martinmauger

Still gping slightly sideways away from modern venues, think Ipswich was also purpose built. When the track initially closed and the late John Berry & the late Joe Thurley looked at re-opening speedway and climbed over the Foxhall fence late one nite for a look see, they found the original speedway track had been tarmacced over. Hence the newer speedway track being inside the stock car circuit ever since....

Pretty sure Coventry and also Sheffield were purpose built with dog tracks added later. Interesting that the capacity of most UK stadia is around the 8,000 mark. At a fan forum someone once asked Ian Thomas the average crowd at the Boulevard and he replied "439, but 3,000 climb over the wall each week !"....

Musta bin, bin out of that particular loop a while. Once travelled to an away meet with Hull, 1980 or 81, forget where and the Vikings ran R/R so borrowed a local National League (then division 2) rider as No.8. He didn't get a ride in the match but rode in the 2nd half and in 3 rides never got a slide on once, and he was a league rider....

Not gettin' into anything, time precludes me taking in (and riding in !) the Scunny amateur scene these days so admittedly not seen the above ladies ride in a while but last I saw them the KP girls were full-on sliding and kicking it. Me jealous ? You bet , LOL!...

I was talking to Montana Jowett at Scunny once when she wore the pale blue / white suit & race bib (as in the pic with the other 2 girls) instead of her own, usual red / blue colours. She told me she'd attended some kind of training day in Poland (forget which track) and all the riders, boys & girls, were given the matching suits & race bibs to keep. And that there was a huge, free supply of fuel in the pits so riders could keep going back and forth topping up their fuel tanks as needed, think they were given a tyre too. Seen Monty, Rachel Hellowell & the Kirtly-Payne sisters (sp) ride a few times and they all looked more than handy, potential NL standard ? Just sayin'....

Finally bothered to check Hull lost by 5, 41-36, 13 heats in those days....

^^ This. Watched at mates house, felt for Leicester they really battled but it just wasn't their night. Swindon won in then but under circrumstances would surley have expected to win by more. Reminded me a bit of when Hull lost by 7 at Wimbledon in 1979 with 5 riders (4 regulars + 1 guest), after 3 infamous no-shows. Plenty of incedents to maintain interest, big shame for the riders who crashed....

Wish all involved the very best. Take it from me, depsite all the best efforts which can possibly be exerted they will need all the luck in the world. But theoretically it can be done, building a new track from scratch....

This ^^. Competitors will always try to gain an advantage at the start, long as a rider don't move or touch the tapes, let the tapes go. I'd be embarrassed explaining to new fans the constant delays just because one rider was way a ahead of the rest, despite not touching the tapes or moving. I know of at least 2 people who I could persuade to accompany me to speedway without them kicking and screaming ! As a matter of just remembered interest, for those intersted in 'varied' starts, it was the same ref for 1972 & 1973 World Finals....

The starts in 1973 World Final were equally varied, some riders not within 10ft of the line when the tapes went up. Mauger rode in both finals of course, with very different results, especially in the run-offs........... My pet hate: endless re-runs, all 4 back to the start - not to the pits helmets off for a 5 minute chat with their mates. Once rider are on track the pit gate should remain closed, in the event of an unsatisfactory start, with no rides falling, all riders return to start line immediately, refuelling is not required as speedway bikes can easily travel 4 laps + 30 yards + 1 slow 3/4 lap on one tankful. Unless there is a problem with the bike and then the machine examiner should open the pit gate allow limmited time to fix the bike. By 'problem' I refer to a loose or overtight chain, or something loose on the bike, not the fact the rider realises his set-up is incorrect....

Brilliant meeting, now THAT is a track with nowhere to hide, you gotta race the full 4 laps. Way closer than I first thought and tipped Lativia to lose out with any of the other 3 straight to final, but well done Lativians....

Glad is isn't just me who isn't a fan of Suzy Perry. Bit too full of herself in my opinion but she seems widely popular and if her career is progressing, good luck to her. Natalie is great, as was / is Sophie Blake Nicholls before her, as is / was Julie Richardson (the late Lee's mum) but think she only did Reading club videos....

At Hull in 2003 the Viking Head was changed to an, er, different design. Non-speedway folk I showed it to commented it "looks nothing like a Viking and anyway, waht is is supposed to be?". The Viking returned pronto in 2004, deep joy - see my (albeit personalised) avatar, and gold was added in 2005 to commemorate winning the treble....

As above. To be honest doesn't really surprise me, Jon is always there with a smiling face, welcoming all, chat about the forthcoming meeting and offering help if required. Defo a sound guy. Mind, quite a few folk help keep Scunny ticking over, Mr (& Mrs) Holly above is certainly another one.....

Most of the above, kinda inflicted on me anyhoo as no team to support. I still take the Star & Backtrack, watch most TV meets, get to Scunny once a month or so. Wheras once I could instantly recognise almost each and every rider on sight, on or off track, and recount his speedway history, and quote chapter & verse of pretty much every rule, and call each on-track decision correctly 99% of the time (though we can all do that !) now I find I can't, and aren't over-bothered about it. I find getting over passionate and wound up only ever lessens and decreases the interest, you gotta find a way to enjoy speedway on your own terms. Then it's still a great soprt.....

The Danes are in trouble ? Oh dear, how sad, never mind, what a pity - serves 'em right for the success they had in past (and they had a lot !) , often at the expense of us Brits. Pauses for effect. Seriously, little doubt the Danes will almost certainly 'do an Arnire' and be back in short time. "Ivan Mauger suggested this many decades ago when he stated that those from the other side of the world gave up a lot (like home comforts) in an attempt to make a success of it in Britain. Generally they were more hungry (even in it's recognised sense) unlike many British riders who had a warm bed and hot meal to go back home to." Indeed he did and so did Briggo, for 'tis true....

My post was made at work whilst looking and thinking about other things at the same time (not reccomended), but 100% agree with above. Guess I'm relatively lucky in that I get to see most TV matches at parents house and GPs at biker mates' house, who are big fans of Woffy BTW due to his 'lifestyle look'....

To be fair, many times I've been tearing my hair out (figuratively speaking) whilst watching motorsport as the cameras have followed the leader cruising around in their armchair reading a newspaper and eating sandwiches (!) and completely missed an exciting tussle is going on behind. Don't know if the BT Sport filming crew have covered speedway before but I'm sure the coverage will improve, first nite and all that....

Waht maketh a good speedway track is a subject I coud go on all day about. But won't. I always enjoy watching speedway, indeed I could watch a rider going round and round a slick track on his / her own all day. Nutshell: 1 Surface / Preparartion 2 Shape 3 Width 4 Size. Seen good and bad speedway, as opposed to racing for there is a difference, on all sizes of track from Costa Mesa / Wembley Arena 'polo'-miint size circuits to 1,000m long tracks. History shows speedway tracks have been square-ish, round-ish, cigar-shaped and so-called perfect ovals, with slick and also very grippy surfaces. But IMO surface needs to be top of the list then plenty of room to give riders the confidence to ride hard and so race one another, then they can adapt to the shape & size. Can't really comment on perparation, I once a had a long-ish and fascinating chat with a recognised and current 'track prep guy', but sadly I've forgotten a lot of what he told me. Not that I understood it all anyhoo ....

Absolutely, I still remember that meeting with the 'fun' starting in the 2nd half. The late John Berry & Co did have a point though. Their main area of interest, the back straight, appeared less the regulation at the time of 25 ft in width. Indeed, as seasons passed by, post Mauger's Winter of 1978 pre-signing insistance that the track was widened all the way around (which it was), ever lighter strips of turf appeared on the inside of the back straight. So by the last season of 1981 riders were almost forced to 'race' in single file along it. Possibly too narrow circuits aside, such incedents don't occur these days. E.g. I can remember like it was yessterday whne in 1975 Graham Drury was excluded for something or other, and less than happy with this decision and his red exclusion light stil being lit, he trashed said lamp with a track rake. Prob cost the late Ian Thomas a few quid for a new red light but I can still rememerber the incedent - but not the opposition or the score . The crowd enjoyed it and good publicity....

Hull, Boulevard had very little if any banking and when first constructed in 1995 Craven Park had none. In 1996 a little banking was added, but only 6 inches or so as apparently it would ruin the viewing of greynonds on the dog track which as present until mid 2003. Didn't make sense as, anyone who has been 'to the dogs' as I have will confirm most punters view the races on TV monitors. Both circuits woud be described as 'technical' having long straights and tight bends for the track lengths: Boulevard 415 yds / 379m Craven Park 378 yds / 348m. Coincedentally Craven Park meaured the same as Wembley and shared a smilar shape though Wembley appeared wider on the bends. Like with any track there were some processional races at both venues but also some very good ones. At the Boulevard one could get very, very close to the action (safety zones being a thing of the future) but the best feature of Craven Park was without doubt the view from the seats in the main stand, looking down onto the track similar to the view at Bradford. Anyone out there thinking of building a new track: make the view from the stand at least 40ft in the air . One puzzling aspect of the Craven Park circuit being as it mostly was sandwiched 'tween the dog track & rugby pitch, was from the outside it appeared a tad narrow (though I measured it as 9m on the straights, around 14m on the bends), but when actually walking the track it seemed much, much, wider. Curious....

He was announcer at Hull from, Boulevard from about 1979 (not checked) travelling down and back by train each Wednesday nite. Dougie Adams was announcer at Hull, Craven Park from 1995 to 2000ish (still not checked) then Nigel Pearson took over til about 2003 (not checked that either). Rob Godfrey does his best to try create interest at Scunny and at least interviews are conducted away from the pits, thus giving punters a chance to hear what is being said....

Exactly. Close throttle, pull over, look down at engine then watch the other 3 get on with it. But instead he did the other thing: big mistake, huge....

Bryan Seery: the undisputed Speedway Stat King. RIP....

Me too, but thanks anyway for looking. Pretty sure Phil Downs isn't related or connected but I'll check with friends, think there was a Phil Downs 2nd halved at Craven Park 1995-2005. Trouble is none of my friends' family from that era are still living so immediate info difficult not obtainable, someone just came ascross the a photo in a drawer - no one even knew he'd ridden speedway. Still, I've recently had another idea and you never know, I'll defo post what I find, if anything...