iris123

I want my thread back

You need to open your eyes Sid. Gustix has used you for his purpose of upsetting the forum again First he brings up an old post of yours out of the blue, to get you going at me. Simultaneously on another thread he tried to do the same with TWK. Fair play to both of you it didn’t work.. So he picks out a year old post from Chunky to have a try at someone else. Sadly you fell for it. You just have to look back at yesterday to see it all there

Up your crystal palarce, I would say

Believe you me John, I have received a number of pms about you. None, sympathetic to your cause We should do something special to celebrate our anniversary though ?

I think if there is a longer list, then it is people like you John, so I feel fairly safe that I won't be on it

Struggling a little here. Is it amongst the 219 Leicester criminals named and shamed ?

Tbh as they say in Germany, it will be with one sad and one happy eye, when you are gone John. I will miss my daily excerise, running rings round you

We’ve been here before John. I said I don’t do FB speedway groups. Find them boring and repetitive, quite like yourself really. But I said it was started by someone you upset on Terry Mussetts group, that he always seems to wear red and yellow and goes by some name with Womble in it. Plus he was among the photos Steve Hone put up from the speedway museum celebration. I can’t give you any more clues than I did last time It is very difficult having a debate with someone who has the memory of a fly. You keep bumping into the same windows and never learn

You are a member John, a major one

Wasn’t there a recent group formed through this forum that you somehow wasn’t a member of any more, by accident maybe and they didn’t really want you back ? Plus as I mentioned before there was another Wimbledon speedway group where you wouldn’t have been accepted if you had tried Just off hand

Oh dear. Melt down. You jealous he was a better rider and photographer than you ?

I think there is a reason you have to start your own groups John. That way you don’t get much bother, but don’t get many comments anyway. One or two of the groups seem to have died a death or get about 3 posts a day. Mostly those that share things all over the place....

New Jersey isn't normally considered to be Central USA, John. It is on the eastern seaboard. I think those areas in the Central time zone, which New Jersey and New York for instance aren't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Time_Zone This might be causing some confusion when you are enquiring about Central US speedway

Another museum, this time in Clovis, California (not in England). Is actually a Flat Track Museum, but with some interesting speedway bikes http://www.vft.org/RouitMuseum/Gallery/Speedway.html

Exactly. Nobody can seriously give a guarantee that this time next year we are out of the crisis. Or even that we were out, but are repeating the whole thing again

Good stuff. Heard nothing so far, but looks fairly certain all meetings even the ‘speedway’ went ahead at the same track

Isn’t the Rammstein concert a new date ? So the tickets are already sold and will be used at the new date ? If it goes ahead next year or the year after makes no real difference

Wanted to write that, not 24 Thing is how does it work. As far as I know here, you have to be out of the country 73 hours, before you have to go into quarantine. So a quick trip to another country would be ok

but isn’t the UK introducing quarantine from next month of 24 days ?

The line-up for day 1 Sid Chambers Byrd McKinney Eddie Spadafore Snooks Blankenburg Sprouts Elder Clff Self Chico Duarte Burton Albrecht Lou Casazza Bo Lisman Miny Waln Bert Lewis Ed Jones Pete Colman Ray Holt Frank Serveti reserves probably for both days at a guess Bud Johnson Jack Burris Manuel Trujill Lou Branch

An interesting piece from Fresno (the home of Sprouts Elder) in 1935 Talking about the first team meeting to be held there between two 6 man teams from North and South California. Lammy riding with among others Al Chasteen, Ray Grant and Lou Casazza, whilst Bo Lisman was captaining the other team including Manuel Trujillo and 'Snooks' Blankenburg. But it also reports that a few weeks earlier a test was held between the USA and Australia, which I can't find any mention of in International speedway Seems the teams were Australia Ernie Evans, Bert Spencer, Clem Mitchell and Bill Rogers USA Miny Waln, Jack Milne, Lammy and Sam Arena An article on Sam Arena Jet Propelled No. 79 Sam Arena From Motorcyclist Magazine In six of the West Coast’s postwar events-in the half-milers at Dixon and Tulare, the Modesto class “C” hillclimb, the Stockton and Clovis half-milers and the San Rafael T.T.-one rider has won every event he entered except one, and in the lone exception he rode neck and neck with the leader until he spilled, a hundred yards from the finish line. Weak competition has not been the reason for his record. At Clovis and Stockton he was pitted against the Coast’s top-rank riders. At Dixon, where he won the Time Trials, his heat, the trophy dash, and the Main Event, his fellow-contestants were skilled and able, as they were at Modesto and San Rafael and Tulare. Sam Arena, No. 79, top man for his district, winner of every start from 1941 to 1945, has what it takes. In the opinion of the writer, he is the outstanding motorcyclist of all time, judged on the basis of versatility, honesty, and extraordinary ability San Jose’s favorite son got his start early. At fourteen, he acquired his first motor vehicle-a Smith Motor Wheel attached to his bicycle. Shortly after, he purchased his first real motorcycle, an old job which was followed by several others until 1933, when he went to work in Tom Sifton’s Harley-Davidson shop in San Jose. Sam’s first entry into com petition took place shortly after this time, when short track racing was just beginning on the West Coast. Winning his first event, a class “B” four-lap six-man heat in a meet at Emeryville Speedway, a fifth-mile flat oval in the Bay District, he was transferred to Class “A” and given the now-famous number “79”. His first major race, on a rugged course which was a keen test for recognized veterans, came early in 1934, when, on a stock motorcycle, he won at the Northern California Gypsy Tour at Lake Yosemite. Win followed win throughout 1935-in his own district, in Florida, back again at Hollister, California, where heavy sand and a rough course which drew blisters on the hands of every competitor brought out his stamina. Then, in the fall of ‘35, Sam signed up with “Putt” Mossman for a tour of New Zealand and Australia and a season of short-track racing. At the season’s end he came back to marry his one and only, Myrtle Scott, and together they toured across the United States and thence to join Mossman and his troupe in England.There Sam represented his country well against the finest competition in the world, making the official team of Hackney Wick. Short track racing was at its height when he returned to the Bay District the next year, and four northern California tracks were operating every night. He won every start at the San Francisco Motordrome, which was considered the roughest night speedway course in the district, and distinguished himself in the same way at Emeryville and the other speedways. However, when he returned to class “C” racing, he found his pull to the top a long and tough one. His competitors had gained far more experience on heavier machines than he, and throughout 1936 and 1937 he had to go to work all over again, and content himself with 2nd and 3rd places in an effort to regain his top position In 1938, however, he struck his stride in class “C” competition, four straight wins in the weekly races on Neptune Beach’s quarter-mile T.T. course. He continued to be one of the top men throughout the season, and in the fall won the Pittsburg, Calif., T.T. race. At the final Pacific Coast event for that year, the 2nd Oakland 200-miler, Sammy truly showed his mettle. Against a field of the best men in the country, he won the event and broke all records from 10 to 200 miles on a class “C” motorcycle. Sam’s average for the 200 miles was the spectacular time of 83 m.p.h., as against the former record of 74 m.p.h.

Having seen the line-up for the first semi-final at the LA Coliseum, I can now state that Trujillo was 3rd reserve behind Bud Johnson and Jack Burris

An interesting piece from 1936 Flat track racing fans have a real treat in store.The only man to ever hold 4 major flat track titles is going to race at the San Francisco speedway for the first time tomorrow night. Ray Tauser, one of the most daring flat track riders has sent in his entry blank.....he captured the English star trophy championship, the Australian championship, the French championship and the world's dirt track championship. One young man who is not the least bit frightened over the European star is Lou Casazza. Casazza is a San Francisco Italian, and is the pride of the Italian populace Now I also saw something about Tauser making his first appearance at Emeryville a few months later and was also captain of the Fresno team in the league. But must admit I have never heard of Lou Casazza Mention of Emeryville speedway, which ran meetings from 1933-1936 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Speedway By 1938 it seems Tauser had become the track manager at the Hinchliffe City stadium in Patterson NJ, where Bo Lisman was the main attraction along with Crocky Rawding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinchliffe_Stadium

Statham was I think the record transfer at the time he signed for the Dons, but doesn’t really figure in greatest English riders. Did he never really get going or was it just a sign of the times ? Big crowds and big money ? Bit of a mystery man for me

The Speedway Corps From left to right, famous speedway riders Stan Greatrex (New Cross), Nobby Key (Wimbledon) and Geoff Pymer (Wimbledon) are included in the corps of motorcycle dispatch riders for the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) of the London Fire Brigade in South London, World War II, 3rd October 1939. Mr Cecil Smith of New Cross, and Mr Ronnie Greene of Wimbledon, were given the task of forming the corps. (Photo by William Vanderson/Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/from-left-to-right-famous-speedway-riders-stan-nachrichtenfoto/1053503088?adppopup=true