BL65

The screws were inserted at The Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton, following which Ivan returned home, having been informed the plaster cast would need to be on his smashed ankle for 3 months. He was then admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary as he had a high temperature, probably due to an infection, remaining there for about 3 weeks. The special boot was created the week before the World Championship qualifying rounds, just over 8 weeks after the crash, to enable Ivan to compete. By mid-July it appeared that Ivan was gaining enough confidence to start using his left foot more in the turns. Having participated in official fixtures only following his comeback, he then felt sufficiently fit to plan a flight to Denmark to ride in a 1,000 metre event on 8th August and also rode for 'Overseas' in a challenge at Newport on 20th August. Unfortunately, he broke a finger at Newport, then the next evening, riding for Newcastle at Wimbledon, he hit the fence and fell, breaking several bones in his right foot and aggravating the hand injury. Ivan missed the next home meeting as he stayed in London after the Wimbledon match in order to receive intensive treatment in an effort to be fit enough to ride in the British Final. The world championship meeting was delayed for a week due to rain, but the handicap of riding with so many injuries proved too much. .

In 1964 Mauger had a league average of 11.54 in the Provincial League, compared to Charlie Monk's 10.88. In 1965 Charlie achieved 10.22, with Ivan way down on 8.81. I think it highly probable in an injury-free season that Mauger would have at least matched, if not bettered, Monk's figures.

Gordon Guasco was unable to avoid Ivan, who fell in front of him. Mauger missed 15 meetings/2 months of the season, making his comeback in the World Championship rounds (with the aid of the plaster cast), then missed a Newcastle match before returning to the team at the end of June. Brian Brett was one of the riders in a 'pool' that season and joined Newcastle as a short-term replacement for Mauger. When Ivan returned to the team Newcastle were allowed to retain Brett and they finished the season joint top of the team's league averages on 8.81. Brian reached the World Final, Ivan was eliminated at the British Final stage, although at that point he was carrying hand, leg and foot injuries.

I remember it well, it was Mauger’s second ride. He had already been beaten by Tommy Sweetman and Jim Airey and then crashed and was excluded against Pete Jarman and Gordon Guasco. He took a while to recover anything approaching full fitness but gave a dazzling display at Monmore Green in the final meeting of the season, the Champion of Champions Trophy, when he scored 14 to finish runner up to Brian Brett on 15. The pair were in a class of their own that night, trouncing a strong field including Barry Briggs, Nigel Boocock, Olle Nygren, Cyril Maidment, Arne Pander, Colin Pratt, Mike Broadbank, Ron Mountford, plus the home stars.

I first saw Andrzej Pogorzelski at Wolverhampton and Cradley Heath in 1965 when the touring Rybnik team beat the home sides by 1 and 6 points respectively. He was the joint star of the show at Cradley Heath, along with Nigel Boocock, guesting in place of the injured Ivor Brown. Nigel triumphed the first time they met but Pogo gained revenge in the last heat, with both riders otherwise unbeaten. He then defeated Nigel in a match race. That was the season Nigel had a league average above 11 and was very hard to beat. A few days earlier, against a strong Wolverhampton team, some of the tourists found the small Monmore Green track a bit tricky, but Wyglenda (12 point maximum), Woryna (11 paid 12 maximum) and Pogorzelski (11) saw their team home, with Pogo beaten only by Tommy Sweetman. Rybnik did very well on that 1965 tour, largely due to being strengthened by Pogorzelski's inclusion. He was actually a Stal Gorzow rider.

He did the same again guesting for Halifax in the Yorkshire Cup at Hull in 1976, heats 9, 11, 12 and 13.

Something else came to mind when thinking about this topic. Apologies if this covers what which might be the subject of a future question. Alan Grahame took 7 rides for Birmingham in a 13 heat match at Exeter in 1977 and never appeared in consecutive heats, riding in heats 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13.

Bruce Cribb took 8 rides for Cradley at Coventry in the Midland Cup in 1976, including the last 4 heats.

1929: Jack Parker (Coventry - Southern League) 10.76, Arthur Jervis (Manchester White City - Northern League) 10.00. 1930: Ginger Lees (Liverpool - Northern) 10.89, Vic Huxley (Harringay - Southern) 10.55. (Jack Parker, Coventry, 10.34). 1931: Eric Langton (Belle Vue - Northern) 11.28, Dick Case (Wimbledon - Southern) 10.14. (Jack Parker, Southampton, 10.02). 1932: Dick Case (Wimbledon - National League) 10.42. (Jack Parker, Clapton, 8.80 - Southampton team moved to Clapton).

Another 9 from 13 heats which I saw was in the Wolverhampton v Belle Vue meeting in 1968 (Airey, Bond 2, Vandenberg, Hemus 2, Jarman, Handley, Maidment, Roper 2, Sjosten 2).

I will have to think about this one. In the 13 heat match era 7 different riders often won races in a meeting, but I do recall there being 9 heat winners in the Newcastle-Wolverhampton match in 1965 (Craven 2, Brett 4, Kelly, Guasco, Airey, Francis, Jarman, Andrews, Sweetman). In 1966 there were again 9 heat winners in the Cradley Heath-Wolverhampton Midland Cup match (Brown 3, Hughes, Featherby, Julian, Francis,2, Vandenberg 2, Maxted, Cowland, Jarman).

The regulations provided that a decider would be raced if the riders were level after two heats, but in this case they were not level, the score was 1.5-0.5, so there was a clear winner.

Les Owen also picked up a third place point plus a bonus for finishing behind Nigel, when Reg Luckhurst had machine failure in heat 10, but no other Bees rider beat an opponent.

I still can't decide which league performance I saw by JB impressed me most, the 21 points against Reading or his debut meeting in the UK for Long Eaton against Exeter in April 1967, when he rode at reserve and scored a paid maximum (11+1). Probably the 21 points just edges it as Exeter provided poor opposition on the night, with Ray Wilson (12), Jim Lightfoot (11+1) and Anders Michanek (11+1) also unbeaten.

Sheffield v Bradford, September 1962, Featherby 12, Roper 12, Allott 12.

I know this doesn't match the criteria but for heavy scoring how about Norwich v USSR Tourists in 1964. For Norwich, Fundin 18, Nygren 17, Hedge 9 and Bales 8 scored 52 out of a total of 53, with the other three riders contributing one point between them from 14 rides. The visitors were double-booked and so only had four riders available, two others taking part in a best pairs at Swindon. They scored 55 and still won, using an improvised form of rider replacement, each taking 9 rides in an 18 heat match - Plechanov 19, Kurilenko 16, Kadirov 11, Chekranov 9.

A few more: Nigel Boocock 15, Norman Hunter 13 and Col Cottrell 5 scored 33 out of the 34 points Coventry managed at Wimbledon in 1966. Ove Fundin 14, Tommy Roper 10 and Cyril Maidment 9 scored 33 out of the 34 points Belle Vue totalled at home to West Ham in 1967. Plus, a meeting I attended, Cradley Heath v Belle Vue in 1968, when Tommy Roper (16) and Cyril Maidment (14) scored 30 out of 33 for the visitors. Sandor Levai scored the other 3, so between them these three scored all of their team's points. Belle Vue were using R/R for Soren Sjosten so there were three non-scoring riders, Eyre, Powell and Pusey.

You are probably correct. Another meeting with three riders completing 12 point maximums was Edinburgh v Sheffield in September 1967 (George Hunter, Doug Templeton and Bert Harkins for the home team).

In September 1966 Rick France, Col Cottrell and Jim Lightfoot scored 12 point maximums for Coventry against a Swindon team missing Barry Briggs. Nigel Boocock scored 8 and 4 bonus, finishing behind Cottrell three times and Lightfoot. They almost repeated the feat the following week in the Midland Cup against Wolverhampton, the only difference being that France fell in one race and only scored 9. The same team then went to Long Eaton and won 46-32, with France 15, Lightfoot 14 and Boocock 11 totalling 40.

Exeter: Sampson 1, Shuter 1, Kilby 0, Keen 0 Newcastle: Kilby 2, Sampson 1, Jackson 0 Shuter 0 Halifax: Bowers 2, Keen 1, Sampson 1, Kilby 0

Ha ha, I don't think I've got time for that.

Two riders: 13/16 – Cradley Heath at Halifax 1965, McAuliffe 8, Julian 5 (16-62) Three riders: 31/32 - Exeter at Wimbledon 1965, Gooddy 13, Squibb 10, Cowland 8 (32-46) 31/32 – Belle Vue at Glasgow 1965, Fisher 13, Maidment 12, McGregor 6 (32-46) 28/30 – Swindon at Exeter 1965, Briggs 15, Broadbank 8, Ashby 5 (30-48) 32/35 – Swindon at Newcastle 1965, Briggs 14, Ashby 9, Broadbank 9 (35-43) 35/39 - Swindon at Halifax 1965, Briggs 15, Broadbank 12, Ashby 8 (39-39) 35/39 - Wimbledon at Halifax 1965, Luckhurst 13, Nygren 11, Hedge 11 (39-39)

Glasgow v Long Eaton 28th May 1965, Willie Templeton 12, Bluey Scott 12, Charlie Monk 12 in a 60-18 win.

I saw Nordin (15) and Erskine (15) score 30 out of 33 for Newport at Wolverhampton in 1966.

Hackney came close at Belle Vue, 26th April 1969, although they borrowed Mike Hiftle at reserve and he scored 1, with Graeme Smith taking one ride for no score as number 8. The six team members had a point between top and bottom scorers - Sweetman 4, Lukehurst 4, McGillivray 4, Pratt 3, Biggs 3, Gooch 3.