martinmauger

Feel for small businesses with little or no income the last 3 months, know a few owners who are seriously worried about becoming bankrupt. Just hope when people are able to move around a bit more freely they don't decide the play the 'how many peeps can be crammed into a Mini or Smart Car for charidy' type of game like they did the other week when more shops re-opened....

Recall one away coach trip, to either 'the' 1979 League Decider at Coventry or 1981 World Final at Wembley, several coaches set off from Hull; 1 broke down all passengers were spread across the other coaches some sitting in the centre aisle (!), another coach, mine, one of the centre roof air vents blew off, meant everyone was absolutely feezing, but it was replaced at the meeting so a bit warmer trip home. I hated, and still hate, actual coach travel, but had great speedway away days, having a laugh with other team's fans and one occasion a car park football match; Vikings against a Scunny select team. What fun we had back then....

The bends were ok but it was defo a tad (a tad?!) skinny on the straights, inevetable when stadium-sharing. Without being over-defensive what surprised me when I was old enough to be allowed to travel to away fixtures, and saw other tracks on TV or video, was quite a few others weren't a lot wider. Like Eastbourne, Oxford, Sheffield (though I think it was altered at some point), Peterbrough I couldn't believe how narrow it was when I first went in 1987, it was defo widened in 1996 or so, Poole also pre-1996. Joe Screen once told me Hull, Craven Park wasn't narrow as such, though it could also have done with a few more feet, but it was relatively narrow for the length of the straights. But, yeah many tracks tracks could use a few more feet if possible, like Berwick recently did, but have to make the best of what room they have. 'It is what it is'....

.......as probably thought by less than 10% of the local population of the Boulevard area in 1971-81. Everyone in Hull would at that time have been aware 'something' was happening on Wednesday nites thanks to open-piped JAPs & JAWAs up until about 1976 when silencers were first introduced. Speaking to people, very few worked out exactly what 'that glorious noise' was, being a wee boy I certainly had no idea. Ian Thomas did blooming well gaining planning permission at that time, there'd be no chance today, and many people are extremely pleased that he did. In later years, 1980 or so, many of those houses were demolished, thereby depriving folk of 'that Wednesday nite experience', the Boulevard itself was demolished in 2010 or os....

I'm missing British speedway, yes. Gave the Ben Fund a miss, just got over the flu, still had a cold in der dose, couldn't be bothered "no real sweat there will be loads of other meetings.........". After a tough few years (no tiny violins please, it happens ) I made extensive plans for many leisure & hobby activities this year including taking my parents for days out and a promised treat to self; a visit to the NSS at Belle Vue, but so far all have sadly come to naught. But there are folk worse off, life goes on and hopefully the awful Covid-19 virus will be under control & lockdown will be eased even more soon and we may get to see at least some live speedway this year ....

I'd forgotten BMX which my brother rode. I recall a big thing with cycle speedway used to be 'cotterless pedal cranks' and 'welled wheels'. The cottterless cranks referred to the pedal cranks which attach the pedals to the front (bigger) chain wheel, apparently it was 'essential' to have alloy cranks which attached directly to the center axle in the frame, screwed on I think, as opposed to steel / chrome cranks which were slotted on and held in place by cotter pins. The welled wheels referred to the wheel rims which cross section were shaped like a bell as opposed to being squarish, also the centre hubs were bigger, so shorter spokes. They were admittedly cool as and looked a lot like the front wheel on a proper speedway bike. But we were talking about stripped down pushbikes which one pedalled as fast as one could, cool extras were nice to have and lightened the bike a bit , if one's mummy & daddy paid for such things as some did, but were hardly 'essential', though some riders considered they were....

You can add cycle speedway, moto-x and karting to those sports; weren't we all there just to race and have fun, hmmm ? My first ever speedway meeting; my parents weren't at all interested but one day in 1974 a relative said "I know where the Boulevard is I've watched rugby (Hull FC) there and I'll take you to speedway one nite, 'especially as Hull are now in the 1st division' "....

Kinda releveant, just found the hopefully included. Relates to a speedway league game by ET Games, or ET Software, for the much missed & loved Amiga I believe individ, pairs & 4TT versions were also available. Wonder whether 'Stephen Purchase' is the same Steve Purchase who I think ran Oxford at one time.....

More like 45 mins. That said it could take as long getting across Hull to Craven Park, or the Boulevard which was nearer to where I lived but had to cycle there. Hull White City & Hull Angels at Hedon were a good few decades before my time. Speedway at Scunny is good but it means more with your own team....

"People of Great Brtain, I need to level with you with a very important message. Hull Needs Speedway." Not making light too much of a diffciult situation we find ourselves in, a situation which has impacted on my circle of family / friends, I've got bit of time on my hands like most folk, this was sent to me by a friend and I thought posters might enjoy it. Boris isn't wrong in this case . ....

I went through my proggies and found the following (apologies for weird format, text editor issues): Ivan Mauger At Hull With Exeter 22 May 1974, No.1, 11-4, 2nd to Beaton Ht 13, won 2nd half. 2 July 1975, No.1, 12-4, won 2nd half. 19 May 1976, No.4, 15-5, won 2nd half. Uproar when in ht 13 following very competitive race with Bobby Beaton who fell, Ivan was not excluded, re-run 3 only, fisticuffs between Ian Thomas & Wally Mawdsley. 24 Aug 1977, No.4, postponed. 28 Sept 1977, No.3, 10+1-4, Ht4 3rd to Mitch Graham & Mike Farrell, won 2nd half. So in addition to No.1 Ivan often rode at nos.3 & 4, not no.5 as I thought but he did ok at Hull....

They used him at no.5 at Hull in 1975 I think it was, obv before Ivan signed to lead the Vikings in 1978. That would have been to repel the twin attack of Hull's Bobby Beaton and Mitch Graham which was an, er, exciting pairing....

Speaking personally vulnerable and elderly relatives depend on me so, social distancing permitting, I need to go out regardless though I'm self-limiting this to every few days or so. When I am out and about every time I make like a Berwick fan, wearing a Bandit-style mask plus surgical gloves. Stay safe people....

Local heroes were riding on a nearby field, a public park for several hours this morning. No point in calling plod, even if they attend the riders simply scatter down back alleys and into woods no chance of catching them....

I'll just add this: due to a change in circumstances, largely overcoming 2 years of endless battles on every front you can possibly imagine (and a few more), but I'm still here so put the tiny violins away, I made serious plans, or so I thought, to take in many more meetings, not just at the obvious nearby Scunny, but at up to 4 other tracks . That went well . Stuff got real though and Covid-19 sadly impacted my family. But all my family members agree that life goes on, it has to, one day we will return to some kind or normality and we'll all see some speedway, hopefully this season if / when the authorities (read scientists and proper specialists) inform us it's safe to do so. Til then stay safe folks, this ain't no joke....

I had International Speedway on tape for my Commodore C64 (wish I'd kept it, had literally 100's of games) and somewhere I still have League Champions on disk for the Commodore Amiga, still have my original Amiga A500 (not the A500+) and an A1200 I bought for £12 at a car boot sale. Used to have an A600 too that I bought for £6 (!) in a charity shop but don't know what happened to it. I also have FIM SGP Speedway Grand Prix 2 for the PC, ran ok on my wonderful Win98 & WinXP PCs but not got around to installing it on newer machine yet as I'm told it's an absolute swine to configure for Win10. However I remain utterly hopeless at the online Speedway Turbo Sliders ....

In it to win it (hopefully), good luck to the lad....

I (kinda) get it, cricket - day out and all that bit like Cardiff, I'm not a ball games fan at all, but in any case as I keep telling you (if you are who I think you are) 'speedway really is a silly sport' <- joking, actually I love it . Though your lad ain't half bad at it . To say the least....

A guy I know who watches live cricket and says many spectators get bored, partake a good few lemonades and then hold 'how many empty plastic beer glasses can I pile up before they fall over' competitions....

To be honest I agree with the ACU's stance on this, having been in the unfortunate position of having bikes stolen in the past. I doubt reporting such activities with have much effect though, as in many areas youths can be seen riding illegally on clearly stolen motorcycles / mopeds on roads, footpaths and across school fields and little or no action is taken by the fuzz....

Another was a windy, gusty nite in Hull v Coventry in 1999, riders were noticably slower down the backstraight at times but a sudden strong gust as Sam Ermolenko entered turn 3 (imagine not riding around the corner but just taking a sharp left as into a side street) took him across the bend and into the home straight fence taking the unfortunate Su Robson with him. Both riders finished up sitting on the track, arms outstetched in the universal 'what the flip' expression, just batterd and bruised apparently. More biazarre and much worse was David Walsh, again at Hull in 2001. He was following close behind Peterbrough rider Jan Andersen, again in turns 3 & 4, Andersen suffered an engine failure and the unfortunate Walsh literally had nowhere to go, collected Andersen and carried on towards the start line and coming to a sudden stop on the track but his bike's cut-out failed to operate and it turned a sharp left across the rugby pitch, acclerated by itself travelling the full length of the pitch until coming to rest on its side against the fence at turn 2, engine screaming at max revs until a member of track staff manage to stop it. One of those times I was pleased to be in the main stand and not closer as I'm told Walsh's distress could clearly be heard from the terracing. The crash ended his career and I believe Andersen broke his leg though recovered and rode on for a few more years....

Seen a few but one spectacular / unusual crash was Jamie Smith at Mildenhall v Newport, in 2007 I think. 1st bend melee, Jamie hit the fence went straight up vertically and cleared the row of fancy coloured fairy lights high up above the fence, made front page of the Star....

An ex-girlfriend once did the same to me, but only the once. She gleefully informed me "I threw out all those music, speedway & motorbike magazines while you were at work, the dustmen arrived and took them all away". I informed her with equal glee that if she did anything like that again all her clothes would go into said dusbin for the dustmen to take away, was but one of very many reasons she became an ex-girlfriend and is no more. I replaced the lady in question and time replaced all the mags too. So, hah! . Was tempted but no, she didn't end up in the dustbin ....

A similar thing happened at Hull in 2000. I found out too late but Ivan turned up unannounced (as was his wont) to the Hull's press day, with Peter Collins and Dave Jessup (though not 100% sure about DJ), and wandered around the pits talking to the riders about bikes, the track, etc. When Ivan spoke us lesser mortals listened, right ? Well one rider (name wittheld) asked "who is that bloke and what does he know about speedway ?" I intended mentioning this to Ivan at his Hull book singing / 'meet & greet' in 2010 as he was known for his wry sense of humour, but I'm afraid I bottled it as I'd already bent his ear for 10mins+ talking about my photos I took of of him which I gave to him, but I'm sure he would have laughed when hearing about the Hull pits episode ....

Thanks and inrteresting stuff, 'in a former life' I did car & motorcycle mechanicking so know a little about such things. From what I remember, it was in a former life. So a kind of 'launch control system' then, which surprisingly is a standard option mode in some new cars with automatic gearboxes. I know Sam Ermolenko had such a switch fitted to the left handlebar one of his bikes in Hull's 1999 Elite League season, he explained it to Kelv & Nige live on Sky that it was to select 1of 2 ignition timing settings. It was the June '99 match v Belle Vue, the one where Joe Screen post race went 'handlebar to handlebar' with Jimmy Nielsen on the back straight, yes that one....