norbold

The first speedway track to open in Portsmouth was in 1928 when a local man, Mr E I Jones, laid out a 440-yard track in a field, initially as a training track. The first proper meeting was held there on 15 July. A second followed on 29 July. This latter attracted a crowd of 2,000 people. But, sadly, that was the track's last meeting. Speedway returned to Portsmouth the following year, 1929. Promoting pioneer, A J Hunting, had planned to open Wessex Stadium in 1928, but the stadium did not, in fact, open until 10 August 1929 under the auspices of Wessex Speedway Co, in conjunction with Dirt Track Speedways (the company behind West Ham and Southampton speedways). This was also a 440-yard track. Because of the tie-up with West Ham and Southampton, many of the riders appearing at the first meeting were contracted to those two clubs and included Sprouts Elder, who won the day's major event, the Golden Gauntlet, Tiger Stevenson, Ivor Creek and Buzz Hibberd. The track continued to run a series of open meetings for the rest of August with riders of the quality of Frank Arthur and Bluey Wilkinson appearing. The last meeting that year was held on 31 August. A new 382-yard track was laid for the following year, with the first proper meeting being held on 21 April 1930. The track ran a series of challenge matches with a team called Portsmouth which included Steve Langton, Tiger Hart, Bill Clibbett and Ted Bravery. Plans to enter the Southern League in 1931 were aborted when the local council announced plans to build houses on the site. Although the plans to build houses never materialised, speedway was never again staged at Wessex Stadium. The last match ever staged there was between Portsmouth and West Ham on 2 October 1930, which ended in a 26-26 tie. In 1935, Harringay promoter, Tom Bradbury-Pratt, built a 300-yard track inside Portsmouth Greyhound and Sports Stadium at Tipnor. Bradbury-Pratt was having trouble completing all of Harringay's home fixtures so he planned this new track to ease the pressure on their Green Lanes track. In the event, however, only one league match was raced there, on 2 October, when Hackney defeated Harringay 35-32 in a National League match. A week later, a challenge match was due to be held against Wembley, but it was rained off. Speedway returned to the Tipnor track in 1937, when the Albatross Motorcycle Club promoted two meetings there, both challenge matches with Portsmouth taking on a team called Basingstoke and Reading. Further attempts to reintroduce speedway to Portsmouth after the War were made, but they proved unsuccessful.

I've got a good idea. After the 20 heats, all 16 riders qualify for the quarter finals, the winner of each race goes through to the final. That way, the rider who finishes last after 20 heats can still have a chance of winning the Grand Prix. Sounds fair to me. i was thinking of suggesting this to the powers that be, but decided against it as they will probably adopt it.

I wasn't a Norwich fan. New Cross and West Ham were my teams, but I did have a soft spot for Norwich as the first match I ever saw was New Cross v. Norwich, with the great Ove Fundin scoring an 18 point maximum. I did hope to become a Norwich fan when, in 1964, I put down Norwich as my choice of Teacher Training College purely on the basis that I would be able to see Norwich every week. Sadly, between my application and my actually starting at college, Norwich closed! I only went to King's Lynn once. P.S. Not only did I not see Norwich while at college, I didn't become a teacher either. If it wasn't for the fact I had a really good time at college, it would have been a complete waste of time!

Tomorrow will see the 60th anniversary of the closure of The Firs. 😪

What, even wider than your hero's?

See thread under Speedway News and Discussion, BOBBATH: https://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/topic/95385-len-silver-rip/

Before the War there used to be all sorts of second half races. 1 lap, 2 lap, 3 lap, scratch starts, rolling starts, flying starts with 2,3 or 4 riders. Also there were track record attempts by a solo rider.

Thanks for posting. A good article apart from the first line. Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh!!!!!!

If I remember correctly, the system used to be something like this but it was ended to stop Andy Smith qualifying every year!

It's why Sverre Harrfeldt and Bjorn Knutson were never in the team together!

You're forgetting, Arnie, that woke can mean anything the speaker or writer wants it to mean. Usually it just means anything you disagree with.

Have you forgotten the war of 1015-18 when Norway did invade Sweden?

That would be rather perverse to have three Aussies but leave out the best Aussie of them all.

Really!?

I'd say that's a quirk of Facebook not Karl. He is continually posting on many and various Facebook pages. He has put up 25 posts on his own page today, let alone his posts on other pages!