duncrusadin

Such sad news. Sincere condolences to family and friends. RIP Danny.

Hats off to referee Stuart Wilson for not only changing his decision following the "mistaken identity" in heat 4 but publicly apologising as well. Rarely do you see a ref do either in any sport. Great to see Danny again - and riding so well - but a solid performance from all six Kings saw us through.

According to the programme, prizes for this meeting were supplied by David Land, the show's millionaire producer, and Mr and Mrs G Cox. In Johnnie's programme notes, he refers to the time that he and Mr Land were "both skint in London". Les won the meeting with a faultless 15 point maximum, followed by Eastbourne's Steve Weatherley on 13 and Ted Hubbard (by then at Rye House) with 12.

There is an exit to the left of the grandstand (as you look at it) that leads out to the car park.

I've been watching speedway for 40 years and I have to say that the exclusion of Adam Kirby in heat 14 was just about the worst decision I've ever seen. Everyone in the stadium saw Ryan wipe Adam out apart, of course, from the referee. Even the Fen Tigers' fans were laughing. On the plus side, an encouraging team performance by the Kings. I was expecting an IOW style thrashing but it didn't materialise. Lots there to build on, hopefully.

Well it's been raining steadily all day in Ramsgate and I'm not at all surprised that it's off.

Norman Jacobs, in his excellent book, "Speedway in the South East" (Tempus Publishing, 2003) cites Camberley as being "one of the claimants to the title of first speedway track in Britain as its first meeting was held on 7 May 1927". However the surface was composed of sand, rather than dirt and the riders rode the wrong way round (clockwise, that is, not facing backwards!) The track was later lengthened from 440yds to 1056yds, which ruled it out completely.

We were in the lower tier on the back straight opposite the start and could just about make out the riders' names and the race times. Everything else just left us shrugging our shoulders, along with everyone else around us.

Me too!

Spotted an obituary in today's Isle of Thanet Gazette for Den Cosby, who rode for Wembley in the early fifties. Den passed away recently at the age of 81, following a fall in early January which resulted in a serious head injury. He had lived in Broadstairs since 1979. Forum members with longer memories than mine will know more about him but I have found reference to him in Norbold's excellent "Speedway in London" as having ridden in five matches for the Lions in 1952. It appears he retired at the end of that season, due to family commitments.

The Invicta Motorcycle Club held at least one closed to club grasstrack meeting at the "Loop" at Manston in the late seventies and I believe grasstrack also took place at the old Ramsgate Airfield at Rumfields (now the Pysons Rd Industrial Estate) in the fifties and sixties. Chris Fenn's book book on Hackney Speedway reveals that Hawks' promoter Fred Evans had invested money into plans to run speedway at Ramsgate (presumably at the dog-track) but these were scuppered by the onset of the Second World War.

My copy arrived on Saturday (coincidentally, in the same post as my Cardiff GP tickets) and it's a suberb read. Thoroughly recommended.

Saw Barry in August at the Isle of Wight Steam Show. He was performing in a Motorcycle Stunt Troupe. His son was in it as well.

I believe he rode for Canterbury after that - maybe 1974? I can't be certain without getting the programmes out of the loft.

PMSL. Well done!