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Born 30 December 1934 in Christchurch, New Zealand, Barry Briggs, four times World Champion, is 85 today. Many happy returns. http://www.briggo.net/

Surely riding for the Devils is abroad? I'll get my coat

Might not do the sale of season tickets much good if they were announced!

Panthers in the brown stuff in the big heats, if they are still in the contest at that point, but less stewards needed as they can close of half the stand

You could probably ask, all the teams he has ridden for and you might get a clue.

Think he has changed a his riding style this year There was no over riding and his racing had greatly improved having watched him in nearly every nl match this year him and Ellis perks were pretty unstoppable ther was no daft dive bombing wreck less passing he used his head more than the throttle think he deserves a spot

Tbf i think many speedway fans plan thier annual leave around speedway fixtures. I have done for years.

Oh look you disagree so you retaliate by being offensive . Just accept people have different views and opinions .

Could be that he's thrown too many toys out of his pram. Not really a great team man I'm told. Don't think the Pirates need another one of those!!

Surely not another Brit?! This is Poole we are talking about??!! We could still finish up with another 2 x4 point Aussies alongside Josh Mac?!

It's easy to say that now

No question Ronnie was up there with the best and those Wimbledon teams back then dominated like no other team has before or since. You can look it up. Are you an archaeologist Celticman? You've dug up more really old threads than any other forum member I know.

Whaaat? Says the girl who produced 2,384 different team variants* in December alone? I havr tried booking holidays around speedway fixtures. It has never worked! TG *not including bank holidays

We’ve seen risks taken on ex-motocross and they pay off and I think that’s what we’re seeing here. Rather than looking at who’s the best in the MDL and signing them up.

Thanks Dave Need to decide when I go on holiday... And yes, some people might think I'm sad for arranging my holidays around who the Diamonds are against... But they're my team and I support them, don't want to miss a meeting, although that happens far too often Plenty of football fans are like that, but as soon as a speedway fan is, they're shot down and called sad... No wonder we're dying, we're all pessimistic and miserable

Pathetic attitude typical of a 60+ year old speedway fan . If you disagree be offensive . No wonder the sport is dying with this attitude .

I think not good luck then if that is what you you believe Hume last year was one of the few pace wise at his best could beat and be on the pace with Ellis Perks.Good luck with Jack ( not that he deserves a chance straight away he quit!! this year Hume is in a different league maybe you need specs GiveusaB.?

The Belle Vue stock car promotion, Startrax, have stated that they are not even considering the NSS as a possible replacement. Living in London I am far more concerned that during my lifetime I have seen cars and/or bikes at Wimbledon, West Ham, Harringay, Walthamstow, Romford, Crayford, Hackney, White City, Earls Court 2, Rayleigh, New Cross, Staines and Arena Essex. They have all been redeveloped meaning the local population increased while the amount of local entertainment decreased which is almost as stupid as railway lines being closed in the 1960's just as big new housing estates were built around the now closed stations and then the politicians wondered why there was so much traffic causing grid lock.

Initially i plan to upload to YouTube and share the link around facebook and here. So it should be as simple as clicking a link once it's done.

Yes , never going to happen as in a lock up in Wales(allegedly)

Will also get his Brit nl reduction

You could have ended that with "touché, I think".

Starting at the end of your post..... Leicester are the auld enemy. I've been a Bees fan since 1970 and Leicester and Coventry were always the biggest rivals. Leicester sadly closed in 1983 and we switched our rivalry to Cradley Heath and later, when Cradley lost their home, to Poole. Leicester came back, finally, in 2011, but in the second tier. We resumed our rivalry in 2014 when Leicester returned to the top flight. Sadly that lasted only 3 seasons before the Bees "lost" their home. I say lost. The stadium is still there and it's future as a speedway/stox venue is under depute (Google Save Coventry Speedway if you're interested in the sad and complicated story). We've had a year in the third tier in 2018 using Leicester as our home but that's another sorry tale. So, rather than give up speedway all together, I swallowed hard at the start of 2019 and went to do some missionary work in Leicester. That's not fair. I put on my Bees gear and went and supported both Leicester teams (one now in the second tier once more and the other in the National Development League). I convinced myself it wasn't totally disloyal as Leicester sported a few former Bees riders. The reality was that I got into supporting both teams in a big way. And my support paid off, they both won their respective league championships. As to your adopted home. I have relatives there who I sadly lost touch with many years ago. Your biking experience is interesting. Mine is a little different. I rode road bikes as a kid but gave it up when I started driving cars in my early twenties. Jump forward a "few" years. I attended a sort of training school at the now defunct training track at Sheffield Speedway. I fell in love with riding having already watched speedway for a some years from the terraces. The truth was that I realised that my boyhood dream of becoming World Speedway Champion had not totally died. Unfortunately time was not on my side. I was already 48. Undaunted, I bought a half share in a bike and set about making records, for falling off. My final claim to fame was going out on my own and falling 6 times in 6 laps. It was time to rethink my racing future. And then as if by chance another path opened up, on here. I "bumped into" a grasstrack sidecar driver looking for a passenger. After a rush of blood and a training day in Kent off we went racing. That lasted 8 years during which time I took up sidecar speedway racing as well and even dabbled with sidecar road racing. I raced all over Britain including on numerous speedways, all over Europe and twice in Oz. I appeared in the World Sidecar Speedway Final three times. At 56, having trouble making the weight, I decided it was time to retire. I resumed my solo fanaticism and resumed my time on here. And finally. Your user name. I think you can change it. You might need help from Phil or one of the moderators. I've never tried. Don't set up a second one. We have a few people who morph into different disguises and it's not considered the done thing. David

Glad you are a pendant and not a pedant !!! Unless you are pending of course

Hume is definitely on the pace, but can't control the bike for 4 laps on a regular basis! He broke Ellis's collar bone last season! FACT!

Actually I invented the science of archaeology shortly after I popularized the idea of history. The egg came before the chicken on this one. I was going to have the user name Father Time but for the sake of brevity settled on Celticman. Is it too late to change it? I was an avid Speedway fan in the UK from 1955 to 1967 and of course living within walking distance of the all-conquering Wimbledon Dons were my team. The Dons Cyril Brine was a good friend of my father. When I was 14 I would sometimes meet Cyril at Plough Lane in off hours and learn about bikes while he worked on his machines. Cyril taught me how to ride bikes. I started by just cruising around the track on one of his old bikes and one of the mechanics brought an old BSA C11 OHV 250 which I drove around the empty parking lot. It certainly felt better with brakes on the 250 vs the speedway bike. I ended up buying the BSA. I notice that you have an affinity for sidecar racing. One of the bikes that owned before I left for Canada was a big old Norton with a Watsonian sidecar. Bike riders that have never operated a sidecar usually are quite surprised at the different riding skills involved. Cyril helped me on a life long passion for bikes. I have owned a bike or two continually for nearly 60 years and currently have a Suzuki S3 1400 and Suzuki Hyabusa 1300. I left the UK for Canada in 1967 and still live in Toronto. Alas Speedway was left behind except for my treasured memories. I have only discovered this website. I find it amazing how much I remember as I browse through the Years Gone By section. As you have observed I started on page 185 and have worked forward LOL. I noticed your affinity for Leicester. Commiserations J

Quite right PtbaB….thank you for pointing that out...… my opinion is based on what I've seen of both riders at their best.....It's not a negative swipe at Danyon. I love watching Danyon ride a bike, he's an out an out racer......I just remember Jack Thomas being a class act when he won the British U19 semi Final at PB 2 seasons ago! Lawrence Rogers and David Mason obviously agree with me ?

Something to do with his temperament maybe?......bit of a moaner on a few occasions I’ve seen him.....

Kamikazes? Time to get my coat, again!

Very sad news. Doug Templeton was one of the first Provincial League riders I saw. He rode in the 1960 World Championship Qualifying Round at New Cross, scoring four points. I have always loved the story Stan Stevens told me once about the time he raced Doug Templeton up in Edinburgh: "We [Rayleigh] were away against Edinburgh in the Provincial League in 1961. We were one of the favourites for the title that year as we had a strong heat leader trio of Reg Reeves, Harry Edwards and me, so we were expected to beat Edinburgh. But with one heat to go, the scores were level and I was out in the last heat with the unbeaten Reg Reeves, against George Hunter and Doug Templeton. George very soon got the better of Reg, but we were both comfortably ahead of Doug and it looked for all the world as though it would be a 3-3 and a draw. But I can still vividly recall what happened then. As I rode into the fourth bend on the last lap, thinking we had the draw, I could see the whole crowd in the main stand rise to their feet as one and it was because of this that I knew that Doug had got me. He had made an amazing manoeuvre to cut through on the inside of me. Although I came last and in effect lost the match for my team, I will never forget the sight of that crowd rising as one to cheer their own rider home."

Given that we still have a day and a half left, I'm confident dandelion can hit the 2500 target this month despite the two bank holidays...

may be a solution is Northern DL e.g having 500cc and 250 / 125 cc races so a "Development Team" can include riders of different ages / different bike Class all racing under a "Development Team banner" so creating a conveyor belt over 3-5 years.

Fair comment. But how do you explain the continued success of the Olympique at Wolverhampton?

Other 15 year olds for 2020 include Mickie Simpson, Alex Goldsborough, Archie Freeman, Gregor Millar all of a standard for a proper development league were more competitive track time would benefit them all. 2021 will be a fairly sparse year with only a few present riders turning 15 with the outstanding talent being Sam Mcgurk 2019 was an exceptional year for the number of young riders coming through and the numbers probably won’t be matched until 2022 as there’s a good crop of 12 year old riders who will turn 15 then so let’s hope we have a development league for them to ride in .

Good to see Connor King back has the right attitude,needs to improve his gating this season...

Decent looking side coming together on the Island. Final place for either Smith or Jenkins? Glad King got the nod over Widman as his time must have surely come and Danno may be popular on the Island but his average is just to high. Tough league this year but if the 1-7 can stay fit and focused i expect the Warriors to go close at the end of the season.

Wonder when Kent name the rest of the NDL team? When do fixtures come out? And when are admission prices/ST etc announced? That all!

Plan those holidays carefully. 2 rain offs, a French air traffic control strike & an unexpected volcano eruption and you have wasted them.

Classic KKS from 2012 .....Originally a Panthers fan.

The Hi-Edge Raceway is a tarmac oval but Kirkmanshulme Lane is a shale track so transferring fixtures would not be to Hi-Edge but another shale track and the Hi-Edge promotion would not allow the Belle Vue promotion to run on the Buxton Speedway track even if the Buxton Speedway wanted to have the cars on their track.

Today I started a new venture. Kent Speedway Fans TV, will initially be a pre recorded show but if it takes off I hope to broadcast live ala speedway tavern (but a lot more amateur lol). Fellow fans Glenn Collins and Wayne Raines joined me to discuss the 2019 season and look forward to 2020 season. And we were joined by Dan Gilkes who was "live from the sofa" and he talks about his speedway history, reviews his 2019 season and looks ahead to his championship debut in 2020. Hopefully it will be ready to put out on new years day.

Definitely a what,

Don’t believe it was suggested it did have any relevance in the uk... so what’s your point? Although, Jack Holder will be a Sheffield rider next season, so it is of relevance to Sheffield supporters... and as most of us live in the UK, it does have some relevance here...

He's also caused more Promoters and Referees more grief than just about any other Rider in the past 20 years with his constant moaning and whining! Jury's out !

Greyhoundp - would you prefer the Labour alternative? Salma Yaqoob - who famously turned her back on British soldiers parading through Birmingham before leaving the Labour Party to join George Galloway's Respect Party?

Philipsnr ,your entitled to your opinion ,but down here and around Kent there is no question who is the considerably better rider... ..?

100% Fact and true and for the record Andy Street is doing a pretty decent job in his role of major of west midlands.

I think handicap racing at this level at the NSS would be very entertaining. My view is that it works well at big tracks but not so much at the smaller ones. I watched racing at Oxford in the early '60's when the 'big five' were 20 yards back and if the reserve was an experienced rider, like Jackie Biggs for example, it was really hard for Fundin, More etc. to get past. Never saw it at Belle Vue in those days but would imagine watching Craven pick his way through would have been a treat. In the end it was the pressure from the 'big five' that got it scrapped. Given the different levels now in the NL, I think it would be worth trying.

I disagree. The handicap meeting at IOW was among the best I saw last season anywhere, and that includes the NSS. It might be called a gimmick, but if it is going to improve the quality of the spectacle (and I think it will) I am all for it.

Well, of course it will. Despite being told by Transport for West Midlands on more than one occasion that the Sprint Bus Rapid Route will be implemented whether or not the the flyover is there, it's going. And this is being brought to you by a local authority whose educational and child care services have deemed substandard for over a decade. Why, they can't even provide an efficient refuse collection service and haven't done for over two years. And then there was that interview on local telly last night with that council no-mark who stated that all they have to do now is find a contractor to do the work. Really? All that was sorted ages ago. As an authority, they are collectively unfit to run a bath without supervision.