BL65

Bjorn was one of the 'Big Five' along with Barry Briggs, Ove Fundin, Ronnie Moore and Peter Craven in the early 1960s. These were the riders who were deemed to be a cut above their rivals in British racing and so were rewarded by conceding a handicap to the rest. All five were good enough to still win a high proportion of their races. I think Briggo once said that Bjorn found the handicap less onerous to overcome than the other four because of his forceful approach. Barry and Bjorn were team mates at Banister Court until Southampton closed, so their rivalry was mainly tested in individual meetings and international events, including world championships and world team cups. When Barry joined Swindon and Bjorn moved to West Ham in 1964 they met a few times in team matches and I recall honours were fairly even. Barry won more world titles than Bjorn, but over a longer period. Knutson was world champion in 1965 and I recall Speedway Star carrying a headline to the effect that he had finally overcome his big night nerves. He was certainly good enough to have won more titles. In 1961 he won 4 races and fell in the other and in 1962 he scored 10 points from 4 completed races, suffering machine trouble in the other. Bjorn was a similar age to Ivan Mauger and if the Swedes had not been banned from riding in Britain in 1965 perhaps he would have stayed with West Ham for a few more seasons. If he had continued his career beyond 1966 there is every chance he would have added to his one world title and Ivan might have had to settle for a few less, Bjorn was that good. The last time I saw him ride was on the Vargarna tour in 1966, when he rode at Belle Vue, Poole, West Ham, Newcastle, Long Eaton, Cradley Heath and Oxford. Bjorn was outstanding as he recorded 4 maximums in those 7 meetings and averaged over 11 on the tour. Two notable defeats were by young Ray Wilson at Long Eaton and by Ivor Hughes in the second half final at Cradley Heath, just 10 days before the crash which resulted in Ivor tragically losing his life.

Gote's best seasons in Britain were 1966 and 1967, when he was exceptional, although he had finished third behind fellow Swedes Fundin and Knuts(s)on in the 1961 World Final at Malmo, with Bjorn and Gote ahead of Barry Briggs in a three man run-off for second place. My top three Swedes of that era would be Fundin, Knutson, Nordin, in that order, but there were several others worthy of mention, including Bengt Jansson, Olle Nygren, Rune Sormander, Peo Soderman and Soren Sjosten The strength of the Swedes was illustrated in the 1960 World Team Cup Final when Fundin and Nygren both scored 12 point maximums, Sormander dropped a single point and Knutson notched three wins and suffered machine failure in his other ride.

Jack Biggs would be a worthy contender for inclusion in your selection BOBBATH. Do you remember 1st April 1966? Wasps had signed a Swedish rider for the season, he arrived in the country mid-afternoon and made his way, without his machine, to Waterden Road. In those days each track had a spare machine, which Newport took for him to ride. So he took to the track at Hackney, which he had never ridden before, scored a 15 point maximum, took the Silver Sash match race title from home captain Colin Pratt and won the second half final. He went on to top score in 29 out of 34 league and cup matches for the Wasps, finished with a league average of 10.53 and won the Internationale at Wimbledon with a 15 point maximum. Surely Gote Nordin must be in any favourite seven or top seven for Newport?

In the Swedish language the letter 'Q' is now rare. I understand it was common in ordinary words up until the late 19th century, when it was replaced by 'K'. The exception was that many proper names kept their 'Q' despite the change made to common words. I remember looking into this in the 1960s when Wolverhampton's Hasse Holmqvist and Cradley Heath's Tommy Bergqvist were occasionally spelt with K instead of Q. Unless a proper name was chosen to be changed from Q to K it should be spelt with the Q, so Holmqvist, Bergqvist and Lofqvist would be correct. There were also some occasions on which programmes, magazines and newspapers replaced the V with a U, but that's another story.

Perhaps there was some confusion arising from the fact that on 19th April 1930 White City Manchester beat Gosforth 28-8. Possibly on the grid you refer to the author mistakenly then also entered the result as 8-28 for Gosforth v Glasgow White City. I have never seen mention of the Gosforth v Glasgow result referred to in speedway magazines or local newspapers for the area from 1930. Such a result would have been a surprise as the highest score in 7 other Glasgow away league meetings that season was just 13. I understand the last Gosforth Northern League match in 1930 was a 17-18 defeat at Leicester Super on 2nd August, following the 12-24 defeat at home to Belle Vue on 30th July.

Riders had to have a 'style' of their own to manhandle their JAPs around the track and we had 70 to 80 seconds per race to identify them years ago. Now they are at times indistinguishable as they hang off the back of their supersonic machines while they complete 4 laps in between 50 to 60 seconds, fearlessly bouncing off the air fence or each other. I just read on the Cradley Heath website that the Dudley Wood track record was lowered from 81.6 seconds in mid-1947 to 60.7 midway through 1990. I wonder how much lower the record could have fallen if the track was still around today.

After Long Eaton's first meeting in 1967 an acquaintance told me that new signing Anders Michanek was something special, after he had recorded three straight wins against Cradley Heath. I recall that he failed to finish in his first ride and was beaten by Ray Wilson in the second half final. At the same time I was told to watch out for a new young Australian, John Boulger, who was likely to go on to achieve great things, having ridden in the second half, won two races and finished third in the scratch race final. A week later Boulger made his team debut at home to Exeter and scored 11 paid 12, dropping his only point to team mate Ray Wilson in his last ride. His highest score that season was paid 14 at home to Newport.

Speedway Star 08/06 and 15/06 (which covered the period including 12/06 and 14/06) did not list the meeting in the 'It's a date' fixture list, neither was it included in Philip Rising's 'The week ahead' preview.

The Norwich v Swindon meeting scheduled for 14th June 1963 was still being advertised in the programme for the previous Norwich meeting on 8th June. However, at some point after the date the programme for the 8th was printed the Swindon meeting was cancelled and no programme was produced. I presume the cancellation was due to rider unavailability. The Norwich programme for the meeting on 5th October 1963 reported that 'Saturday next sees the final meeting of the season...... Apart from the league match against Swindon, there will be the Kings of Oxford Trophy....' However, the meeting which took place on 12th October was Norwich v The Rest, followed by the Kings of Oxford Trophy. As the Norwich team and track was available, I believe that Norwich were awarded the points as Swindon were unable to complete the fixture.

Confirmed. The final table, with one point for a match win, half a point for a draw, a point for an aggregate win and half a point for an aggregate tie, was: Sheffield 6 meetings won 4 drew 0 lost 2 Pts 6.5 (245-220) Edinburgh 6 3 1 2 6 (260-208) Middlesbrough 6 2 0 4 3 (223-242) Newcastle 6 2 1 3 2.5 (203-261) The Midland and Southern Leagues also used one point for a win and a bonus point for an aggregate win.

Yes, Rick beat Colin in a run off, in a time of 70.6 according to my programme. This was the first meeting at Monmore after the main stand was destroyed by fire, to be subsequently replaced by the structure that overlooks the home straight today. It seemed in those days that it was left to the home promoter to decide whether or not to stage a run-off in the event of a tie for first place. I will have a look to see if I have any information relating to the two Norwich-Swindon queries.

12/04 Bjorn Knuts(s)on's Team 47 Barry Briggs's Team 43, confirmed by my programme and as reported in Speedway Star. 23/06 The Eastbourne meeting was 'The Best Pairs Championship' run as part of a Cavalcade of Sport. Speedway Star confirmed that Bobby (Bob) Dugard and Roy Trigg were the winners, scoring 12 and 2 respectively. 17/08 After New Cross closed, Stan Stevens rode for Southampton at Coventry and scored 2 points. He should not have ridden for Southampton and so his two points were later deducted from the result. 20/08 The Researcher website shows Squibb with 13 points and Julian with 11, probably based on the heat details published in Speedway Star. This would be the result of Julian beating Squibb in heat 19, which I think was an error in the Star. However, the Star match report and scorechart states that Squibb scored 14 and Julian 10 and I believe this is correct. There was no run-off for first place and Speedway Star recorded that 'Jimmy Squibb and Cliff Cox were in devastating form to win ..... with 14 points each'. So, there were joint winners, both with 14 points. 31/08 My programme does not record a run-off or other declaration of placings. Speedway Star reported that three pairs all finished level with 10 points, with no winners identified. 21/09 My programme indicates that it was Belle Vue v Mike Parker's Select, a team comprising riders from the Provincial League. 24/09 Speedway Star reported the following week that the meeting between Southampton and a 'Pick of the Provincial League' team was rained off. Wolverhampton won at Exeter in September and a 'revenge' challenge was arranged for 07/10. However, it was reported that 3 Wolves riders decided at the last minute to decline the extra booking and so the opposition became the Tommy Sweetman Select. Rick France, Cyril Francis and Dave Hemus were the missing riders. Weymouth - The programmes and the prior advertisements for these meetings confirm they were all challenge matches. The Southern Area League reference crops up in the Speedway Star results and would have been an error, perhaps by a occasional reporter used to reporting on the Southern Area League in previous years. My programme and the Speedway Star match report confirms that the score on 16/08 was Weymouth 42 Southern Stars 36. Southern Stars included Roy Trigg, Pete Smith and Pete Munday. I can confirm from my programmes that Brown and Mattingley shared 1st place on 15/06, Cresp and Boccock shared 1st place on 24/08 and Cresp and Hunter did likewise on 21/08, with no deciding race or other method used to split them. Speedway Star confirmed this in the following weeks' reports.

From 1928: James Quinn, Salford T. Quirk, Liverpool

Colin Farquharson from the 1970s'.

Allan Quinn, St Austell, Harringay and Southampton. Aston Quinn, also of Southampton and St Austell. Bob Quick, Cradley Heath and Edinburgh. Cyril Quick, Bristol, Oxford, Poole, Wolverhampton, Yarmouth.

BOBBATH, perhaps Trophy and Red Barrel were dropped to the 'lower league' or 'second half' in favour of foreign imports, particularly Danish and Dutch 'stars' including Carlsberg and Heineken, before being retired.

Eastbourne beat Newpool 37-30 in a league fixture on 14th June. This meeting was actually raced for double match points as Newport/Poole did not stage the home meeting against Eastbourne. The Speedway Star published what turned out to be the final table on 7th August and this corresponds with the table shown in Peter Morrish's book: 1. Ipswich (6 - 5 - 0 - 1 - 231 - 200 - 10pts) 2. Eastbourne (4 - 3 - 0 - 1 - 110 - 101 - 6pts) 3. Rayleigh (3 - 1 - 0 - 2 - 110 - 106 - 2pts) 4. Newpool (4 - 1 - 0 - 3 - 99 - 111 - 2pts) 5. Weymouth (5 - 1 - 0 - 4 - 163 - 195 - 2pts)

The name was intended to be Newpool, which was the name used in most programmes and recorded in Peter Morrish's 'British Speedway Leagues 1946-64' book. On 20th August 1964 the meeting was between Middlesbrough and Australasia, comprising Airey, Guasco, Mudge and Taylor from Australia, Mauger, Allan and Andrew from New Zealand. I have never seen a programme for Rayleigh v Poole on 4th July 1964 and the Speedway Star carried no details, or even a mention the previous week in the forthcoming fixtures list. I think the meeting was removed from the fixture list because it clashed with the Great Britain v Soviet Union 1st test at Wembley that evening. Newpool competed in the Metropolitan League against Eastbourne, Ipswich, Rayleigh and Weymouth. The Newpool matches at Ipswich and Rayleigh in August were taken off the fixture list. Newpool also failed to complete their league fixtures at either track and the home meetings against Eastbourne, Ipswich and Rayleigh were not staged. Exeter B originally entered the league but staged only one meeting, a 'home' meeting at Weymouth against Newpool, with the result expunged from the records. I believe the meeting scheduled for Rayleigh on 15th August 1964 was also not staged, as the Metropolitan League 'ran out of steam' in the latter part of the season. Weymouth ran a series of training school sessions during the winter of 1964-65, with a couple of more formal events, including a Best Pairs on 15th November. At that meeting it was indicated a meeting was proposed for 27th December, to be either Weymouth v Ipswich or The Weymouth Novices Championship, but I have no record of this having taken place. I have no record of the meeting at Weymouth having taken place on 1st September, but it was scheduled to be a team challenge fixture between Weymouth Royals and All Stars, as advertised in the programme for the previous meeting. Weymouth had changed to a new Tuesday race night beginning on 25th August as holidaymakers due to return home on Saturday found the previous race night of Friday unsuitable. It is possible that if the Tuesday move was unsuccessful the meeting for 1st September may not have been staged. The move to a Tuesday race night at Weymouth also ruled out two of the Royals' regular team as Ken Vale and John Mills had commitments with Long Eaton, a Tuesday track in the Provincial League.

54-48 matches the details I have. The Wasps fans got value for money that night, with the match raced over 17 heats, then in addition to the 4 programmed second half races an extra junior riders' heat was added. This was an increase on the week before when the Wasps defeated Cradley Heath over 16 heats in the first leg of the KO Cup final, with only one second half race. I suspect BOBBATH was at those meetings.

Joe, the comment I made about McKinlay, Boocock and How was that out of all of the riders referred to they were the ones who I considered to be the top three and would have been worthy British Champions because of their ability to win a high proportion of races season after season over a prolonged period.

Regarding McKinlay, Boocock and How, I am influenced by the quality of their opposition in British Finals and the fact that McKinlay qualified for 8 world finals (plus 3 as reserve), with Boocock appearing in 9 world finals (plus 2 as reserve). Ron How rode in 6 world finals and would probably have qualified for more had his career not been ended by injury in 1965. His 'hobby' was also defeating Ove Fundin on a regular basis. Ken's world final appearances spanned 12 seasons and Nigel's record covered 17 seasons.

Ron How (1964) and Roy Trigg (1970) would feature high in a list of Brtish Final rostrum finishers. Having see all of the riders mentioned at their best, I would rank the top three as Ken McKinlay, Nigel Boocock and Ron How.

Yes, I agree, most meetings did feature riders with experience at that time.

Your original thought was correct BOBBATH, Geoff first rode for Poole in the 1960 Provincial League. He was one of several riders who also appeared regularly at Rye House as well. Although Rye House was a training track in those days Provincial League regulars from 1960 to 1964 included riders such as Tommy Sweetman, Peter Jarman, Colin Pratt and Roy Trigg as well as Geoff Mudge. Geoff was of heat leader standard throughout his 11 years with the Pirates.

Len rode in two meetings for Ipswich B at Rye House in 1960, the first on 31st July when he scored 11 points from 5 rides and the then again on 2nd October when he scored 2 points from 3 rides. There was a third occasion in 1960 when he rode at the track, which was possibly when he may have worn a Red Devil body colour, on 14th August in the Gerry Hussey Memorial Trophy. The meeting was run over 12 qualifying heats, in which Len recorded a fall followed by two heat wins. He won the second semi final, beating Eric Hockaday, Pete Sampson and Geoff Mudge, but both he and Jimmy Gleed fell in the final, which was won by Tommy Sweetman from Eric Hockaday. I don't think Len rode at Rye House after that season, but I believe he made an earlier appearance, in the Consolation Scratch Race on 15th April 1956, finishing second behind Jim Chalkley.