on week in and week out to beat the best the opposition threw at us and that included the likes of Fundin, Briggs, Mauger and anyone else you care to mention. His crash in the 1968 European Final when he broke his leg and pelvis was an absolute tragedy. He was never quite the same again, although as Ian says, he did manage to fight his way back to become a heat leader with Wembley. Without a doubt he was the greatest of all the Norwegians and he came so close to winning the World title in 1966. In the all-important heat 9 he led Briggo for over a lap, but Barry managed to get past and go on to win. Briggs finished on 15 points that night and Sverre, 14. I have seen many riders since I first started going to speedway in 1960, but I don't think I have ever seen anyone as spectacularly good as Sverre. Christer Lofqvist was, of course, another real round-the-boards thrill merchant but he was not as consistently good as Sverre. A great rider who always brings back many happy memories of Custom House. Thanks for bringing up the topic, CHK.

Sverre was a wonderful rider. He seemed to have it all - enormous talent, good looks and all the rest of it. He was also a very fast and spectacular rider. Here's a memory for you, CHK. It comes from right at the end of his career, when he'd just spent his last season with Wembley. He'd come back from horrendous injuries, and although he was probably never going to hit the top again, he certainly could hold down a heat leader berth in the top league. Anyway, what I remember is the plaque which was presented to him at his last-ever meeting by his Wembley team mates. It read : "The record shows He took the blows And did it his way". I reckon that just about summed Sverre up. In terms of speedway in the 1960s, he was the first of the great Norwegians. He was followed by the likes of the late Reidar Eide (what a character he was - I'd pay a huge sum of money just to see him race one more time), Dag Lovaas and the rest. But Sverre Harrfeldt was without doubt head and shoulders above them all at the height of his career. Incidentally, does anyone know what he's doing now?