britmet

. Gen yourself up HERE , - Long Track background plus national champions in Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, Australasia and America. .

. The Edward Jancarz Memorial, and all its past winners, is covered here .

I was pondering about how many occasions a nation has had a clean sweep, i.e. the 1,2,3 rostrum positions, of the World Championship, Speedway, Long Track and Ice Racing, and whether home track advantage, or local crowd support was a factor? There've been no speedway and Long Track clean sweeps since the GPs. Will there be any more now we've multiple venues ? Speedway has seen clean sweeps on 4 occasions, - in 1937, (USA), 1949, (GB), 1961,(Sweden) and 1988,(Denmark), with only the Yanks able to claim it wasn't thanks to local circumstances. Malmo in '61 was the first non-Wembley Final, and it seemed to suggest that just like the domination of Wembley Lion team men post-war, there was something in it, ( - ? ) A Long Track 1,2,3 has also been achieved 4 times, but always by the same country, Germany, in 1960, (when its official status was the 1000m EM,) 1980, '82 and '96. Only the 1982 final wasn't on home soil. Since operating as a GP series no clean sweep has been made, even though just 2 countries, Germany and Gt.Britain stood on the rostrum for the next 10 years. But it's the Ice Racing world championship that blows the idea apart: USSR/Russia has taken all 3 rostrum places on 25 occasions in 52 years, (and in the other years had 2 of the 3 places on all but 7 occasions.) Full results

. Will there be a new date ? - or off for the year ?

. . . . and still the average speed at some tracks is still only 38.5 mph and 39.7 mph, - that calculated from track records, (so all other heats are slower. ) See other topic, 'Fastest Track Speeds'. http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=83692&page=2 .

Went there for their match against Cradley 'B' in 1966, and also one of the out-of-season training days, early '67, I suppose. I don't recall the stocks track, but x-checking with "Homes of British Speedway" it does indeed say that for the '66 re-opening the track was reconstructed inside the stocks track, with a length of 335yds, as opposed to the 420/430yds of the 1950s. That got tarmac'd for the first stock mtg of August 1955.

. How old are you ? .

. ? "These days ?" They were tried in the late '40s, but I didn't know they'd come back . http://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/low/Low-Rocket-Cycle-2.htm

. In truth today' s lap speed averages haven't changed much over the many decades, moving from averages of 40-something to 50-something mph, despite the many supposed improvements to equipment and tyres, etc. . Pre-war, the Wembley programme used to print a conversion table, and its track records in 1947 were still as set in the 1930s , e.g. 4 Laps Clutch start Lionel Van Praag 73.2 secs July 15th 1939 = 42.25 mph; 1 Lap Flying Start, LvP and Wilbur Lamoreaux, 17.4 secs = 44.44mph. Back then, and even up to the '60s, that was fast: (I can remember driving to Wembley down the M1 in 1964 at a cruising speed of ~ 55mph.) But today every young dolly bird in her Ford Fiesta or Renault 205 can do 90mph with little effort. This is one reason why today's generation don't find speedway enthralling, - they can drive a lot faster themselves, and have the thrill of doing it, not simply watching someone else do it. But the machinery can deliver the speed. Ivan Mauger hold the world long track speedway record of 144.66kph (90.4 mph) set in New Zealand in 1986. Clearly it's the track and its bends that limit what can be achieved. .

.This one did. - Jack Young, World Champ 1951 & '52, died 1987 " of a lung disorder."

. Given on this page, http://www.speedway-sa.com/history-border.php , is a definitive list of all South African- and Rhodesian-born riders that have ridden in the UK, from 1929 to the present decade, ( - penulimate item of the page.) . The website also covers the full history of speedway in S.Africa, with team photos of all the post-war league teams, league tables and scorers, plus Test Match results, national champions, - solo and sidecars - , as well as a table listing every track to have staged dirt track speedway in the Union and the Republic from the late 1920s to date. . Regrettably the only track staging regular solo speedway today is that of the Walkerville club, outside Johannesburg, where Sidecars, Flat-track and Quad bike racing supplement the monthly programme. .

Not shown here, so having dug it out, . . . . the Swedish Championship of last weekend.. "Drygt 3 000 personer såg SM finalen i isracing i Hallstavik där Niclas Svensson vann före Stefan Svensson och Daniel Henderson." . "More than 3000 people saw the Championship final in ice racing in Hallstavik which Niclas Svensson won by Stefan Svensson and Daniel Henderson." .

. The original Alexander Stadium and its speedway facilities, track, safety fence with red lights, pits, etc., stood intact but unused for more than a decade after open meetings in 1960. I helped dig out the track at Perry Barr Stadium with Joe Thurley in 1971, and recall, after the Brummies re-emerged to race in BL2, visiting riders more than once dashing late into the Perry Barr Stadium pits, having reached Brum early and walked the track at the wrong venue across the road, wondering why no one else was there, until the penny dropped. Today's Alexander Stadium, ½ mile away, is the home of Birchfield Harriers, the athletics club having taken the name with them when their new facility was opened in ~1976, and the old Alex becoming renamed as the P.B. Greyhound Stadium.

. Don't forget that Fred P. was given half a lap start for many of his races ! I remember too the story of Fred and Ken Sambridge coming back from training at Rye House and running out of petrol on the M1. So they took his bike off the trailer and rode it up the hard shoulder to fill up a can of petrol. Perhaps they didn't realise that you can use dope in your car if you really do run short, I can testify, - but you needed to play with the choke, in and out, to struggle along. How you'd fair today with automatic chokes i wouldn't like to consider. .

. Barnsley : Lundwood, Barnsley , S.Yorks. 1928, '29, '30. . Wombwell : South Yorkshire Sports Ground, Station Rd., Wombwell, S.Yorks. 1929, '30, '31; 1947, '48; + 1964, '65 Training. ALSO Wombwell : Ings Rd. Stadium, New Scarbro, Low Valley, Wombwell. 1929. .

. It matters not, . . he's the chairman of BSPA. He's got the teams back into operation, whichever hat he was wearing.

' Endorsed !

. What a career ! Respect ! http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ice-champions.php .

. http://www.speedwaychampions.com/memorial-trophies.php .

. Mention anything/anyone exotic alongside the name Hoskins and you have to take it all with a pinch of salt !

. Diss , Corn Hall, Feb. 9th.

. Post #2 on this thread had Nat'l on 21st, Open on 22nd. - ? Please advise status of these 2 mtgs. Thanks. .

. You might not have the choice. - Conscription ? .

Well put, very succinct, and a well reasoned explanation of how Swindon came to jump to the top of Div.1 (okay, the only Div'n,) after being a Div.2 team.

December 1945 !