britmet

He's riding in 3 leagues ! Give the chap a rest occasionally.

Is either (or all) of the 4 Dutch Open mtgs a National Championship ? - Open or otherwise? .

What would happen to the plans, - 10 add'l mtgs at Kirk Lane - , if the NL grows to 14-16 teams, as is possible ? Can they be fitted in? .

Col Smith is still riding, - see The Men in Black, - vintage speedway. There is a website somewhere with them shown, present day portraits, etc, - can't find it at the moment,(just videos on Youtube) but will post its link when I do.

KALEVI LAHTINEN A great rider in his day. Here he is, http://sports.webshots.com/photo/2595303790103948496OjBVRC with the Golden Key of Bremen which he won in May 1966. Also in the pic, Lt-to-rt, Mrs. Gunnar Malmqvist, Kahlevi Lahtinen(F,1st), Gunnar Malmqvist (SW,2nd), Conny Samuelsson (SW,7th), Matti Olin (F,8th). Also rode that year, Tim Bungay(UK, 3rd) fsp - What were the other years of KL's Golden Key wins ?

Then '83 & '84 at B.Vue & Halifax before reverting for all future NRCs: - Do we know why ? - Owlerton was still running those 2 yrs. - ? (There was a 1964 NRC at Newcastle.) http://speedwaychampions.com/MidlandLondonScottish.aspx

Andrew, - This was TR's second NRC win. Was there an NRC in '62 ? (or any more before '67 which Mauger won ?)

Ray D. was top scorer for Bradford in the initial Prov'l Lge season, - also rode for them again in '62. Dennis D. on the other hand was almost certainly a 'Southerner', so unlikey any relation, I feel sure.

Fantastic ! ! Where ? When ? How ?

Your help please: When did the '90s Silver Helmet competition finish? "The History of the British Lge" (P.Oakes) takes it to 1990. Did it continue up to the formation of the Prem.Lge? i.e. to the end of '94 ? (And if so does anyone have the results?)

Co-incidently I have just this morning published these on the 'Speedway Champions' website, under the 'British MRCs' webpage, Silver Helmet & Silver Sash. www.speedwaychampions.com Can I have photo of it please. I seem to recollect somewhere between the start of the Prov'l Lge and the Sash being raced for in the BL it got uprated to a bigger, better Sash. Please PM me. Thanks

. Bjorn KNUTSON - one 's'. The man himself says this, and acknowledges that it got a second 's' so often despite telling everyone, incl'g in Sweden itself, that he gave up trying to correct them, and let it run. So although you can find many if not all programmes, plus subsequent books and records, spelling him with 'ss' it doesn't prove anything. (My own English surname has a single 's' at the end for the last 4 generations, but before that Registry certificates, births and marriages, have it ending double s.)

Yes, you'll see Olle in the detail MRC table, as an unsuccessful challenger in 54/55, 55/56 and 56/57

BlueBass, - Here are some Hornets' team line-ups for you to drool over: Jan.'54: Dick Campbell, Bill Dalton, Roy Browning, Arend Hartman, Vern McWiliams, Peter Dykes, Gerrald Hussey. '56/57: Alan Hunt, Jimmy Gooch, Roy Browning, G. Hickson, Vern McWiliams, Hookey Bremner, Dennis Motley, O.Watson, M.Jones, also rode Johny Gander, Graham White. '57/58: Ove Fundin, Gerry Hickson, Vern McWillaims, Roy Bowers, Graham White, H.Bremner, Ken Goosard, also rode: Henry Long, Aub Long, Neil Mortimer.

Information is from the same 3 sources, KMcL, CW, DB, direct, (incl’g copied emails to yourself in 2008,) with no loss in translation. e.g. From KMcL: " Firstly, I've done extensive research on the 1929/30 and the 1930/31 seasons as well as 1934/35 and 1935/36. ….. The 1935/36 season ...... Bishop toured SA that season, along with Wally Lloyd, the only two visiting riders. This was Bishop's ONLY visit. He won the SA dirt track championship at Malvern in March 1936. This was the national title, NOT the open title. He is the only visiting rider to have won the national title. He must have been eligible because SA was part of the British Empire." From DB: "CAREER HISTORY (BB): Started his speedway racing in 1999 and in 2000 went on to win the U21 South African Championship, the U21 Regional Championship and the best pairs in the premier division. 2001: Byron retained the U21 Championship, the Regional Championship and the best pairs and then added the Silver Sash to his winnings."

The track at Hoy Park Durban was indeed small. Whilst the mecca of S.African speedway, Wembley, was 470yds Hoy Park was just 280yds. In the ‘53/54 season the t.r. was 55.9s by Ronnie Moore, and Wembley’s 75.6s by Freddie Williams. Other tracks at that time were Springs, 320yds/62.2s F.W; Randfontein 320yds/62.0s Trevor Redmond & F.W; Bulawayo (SR) 470/72.3s(3-laps) Doug Lang; Kitwe (NR) 340/68.9s Bob Serrurier The Durban track of the ‘90s, Kings Park, was 400mtrs. n.b. Speedway data on SA can be a minefield from beginning to end: Phil Bishop only ever toured SA once, in the ‘35/36 season, and took the National title at Malvern in March of that season; Byron Bekker couldn’t have been SA Champ in ’99 at 12 years old in his first year of riding: he did win the U21 title in the following year, and in the subsequent, ie. in 2000 & 2001, not 3 times. Surprisingly he’s never been SA Champions, not in ’99 or ’09, primarily because he’s been riding in the UK since 2004.

Have a look at http://speedwaychampions.com/SouthAfrica.aspx If you can add any more info please PM me.

REMOVED - Located.

. Excellent summary, - Thanks for your postings thru the year. We shall expect the same from you in 2011, (please.) .

Thanks for that, I was suspicous, that I why I threw it in, (thought it might get a challenge or a confirmation.) I know what you mean, - a lot of their S.African data is cr**.

'DutchGrasstrack', Is your mailbox full? No PM possible. Would it be correct to say there has been no National Championship of Belgium held in 2010 ? (It was B.Borgers in 2009.)

QUOTE: I do not agree with the system of seeded riders, in my days not even the defending Champ was seeded, everyone had to qualify. Unquote] They say it comes to us all eventually, and so it has to dear old Ove. From 1956 to 1960 all World Champions, incl'g Ove himself after his first win, were seeded into the following years Wembley Final: Craven, Fundin, Briggs twice, (being brought back from NZ as late as August when in dispute with W'don,) and Moore all got the easy route thru.

Who was the Ukraine Champion in 2009, ? - Andriej Karpov or Kobrin ? .

DOB 9.11.94

Billy Janiro is the 2010 USA/AMA Champion after the second and final round of the championship at Auburn last Friday. Runner-Up was Charlie Venegas, 3rd Bryan Yarrow, 4th Bart Bast. Janiro won the A-finals in both rounds of the championship: he also won the SRA (unaffiliated) National championship at Costa Mesa the previous month and the Californian State championship at City of Industry. Last year's champ, 8x winner Greg Hancock didn't participate in 2010.