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Lovely, just as I imagined. That’s how me and my mates were. We raced around an oblong with semicircle ends, perfect tarmac cycle speedway track. Then September 1963 the family went with Bob Duckworth, he was presenting trophies at Manchester Gran Prix. First proper cycle speedway meet I had seen and loved it. Manchester had a winter league and we joined for the 63-64 league - Partington Flyers (Partington is the village the Collins and Morton families were from, + others that did speedway, Trownson.). Flyers we were not. lol. But some good came of it, a few of us were signed up with Belle Vue Gladiators, initially riding on BV car park on the Sunday’s for the summer league proper.

Under 8 and under 10 Suffolk Cycle Speedway Individual Championship at Great Blakenham today, under 13 and under 16 tomorrow morning at same venue. Great to see the kids enjoying what will probably be their only competitive racing this year.

Exeter v Wolverhampton in 1965 saw a change in fortunes in the space of 4 weeks. The Falcons won the Knock-Out Cup match on 6th September 59-37, but the Wolves gained revenge in the league fixture on 4th October, winning 48-30. The same 14 riders took part in both meetings.

Some good rules in CS which could be adopted in Speedway. When so many points behind (think it's six or maybe eight?), you can choose gate positions and keep doing so whilst behind by whatever is the margin they use. More credible than a tac sub rule to try and keep the score close.. Also, moving before the tapes go up is an exclusion with no replacement. It certainly focuses the mind and sorts out the starts.. My lad rode for Stockport as a young kid till his football life took over, and he did quite well individually, with the team being very successful in the Northern League and also did well nationally against "bigger" teams.. A fantastic sport to get young kids into, promoting team spirit, competitiveness and fitness, and ran by real enthusiasts..

Really enjoyed this chat about cycle speedway, brought back some great memories, all comments sensible and adding to the discussion, no arghie barrgie, no nitpickers , no one trying to score points over others.......just sensible forum talk..

Chum Taylor 'retired' from British speedway after his season at Cradley Heath in 1966. However, when Glyn came over from Perth to ride for Peterborough in 1973 Chum followed shortly afterwards, believing he had agreed a deal with promoter Danny Dunton to also ride for the Panthers. Chum was told there was no team place for him and so a deal was done for Glyn and Chum to ride for Crewe. Glyn had a team place there for the rest of the season, but Chum was set to ride in the second half until race fit. Unfortunately, he fell in his first ride and broke his shoulder. That was his final race in Britain.

Poor old Hughie broke his leg in his own testimonial meeting. How unlucky can you get!

One time Oxford junior, Keith Snelling, used to ride for Horspath "Hammers".

Bob was one of the best captains Sheffield had

He's waiting till he's done a spell as GB team manager

You mean he didn't come first every time?

Now, that IS fascinating!

We,Ecurie Alba from Edinburgh won the N.A.C.S.A. team championship at Hungerford in 1968.

There was in the day a wee bit controversy about track width at Love Street.

Hi Neil, The website is currently under construction for improvements. We should have it back up and running in the very near future

Enjoy a bit of cycle speedway. Been to watch a few clubs in northern England: Astley & Tyldesley, Heckmondwike (defunct, sadly), Sheffield and Stockport. Great sport to photograph! There is a handful of other clubs fairly close by, in Bury, Cramlington and Hessle (near Hull). Edinburgh has a club, too. Up-to-date information via https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/cyclespeedway Growing up in a village on the moors above Halifax, I and a few mates used to 'play' at cycle speedway on a track carved out of a field. One of the older lads used to ride - properly! - for Halifax (also now defunct). He had all the pukka gear, including a very nice bike. Can't remember anybody beating him on our little track!

I knew Matt...gave him my Oxford "Cheetahs" Skol sponsored jacket!

We had Cowley "Crusaders"!

I'm thinking of putting a cap full in my lawn mower. I'd probably cut the grass more often, and with a smile on my face.

There has always been teams trying it on and voting for high points limits like 45, because of the riders they have signed or lined up. When they were outvoted for say 42 or 43 points, you could see the glances between them seething that their plans were now in trouble. Obviously there were clans of promoters working together to get one over the poorer promotions.

Mike was always the one to mingle with the fans and trackstaff to get feedback - as well as many of the other jobs on race night. Matt usually handled the majority of the office work, admin, contracts, sponsorship/advertising etc.

Local urchins on push bikes on a London overspill council estate in Swindon

I would have thought they were named after Carshalton

I saw a name mentioned a few days ago around that time. Turned out for Beckenham and then Tooting Tigers. Pete Jarman. Guess it is the same Pete Jarman who later turned to speedway

We had a street team, Carshalton Crusaders, in Swindon. Named after Canterbury.

Hungerford? Rosco and Mad Wellie rode for Swindon, don't know if they still exist?

I recall that Wednesfield has/had a particularly strong history...known as the "Aces"?

I recall Horspath Hammers, a good team back then IIRC. I see Google maps showing a nice track today. I did most of my racing around Manchester, but also Yorkshire, Edinburgh festival a couple times, Leicester for an individual, Hungerford couple of times, Raynes Park, London for the ‘64 junior National finals, team lost by 2 in the final, I won the individual that followed. Only time I raced London.

That's a bit ageist H !!

I used to work on large motorway projects where drug and alcohol tests were the norm as there was a total zero tolerance to both on site. Every day a minimum of 10 people were tested, a simple test of pee in a special container, snap the lid down shake and place on desk. then you watched the container together with the tester to see if the crystals change colour. A simple effective test that caught many out. The only time it was known to give a false reading was if you were taken certain prescribed drugs and the testers always asked pre test if you were taking anything. (and don't speedway riders have to declare prior to a meeting any strong prescribed drugs they are taking?)

Now available are several books on the pre-war seasons at the Claremont Speedway in Western Australia. CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY 1927-28 "THE LIGHTS GO ON" CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY 1928-29 "BACK FOR MORE" CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY 1929-30 "THIRD TIME AROUND" CLAREMONT SPEEDWAY 1930-37 "THE TURBULENT THIRTIES" Plus the virtually unknown story of the Singapore Speedway. SINGAPORE SPEEDWAY 1930 The link below takes you to the1927-28 book and all of the others. https://au.blurb.com/b/6092342-claremont-speedway-1927-28

Oxford had two cycle speeday clubs. The Horspath "Hammers" and Headley "Hawks" but I believe that the latter closed some years ago now.

How did a small village like Great Blakenham manage to get a facility like a cycle speedway track, especially with the Ipswich track being only couple miles away. Well done them. Hope it’s a great day for the riders and spectators. I spent some time this summer finding cycle speedway tracks around the country on google maps. Doesn’t seem as many as in the mid 1960’s when I was racing for Belle Vue Gladiators then Wilmslow Hammers. Manchester then had a dozen or more top teams, sad the numbers are a lot less now. During the summer we looked after my sons place while he was away - Sheffield. They have a nice track too. YouTube is a good place to see cycle speedway meetings from years gone by, sadly they don’t go as far back as the 60’s.

Self-proclaimed track anorak here. While, I believe 1948 / 49 Hedon was similar to Sheffield, the Boulevard straights, according to the annuls of speedway foklore and seemingly which tape measure was used , were 24ft/ 7.3m or 25ft / 7.6m, with seriously wide bends, albeit with entries & exits a tad on the narrow side. The track was widended slightly on Ivan's arrival (and on his insistance) in the of winter 1977. Craven Park was a better shape overall the straights were, as confimed & measured by my good self (told you I'm a track anorak), 28ft / 8.5m with bends around twice that. Don't think it was ever particularly warm at Hull, apart from THAT summer in 1976, though 1995 wasn't too bad. Oh and the Belle Vue NSS is freaking brilliant. Boulevard 1971...

Wilf Jay made an appearance for Sheffield in 1964 against Long Eaton with his sons Alan and Derek in the same side.

Steve i don't know if its ever crossed your mind but having read about your family history with Ivan Mauger, then your own riding career followed by your photography career, would. if you can put it into words or find a suitable ghost writer make a good book or series in the Speedway Star during the winter. Youv'e experienced the sport from near enough every angle.

My generation would view holding a knife to a pensioners as brutal and nasty . It's the act of a dangerous criminal and a coward.

Join us for another Historic Premier Meeting Stream on Thursday 29th October 2020 at 7pm which features the Isle of Wight 'Wightlink Warriors' in action against the Plymouth 'Devils' in their 2018 National League encounter at Smallbrook Stadium on the Island.

good to see you post LT

Don’t think people on here are exaggerating regarding his behaviour and missing meetings.He done some pretty strange things IMO.Cant remember the rider but I was at a meeting where he “injured his back “ unloading his bike in similar circumstances.

From reading the Police statement it doesn't say he brutally attacked anybody, he burgled one person and robbed another at knife point. He's used threatening behaviour yes but he hasn't actually physically attacked anybody in this case (from what I've read). I am in no way defending or condoning his actions, I totally condemn them, just pointing out the known facts.

Multi-drug saliva test kits are available for around £4 each, purchased in bulk much less no doubt; so 14 tests would cost less than £50. Why not test every rider at every meeting?

Blimey, having to choose between King's Lynn and Liverpool! It's like being asked if you'd rather be shot or hung!

The problem with your brilliant ideas, as I see it, is getting a consensus of British promotors to agree to it. I can see that being the stumbling block. i think all racing at NSS would bring in a good turnover from the streams, such that if there were 2 visiting teams there should be something in it for the promotors.

Good edition this week i thought

Yep - the very same. Nice tidy riding. Won some heats, lost some heats. But riding for for fun rather than going all out.

Think the Star have done a great job in difficult circumstances,good coverage and articles of Polish speedway.While the quality of the paper is not up to much it’s understandable in these hard times.Well Done.

Interesting race format for the Last Chance qualifier and Final. Nice to see it being mixed up a little, NSS is certainly wide enough for a 6 rider race.

Polish Ekstraliga averages were in last week’s issue (Oct 17), Polish Division One & Two are in this week’s.

DON'T think any of them are driving away from the stadium with their car boot stacked to the gills with cash... which used to happen in the halcyon days of the sport.