britmet

Thanks Ian for keeping up updated thru the season. Much appreciated. . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

Sorry old boy, didn't know it was a soap saga.

. The Golden Helmet event initiated in the meeting of Wed.19th continued weekly and Niss, the winner at that first meeting, ( 2 heats and a Final) took the overall season GH prize with 42 pts. The GH continued in the second season of 1930, to be won by Herbert Drews with 68pts, but in 1931 the event was abandoned after just one mtg, which Drews won. . Full details of the weekly GH event winners, 1929- 31 are given in the 'Golden Helmets, A - Z' section of Speedway Champions site, HERE with further narrative as follows: . . . . The first purpose-built dirt track in Germany was constructed in the Hamburg district of Lokstedt in 1929 by a UK/Danish consortium, United Speedway Ltd., who operated it alongside its Roskildeveg, Copenhagen site, built the previous year. Each stadium included a greyhound circuit in addition to the 1/3 mile speedway track, and star riders and their bikes, including British stars such as Bill Kitchen, were often flown between the two venues. From the opening Hamburg meeting in July '29 both venues ran a 'Golden Helmet' competition, - see the Roskildeveg GH results, 1929- '31, in the adjacent Danish GH table - , where weekly stagings were restricted to native riders who accumulated points towards an end-of-season total and the award of a Golden Helmet. The first winner was Fritz Niss, who won 4 of the weekly finals and totalled 42 points, (presumably from a scoring basis of 5-3-2-1 that was known to have been the Copenhagen system,) though he was being drawn down on by Herbert Drews toward the end of the year. Drews went on to become the 1930 overall winner with 5 weekly successes and 68 pts. The 1931 competition was abandoned after the initial event, though racing at Lokstedt continued up to 1933. . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

The full 2017/18 speedway season's NZ championship results are . . . . . Solo Championships NZ National - 6 January 2018 - Moore Park: 1st Bradley Wilson-Dean, 2nd Andrew Aldridge, 3rd Ryan Terry-Daley. NZ Grand Prix - 17 February 2018 - Oreti Park: 1st Bradely Wilson-Dean, 2nd Andrew Aldridge, 3rd Ryan Terry-Daley. North Island - 21 January 2018 – Rosebank: 1st Bradley Wilson-Dean, 2nd Ryan Terry-Daley, 3rd Dylan Hancock. South Island - 27 January 2018 - Oreti Park: 1st Andrew Aldridge, 2nd Daniel Shuttleworth, 3rd Adam Shuttleworth. NZ Under 21's - 21 January 2018 – Rosebank: 1st Jake Turner, 2nd Jake Gillespie, 3rd George Congreve. Sidecar Championships NZ National - 5/6 January 2018 – Meeanee: 1st Russell Stuart & Andrew Parker, 2nd Wayne Lett & Chris Chatfield, 3rd John Hannan & Bryce Rose. NZ Grand Prix - 13 January 2018 – Gisborne: 1st Peter Adams & Jason Hira, 2nd Aaron Rose & Bailee Ross, 3rd Justin Lincoln & Adrian Orchard. North Island - 17 March 2018 – Whanganui: 1st Russell Stuart and Andrew Parker, 2nd Mark Whye and Jacob Cooper, 3rd Dylan Moohan and Tyler Berger. South Island -24 March 2018 - Oreti Park: 1st - Aiden Thwaites & Shane Twiss, 2nd - Paul Humphrey & Ricky Pubben, 3rd - James Douglas & Harley Biddle. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/

Yesterday's NZ Sidecar results from New Zealand New Zealand SOUTH Island Sidecar Championship, - Oreti Park, Sat. March 24th 1st - Aiden Thwaites & Shane Twiss 2nd - Paul Humphrey & Ricky Pubben 3rd - James Douglas & Harley Biddle 4th - Erwin Tree & Bret Pubben 5th - Shaun Kerr & Robin Poole http://www.speedwaychampions.com/sidecar-champions.php

I realised many years ago that I'm too old and too wise to stand outside in April and October ! (March doesn't even come into it.)

New Zealand North Island Sidecar Championship. Russell Stuart and Andrew Parker took the NZ North Island Sidecar Speedway Championship at OceanView Speedway, Wanganui, yesterday March 17th, adding the trophy to that of their National success at Meeanee in January. The South Island title is raced for at Oreti Park, invercargill next week, Sat. 24th. March. Find results of all NZ and Aussie championships, as well as for other national and World titles HERE

Easy answer to that, - bring back Second Halves. I'm sure there's many youngsters that would jump at the chance for on-track time, even though no pts money.

Last weekend, March 10th, saw the staging of the outstanding State Sidecar Speedway titles in South Australia and Western Australia, (Tasmania and Nthn Territory have not held state title mtgs since 2012.) At Gillman SA, Trent Headland & Darryl Whetstone went through the card unbeaten, New Zealander Andrew Buchanan with Denny Cox in the chair taking 2nd place from Mark Plaisted & Ben Pitt. (Ht points: 15, 14, 13 respectively.) The WA title meeting at Pinjar Park was full of excitement as veteran Brad Willis, with Jesse Thomas as chair-man, had to do it the hard way, - again and again - , much deserved after a 34+ year wait ! After 3 wins from 4 rides Wills lost a coin toss for a place in the Final alongside unbeaten Scott Charsley & Morgan Cornwell, (4 wins from 4 rides; all heats 3-man races), the other 11 pointers Chad Harvey & Jamie Thomson going directly into the Final. Wills, riding with Thomas for the first time, had to take the flag in the 'Last Chance' semi to join them, which he duely did. In the Final the hitherto unbeaten Charsley & Cornwell made a good start from gate 1 and led for 3 laps, with Wills at the back in third place, but creeping up on the leaders. On the final charge down the back straight Harvey blasts underneath Charsley followed by Willis. Out of turn four all three outfits were bunched together, but Harvey gave a little ground heading to the flag, enough for Brad Willis & Jesse Thomas to squeeze by. A great race, - the crowd went wild: Brad Willis, - third in 1983/84, third in 1995/96 - , had finally made it. The Sidecar scene moves next to the International 'biggies', with the FIM Oceania Sidecar Championship on Sat. 31st, and the FIM 1000cc World Cup the following day, Sun. April 1st., both at Gillman, SA. The Australian National sidecar title is raced for at Tamworth, NSW, on April 14th.

Nordic Final, Varkaus, Finland, 10.2.2018 1. Martin Haarahiltunen, SWE, 15, - , +3 2. Niclas Svensson, SWE, 10 + 3 +2 3. Stefan Svensson, SWE, 14, - , +1 4. Jonas Andersson, SWE, 10 +2 +0 5 .Mikael Flodin, SWE, 10 +1 6. Timo Kankkunen, FIN, 11 +NS(inj'd) http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

Many happy returns, - Top man.

RIP Henryk Zyto

Marc Bisson was Runner-Up to Danny Warwick in the first resurrected 'ACU British Sand Racing Championship' of 2011. The historical background to Sand Racing and all the Guernsey 'Sand Ace' results from 2006, as well as a summary of the Championships of 1970 - '90, can be found here, (scroll down to the last section.) http://www.speedwaychampions.com/long-track-champions.php -

Swedish Final, Hallstavik, 24.2.2018 Ht Pts: Niclas Svensson 15 Martin Haarahitunen 14 Ove Ledstrum 13 Jonas Andersson 12 (+1, SF) Jimmy Olsen 11 (+3) Stefan Svensson 10 (+2) Mikael Flodin 8 (+FX) FINAL: 1st M.Haarahitunen, 2nd Niclas Svensson, 3rd Ove Ledstrum, 4th Jimmy Olsen. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php

Indeed, . . Ian Champion, Midland Juniors Riders Champion, 1966 @ Brafield, with a 15pt max . . http://www.speedwaychampions.com/regional-championships.php .

Jaimon Lidsey the new U21 Aussie Champion at Mildura today. . . www.speedwaychampions.com

A comprehensive section on speedway in Rhodesia, - Northern, Southern and UDI -, has been added to the Speedway-SA website. http://www.speedway-sa.com/rhodesia.php . It includes full Fixture Lists for the 2 periods of racing, in the 1950s and in the '70s, at the 3 tracks where league racing and individual competitions were staged, involving touring parties from the British League. Match results, League and rider points tables are included, as well as detail of Internationals and Golden Helmet MRCs, plus team, portrait, and action shots. . www.speedwaychampions.com www.speedway-sa.com

2018 New Zealand Speedway Championships today, Jan. 6th : SOLOS 1 - Bradley Wilson-Dean , 2 - Andrew Aldridge 3 - Ryan Terry-Daley at Moore Park, Christchurch. SIDECARS 1NZ – Russell Stuart / Andrew Parker 2NZ – Wayne Lett / Chris “Chatty” Chatfield 3NZ – John “Handbag” Hannon / Bryce Rose at Meeanee Speedway, Napier. www.speedwaychampions.com

jack Holder takes the Victoria title at Albury-Wodonga.

We covered this just 5 mths ago Steve, (incl'g your own contibutions,) but to repeat my view put forward then, QUOTE. Leif 'Basse' Hveem's record of successes make's Harrfeldt and Eide look like also-rans. On the international scene he was unsurpassed by any other fellow countryman, with Norwegian, Nordic, European and World Championship titles on the speedway and Long Track. . His record reads; SPEEDWAY - Norwegian champ 8x ; (Harfeldt 4x, Eide 5x) - European champ 1x ; ( SH & RE - nil ) - Nordic Champ 8x [3 forerunners + 5 Off'l ] ; (SH & RE nil ) LONG TRACK - Norwegian champ 8x ; (SH 3x, RE nil ) - Nordic champ 8+, [3 inter. years winner unknown] (SH & RE nil ) - World Champ 3x [as Euro forerunner] (SH & RE nil ) Whether you saw him ride or not, these figures make the question of the No.1 Norwegian a 'no contest.' END QUOTE

. Overall points scores after the 5 tour meetings, - 2 Test Matches (unofficial, won by NZ,) and 3 Individual 'Shoot-outs'. Fuller details at Speedway Champions

. Not raced for since 2015, as you rightly say. That season concluded with Dan Hasley of Mildenhall defeating Buxton's Ryan Blacklock. You can see all the Holders, from inception, HERE. as well as Gold and Silver Helmet winners. .

Back in the '60s Trevor Redmond reckoned that if he could break even through the season then his promoters share of the Wembley Final payout was what made the year profitable. Of course that's all long gone.

. You can find the full scores of the qualifying heats and result of the 5-man Dunedin Final on the Sidecar Speedway page of the Champions website HERE . Winners were Trent Headland & Daz Whetstone

' I too saw Bjorn K, win his championship at Wembley in 1965. In that same year that he took the Speedway World Chmpshp Knutsson also won the Long Track World Chmpshp forerunner, (known then as the European 1000m Chmpshp.) So no problem with bigger tracks, I'd suggest. Only Mauger and Gundersen ever did that double in the same season, in 1972 and '84 resp'ly.