iris123

Found it. Pt 1 of the Ernie Evans story Started out when he was in fact too young to hold a licence and an old lady told once said ' He ought to be well spanked and put to bed instead of flying round there like a mad thing' He was coached by Reg West and soon started winning and making money, and after two seasons at Melbourne decided he wanted some of the 'gold' that Huxley etc were making and set off for England. He soon learned the streets of London weren't paved with gold as nobody believed him that he was Australian. Apparently a number of english riders were at the time pretending to be Aussies and had been found out !!!!(one of his half truths or real ?) Ended up at Belle Vue and was given a chance by E.O.Spence ,The king of the North. And was racing 5 nights a week and was given 12 pound appearance money and at the end of the season was invited by A.J.Hunting to join the group of riders to race in South America. First port of call was Rio and 'we thought the city had gone en fete for us. As we sailed up the harbour guns were fired - as we thought in salute - but we were disappointed when we found out it was only a periodical revolution and were not allowed to land........on arrival in Buenos Aires, we were divided into two teams, one to ride at La Huracan speedway and the other at La Plata. The tracks were perhaps the finest in the world, being surfaced with brick dust, but unfortunately when it rains they become a sea of mud. We raced 4 nights a week and were always assured of at least 30,000 spectators......ordinary racing such as we have in Australia or England would not satisfy them They must have thrills and crashes all the time.......No crowd in the world is as ready to applaud as they, and of course to condem. In fact one night to show their disapproval of their champion Juan Pagano, who struck engine trouble, they burnt down the grandstand ' !!!! 'A couple fo shootings among the spectators was no rare event. But fortunately they didn't pick on us ' He describes the strange situation of spending a night in a cell and being fined 50 pesos for a traffic offence, but someone had been killed while he was out shopping with Pagano almost before their eyes and yet got off scot free !! After a few weeks he was loaned out to a new speedway in Rosario(3rd Argentine track), which turned out to be an old trotting track and the locals were on pre-WW1 machines. Evans was billed there as 'the greatest rider the world had ever seen' and towards the end of the meeting he was giving the locals a 2 lap start in a 6 lap race !!! 'During our stay in Buenos Aires we raced quite often in Monte Video which is just across the River Plata. We travelled back and forth on Pan American Airways' 'I found my visit to the Argentina all too short and was reluctant to leave at the end of 7 months, but with the close of the dirt track season there was nothing to hold us...'

Seeing as I typed it all out, seems a pity not to put it on the Lokstedt thread for the very short 1933 season Now looking at my info, it was probably 26th April 1933, which was the opening meeting of the season. The next meeting was the meeting v Australia in May 10,000 came, which was not bad and the 4,000 for the next meeting was quite a drop!!! Grosskreutz won all 5 of his races including a match race v Rumrich. Case won 4 out of 5. John Glass, Dicky Wise and Ernie Evans were riding and Herbert Drews was the best local rider on the night. The newspaper report states Grosskreutz, Case in partnership with A.J. Reynolds got the Dirt Track back up and running Can add some info that was sent to me from an article in Speedway Star and news May, 1959 about Grosskreutz In 1933 he travelled to Germany with Dick Case and several other riders to race at Hamburg but at the time the Nazis were coming to power and they frowned on the venture. At the very last meeting Case and Grosskreutz were desperately short of money. The only solution they could see was to stage an International All Star meeting for a valuable gold cup. Minus money, they sought out an enterprising pawnbroker and borrowed a gold cup from him with a promise to return it on Monday morning, the meeting being raced on Sunday. There was no doubt in either Case's or Grosskruetz's mind that they would be able to do this, for both were far ahead of the German and Danish riders who were to race against them. Unfortunately their plan misfired. Max had engine trouble in his second outing while Case when well placed in the lead broke a chain. This meant that a tough German farmer won the cup and refused point blank to hand it back. "I've win, I keep " he told them. They offered him as much money as they could raise: they asked to borrow the cup for a short while, but the German refused and they eventually went home..... I am not sure of the truth in this though. I only have found record of a third meeting, the next Wednesday 10th May. No mention of the above happening and it seemed the seasons meetings were all on a Wednesday, not Sunday as mentioned, but in the final Rumrich won after a great race just beating Grsskreutz with Case 3rd and then Drews in 4th. So it is possible this was the race everything hung on and it was Rumrich that refused to hand back the gold cup........No crowd figure given, just a note from the journalist that it remains a mystery why the Hamburg public don't support what is a great sport....... After that it was announced a short break of a couple of weeks would take place, as I stated above....... And the Ernie Evans version Found an interesting version of the story from Ernie Evans, told in 1936,so not too long after, but still not tying u with the facts that I have from local papers At the completion of the season in England I returned to Australia and while riding at the Exhibition speedway, Melbourne won the Victorian Championship On arrival back in England next season I was offered many lucrative contracts from the speedways in London and the provinces, but I listened to the tempter Dick Case, who had remained in England during the winter and had formed the opinion that there was a fortune to be made on the Continent for enterprising speedway riders. He found out that in some places the sport was booming and good speedway riders were scarce. Also that there was a track in Hamburg that could be leased for a reasonable amount. He put the proposition to Grosskreutz, Wise, Murphy, Cantwell and myself, so we decided not only would we ride but make a fortune by acting as our own promoters In our egotism we felt that none of the German riders could come within coo-ee of us. so we decided that while we were about it, we would have a decent trophy. Dick Case, the bargainer spotted a magnificent gold cup in a pawnshop, so he 'hicked' one of our machines for it on the understanding that when one of us won it the machine would be redeemed. On the night of the championship we all struck engine trouble and a Bavarian rider Sebastian Roth riding a fast JAP had no trouble winning the championship and incidentally the cup. Strange as it may seem we could not prevail on him to return the trophy. The championship fiasco was a severe blow to our finances, so when we discovered that there was to be a public holiday the following week we thought that it was a heaven sent opportunity t recuperate our losses. Little did we know it would end our stay in Germany. On the day of the holiday everything was ready, but when we arrived at the track we were surprised to see that there was not a spectator on the ground. Usually there were a few spectators who arrived early to watch the practice runs. As time went on still no spectators appeared, and then we really began to get worried. At last people began to arrive, but to our consternation they were in uniforms and were Hitlers stormtroopers sent to see that nobody entered the ground. It was then that we were informed that Hitlers birthday was a close holiday and no sports or any other amusements are held. We did not know until after we left Germany that the Hamburg papers had been writing about us for daring to desecrate Herr Hitlers birthday, a holiday which is regarded in the same light as Anzac day in Australia. To this day we blamed our publicity agent, as he should have told us of the mistake we were making. We thought we had our own back as we pinched his car when we decided to seek fresh fields to conquer.... Again the trouble with this story is Hitlers birthday, which was a public holiday in 1933 was 20th April, which was before the opening meeting of the season.....

Brilliant . So far only really found sketchy info. Evans broke his nose in a crash and won a match race against Salatino for instance Have an idea the piece he wrote about Hamburg, Denmark and USA was the second part of a story and the first part included Argentina. Try to find that bit later. But going by the Hamburg / Denmark piece it might not be very accurate

Think I made the mistake there -. It mentions Hunting going to South America and establishing 3 speedways and engaging 30 Argentine riders. But doesn't say 3 tracks in Argentina !! Mentions Billy Lamont will captain River Plate, so there was a team meeting ? And no mention of Uruguayan riders !!!

Oh yes. Nowadays it’s a bit of a novelty to see a British rider. A Scottish or Welsh one rarer than a penny black !!!

Yes, he posted a link from 'Make smoking history Pinjar Park' , on FB. Probably the same link. But thanks

My cousin, who has just emigrated to Perth a coupe of weeks back is live at Pinjar Park

See a report from A.J. Hunting moaning about the fickle Argentine fans. As soon as the weather isn't too good the crowds drop off !!! And of 28 planned meetings, 8 were called off, 18 were held in threatening weather, 4 on cold nights and only about 3 in what could be called good weather. But the 16 year old Ernie Evans was a bit of a sensation A later report from Hunting stating the sport in England was on a bit of a decline. The number of tracks falling from 90 to about 60 and possibly more closing. Then states he established 3 tracks in Argentina with crowds around 20,000 4 nights a week !!! The riders flying by plane to one track about 150 miles away from Buenos Aires

See Ernie Evans stating the tracks wer very hard and took some time to get used to. He also comments that the locals were more interested in chroming their bikes than tuning them !!!

I saw that and then elsewhere that 1933 was the first, which did seem hard to believe, so quick after coming to power. What is strange though is that this story was in the press in 1936, which would then be before it was made a public holiday, so Evans was predicting the future !!!! Then went on to talk about the tragic trip to Denmark and the death of Col Cantwell , again checking on his death Evans gets that wrong and places it after the Hamburg fiasco, when it was before according to Chunky’s website, and then his trip to the US One newspaper report http://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/index.php?id=dfg-viewer&set[mets]=http%3A%2F%2Fcontent.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de%2Fzefys%2FSNP25128437-19330420-0-0-0-0.xml

Found heat details of some of the other Derby meetings 1936 1.V.Huxley,N.Key, S.Langton 2. B.Wilkinson,C.Parkinson.S.Perkins 3.J.Milne, McLachlan, A.Atkinson 4.W.Phillips, D.Haigh, B.Lamont 5. T.Stevenson, F.Pearce 6.M.Grosskreutz, C.Mitchell, R.Stobart Semi finals 1. V.Huxley, B.Wilkinson, C.Mitchell 2.W.Phillips,J.Milne, N.Key 3. M.Grosskreutz, T.Stevenson, C.Parkinson Final M.Grosskreutz, V.Huxley, W.Phillips

Found an interesting version of the story from Ernie Evans, told in 1936,so not too long after, but still not tying u with the facts that I have from local papers At the completion of the season in England I returned to Australia and while riding at the Exhibition speedway, Melbourne won the Victorian Championship On arrival back in England next season I was offered many lucrative contracts from the speedways in London and the provinces, but I listened to the tempter Dick Case, who had remained in England during the winter and had formed the opinion that there was a fortune to be made on the Continent for enterprising speedway riders. He found out that in some places the sport was booming and good speedway riders were scarce. Also that there was a track in Hamburg that could be leased for a reasonable amount. He put the proposition to Grosskreutz, Wise, Murphy, Cantwell and myself, so we decided not only would we ride but make a fortune by acting as our own promoters In our egotism we felt that none of the German riders could come within coo-ee of us. so we decided that while we were about it, we would have a decent trophy. Dick Case, the bargainer spotted a magnificent gold cup in a pawnshop, so he 'hicked' one of our machines for it on the understanding that when one of us won it the machine would be redeemed. On the night of the championship we all struck engine trouble and a Bavarian rider Sebastian Roth riding a fast JAP had no trouble winning the championship and incidentally the cup. Strange as it may seem we could not prevail on him to return the trophy. The championship fiasco was a severe blow to our finances, so when we discovered that there was to be a public holiday the following week we thought that it was a heaven sent opportunity t recuperate our losses. Little did we know it would end our stay in Germany. On the day of the holiday everything was ready, but when we arrived at the track we were surprised to see that there was not a spectator on the ground. Usually there were a few spectators who arrived early to watch the practice runs. As time went on still no spectators appeared, and then we really began to get worried. At last people began to arrive, but to our consternation they were in uniforms and were Hitlers stormtroopers sent to see that nobody entered the ground. It was then that we were informed that Hitlers birthday was a close holiday and no sports or any other amusements are held. We did not know until after we left Germany that the Hamburg papers had been writing about us for daring to desecrate Herr Hitlers birthday, a holiday which is regarded in the same light as Anzac day in Australia. To this day we blamed our publicity agent, as he should have told us of the mistake we were making. We thought we had our own back as we pinched his car when we decided to seek fresh fields to conquer.... Again the trouble with this story is Hitlers birthday, which was a public holiday in 1933 was 20th April, which was before the opening meeting of the season.....

The funny bit about the incident that at the end of one report it stated there would be a 10 lap race at one meeting, but Parker wouldn't compete because he had hurt his back !!!

Seems there were quite a few problems in speedway in the pre-war days One such incident took place just before the first Australia v England test of 1939 in Sydney Riders were informed that heats were to be run over 4 laps instead of the usual 3. Riders of both teams protested to officials of N.S.W A.C.U, but were told the instructions came from Melbourne and there was nothing they could do. 'Bluey' Wilkinson, the Australian captain stated the additional lap would increase the risk of machine failure. 3 laps produce harder and closer races. Jack Parker, the England captain was also worried about mechanical failure, but stated big meetings like tests had a bearing on what riders could earn from signing contracts and poor performances could cost them. Riders started the first heat not knowing whether it would be concluded after 3 or 4 heats. In the end they got their way and all heats were run over 3 laps !!!

In part answer to the question, at least I have seen mention pre-1928 that the A. C. U were involved in overseeing the sport in Australia, so I guess in those early days what with Australia and GB they had a fair stronghold on the sport

Mentioned above

It would be nice to read some interesting info, like maybe a report from one of the meetings, a line- up or you know something

I posted that yesterday, but let you off as it was on an obscure global warming topic

That is the problem. Where is the source of the information? One sites makes a mistake and others just share it without checking. How many sites give Hoskins credit for inventing speedway ? It isn’t how many sites get it wrong, it is how many check things they share I think I have posted credible contemporary evidence that clearly places Lammy in between Waln and Milne as 1933 champ Without getting into a Barney, I can vouch for Britmets Information having checked his piece on the German golden helmet . We also know you have a habit of sharing, shall we say dodgy info from sites.....

Yes. exactly. Seemingly with the wrong winner in 1933, which is why I wouldn’t use it. Britmet’s speedway champions site is better John

Great. Thanks !!!

Also note that Frank Pearce was born in London

Managed to track down a photo of Bo Lisman, 'Shorty' Campbell, Cordy Milne,Lammy with 'Bimbo' Seward, P.A. Bigsby, Ed Seward lined up on track in Mexico https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/motorcyclist-pictorial/

Got a report from the previous year, which confirms Lammy as champ. At this time it was points accumulated over a number of meetings Wilbur 'Lammy' Lamoreaux, lithe Frenchman from Pasadena, today holds the title as the result of a scintillating performance turned in at the seasons final meet in the Emeryville Motorcycle Speedway last night. Although Lamoreaux's riding was of the sensational variety, and he had clinched the championship before the meet had reached the half way mark, he was given plenty of competition by Byrd McKinney and Garland Johnson, the latter something of a dark horse so far as last evenings program was concerned. Ed Jones of Stockton secured the Northern California title by some consistent riding although A. Chasteen of Oakland, runner up copped a special match race. Lamoreaux climaxed a great evening of piloting to win the final scratch race, with McKinney 2nd and Miny Waln, deposed title holder, third The Milne brothers, Jack and Cordy, expected to sparkle..............and motor trouble eliminating them early

Well basically start with the 1934 championship at the L.A Coliseum, which was a 3 day event. A great idea I think, but think it was a one-off in the history of the sport It seems like the first 2 days were qualifiers for the final day and it looks to me as if the points from the quali meetings were taken over to the final See that day 1 had a 12,000 att and 10,000 for day2. No idea about the final day, if anyone has info ? If anyone has any heat details that would be great One query for day 1. The report I have seen say's 'Pete Coleman carrying on for the injured Jack Milne'. Not quite sure what this means as in the line-up for the final day, both are listed Day 2 mentions Sam Arena deserted his hospital bed to ride and he qualified!!! And that Garland Johnson forced Wilbur Lamoreaux, the reigning title holder(important because one or two sites list Ray Grant as 1933 champ?), to a new track record. Johnson took 4 2nd places to turn a score of 12 from a possible 16. So I guess both quali meets were run over 16 heats ? The final line-up; 'Sprouts' Elder (riding with 3 broken ribs from a previous crash),W.Lamoreaux, G.Johnson, S.Arena, C.Self, B.McKinney, C.Milne, M.Waln, B.Lisman, P.Coleman, J.Milne, E. Hinkle,R.Roberts, K.Schofield, E.Spadefore, E.Jones, E.Farrand Just know Cordy and Lammy tied for points on 28 and I am guessing they had a run-off which Cordy led narrowly all the way to the finish and broke the track record. Possibly though they met in their last heat and Cordy had a 32 pt max from the two meetings !! Milne then had a total of 32, Lammy finished 2nd and Byrd McKinney 3rd. Not sure on their totals then Earl Farrand had 25 as did Bo Lisman, Pete Coleman 24, Kenny Schofield 24 and Elder had 20 Anyone fill in the gaps ? A few weeks later Lloyd 'Sprouts' Elder announced his retirement from the sport and that he was joining the Fresno California Highway Patrol