BL65

He could also have mentioned the time he beat Ivan Mauger twice at Cradley Heath in 1970, in heats 11 and 13 of a league match. At that stage Ivan was riding in his 7th meeting of the season and had taken part in 26 races, winning 24, paid for a win behind Soren Sjosten in one race and failing to finish due to machine trouble in the other. A memorable performance by CP.

Brian Brett, Ron How, Bob Andrews, Colin Pratt, Roy Trigg, Ray Wilson, Terry Betts, Peter Craven, Ivor Hughes, Ron Mountford

Stefan Kwoczala, Andrzej Wyglenda, Antoni Woryna, Andrzej Pogorzelski, Stanislaw Tkocz, Pawel Waloszek, Mieczyslaw Polukard, Edmund Migos, Joachim Maj, Konstanty Pociejkowicz

Tommy Bergqvist, Gote Nordin, Bjorn Knutson, Ove Fundin, Anders Michanek, Lars Jansson, Jan Simensen, Hasse Holmqvist, Olle Nygren, Leif Larsson

Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs, Wayne Briggs, Bruce Cribb, Trevor Redmond, Bryce Subritzky, Graham Coombes, Goog Allan, Ron Johnston, Bill Andrew

Jack Scott, John Boulger, Jim Airey, Chum Taylor, Peter Moore, Jack Biggs, Peter Vandenberg, Graham Warren, Gordon Guasco, Charlie Monk

It was reported in December 1947 that Clapton was one of the tracks applying for a licence for 1948. Another former track at Nottingham was also hoping to re-open. Although Eastbourne relocated to Hastings for 1948 there had been a report that a new track would be constructed at Hampden Park, near Eastbourne railway station, with Arlington also to remain in operation as a member track of a suggested Sunday league. The proposed new track was to be 380 yards, with a capacity of 15,000. Three other new tracks hoping to operate in 1948 were Romford, Charlton and Mitcham. The Romford track, to be run by Tippy Atkinson, was proposed to be constructed at the football ground, with a capacity of 20,000.

To be fair to Wimbledon, in the cup replay against West Ham they were without heat leader Trevor Hedge who had suffered a foot injury riding at King's Lynn and he was replaced by a junior rider.

1. Alan Hunt 2. Brian Crutcher 3. Eric French 4. Jeff Lloyd 5. Eddie Rigg 6. Dick Bradley 7. Barry Briggs 8. Geoff Mardon 9. Split Waterman 10. Jack Young 11. Aub Lawson 12. Ken Sharples 13. Freddie Williams 14. Ronnie Moore 15. Jack Biggs 16. Peter Moore 1st Reserve Cyril Brine 2nd Reserve Reg Trott Brine replaced Briggs in heats 13 and 18, Trott replaced Peter Moore in heat 18

I remember Joe well from his brief period in British speedway. He had a cheery disposition even though he struggled to make an impression on the track during his time with the Heathens in 1966 and 1967. The highlight of his 1966 season was third place with double figures in the Midland Junior Riders Championship at Brafield on 14th August, although I saw him struggle at the same track a few weeks later when representing Cradley Heath B against the home side. Joe was restricted to second half racing in 1967, but as with so many junior riders the creation of the second division of the British League in 1968 provided an opportunity for regular team outings and a chance to progress. Joe had an unspectacular start with the Racers, but then began to make steady progress, achieving a few double figure scores (some including bonus points) and even taking the number one race jacket for a time. His season and career with Reading was unfortunately curtailed when he was the innocent victim of a heat 7 pile up in a meeting against Canterbury on 9th September. Joe had already notched 5 points plus a bonus from two rides (defeating Barry Crowson, the otherwise unbeaten Canterbury star rider) and was possibly on his way to achieving his best ever score.

I attended the meeting and the result was Swindon 41 Cradley Heath 37. Swindon were 4 points ahead on aggregate with two heats remaining at Dudley Wood, but the Heathens came out on top by 2 points overall after recording a 4-2 in heat 12 and a 5-1 in heat 13.

Characters noted for their hard-riding style also include Chris Blewett (particularly at Exeter) and Chris Julian. Roy Trigg and Chris Julian exchanged blows following one of Chris's forceful rides at Exeter in 1968 and they were team mates at the time!

My programme records Mauger breaking the tapes, being replaced by Ken Eyre, who was also excluded and replaced by Bill Powell.

According to the Speedway Star report match races were definitely staged on 12th July 1975.

Ivan beat Jim McMillan 3-0 at Berwick on the night of the Bordernapolis meeting, 12th July 1975, before a crowd of 4,600. He beat Peter Collins 2-1 at Ellesmere Port on 15th July 1975, when the attendance was double the normal figure. Ivan's appearance at Canterbury was on 22nd June 1974, the night of the meeting against Bradford.

I agree that it was Ivan Mauger at Bradford on August 3, 1957.

The match race against Autrey at the Festival of Paisley meeting on 14th May 1975 can be added to the list.

Thanks, I didn't know whether he actually rode in the Farewell to Scotland meeting, so that makes 48 (so far).

Aldershot, Ballymena, Barrow, Belle Vue Hyde Road, Birmingham Perry Barr, Bristol Eastville, Coatbridge, Coventry, Cradley Heath, Eastbourne, Edinburgh Old Meadowbank, Exeter, Glasgow White City, Glasgow Hampden Park, Glasgow Blantyre Stadium, Hackney, Halifax, Hull, Ipswich, King’s Lynn, Leicester, Liverpool, Long Eaton, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, New Cross, Newport, Norwich, Oxford, Poole, Rayleigh, Reading Tilehurst, Reading Smallmead, Rye House 1 (1957 track), St Austell, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke Hanley, Sunderland, Swindon, Wembley, West Ham, Weymouth, White City, Wimbledon, Wolverhampton, Workington 47 tracks listed, can anyone add to these?

I think there is a case for Per Olof Soderman ahead of Dick Bradley. Peo was ahead on World Final appearances by 4 to 2, with both also making a final as reserve. Peo also finished in the top six in 5 European Finals and scored 10 points in the 1963 World Team Cup Final, when he was part of Sweden's winning team.

I am too modest to reveal my total.

Some further information. In response to criticism about the Yarmouth match events in a local sporting newspaper, Dick Wise commented in the Cradley Heath programme on 24th June that the Yarmouth pit marshall should have queried the team alterations when they were handed to him and not half way through the match. He went on to say that although it had been reported in the press that Control Board action will be forthcoming, even to the extent of a match re-run, Cradley Heath had received no communication from the Control Board regarding the matter. The next mention of the matter came in the Cradley Heath programme for the Midland Cup match against Coventry on 7th August, when Les Marshall responded to criticisms by Coventry manager Charles Ochiltree. Marshall stated "With regard to the use of Alan Hunt as a reserve, I would point out that the Control Board was satisfied with the explanation of this incident and that Mr. Ochiltree's comments amount to a criticism of the Board". This implies that Cradley Heath were eventually required to explain the circumstances of Hunt's inclusion at reserve at Yarmouth, with the explanation being accepted and no action taken.

Sandor Levai, Chris Julian, Jimmy Squibb, Chris Blewett, Clive Featherby

Cradley needed to score 30.5 at Yarmouth to pip Coventry for top spot and actually scored 39. If Hunt had ridden in the team he would have replaced Harry Bastable, as he did in the meeting the previous evening. In fact, in heats 8 and 11 at Yarmouth Hunt did replace Bastable as a reserve substitution. This means that Hunt scored 6 points in his two reserve rides. Yarmouth won the meeting anyway, so deducting Hunt's 6 points would have made no difference to that outcome. Taking Hunt's scores out of the two reserve rides would have turned heat 4 from 3-3 to 5-1 and heat 13 from 1-5 to 3-3. The amended score would have been 49-35 and Cradley would still have secured enough race points to top the table. This may well not have been the actual reasoning at the time, but it does show that the impact was not as great as at first sight.

Some further background to this one. The Speedway World 14th June 1950 refers to the Yarmouth protest over the rules being broken by Alan Hunt taking a reserve position in the meeting. The report states that Cradley manager, Dick Wise, was not present when Hunt entered the side, owing to car trouble on the way from Cradley. Presumably, if the team manager had been present then he would have known the rules and would have changed the riding order to accommodate Hunt in the team. Afterwards Wise remarked that Hunt had only taken what probably seemed a wise course, as he had been injured the previous night. This suggests that Hunt himself decided to ride at reserve, in the absence of direction from the team manager. I suppose if Dick had been present then it could be said that Hunt would have taken a 'Wise' course and ridden in the team instead!