iris123

Does seem to be down to availability of Trotting tracks to some extent.I don't know how many there were in Britain back then.I have heard about motorcycle meetings on Trotting tracks in Germany and Austria around 1924.Would guess meetings were held in countries like Czechoslovakia as well.Not sure just when Pardubice opened,but i seems very different in the early years to the track we seee now.Much bigger.Just what sort of racing were the likes of Jack Parker and Gus Kuhn doing before the arrival of AJ Hunting?.The path racing at Crystal Palace for instance seems a very strange type of racing as i guess were the hill racing type meetings in the US and also Britain.At some early stage motorcycle racing started to evolve in different directions,but basically at that early stage oval track racing was the same animal,no matter how many riders or how big the track or what the surface or how many laps....

To move this on a bit.I would like to know about the motorcycle racing in Australia before and around the time of Maitland.We know there we different surfaces,but what of the races themselves?Was it a case of anyone with a motorbike turning up and racing or where there different classes?Where there differing numbers of riders or was it the classic 4 riders that we know now?When was 'speedway' officially recognised in Australia?Like maybe when did Speedway have an official organising body or was affiliated into the Australian Motorcycle Union or whatever it was back then.Or did this only happen recently in the 70s when Australia went into the WTC?Not that this helps with any argument,just would like to know what sort of racing was being presented to the public

So,for the sake of his team place in Poland,Darcy has cocked up the plans of his beloved Promoter and team back in his adopted home of Poole

Oh yeah,that'll work You race monday,tuesday or so and we have Cardiff on a saturday!!!!Why?EL race mostly on a monday night anyway,so you have Cardiff on a monday and the rest of the GPs stay on saturday thanks.Suits the rest of the world Don't often agree with Know,but he is dead right here

Been watching speedway since early to mid 60s.Only ever went to two World Finals(Wembley 75 + Bradford 85?).Been to at least twice as many GPs

Well my response might seem predictable to you Parsloes,but here it is..... If i remember right Kennett opted out of the British league for a while as well at one stage.Sure he had some problems and just rode in Sweden if my memory is correct.So personally Kennett isn't a rider who is likely to make it to the top as i think he has problems in his head and maybe other places as well.Rather like another of the young talents who you saw many years back at Plough Lane and predicted he would be a world beater.Don't think you can blame the GPs for young talent not making it to the top.That has happened for donkeys years without any GPs

I wasn't talking about individual riders who didn't want to use the silencers.More the fact that the Polish league itself didn't use the new silencers at first until forced to back down.Plus it showed the other side to the GPs.The fact that the riders did back down because they wanted to be in it.Otherwise they could have just pulled out of the GPs and SWC like they threatened to do....

Oh yes,the FIM are feeling a bit cocky now after giving Polski Zuzel a bloody nose over the silencer affair.I can see them dancing around doing the Ali shuffle now Lets get ready to rumbleeee

Yeah sorry.I meant to write "apart from Dave Watt + David Howe"....

That's an interesting statement.Can you give us a number of examples?

Oh you gotta love him.....i just knew he would believe in that dusty old book.Goes from Eddie Izzard to Ricky Gervais...."the other name for the bible is the gospel.So it is all true.Clue is in the title..." The Bible But i don't think we should get into that discussion as well as trying to sort out the speedway question

Don't think there should be any surprise that Krasnikov is named.I didn't think he talked of giving up entirely,just World Championships.But let's see about that one.Not really too surspised about Ivan Ivanov.He seems to have been on a down turn for a couple of years now.Bogdanov has also gone as has Baltaschev who i was a bit surprised at.Thought he was fairly young.But looking back it was 2007 when he made the GPs and came 3rd in the European Final and hasn't done much since.Quite a few new names who i hope might make a name in the coming years Bit sursprised to see Germany have only 4 places in the qualifiers!!!!Czecho have more and they don't have the numbers or quality that Germany.Fingers crossed our Finnish friend Järf has a very good season

I tend to disagree on that.But i guess Jack favours the Eddie Izzard "no flag,no country" view,only with plaques and speedway instead

I'd rather see Kevin Wölbert in than those two Yanks

Yes,it has been talked about for a few years now,but finally happening.Foreign riders in the Russian league.I see Simon is named for Kamensk in their squad

Damn i missed that.Been years since i have seen anything that good.Been years since i have seen any South Americans playing pan pipe music as well.Where have all the accordian and pan pipe players gone i wondered.......IMG have cornered the market

Sure there is a long queue outside FIM HQ trying to get the NZ gig.And i can just imagine all the applications for Argentina!!!!! And the amount of online spanish lessons being taken now....Hey Muchachos,where the women at? Oh mines a large one.....Baby you are hotter than an enchilada.....Would you like to tango in my room?....

Guess there must have been some benefit or they wouldn't have hosted it or wanted to host it.All down to the local promoter how well it goes to an extent.Seems in Latvia things went wrong.Is that a surprise? The thing is you say others could have done the same job that BSI/IMG have done.The fact is they had years and years of chances and never did....Always easy afterwards to say "I could have done that".Turn back time and i could paint Guernica,start a social network or even see what a great idea 4 guys racing around a dirt track oval on motorbikes would be....No-one wanted to take a risk and i rather think the FIM were all too happy to get some money for a sport they hardly care for......and their officials get to go to some big cities for a weekend rather than Norden

I agree with you.My first speedway meeting after a gap of about 7 years was a GP at Vojens.I have seen a number of posts here over the years mentioning it was the GPs that attracted them(back).It really takes the sport onto a new level.All those against it and wanting the old one off World Final i doubt would go to anything more than the Final that Britian held once every few years.I doubt we will see them travelling to Terenzano,Güstrow or Balakovo for a quali meeting.But it seems a lot of GP supporters will travel to a number of GPs every year and most seem to try to fit in one or two other meetings in around the trip.That benefits the local tracks as well as the GP organisation.One or two tracks around the time of Cardiff will also benefit from that,as well as danish tracks or Polish tracks at the time of their GPs.Scrap the GPs and this will all end to a large extent as well

Indeed.Don't think anyone is trying to deny Hoskins an important place in the history of our sport.But it shouldn't make the role of other important figures like the Americans and AJ Hunting anything less than they deserve.It should also be remembered that speedway wouldn't be what it is today(in Europe at least)without James Baxter,who was convinced that team/league speedway was the way to go

What does it say Norb,what does it say?Did he or didn't he?

Ah i didn't know that.Thanks Norbold.I would also be surprised if the Americans were going into the unknown as it suggests when visiting Australia.I would have thought news was reaching the States fairly regularly of what was going on in the wide world.Sales staff would regularly be speaking with the men in America and like i mentioned other riders had been over and seen what was going on.The world wasn't quite so cut off as maybe people think it was.It was news of the new track at Brooklands(1907) that inspired the Indianapolis Speedway to be built.There is an excellent piece of footage of Board Racing from 1920 on the net,which was filmed by the Indian Motorcycle rep from Czechoslovakia on his visit to the States,so i would imagine many other Reps from around the world had visited the States and seen what was going on.Just a pity there doesn't as far as i know seem to be any footage from a Dirt Track meeting in the States or even Australia at this time

Surely the timescale is a little wrong there?Didn't Brinck travel to Australia late 1926?I would have thought that was a little late to be showing the Aussies how to ride with their foot down.Other Americans had been going to Australia(probably on sales drives for the Motorcycle companies)from at least 1915 when Erwin 'Cannonball' Baker went over.The same reason the Indian team with DeRosier went over to the IoM TT in 1911.Brinck didn't stay too long as by the summer of 1927 he died in the US.What is the history of Cec Brown?And did Sprouts Elder stay the whole of 1927 and travel over to England with Huntings riders and Hoskins?Hoskins was also at the time of Brincks arrival no longer at West Maitland,but in Sydney

For Protasiewicz's place.But i guess they could in theory offer a Brit Wards place.Hope not.But that might be the scenario flagrag has heard about.

There is a general trend that one or two on here don't seem to be contributing much to a debate You "like" a certain theory and don't seem to want to look at any evidence that goes against your opinion. Not only has it been pointed out that the same type of event had taken place in Australia before Maitland in 1923,but i have put evidence that shows 1. Motorbike meetings had taken place years before on tracks called speedways 2.races there were called speedway races 3.Bikes were being produced without brakes for racing 4.The same riders who raced on the board tracks one day would be racing on dirt tracks another 5.Barney Oldfield who was racing on the same tracks as the motorbikes was sliding round rather than using brakes 6.We know that riders like Don Johns etc were also sliding. Now whether they got the idea from Barney Oldfield or he got the idea from them it doesn't really matter(i don't know when bikes were powerful enough to slide,but i have seen that at the IoM bikes had an easier course at first because they were not powerful enough to get up the hills..1907ish).All the elements were in place in the US that make up speedway racing.It is also recorded that a few of the US riders did go to Australia.Seem to recall one at least was there in 1922 which would fit because it seems the type of racing that took Australia by storm was happening in the US some years before.It was probably happening in Australia a few years before Maitland.Now i don't know what evidence Ian Hoskins will come out with,but it will most probably be nothing that can be substantiated by proof.Just his opinion and what his father "told" him,i would guess.I await your report when you read the mag. Until then it would be nice to get back on topic and stop all the sidetracking