BL65

Speedway Star included the New Cross-Norwich meeting in forthcoming fixtures as Wednesday 13th, the usual race night for New Cross, with Wimbledon at home on Monday 11th. The results section and the match report section in the Star following the meeting both stated Wednesday 13th as the date of the meeting. The Merseyside Trophy on 2nd May was won by Johnny Hole with 15 points, from Brian Craven on 14 and Cliff Cox on 13. The Promoters Trophy at Wigan on 24th June was won by Dave Anderson. In the qualifying heats he was 7th highest scorer, with the top 8 qualifying for two semi-finals. He finished second to Terry Betts in his semi, with only two finishers, but then won the final when again there were only two finishers. Eric Hockaday won the Plymouth qualifier on 15th September with a 15 point maximum, from Harry Bastable on 14 and Cliff Cox on 13.

There is an interesting account of the competition at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speedwayyears/1960.html The article records that this was the Western Cup competition that never was, with Bristol unable to run some of the home fixtures and pulling out, leaving the other meetings to be classed as challenge fixtures by the Control Board, including any that had already been staged in the competition, although this decision may well have been ignored by reporters in the press. Although a fixture may have been planned for 22/09 I have a strong suspicion it was ditched. I have never seen or heard of a programme for this one at any time in the last 57 years or so. It could possibly have been called off early, as there was heavy rain throughout 21st and 22nd September.

Speedway Star published the draw for the KO Cup on 7th May, as follows: Round 1: Edinburgh v Sheffield, Liverpool v Cradley Heath Round 2: Stoke v Liverpool or Cradley Heath, Poole v Rayleigh, Bradford v Bristol, Edinburgh or Sheffield v Yarmouth. The Stoke v Cradley Heath meeting on 2nd July was a KO Cup tie, the Cradley file is correct and the Stoke file copies the Northern Cup tag from the Speedway Star match report. Cradley programme notes from the week before commented on the forthcoming KO Cup match at Stoke and reported on the KO Cup defeat the week after. The Northern Cup comprised one semi-final between Liverpool and Sheffield, with Sheffield then meeting Stoke in the final. Cradley Heath did not appear to have been included in the Northern Cup at any stage.

Barry Briggs won't forget Hasse, who collected him coming off the fourth bend and put him into the fence and out of the GB v Sweden test match at Wolverhampton in 1968. The Swedes developed a habit of damaging Briggo in the late 60s and early 70s.

McKinlay beat Young in a run-off. Street won the meeting on 5th July with 14 points.

A report on the washout on 9th August included a comment that the rearranged staging on 16th August would become the final meeting in the semi-final stage of the championship. The top 9 scorers from the 4 semi-finals qualified for the final, with each qualifier for the semi-finals having been drawn to ride in two meetings. Wikipedia is incorrect, there was no British Final. Ronnie Moore was seeded to the final as the title holder and Chum Taylor replaced injured qualifier Ron How in the final. The Belle Vue qualifying round was indeed staged on 2nd July.

Glad to help, I have the programme from the Wimbledon meeting stored away.

I know one person who wasn't. He didn't go near the K's and they didn't go near him, they knew better and respected him, an ex Hammers footballer from the 50's.

Adding the 31-56 defeat to the Speedway Star table gives the same totals as listed by Dave.

12th May was actually Ipswich v Coventry at Foxhall Heath. The appeal by Ipswich led to the meeting result being declared void at the end of May and it was not restaged, however it was decided the points scored by riders should stand. The fixture would have no bearing on the Britannia Shield North table as unbeaten Belle Vue finished top with 16 points from 8 matches, with Coventry on 6 points and Ipswich 4. 28th June Southampton lost 44-46 to Leicester on the night and the result was reported as such in Speedway Star on 9th July. The appeal by Southampton that Alf Hagon was ineligible to take a 5th ride in heat 14 led to the result being amended to 45-45 a few weeks later, when the league table was adjusted accordingly. An appeal by Norwich also saw the result of their meeting with Leicester on 14th May amended from 45-45 to 45-39 in early June, but a counter appeal saw the original result reinstated. 13th July Poole v Bradford was rained off and not restaged. Speedway Star reported on 24th September that Bradford could not fulfil the fixture and the league table reflected the fact that Poole had been awarded the match points. On 10th September Speedway Star had also reported that Yarmouth were unable to restage the home meeting with Sheffield and the match at Sheffield on August 25th counted for double points. 26th August Liverpool was rained off in a wet week which also saw meetings called off due to waterlogged tracks at Poole, Coventry, Cradley Heath and Stoke. The meeting had been rained off on 5th August and it was finally staged on 2nd September in the rain, in what was the last ever meeting at the track. 6th September Southampton was postponed due to a waterlogged track after a referee's inspection. The race points shown for the Britannia Shield South teams correspond with the table published in Speedway Star 18th June, except for New Cross where the magazine omitted the result of the meeting at Wimbledon on 6th June from its race points totals, although the meeting was included in the number raced and lost. The Speedway Researcher Wimbledon and New Cross files incorrectly record this meeting as a National League fixture, with the NL match actually taking place on 5th September. The complete season fixtures and results section on Researcher incorrectly shows the meeting as a challenge.

I have also found a reference in Speedway Star from 11th March which suggested that a Western Cup competition for Poole, Exeter, Plymouth and St Austell was being considered to be staged in July and August.

The East Anglian League fixtures were as listed except for 21/04 when the Rayleigh v Ipswich B meeting was a challenge. Speedway Star published the table on 2nd September confirming that both Norwich B and Yarmouth competed in 4 fixtures and Ipswich B and Rayleigh rode in 2 matches each. As I recall, St Austell ran a short season of open meetings, with the three home meetings referred to being labelled as Western League fixtures to generate supporter interest. It was therefore an informal league, with the other teams not staging home meetings or scheduled to meet each other. The Poole meeting at St Austell was still advertised as 'open' the week before, emphasising the lack of a structured fixture list. The 'league' started with the meeting on 8th August, but Poole finished their home season with their meeting against Wolverhampton on 16th August, having run a short season due to the stadium being required by the football team from late August.

Southampton v Monarkerna on 4th April was called off on the day due to a waterlogged track. 23rd May Pride of the South A.Pander 15, P.Craven 14, R.How 12, B.Briggs 11, N.Street 11, R.Moore 10, C.Taylor 7, D.Bradley 7, P.Vandenberg 7, I.Williams 6, J.Young 6, T.Teodorowicz 5, C.Roger 3, P.Moore 3, A.Golden 2, B.Duckworth 1 Let me know if you require the heat results. According to my records, Southampton met New Cross over two legs for the South Eastern Challenge Cup, whereas Southampton met Wimbledon over two legs for the South of England Cup. I don't recall the competitions being linked as part of a mini league. Match reports at the time indicated that the winners in each of the two legged affairs were presented with the cups. New Cross met Wimbledon for the London Cup much earlier in the season.

Speedway Star carried a match report which was headed 14th August, but then had a separate report stating that the opening meeting on Tuesday 15th August was a great succeess. I can confirm that the programme was for the meeting on 15th. It had to start at 6.45 p.m. as the track lights were not ready in time for the meeting.

Yes Dave, I have checked and the final table published in Speedway Star perpetuated their error and your team points totals are the correct ones.

The draw for the first two rounds of the 1961 PL KOC was: Round One: Rayleigh v Exeter, Stoke v Middlesbrough Round Two: Edinburgh v Rayleigh or Exeter, Poole v Wolverhampton, Sheffield v Plymouth, Stoke or Middlesbrough v Cradley Heath Newcastle did not take part in the KOC. The PL KOC was previewed in Speedway Star 6th May 1961. The heat placings on the Researcher website are correct, but heat 12 is shown as 3-3 when it should be 2-4. This amendment provides the correct result of 43-35, as confirmed in my programme. Also, the scorechart has McKinlay's total as 12, but his scores only total 10. The team scores then add up to 35. The errors on the Researcher site are copied directly from the Speedway Star match report. The final table was Coventry 6 matches, won 3, lost 3, pts 246-222, match points 27 Swindon 6 matches, won 3, lost 3, pts 237-231, match points 25 Leicester 6 matches, won 3, lost 3, pts 233-237, match points 25 Oxford 6 matches, won 3, lost 3, pts 222-248, match points 20 Match point scoring was: A team scoring up to 29 points = 0 30 to 32 points = 1 33 to 35 points = 2 36 to 38 points = 3 39 points = 4 40 to 42 points = 5 43 to 45 points = 6 46 to 48 points = 7 49 points and over = 8

Ralph Horne also rode for Belle Vue in 1946, having ridden there in novice meetings in 1945.

Colin Pratt and Roy Trigg were team mates at Hackney for three seasons, followed later by a season at Cradley Heath. Records show that in 1964 in 44 meetings Colin was the higher scorer in 20, Roy was higher in 20, with the same scores recorded in 4 meetings. In 1965 Colin was ahead 20-16, with 5 tied and in 1966 it was Colin again by 29-7, with 10 tied. In 1970 at Cradley Heath Roy was ahead 15-12, with equal scores on one occasion. Incidentally, just looking at scores from those seasons, for Hackney in 1964 Colin recorded 12 point maximums home and away against Glasgow, beating Charlie Monk on the three occasions they met. In 1965 Colin missed the meeting at Glasgow, but recorded 12 point maximums against Glasgow at Hackney and in a challenge when he rode for King's Lynn, beating Charlie twice in both meetings. In 1966 Charlie won their encounter at Glasgow, but Colin won their clash at Hackney in the process of recording another 12 point maximum. In 1970 Colin rode in the Cradley Heath home meeting against Glasgow, beating Charlie in their two races. A quick look at results from other seasons, excluding individual meetings on neutral tracks,showed that Charlie beat Colin in their two races in 1962, Colin was ahead 9-4 in 1963 and 3-2 in 1967, they won a race each in 1968 and Charlie won their only clash in 1969.

I well recall Colin Pratt being at his peak in the mid 1960s, including his final year at Stoke in 1963 (averaging over 9.5 in the Provincial League), his first season at Hackney (average over 10 again in the PL), then averaging between 8.5 and 10 in the first four years of the British League. Colin was 31 when he joined Cradley Heath in 1970. Two test matches at West Ham spring to mind, paid 15 points and a retirement from 6 rides against the USSR in 1966 and 13, including 4 heat wins, in the 39-69 defeat of GB by Poland in 1967. In that meeting Colin fought a lone battle as his team mates struggled - Nigel Boocock 8 from 6 rides, Luckhurst 7, McKinlay 5, Betts 3, Eric Boocock 3, Hedge 0, Norman Hunter 0. Colin often started the season slowly, such as in 1965 when he dropped to reserve for a short time before hitting top form. At Cradley Heath in 1970 he again started slowly and was hitting top form by mid-summer, although he had already shown he was still a top rider when defeating the high flying Ivan Mauger twice in the league meeting with Belle Vue. At his very best Colin was certainly a top rider, not someone I would describe as merely 'solid'. Comparisons with other riders mentioned must take into account age differences, some of the younger ones such as Hedge blossomed later but could not live with Colin in direct competition with him at his best.

Alan Grahame rode a BSA B50 at Birmingham in 1974. It is now in Ian Paterson's speedway museum in Edinburgh.

Glasgow staged meetings on Fridays during the early years of the British League. Halifax and King's Lynn were Saturday tracks, as was Wimbledon in 1965. King's Lynn held meetings on Sundays during their non-league season in 1965. Long Eaton raced on Tuesdays at that time.

I went to Brafield during the brief, two-year, period of operation in 1966-67 and I recall the speedway track being inside the tarmac stock car circuit.

It varied from two to four meetings per week in those days, around 80 meetings in 1965. As more tracks opened over the years it was sometimes up to six in a week at times.

Graham Plant rode in quite a few matches for Leicester in 1968. He was also a rising star with Middlesbrough in Division 2 that year. I really enjoyed watching speedway at Blackbird Road each week over a period of several years. There was a massive crowd for the re-opening on 9th April 1968, a thrilling match against King's Lynn, with Vic White in great form to score paid 10 for the Lions. I was one of the first to arrive at the stadium that night and was promptly offered a job, which unfortunately I had to decline.

It may well have been the worst result for Newport Bob, but possibly not the worst performance. Wolves were in an outstanding run of home form at that time, with a group of riders that peaked at the same time. From 20th August to the end of the season they rode and won eight home matches, including five in the league. They beat Swindon 54-24 (although Briggs was missing for the Robins), Poole 50-28, Cradley Heath 65-31, Wimbledon (who finished second in the league) 50-28, West Ham (league champions) 52-26, Newport 64-14, Glasgow 56-21 (with Charlie Monk dropping 5 points) and Hackney 44-34. Jim Airey missed the last two meetings, having returned to Australia and number 9 rider Paul Sharples was brought into the team. Wimbledon and West Ham were both at full strength. Newport never had a chance against the might of the Wolves team on that October evening. Even though the scores were one-sided I recall that the quality of the racing was good. The Wolves heat leaders performed well enough in those eight meetings, with Peter Jarman averaging 8.52, Bob Andrews 9.09 and Jim Airey 9.76. James Bond rode in one of the meetings at reserve to average 12.00 and Brian Maxted, riding mainly as reserve, averaged 8.52. The second strings were in a rich vein of form at Monmore in this run of matches, with Gordon Guasco averaging 9.25, Tommy Sweetman 10.55 and Cyril Francis 10.67. The Wasps had no answer when up against that Wolverhampton team. In October Wolves also went to Exeter and thrashed the home team 48-30, the only home league defeat of the season for the Falcons. 15 full or paid maximums were recorded in the last eight home meetings, three of them by Cyril Francis.