BL65

Situations like this could be avoided if there was a structure in place whereby all postponements had to be approved by an independent higher authority (i.e. a person or panel with no vested interest) before being publicised and participants notified. That should not be too much to ask in this day and age where instant communication is so easy. A simplified rule book with regulations rigorously applied should be a pre-requisite for speedway, as it should for any form of organised sport.

I remember seeing Gote Nordin win the Internationale in imperious style at Wimbledon in 1966 and 1967 and so I looked up his record at the track during those two seasons. In 1966 he recorded a 15 point maximum for Newport in a league match, 15 point maximum in the Internationale, followed by a meagre 11 points from 5 rides in The Laurels, In 1967 Gote started with a 15 point maximum in the Internationale, recorded 17 from 6 rides for Sweden against Great Britain and 11 points from 4 rides for Poole in a British League encounter. He also won all of his 6 races to take both trophies in the National Press meeting, for which the format was qualifying heats, semi finals and finals - the top class field included Mauger, McKinlay, Nygren, Jansson, Harrfeldt, Wilson, Michanek, Hedge and Eric Boocock.

I agree that Briggs had a fantastic record in the BLRC, beating some very good riders who were at their best at the time. The BLRC that I have the most vivid recollection of was the 1969 staging, when Barry won with 14 points, only being beaten by Mauger in his fifth ride. Ivan easily won three other races too but had machine trouble and failed to finish in his race against Ashby, Wilson and Levai. I recall that Mauger was way behind Jim Airey (who finished third after Ivan beat him in a run-off) in one heat, but he seemed to be travelling at the speed of light to swoop past him and leave Jim equally far behind in the course of half a lap. I remember turning to an acquaintance I was with to ask what he thought as he always claimed that Ivan only won races from the gate - he was speechless.

Vic Duggan was probably the best visiting rider at every track he rode at for Harringay in 1947. 13 away maximums, being unbeaten in three visits to West Ham, one point dropped in three visits each to Belle Vue, Wimbledon and New Cross, unbeaten in his single visits to Birmingham and Norwich, 2 unbeaten meetings at Bradford before recording just 7+1 in an end of season challenge. Vic's bogey track that season was Wembley, where he dropped 7 points in 18 rides.

Wimbledon 1 May 1969 (according to my programme) Mayflower Scratch Race: Bass 65.4, Wakefield, Murray, Dugard Palmerston Scratch Race: Moore 64.5, Hedge, Coombes, Andrews Victoria Scratch Race: Tebby 65.6, Everett, Penniket, Hawkins Batson Scratch Race: Luckhurst 64.2, Trigg, Maidment, Betts Yellow Star Scratch Race: Tebby 65.8, Wakefield, Everett, Bass Surrey Scratch Race: Trigg, Luckhurst, Moore, Hedge Cradley Heath 3rd May (from my programme) Stadium Scratch Race Ht1: Bass 69.8, Andrews, Dugard, Luckhurst (nf) Stadium Scratch Race Ht2: Trigg 70.2, Moore, Tebby, Everett Talent Stakes: Curtis 75.8, Gaskell, Smith, Hawkins (f) Stadium Scratch Race Ht3: Hedge 70.6, Coombes, Wakefield, Maidment (mf) Reserves Stakes: Curtis 74.2, Everett, Gaskell, Tucker Late Night Scurry: Curtis 74.4, Tucker, Smith, Wallace Stadium Final: Trigg 70.0, Hedge, Andrews, Bass

Yes, brilliant performances in his final British season.

Purely on the statistics generated by results at New Cross in 1960 and 1961, not including second half races, I would put Ronnie Moore slightly ahead of Ove Fundin. In 1960 Ronnie scored 106 plus 2 bonus from 38 races for a cma of 11.37, whereas Ove scored 62 from 22 races to give 11.27. In 1961 Ronnie scored 151 plus 6 bonus from 58 rides for a cma of 10.83, compared to Ove's 38 points from 15 rides for an average of 10.13. In 1960 at New Cross Jack Young scored 59 (including bonus) from 31 rides, but he did have two very good meetings at the track towards the end of the season, scoring paid 16 (from 6 rides) for Australasia against England and then totalling 11 to finish behind Moore and Briggs in the Champion of Champions meeting.

Spot on re 1964 Norbold. Looking back through my programmes I believe they met 21 times at Custom House in 1964, including second half races, with Bjorn getting the better of Barry by 17-4.

In the 'Fundin Olsen Nielsen' topic tmc suggested that the 'Best Visiting Rider At Your Track' might be another interesting thread. Ivor Brown had an outstanding record at Monmore Green, Wolverhampton, in the 1960s, including scoring 8 maximums (full and paid) in team matches. His record in individual meetings and internationals was also very good. Ivor's record at Wolverhampton in 1963 was exceptional. In 5 team matches against the Wolves he scored 61.5 points plus 0.5 bonus in a dead heat for first place, giving a total of 62 from 21 rides, at a cma of 11.81. The one point dropped was to Ernie Baker in a Midland League encounter. In individual meetings in 1963 Ivor won the Monmore Green Trophy with a 15 point maximum, 4 points ahead of Ivan Mauger, he finished 3rd in the Midland Riders' Championship with 12 points, behind Colin Pratt and Norman Hunter, but had a disappointing time in the Champion of Champions Trophy by scoring just 10 from 5 rides to finish behind Peter Jarman, Norman Hunter and Charlie Monk. Ivor top scored with 16 points from 6 rides for the Provincial League against the National League in a 'test match' in 1963 at Monmore Green, beaten only by Bob Andrews and Colin Gooddy, followed with 14 points from 6 rides for Britain v Overseas, when 3 points were dropped in one race due to a fall.

Picking up on the comment about Bob Andrews, in league racing he was on a par with riders such as Nigel Boocock and Mike Broadbank in the early 1960s, but in 1964 his league average was well down. This may have reflected his discontent at Wimbledon, with that being the year of his abortive attempt to move to Provincial League Wolverhampton. The league averages for the National League for 1960 to 1964, as shown on the Speedway Researcher site, give an indication of the top performing British riders at that time, with perhaps a few surprises. 1960 - 1 Peter Craven 10.75, 2 Ken McKinlay 9.98, 3 Ron How 9.36, 4 Eric Williams 9.33, 5 Ronnie Genz 8.41, 6 Mike Broadbank 8.33, 7 Nigel Boocock 8.31, 8 Bob Andrews 8.17, 9 George White 8.00, 10 Gordon McGregor 7.95 1961 - 1 Peter Craven 10.95, 2 Ron How 10.05, 3 Ken McKinlay 9.57, 4 Bob Andrews 9.04, 5 Ronnie Genz 8.16, 6 Nigel Boocock 7.84, 7 George White 7.82, 8 Billy Bales 7.67, 9 Les Owen 7.44, 10 Dick Fisher 7.40 1962 - 1 Peter Craven 9.75, 2 Ron How 9.30, 3 Bob Andrews 8.82, 4 Ron Mountford 8.74, 5 Ken McKinlay 8.63, 6 Mike Broadbank 8.27, 7 Nigel Boocock 8.20, 8 Cyril Maidment 7.95, 9 Les Owen 7.61, 10 Cyril Roger 7.49 1963 - 1 Dick Fisher 10.19, 2 Peter Craven 10.13, 3 Nigel Boocock 9.84, 4 Ron How 9.68, 5 Ken McKinlay 8.99, 6 Mike Broadbank 8.74, 7 Gordon McGregor 8.67, 8 Dick Bradley 8.55, 9 Terry Betts 8.39, 10 Ronnie Cenz 8.28 (11 Jim Lightfoot 7.31, 12 Bob Andrews 7.29) 1964 - 1 Nigel Boocock 10.44, 2 Ken McKinlay 9.92, 3 Ron How 9.84, 4 Mike Broadbank 9.80, 5 Dick Fisher 8.77, 6 Jimmy Gooch 8.00, 7 Cyril Maidment 7.84, 8 Trevor Hedge 7.68, 9 Ron Mountford 7.31, 10 Ronnie Genz 7.27 (11 Jim Lightfoot 7.10, 12 Leo McAuliffe 7.06, 13 Brian Brett 6.98, 14 Bob Andrews 6.88).

Some riders were at, or near, their best for relatively short periods in the 1960s, such as Bob Andrews, Jimmy Gooch, Ray Wilson, Cyril Maidment, Dick Fisher, Brian Brett, whereas others were top riders in their teams for longer periods. My top ten, in order, would be Peter Craven, Ron How, Ken McKinlay, Nigel Boocock, Mike Broadbank, Eric Boocock, Terry Betts, Norman Hunter, Martin Ashby, Colin Pratt with Ray Wilson, Trevor Hedge, Roy Trigg and Dave Younghusband next in line.

Ron Johnston had a very good record at Hyde Road. Although not achieving World Championship success he performed consistently at the top level for his team for over 10 years. In 1957 he was fourth in the league averages on 10.27, ahead of Barry Briggs, with the top three being Craven, Fundin and Bob Roger. He ended his final season with Belle Vue in 1961 with a league average of 10.00.

Again, scanning through my records I believe that between 1955 and 1963 Ove Fundin and Peter Craven met in 84 races at The Firs, with Ove ahead 52-32. 1955 team match Fundin 0 Craven 3 1956 team Fundin 2 Craven 1, Individual meeting Fundin 1 Craven 0, second half race Fundin 0 Craven 1 1957 team Fundin 1 Craven 1, Individual Fundin 1 Craven 1, Golden Helmet Fundin 2 Craven 1, second half Fundin 1 Craven 0 1958 team Fundin 1 Craven 2, Individual Fundin 3 Craven 1, Test Fundin 1 Craven 1, Golden Helmet Fundin 2 Craven 0 1959 team Fundin 1 Craven 0, Individual Fundin 3 Craven 2, Golden Helmet Fundin 4 Craven 2, second half Fundin 1 Craven 0 1960 team Fundin 5 Craven 2, second half Fundin 1 Craven 0 1961 team Fundin 1 Craven 4, Individual Fundin 0 Craven 1, Test Fundin 2 Craven 0, Golden Helmet Fundin 2 Craven 0, second half Fundin 2 Craven 2 1962 team Fundin 2 Craven 2, second half Fundin 1 Craven 2 1963 team Fundin 5 Craven 0, Individual Fundin 1 Craven 0, Golden Helmet Fundin 4 Craven 2, second half Fundin 2 Craven 1 Not including the second half races the score was Fundin 44 Craven 26. Peter was ahead in 63% of all their races at Belle Vue and Ove was ahead in 62% at Norwich. Excluding second half races Craven was ahead in 60.5% at Hyde Road and Ove was ahead in 63% at The Firs.

A quick glance through my records indicates that between 1956 and 1963 Peter Craven and Ove Fundin met in 49 races at Hyde Road, with Peter ahead 31-18. 1956 team matches Craven 0 Fundin 2 1957 Golden Helmet Craven 2 Fundin 0 1958 team Craven 3 Fundin 0, Golden Helmet Craven 2 Fundin 0 1959 team Craven 0 Fundin 1, Golden Helmet Craven 2 Fundin 1 1960 team Craven 1 Fundin 4 1961 team Craven 3 Fundin 1, Golden Helmet Craven 0 Fundin 2, second half races Craven 3 Fundin 0 1962 team Craven 3 Fundin 2, Golden Helmet Craven 3 Fundin 2 1963 team Craven 3 Fundin 2, Golden Helmet Craven 4 Fundin 0, second half Craven 2 Fundin 1 Not including the second half races, some of which were Gold Cup qualifiers, the score was Craven 26 Fundin 17.

It does indeed show how closely matched the top group of riders were. 1963 results for the World Final, Internationale and Gold Cup only show slight surprises (6 riders competed in all three meetings, but not all of them took part in The Laurels that year). Totals were Bjorn Knutson 38, Ove Fundin 37, Barry Briggs 36, Sverre Harrfeldt 34, Nigel Boocock 30, Peter Craven 26. If I had ranked British-based riders over the period 1961 to 1963 from memory, and taking into account all meetings rather than just looking at statistics from some of the big individual meetings, I would have had a top five of 1. Ove Fundin, 2. Barry Briggs, 3. Ronnie Moore, 4. Bjorn Knutson, 5. Peter Craven.

In 1961 the group of riders who competed in The Malmo World Final, Harringay Internationale Final, Gold Cup and Laurels (both at Wimbledon) accumulated the following points - Barry Briggs 52, Ronnie Moore 51, Ove Fundin 50, Peter Craven 42, Bjorn Knuts(s)on 39, Bob Andrews 39 and Ron How 32. Fundin was World Champion, although Knutson recorded 4 wins and a fall. Briggs won The Laurels, Moore was victorious in the Gold Cup and Fundin won a run-off against Moore to win the Internationale.

Interesting to note the points totalled in 4 big meetings in the UK in 1962 in which a group of 9 leading British-based riders all competed. In the meetings comprising the World Final at Wembley, the Laurels, Gold Cup and Internationale (all at Wimbledon) the total points accumulated were Barry Briggs 54, Ove Fundin 53 (won the Internationale and The Laurels), Ronnie Moore 45 (Gold Cup winner), Peter Craven 44 (World Champion), Bjorn Knutsson 43, Ron How 36, Bob Andrews 34, Ken McKinlay 30, Soren Sjosten 28. It would have been interesting to see the outcome if all had competed together in meetings on a wider range of tracks. A series including meetings on continental tracks would probably have seen the top five still there or thereabouts, but several top class non British-based riders might also have scored well.

Although the speedway press listed the meeting on 3rd July as a challenge, the Plymouth programme stated that it was a cup match, being part of the Midlands v South competition. I think I would be more inclined to accept the information in the programme. Also, in the Plymouth programme for the meeting against Eastbourne on 2nd October there is a description of the competition, including a comment that 'Eastbourne are strong favourites for the South and Tamworth are running Cradley Heath a hard race for the Midlands honours'. The programme article continued with 'I don't know where the final will be contested. It may be on a London track but more about this later. Birmingham have offered their stadium for the occasion, but that seems a long way away for the good folk of the South to visit.' This indicates at that point the final was intended to be a single meeting held on a neutral track. It transpired that it was a single meeting, but held at the track of one of the finalists (Tamworth). As the meeting was not held until 5th November it is likely that other venues were not available. The Plymouth programme for the meeting on 2nd October stated that Eastbourne needed to win to qualify for the final. The local press reported the next morning that Eastbourne had duly qualified. It appears that at that date it was believed the Eastbourne v Exeter fixture would not be raced, with Eastbourne qualifying for the final on race points difference. Subsequently, the outstanding meeting between these teams was held at Exeter. A meeting was originally scheduled to take place at Exeter on Monday, 13th October, but the match against Eastbourne was actually held on Wednesday, 15th October. As this meeting took place after Eastbourne had qualified for the final the result had no bearing, although the final standings in the completed group causes confusion.

Although Gote was third in the 1961 World Final I think he was probably riding better than ever when he won the Internationale at Wimbledon in 1966 and 1967, with a 15 point maximum on both occasions. His 1967 performance was one of the most emphatic victories I have witnessed, it was a wonderful achievement to finish 4 points ahead of Ivan Mauger, Torbjorn Harrysson and Eric Boocock. Unfortunately, he didn't qualify for the World Final that year.

Unfortunately, in terms of speedway prospects, it was reported in the Chester Chronicle last November that the Thornton Road site was to be redeveloped for housing, with a sale having been agreed.

Has anyone got a worse record? They have my sympathy if they do. Teams that I have followed and tracks that I have attended regularly for more than one season just keep on closing. The list of tracks currently stands at 9 that either closed permanently, for a brief period, or are about to close - Birmingham (1970s/1980s at the old greyhound stadium), Coventry, Cradley Heath, Hull, Leicester, Liverpool, Oxford, Stoke and Wolverhampton. One track that has escaped the jinx to date is Peterborough. Good to see though that Cradley have a team even if their own track still eludes them, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stoke came back and Coventry will hopefully re-locate. Hopefully, there may eventually be a revival at Hull and Oxford, but sadly it seems very unlikely that speedway will return to Liverpool, or even to relatively nearby Ellesmere Port.

It could also put a whole new meaning to the phrase 'tactical sub'.

There was a great deal of juggling in the early part of the 1979 season as the Cradley Heath 'squad' was rotated because of the points limit. As was the case in a few seasons, averages dipped sufficiently for the top seven to be tracked at the same time when the new set of figures was produced after a few weeks.

The Cradley Heath team from around May/June 1979 would have been potent if it had not been broken up, with heat leaders Penhall, Bastable and Alan Grahame, second strings Gundersen and Praestbro, together with reserves Phil Collins and Schwartz. Dave Perks made a few appearances as number 8 and he would have graced any top league team at the time.

Is it true that the water was so deep that riders were submerged and when they re-surfaced they were suffering from 'the bends'?