Beckford Boy

I think that the remark made by Ronnie's old Promoter at Wimbledon,the late Ronnie Greene,said everything.As a rider and a Gentleman Ronnie Moore is second to none.We won't see the likes of Mirac again,but as one lucky enough to meet him and see him ride I feel honoured. RIP Ronnie, Condolences to your family at this sad time.

The racing last night was top class,pity the promoters were not.Advertised start time is given as 7-30pm,so why was it that the first heat went off at 7-53pm.Rye have always had troubles with dust,but is it really necessary for the sprinkler/grader to perform after every 2 heats especially at the snail's pace it moved at.I was impressed with the kids who showed their paces prior to the main event,but they were too close to the start time,they should have been finished earlier. Can anyone enlighten me as to what is the significance of the centre green feature

Article in last night's Evening Standard suggested that London Mayor Sadiq Khan may make a final decision on the future of the stadium in the next few weeks.Seems that he could give the nod to the AFC Wimbledon/Housing option by giving L.B.Merton permission to rubber stamp their already given approval ,although the rival scheme put forward by Pascal Taggart and his consortium offers much more affordable housing and greater consideration to local needs.I believe that some month's ago the risk of flooding on the stadium site was suspiciously downgraded ,makes you think doesn't it ! Also don't let us forget that as M.P.for Tooting Mr.Khan showed no interest in helping the speedway promotion to fight their eviction from the stadium.Short of a miracle the Greyhound and Stock Car people will join us speedway supporters in having only memories of Wimbledon Stadium.

So the Mayor of London has acted at last and called the plans in for further perusal due to the impact they could have for the surrounding areas..Whether this means that the AFC Wimbledon/Galliard Homes project is dead in the water or just delayed remains to be seen,but now Mr.Taggart and his team are reportedly preparing to rejoin the fray with their futuristic plans for the stadium site.Good luck to them in their efforts .

Articles in the Racing Post over the last few days have suggested that papers relating to the proposed redevelopment of the stadium are being studied by City Hall at the moment and that Boris Johnson himself in his capacity of Mayor of London could be involved in the next couple of weeks,one would hope if so,he gives more support than he did in the sadly unsuccessful campaign to save Walthamstow Stadium from the developers. Being realistic,it would be great if the stadium in a new format could survive,but the chances of a return of speedway are another matter entirely.Whether Mr.Taggart and his partners if they win the day would be even prepared to discuss such must be very long odds.New residential housing and any motor sport next door are unlikely bedfellows and the mind boggles at the sort of money any potential speedway promoter would need to put on the table for the Dons to be born again,if a miracle did indeed happen.

Sad to see another of the old brigade depart for the great track in the sky.Reg was one of those riders who were the backbone of the sport for so many years,a great team man and an all round who were the backbone of the sport in bygone years,a great team man and an all round nice guy. RIP Reg So sorry for the typing errors,but just wanted to pay my respects to Reg.

Always immaculately turned out,plus a really nice bloke,remember him well from his Canterbury days and even more so in the colours of Wimbledon.R.I.P.Mike.

Take a look at the AFC Wimbledon site,a long way to go yet but the early money looks to be on them and their bedfellows Galliard Homes/RCP/GRA as being ahead at the first bend.We knew all along that they were the preferred choice of L.B.Merton so this comes as no surprise,let's hope that Mr.Taggart's fleet can blow them out of the water as the battle for the stadium hots up.Even if Mr. Taggart were to say that speedway does not figure in his plans,who knows what might happen in the future.

It's all very well saying nobody or no group are instigating support for speedway at Wimbledon,the hard facts are that both RCP/Galliard and Mr.Taggart are both heavyweight contenders for the spoils and it is almost fantasy to imagine that anyone in speedway circles could live with them financially.If Mr.Taggart can pull off a victory ,then that would be the time we might have a whisker of a chance.

Sky Sports News website are reporting that Galliard have agreed with West Ham United to buy the Boleyn ground when the Hammers move to the Olympic stadium in a couple of years time. Seems like they have an appetite for sporting venues.

It seems that the next stage in the saga will take place in April when Merton Council meet to consider the observations made by the Government Inspector.They will then further discuss the intentions of both Galliard and Mr.Taggart for the future of the site.It's anybody's guess when they will make a final decision,unfortunatly RCP/Galliard hold the trump card in that they already own the site and they appear to be L.B.Merton's preferred option.The final shout though will be that of NAMA,they will naturally go with the highest bidder.

I'm thinking back to 1969 when the GRA were the saviours of Wimbledon Stadium when they bought it and thwarted the plans of a certain Mr.Arnold Harris who wanted to redevelop the site.What an irony that they under the guise of RCP/Galliard have now switched sides and want to administer the last rites to the stadium. Even if Mr.Taggart's bid were to win the day I seriously wonder if speedway did become part of his project whether anyone could possibly afford to lay a new track and stage Elite League speedway which would surely have to be the operating level.Bearing in mind the horrendous financial losses at several current Elite venues any prospective promoters would need very deep pockets. It is looking as if NAMA are not interested in Mr.Taggart's bird in the hand but are being seduced by their rival's two in the bush. Abandon hope not all ye,miracles do sometimes happen,let's hope that one is lined up to visit London SW17 pretty darn quick.

You must be an Olympic athlete if you can do it in 15mins,I have been 3 times and 35 mins is my best shout from the station to the track.As for the return journey all that keeps me going is the thought of the Wetherspoons in the High St,do able in 25mins,leaving a 10 min stagger to the station.

If I remember correctly,I think that the problem there was that whoever owns/leases the site were only prepared to grant a short term lease.

Anyone know how much the staging track get paid when they host a live meeting? I know that the Greyhound people also were in danger of losing live coverage,but they have negotiated a deal whereby they have got 22 meetings on Sky this year but have lost the fee paid by Sky to the staging track,which for 2012 was £7,500. At the other end of the scale the 14 Super League R.L. clubs get £1.2 million each for this season,paid I believe on a monthly basis by the Rugby Football League

Although Freddie retired a long time ago,he was still a Speedway man through and through.I once had the honour of speaking to him at Wimbledon in the early 2000's and heard him speak last February at the Speedway Museum. My condolences to his family at this sad time for them.

Brilliant post Mick,agree with everything you say. I well remember the words of the legendary John S Hoskins: Speedway has been written off every year since 1928 but it is still here. In some form I think it always will be, but at what level.Without doubt the fact that hardly any clubs own their own stadium and in the main are treated with disdain by their landlords is one of the biggest problems. This absolute nonsense of riders competing in half a dozen leagues causes massive problems and expense to the sport and needs to stop.We can't afford the top riders and people will not pay to watch a load of wobblers,so the answer could be to concentrate on the middle grade riders.A settled team who injuries apart are available every meeting would help to bring back the bond between riders and fans. You would then have a situation whereby we could have the travelling circus known as the Grand Prix and genuine Test Matches as the occasional icing on the cake, as in days of old we had the one off World Final and proper Test Matches.

Sincerely hope Monday brings good news for all you Monarchs fans,I've seen my team go down the pan twice ,so I know only too well how you are feeling.

Well done young Norbold. I think Speedway featured more in the programme than all the other sports mentioned.For all us old goats we had a lovely hour wallowing in nostalgia.Glad BBC Radio London were pleased with the response and hopefully will do something similar again. At least there is still some hope for the 'Stow and fingers crossed the Irish entrepreneur who wants to buy Wimbledon will be successful in his visionary plan for the dogs and hopefully there will be a place for the bikes as well.

Many thanks Iris123 for unearthing the photos of racing in Ireland all those years ago,a real dose of nostalgia for all us over(well over)21's.

As Grachan says it does look like Swindon,but could it be Shelbourne Park bearing in mind Ronnie Greene's association with it in the early 50's.Anyone know what that stadium looked like at that time? The man pouring the fuel is Ted Brine,for many years the Dons team manager and the other bloke is a Richard Wattis lookalike.

Although the years slip by Tommy we will always remember you as one of the greatest Dons of all time .R.I.P.

So soon after the passing of Neil Street,another one of our heroes has taken the chequered flag for the last time.Ron was not only a fine individual rider but one of the very best team men the sport has seen.He will be fondly remembered by Harringay,Wimbledon and Oxford fans in particular.I am so pleased that I was able to chat to Ron and his son Trevor at the meeting in 2003 that Wimbledon staged in memory of all the old London tracks.I always enjoyed going to Ron's pub,The Crown, where there was always a warm welcome for speedway fans. My condolences to the How family.

A sad time for London speedway fans of a certain age,it is at this time of the year that we remember two of our heroes who are no longer with us,Vic Harding and Tommy Jansson.May they look down on us kindly.

I'm amazed that speedway ever took place at Catford,on the poor enclosure side of the track there was a massive drop from the dog circuit to where some of the bookmakers stood,so I would have thought that it would have been highly dangerous to run speedway there even if it was on the norm'inside of the dog track.I wonder if anyone can provide proof that the bikes did run there.I'm assuming that the stadium is still derelict and rotting away by the day.Forgive me if I don't wish the GRA the compliments of the season.