Gatwick Rocket

None so far. I'm not familiar with planning regs and the like so have no idea if it is even possible for them to do what I suggested. But the idea that the applicants can keep trying ad infinitum and cause tax-payers money to be spent in the process seems wrong.

In my email to comment on the plan to appeal the Oxford decision to refuse the recent application I suggested the local authority seek a compulsory purchase order and resell the site to someone who wants to use it for it's intended purpose, and tell the applicants not to waste any more of the public purse trying to do something the site is not intended for.

Been thinking about this a little more. If riders that are paid to race during the summer are willing to ride for free during the winter, are there other running costs that could equally be reduced to support making a winter league feasible?

I see, thanks. I hadn't picked that up. Will the intended riders want to pay to ride in this way?

Anything that results in more speedway is good news in my book. I particularly like the opportunity this creates for developing riders that need more competitive track time. Please can you explain why this proposal gives fans cheap speedway. Aren't the running costs going to be the same as an on-season NL fixture?

Hi Dave, Thanks for sharing your files, I will certainly read with interest. I got in touch with Dick Barrie not that long ago, but sadly he no longer has the SJL records from the time.

Hi Dave, It finished 50-27 to AJL. Chris Pidcock scored a full maximum for AJL and everyone else on the AJL side apart from Mitchell Barker scored well. Phil Jeffrey scored 7 to top score for SJL. I don't have full details to hand but can send them to you in the coming days. Regards

In the programme for Newcastle's final meeting of the 1984 season on 1 October it advertised junior speedway meetings on both 8 October and 15 October. The first of these was also advertised in Speedway Star magazine. Does anyone know if these meetings actually took place and if so the results?

It was reported as two separate results at the time, same as it appears in the yearbook.

Hi Dave, This meeting was described as a new concept (by Steve Johnson in host report for Speedway Star). Basically a challenge match in two halves of nine heats. Bristol did track the same six riders in the second half: Phil Herne, Mike Farrell, Nigel Boocock, Edgar Stangeland, Tormod Langli and Tom Leadbitter. The two guest scores for Mike Farrell are printed one row out in the Speedway Yearbook.

Thanks Kev, that's brilliant

Hi Kev, I've been through these now and it is really great that you are able to share this detailed information from all those years ago. I think it was Brian Butterfield that finished fourth in heat four v Swindon as I had it from elsewhere that he had three rides in that meeting. From memory I would guess that that came from one of the Swindon programmes as they were very good at covering their juniors around that time. Do you have more details that you can share on the Iwade v Wimbledon or Reading v Crayford challenge meetings? There was also a return challenge between Crayford and Reading at London Road on 12 July but I don't have any details for that meeting other than the final score was 16-7 to Crayford. Equally, if you have rider scores and/or heat details for other junior meetings around that time I would love to get them from you. You can message me rather than post them on here if you prefer. Thanks again - you've been very helpful Richard

Kev, I have just seen these posts and they look excellent. Tomorrow I will read through them carefully and add the details to my 1983 records. One immediate thought, I reckon the folk at Edinburgh will argue against your claim that Malcolm Bedkober was the oldest junior rider as they had George Wells doing second halves and Scottish Junior League meetings well into his 40s. Cheers!

I commented in another thread recently that they could run batches of heats back to back with minimal break in between races, eg 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, 13-15. Between each batch of heats could be a break for track grading and pits activity. I'm sure this would enable more excitement and momentum than the current drawn out affair. No doubt someone in the know on the technical side of things will point out reasons why this might not work. Of course if there was stuff to keep the fans interested between heats then the long gaps wouldn't be such a problem.

Deano, thanks for confirming press officers do submit media reports. I guess I'm surprised then that the local media doesn't take advantage of the free copy more often. On the subject of a programme app, if it updated the score in real time and had the facility to post messages then that pretty much matches what my kids do most evenings if left to their own devices (literally!) I realise this is what the live speedway updates forum does already, and if it looked more like Tumblr, Twitter or Facebook and less like a message board then I think it would appeal more to the screen-based community amongst us.

I think this is a great topic to get people commenting on, and it is interesting to read the different views. If I recall what got me hooked on speedway as a kid it was (in no particular order) getting rider autographs, the adrenalin rush of the races, drinking a bottle of coke through a straw and when I was a bit older filling in the programme and following the progress of my team and the riders I had become accustomed to. If I think about what would get my kids interested today it would probably involve interaction via a screen, something to kill the dead minutes between races and probably more sideshow entertainment. I definitely agree with the comments about the absence of advertising and media attention. I wonder why clubs don't provide reports to local media to publish. I would also like to see an end to the time spent on gardening at the start of each race. Maybe a countdown to when the green light comes on so the riders know they have to be ready to race. The referee still has discretion when tapes go up so riders can't learn the timing and anticipate the start. Thinking about reducing the time between races would it be feasible to chunk the meeting into four quarters covering heats 1-4, 5-8, 9-12 and 13-15, with no delay between in races within each quarter and a mini-break between quarters? More momentum might be built up in each quarter, and each quarter could be viewed as its own segment of the entire meeting. I realise this might be a problem for riders taking two on the trot but knowing there is no extra time allowed might influence how managers choose to use their riders.

I am a speedway fan and think this game looks interesting. Do the rules change every year?!

As an oldie I much prefer the 13 heat format plus second half. I was very pleased to see it used for the Tomas Topinka meeting.

Yep, had spotted that thanks!

Hi Mark, that is brilliant - thanks very much

Mine would be Custom House, West Ham. I guess I'd need quite a lot of lottery winnings to buy and demolish enough of the surrounding buildings to get planning permission etc.

Hi Mark, good website. Wish I had the ability to build a website - I would put all my stats online for all to see. Thanks for the Crayford results. I had all those already as per my post above. Can you pm me the individual scores in each meeting so I can check mine against? Also for the opponents as well as the Crayford riders. Thanks again. Richard

Mike, that's brilliant thanks. If you have any more junior meeting details during 1982-1984 can you message me.

I bought some speedway programmes from him via his website last October and he has never sent them or responded to any of my messages since. Any help getting my money back gratefully received.

This is what I have for the 1983 Southern Junior League. For the meetings where I have the date but not the result it is possible that these meetings were not actually staged on that date but were rearranged for another date. For some of these meetings where I have the result, I also have individual rider scores. crayford website please message me what you have for Crayford so I can add anything else I can. 4 April Swindon 13 Reading 11 4 April Reading 3 Swindon 12 14 April Wimbledon 13 Reading 11 25 April Reading 7 Crayford 17 26 April Crayford 18 Exeter 5 3 May Crayford 17 Weymouth 7 10 May Crayford 19 Reading 5 24 May Crayford 16 Swindon 8 26 May Oxford v Weymouth 30 May Exeter 16 Crayford 8 6 June Reading 10 Oxford 14 13 June Exeter v Swindon 14 June Weymouth 15 Reading 9 16 June Oxford v Swindon 25 June Swindon 12 Crayford 12 26 June Oxford v Wimbledon 28 June Weymouth v Swindon 30 June Wimbledon v Swindon 5 July Weymouth 14 Wimbledon 10 11 July Reading 7 Exeter 17 14 July Wimbledon v Weymouth 16 July Swindon 15 Reading 9 18 July Reading 12 Weymouth 10 19 July Crayford 20 Wimbledon 4 21 July Wimbledon v Oxford 23 July Swindon v Exeter 28 July Oxford 16 Reading 8 1 August Exeter v Weymouth 11 August Exeter v Reading 13 August Swindon v Wimbledon 18 August Wimbledon v Crayford 1 September Oxford 19 Crayford 3 9 September Crayford 17 Oxford 5 15 September Oxford v Exeter 27 September Weymouth v Exeter 30 September Swindon v Oxford 3 October Exeter v Oxford 10 October Reading v Wimbledon Weymouth 10 Crayford 13 (date unknown) Based on the above, I get the incomplete SJL League Table as follows: 1. Crayford P11 W8 D1 L2 F160 A98 Pts17 2. Swindon P5 W3 D1 L1 F60 A51 Pts7 3. Oxford P4 W3 D0 L1 F54 A38 Pts6 4. Exeter P3 W2 D0 L1 F38 A33 Pts4 5. Weymouth P6 W2 D0 L4 F65 A76 Pts4 6. Wimbledon P3 W1 D0 L2 F27 A51 Pts2 7. Reading P10 W1 D0 L9 F83 A146 Pts2 If anyone can help add to this information please let me know PS I don't think the Wimbledon v Crayford meeting actually took place - I remember there was some words reported in Speedway Star at the time about this being postponed for some reason.