norbold

So who does Kelvin think can overtake Tai!?

He's the only one I know the age of without having to look it up!

Ronnie Moore was 21.

Yes, very sad news. He was a regular at the annual Norwich WSRA Dinner, so I met him many times over the last 20 years or so. A really nice bloke always happy to chat about his Yarmouth and Norwich days.

There's no doubt about that.

OP = opening poster, i.e. Owzat.

In 1926, Cambridge undergraduate and keen motorcyclist, Lionel Wills, visited Australia. He later wrote about this visit: "To a keen motor-cyclist, a trip to Australia did not hold forth much promise... "My first pennyworth of Sydney newspaper contained a pleasant surprise; for there, tucked away in a corner, was the announcement 'Speedway Royal - next Saturday 8 p.m.' "A strange new word - 'Speedway'; but it sounded not unlike something to do with motor-cycles. "Saturday arrived: I paid my half-dollar and trickled into the grounds. From the other side of the stand came a roar, the old familiar sound of a racing Douglas..... "I broke into a run [and] burst into the arena. Two machines were hurtling straight at me at a hundred and fifty miles an hour, neck and neck, clean out of control. They were skidding, broadside on, engines roaring flat out, and for the first time in a mis-spent life I shut my eyes and waited for the crash. "No, no crash! Let's have a look, sure enough there they are, blinding down the straight and heeling madly over into the next bend. This time they're for it; they can't get away with that sort of thing twice; the chap on the outside is mad - you can't skid a motor-cycle like that. Hi! Someone stop him and tell him so; this is blue murder. "Came a bored voice from behind, 'Shut up, you fool, they're only practising, wait till the racing starts!"

I'm not really sure of the origin of the word speedway and how it came to be applied to the sport. This is as far as I can trace it. Inventor and entrepreneur, A J Hunting, opened the concrete Marouba Speedway track somewhere round about 1924/5. Before that, a series of small oval track meetings had been held at West Maitland and various other locations. Although they were actually grass tracks, the grass got so worn away that the riders were effectively riding on dirt. Because this made the racing more spectacular, A J Hunting began to create first class dirt tracks from the off, i.e., not relying on the grass being worn away. His first was in Brisbane and it was this track that was really the first specially created dirt track. Others soon followed suit, for example Johnnie Hoskins created Sydney Royal Speedway. Hunting then set up his organisation, International Speedways Limited to bring speedway to this country and founded the Speedway News, the first edition of which came out on 19 May, 1928. That quote from TwoMinuteWarning that iris reproduced above is not quite accurate as the term speedway is used in that very first Speedway News to denote the racing and not just the stadium or track. For example, there is a large advert on Page 12 for the Gold Helmet which says that "the Gold Helmet is the blue riband of speedway racing....", though, it has to be said that both terms, speedway and dirt track racing, are used throughout. Enquiries are ongoing!

At last, an exciting race. Come on the red tractor, but try not to mow Scotty down.

Thanks BL, which means the match race series at New Cross in 1963 I quoted were probably his last rides.

Thanks for that info, Jonas. I'd be very interested in learning more about that appearance at Sheffield. I have looked at the Speedway Researcher site, but they have no record of it.

Ray Cresp was another. Whenever Dave Lanning mentioned him in the West Ham programme, his name was always prefixed by "droll slick gating leathery faced Aussie".

Funnily enough, one of the fastest gaters I've ever seen is Ron Johnson, who rode in some second halves at New Cross and a few matches for Edinburgh in 1960. He was then 53 years old but still lightning fast out of the gate. The problem was he was so frail he could hardly hold his bike up and was very quickly passed by the other three riders! The reactions were there but not the strength.

And still looking as fit as the proverbial fiddle.

How are Leicester not quite there yet? Three 5-0s to Sheffield would still mean they lose.

I think Norman Hunter's best year in the World Championship was 1966 when he finished 13th in the British & Commonwealth final.

Are you talking about Phil Morris?

The way to solve this problem is to find the Glasgow programme with the answer in. Simple.

Oh right. Thank you. Yes, the good old days before gang crime in the old East End and South London, eh? Those good old days of the Krays and the Richardsons do you mean?

Can you expand on that question and explain what your real meaning is?

Great photo….but I can't see John there.

Yes, there are descriptions of sliding round small track from before the First World War in the USA.

Yes. By 1928, Australia had a whole network of speedway tracks with a number of different promoters presenting what we would know as speedway. Vic Huxley, for example, was known as "Broadside" Vic Huxley from about 1926 onwards. And I think it was you who actually posted an article from a newspaper dated November 1923 (a month before Johnnie Hoskins' much- vaunted West Maitland meeting) describing the correct way to slide round a corner.

April 7th was the first time a track in this country had a loose surface and bikes weren't fitted with brakes. It was therefore the first time that broadsiding was seen - demonstrated most effectively by Colin Watson, Alf Medcalf and Digger Pugh. The 19 Feb meeting had a hard rolled surface and all bikes were fitted with rear brakes under ACU rules. No broadsiding took place even by the two experienced Aussies (Keith McKay and Billy Galloway) who were there. The top Australian promoter. A.J. Hunting, arrived towards the end of the 19 Feb meeting and took the promoter, Jack Hill-Bailey, to one side and told him that he "had it all wrong." He then took a hand in preparing the track properly for the 7 April meeting while also lobbying the ACU to remove their rule insisting on rear brakes.

Actually, to give a fuller reply, chunky, I personally don't even count 19 Feb 1928 as the first real speedway meeting. My view is that the first proper speedway meeting as we understand speedway was held on 7 April 1928 at High Beech.