tigerowl

I've got one of my wishes for 2014. No Wells at Owlerton. Just waiting for confirmation of the Tigers coming back and I'll have the double.

Glad. Scored well away but most of us paid to watch him at Owlerton, where all too often there was too little effort. He almost changed my opinion at the end of last season but never quite managed it. Who will replace that smiley face in the pits as well??

Before Neil was the promoter at Sheffield, he was a fan. I cannot believe that he would do anything else but what is best for Sheffield if at all possible.

It's just my opinion, but things started to go wrong crowds wise when riders became able to ride for three or four different teams all around Europe every week. The riders lost their identity to their clubs and the fans lost that feeling that the riders cared about who they were riding for. It's certainly not the sole reason for the decline in attendances but I don't think it helped. If we can get back to the days when Belle Vue riders rode for Belle Vue alone, Ipswich riders for Ipswich alone etc., even if it means a decline in the quality of the riders, that may be a good thing. My club is Sheffield and we had Doug Wyer and Reg Wilson in my youthful years. They rode for the Tigers. They didn't ride for Kaparna on Monday, Torun on Tuesdays and Sheffield on a Thursday before jetting off straight after the meeting to ride for some Danish side. It felt like they cared who they rode for and the fans cared as well. i don't get that feeling with the modern day Elite League jet setters.

I don't think there is a site but I do have them. The averages include league and knock out cup matches. Sorry they aren't presented very neatly - copying and pasting didn't work well. Hope they help though. Cradley Heath Ivor Brown 19 87 225 4 229 10.53 George Major 23 102 214 13 227 8.90 John Hart 22 93 178 12 190 8.17 Eric Hockaday 27 113 172 27 199 7.04 Harry Bastable 20 83 101 14 115 5.54 Johnny Edwards 22 87 90 16 106 4.87 Alan Totney 22 79 70 21 91 4.61 Glyn Chandler 16 47 25 8 33 2.81 Ivor Hughes 6 12 2 1 3 1.00 Also Rode… Frank Holmes 3 7 1 0 1 0.57 Matt Mattocks 2 3 4 0 4 5.33 Fred Priest 3 7 3 1 4 2.29 Derek Timms 4 11 6 3 9 3.27 Edinburgh George Hunter 21 91 226 5 231 10.15 Doug Templeton 20 87 193 4 197 9.06 Wayne Briggs 15 63 133 4 137 8.70 Willie Templeton 21 86 112 20 132 6.14 Alf Wells 17 64 63 17 80 5.00 Bill Landels 10 31 31.5 5 36.5 4.71 Jimmy Tannock 23 70 63 15 78 4.46 Bert Harkins 9 32 29 4 33 4.13 Kevin Torpie 14 49 40 10 50 4.08 Alec Hughson 6 14 8 4 12 3.43 Also Rode… Dave Younghusband 3 13 29 3 32 9.85 Exeter Jimmy Squibb 22 97 224.5 8.5 233 9.61 Tim Bungay 14 56 116.5 5.5 122 8.71 Alan Cowland 22 90 170 16 186 8.27 Cliff Cox 7 28 40 6 46 6.57 Maury McDermott 14 52 60 13 73 5.62 Des Lukehurst 20 80 88 24 112 5.60 Terry Stone 6 15 17 3 20 5.33 Howdy Byford 21 83 81 22 103 4.96 Ray Wickett 6 16 15 3 18 4.50 Pat Flanagan 10 27 18 7 25 3.70 Also Rode… Chris Blewett 2 6 11 0 11 7.33 David Crane 5 15 20 4 24 6.40 Ronnie Genz 1 3 4 2 6 8.00 Glasgow Charlie Monk 24 106 284 5 289 10.91 Maury Mattingley 23 96 176 10 186 7.75 Trevor Redmond 20 89 163 7 170 7.64 Chris Julian 15 59 97 5 102 6.92 Bill McMillan 22 75 53 16 69 3.68 Graham Coombes 12 37 23 9 32 3.46 Bruce Ovenden 22 85 57 16 73 3.44 Terry Stone 14 46 28 5 33 2.87 Also Rode… Chris Blewett 2 2 0 0 0 0.00 Eric Hanlon 3 7 6 1 7 4.00 Gordon Mitchell 2 5 4 1 5 4.00 Red Monteith 4 10 9 1 10 4.00 Vic Ridgeon 5 17 8 1 9 2.12 Hackney Colin Pratt 23 96 238 4 242 10.08 Roy Trigg 23 97 223 21 244 10.06 Les McGillivray 24 98 189 23 212 8.65 Len Silver 7 24 47 4 51 8.50 John Poyser 24 98 148 19 167 6.82 Jim Heard 6 21 22 2 24 4.57 Brian Davies 23 79 72 15 87 4.41 Sandy McGillivray 17 63 45 10 55 3.49 Dennis Day 12 38 25 4 29 3.05 Also Rode… Malcolm Brown 3 6 2 1 3 2.00 Alan Jackson 2 4 1 0 1 1.00 Peter Jackson 4 8 7 2 9 4.50 Long Eaton Eric Boothroyd 11 49 114 0 114 9.31 Norman Storer 24 100 155 21 176 7.04 Ray Wilson 17 72 115 11 126 7.00 Ken Adams 24 102 150 16 166 6.51 Howard Cole 22 88 123 10 133 6.05 Ron Sharp 23 81 73 15 88 4.35 John Mills 17 39 35 7 42 4.31 Ken Vale 17 57 42 16 58 4.07 Also Rode… Eric Boocock 5 20 44 0 44 8.80 Ray Day 1 4 2 0 2 2.00 Maurice Payling 1 4 6 2 8 8.00 Bluey Scott 3 11 16 3 19 6.91 Peter Wrathall 2 6 5 0 5 3.33 Middlesbrough Dave Younghusband 22 99 211 10 221 8.93 Eric Boocock 19 81 166 6 172 8.49 Bluey Scott 23 103 172 17 189 7.34 Clive Hitch 22 90 102 18 120 5.33 Ray Day 13 40 39 9 48 4.80 Allan Butterfield 23 86 63 15 78 3.63 Maurice Payling 16 52 32 6 38 2.92 Ken Handscombe 10 24 15 1 16 2.67 Jackie Swales 8 18 5 2 7 1.56 Also Rode… Derek Timms 3 7 4 1 5 2.86 Newcastle Ivan Mauger 24 102 288 5 293 11.49 Peter Kelly 17 64 131 7 138 8.63 Bill Andrew 25 104 205 18 223 8.58 Ken Sharples 21 88 155 28 183 8.32 Mike Watkin 25 100 145 20 165 6.60 Russ Dent 17 51 55 13 68 5.33 Goog Allan 25 92 100 14 114 4.96 Jack Winstanley 13 44 32 8 40 3.64 Maury Robinson 7 21 11 3 14 2.67 Also Rode… Milt Caisley 1 2 1 0 1 2.00 Newport Peter Vandenberg 25 109 235 9 244 8.95 Alby Golden 20 85 162 28 190 8.94 Dick Bradley 25 108 213 11 224 8.30 Jon Erskine 25 103 170 18 188 7.30 Geoff Penniket 24 97 135 27 162 6.68 Bob Hughes 16 54 52 13 65 4.81 Vic White 26 90 88 10 98 4.36 Ray Harris 19 50 29 7 36 2.88 Also Rode… Fred Powell 2 4 3 1 4 4.00 Poole Geoff Mudge 23 104 200 19 219 8.42 Ross Gilbertson 19 83 167 3 170 8.19 Chum Taylor 15 66 124 10 134 8.12 Norman Strachan 23 87 110 28 138 6.34 Tony Lewis 20 71 102 7 109 6.14 Tim Bungay 7 28 28 10 38 5.43 Pete Smith 22 75 73 18 91 4.85 Pete Munday 23 66 59 14 73 4.42 Brian Leonard 7 20 14 2 16 3.20 Also Rode… Peter Swain 2 4 0 0 0 0.00 Sheffield Jack Kitchen 14 62 146.5 9 155.5 10.03 Clive Featherby 21 86 187 8 195 9.07 John Dews 15 67 139 7 146 8.72 Dent Oliver 21 79 107 17 124 6.28 Tommy Roper 14 57 78 7 85 5.96 Alan Jay 22 79 91 11 102 5.16 Ron Bagley 21 74 58 18 76 4.11 Ken Handscombe 15 50 40 6 46 3.68 Also Rode… Malcolm Bruce 3 9 6 1 7 3.11 Derek Jay 4 10 0 0 0 0.00 Wilf Jay 1 2 1 0 1 2.00 Sunderland (records deleted) Colin McKee 3 10 19 2 21 8.40 Jim Airey 3 13 20 4 24 7.38 Ken Sharples 3 13 21 0 21 6.46 Dave Collins 3 8 11 1 12 6.00 Gordon Guasco 2 9 11 2 13 5.78 Vic Ridgeon 3 13 11 1 12 3.69 Graham Coombes 3 10 7 0 7 2.80 Also Rode… Paul Sharples 1 2 1 1 2 4.00 Wolverhampton Pete Jarman 23 88 213 1 214 9.73 Tommy Sweetman 22 95 185 17 202 8.51 Cyril Francis 20 79 129 15 144 7.29 Colin McKee 17 60 71 14 85 5.67 Jim Airey 20 73 87 13 100 5.48 Gordon Guasco 17 65 75 12 87 5.35 James Bond 20 75 83 15 98 5.23 Harry Edwards 14 46 35 9 44 3.83 Also Rode… Peter Adams 1 3 1 0 1 1.33 Chris Harrison 2 4 3 0 3 3.00 Dave Hemus 4 14 23 3 26 7.43 Paul Sharples 1 2 0 0 0 0.00

He rode in the World Championship Qualifying Round at Bristol on Friday 10 June 1960, scoring 12 points from 5 rides.

The club has from March to October to stage seven home league meetings and could only manage to stage five. What a shambles.

Probably not. If the Peter Craven Memorial is run as a second half event and we don't seem to have the capacity in the sport to remember other great stars then I can't see a meeting being held for Percy. Nice post though, Gustix.

I have put Derek's profile onto the Speedway a to z website today. There is a photo there of him in his Poole race jacket. Click on the letter C on the home page and scroll down for his name. www.speedwayatoz.co.uk ***Bec, if there is any incorrect information or anything that you would like adding / amending, please send me a PM and I will sort it**

Don't know if he comes on the forum (riders would be daft if they did I suppose!!) but I would like to publicly thank Olly Greenwood for his efforts for us this past few weeks. He has given us 100% and if there is room for a three point rider anywhere for any club I would give him a go. He seems a top lad and would want to give him best wishes for the future.

I think Nelson will swing it the Scorpions way if he is their guest tomorrow.

Three guests and rider replacement for the Tigers again this week. Steady is out for the season, Joe has quit and Damien seems to not even had the scan on his knee as yet. Everyone else seems to be signing riders to fill the gaps in their teams and yet we have to suffer this situation every week. Berwick have replaced Ricky with Eddie Kennett and then Seb Alden Glasgow are running with a full team even though they are getting beaten every week Plymouth sign riders to cover for their injuries, Jensen, Jensen, Katajisto, Palm Toft Newcastle have signed Rosen to coven for Christian Henry The list goes on... Sheffield have done nothing to cover for their long term injuries.

Good luck to both riders with their recovery. Rob put in a lot of effort on Thursday for little reward and I was glad to see him get another go at Armadale.

Thought I would comment on the performance of the Glasgow team for those Glasgow fans who could not make it, rather than the Sheffield fans who could have made it but didn't.

Rider replacement for Joe Haines at 2. We can give rides to Ricky Wells, Andre and the reserves. No disrespect to Joe but me might get a couple more points on the board with r/r. I will be happy with 40 points tonight.

It was a decent meeting with some good racing. Dakota North was certainly the pick of the visitors but I was hugely impressed with Joe Jacobs. He was very tidy, looked quick and was in amongst the action in all his rides. Joe Screen rode much better than his score suggested as did Henning Bager. Young Anders Thomsen looked worth persevering with and Joey Ringwood had me worried after his first ride but didn't do much afterwards. I said before the start that the key would be how James Grieves went and that is pretty much how it happened I suppose. Full credit to the Glasgow fans who made the journey, despite being a worse side than we are. They backed their team and it was great to see them on the first bend.

I would have gone to a meeting just to watch Paul Johnson in action!! He was brilliant.

Sad to hear of Ricky's accident. Hope he is OK. Good luck and best wishes for speedy and full recovery. Hope to see him back where he belongs at Owlerton soon.

Having been to quite a few Conference grounds in the last few years, their facilities are generally far better then anything speedway has to offer. You can sit down and watch for a start!

I think the missing factor in my original post is rider wages. I think that has always been something of a mystery and there are no definite figures to hand.

I was looking through an old Speedway Star from 1975 and saw the admission prices for King's Lynn were 70p. It now costs £16 to get in at Saddlebow Road and that is about 23 times more than it cost 38 years ago. There were some other prices listed in the magazines of the time and I wondered how much other speedway related stuff would cost if prices had gone up exactly in line with what the fans have to pay now. New Speedway Machine - £16,000 Decent Used Speedway Machine - £8,050 Rear Tyre - £287.50 Pair of Speedway Boots - £529 Speedway Star £3.45 If the average wage had increased at the same rate then in would be about £69,000 per year. Looking at the figures I wonder if the crowds dropping may be related to the cost of the night out?

Another thing. We know you have put a lot of faith in Jake Knight, just like you did with Jordan Tyrer. I hope it pays off and, as a purist, I would have preferred a club asset at number 7 instead of a guest. However, the poster makes a fair point in an inoffensive manner and an earlier post said that he would be at the speedway regardless. I hope that still is the case after your unnecessary post. Only another 700 people or so to upset I suppose.

There is so much wrong I don't know where to start. Part of the problem is down to the stadium owners, part of it is the promoters as a group and part is down to the Sheffield promotion. The stadium owners spent millions on an extension to the Panorama Room which is fine if you want a carvery but the rest of the stadium is falling to bits. The third bend bar has been shut for years, the first bend bar is shut and the terracing on the first turn is crumbling away. My mum and dad have been going to the speedway since 1960 but have stopped going because my mum needs to sit down at a meeting now and its either dusty steps or bar. They have chosen neither. The promoters have turned people away with their stupid double points / obsession with averages rules. Tracks having to release rider because they have an average of 0.01 too high etc. The promoters regularly say they hate the obsession with minutiae of averages but do nowt about it. The Sheffield promotion have put together the most awful teams in the last two years. The rot set in last season when we replaced Parker/Ashworth/Auty with Franc/Hall/Wells and put the admission prices up. The presentation is dire - introducing the riders from 7 to 1 while they stand there with their helmets on is simply not good enough - not to mention the funeral procession music to walk out to. I keep banging on about a programme and perhaps there could be a free race card for those that don't want to buy it. But there is so much to be gained from a programme - not least some information about the riders and a feeling that you are part of something. I have been going for 40 years and always felt part of a club / family and that I almost knew the riders personally because I read all about them in the programme. Now I get none of those feelings whatsoever. I know nothing about Damien Koppe, Facu Albin etc. There is no atmosphere and there doesn't seem to be many first time fans coming along. If there were any, would they have a clue what was going on. Probably not, as there is no explanation about what is happening over the tannoy and, of course, no room in the 'programme' to tell people. Sheffield Speedway is part of so many people's lives and it is so sad to see the club in the state it is in and the massive gaps on the terraces. It's also sad to see people who care about it enough to come on here and post being slagged off with 'well, if you can do better etc.'

I would rather have James in the side than Jake, bur what a farce again. The management want to use their own asset but are not allowed to do so because he is not in a declared 1-7 and have to use a guest instead. This sport needs a right kick up the pants. Also, I've got to agree that the management seem to have lost interest this season. It's sad to see because there have been some great times over the last few years.

It would be nice if the presenter with Scott knew the first thing about speedway. He is off Blue Peter or something?