norbold

I wonder why????

I wouldn't like to comment on where Brian Belton got his material from. Just like I wouldn't like to comment on where he got most of the material about West Ham he used for his West Ham book from...

Now, I wonder why that could be....?

I used to see Hackney Cheetahs round about 1964/5. That's definitely what they were called then...

Looking through Friends Reunited for my secondary school the other day I noticed the name Eddie Oram. I had a vague memory that Eddie used to ride cycle speedway so I e-mailed him and asked him if he had any memories of the time. This is what he sent...Warning! There is a twist at the end! "Hackney Cheetahs [A great name for you, eh, cheetahhawk!?] cycle speedway team rode at Well Street Common; they ran 2 teams but I can't remember the league name - I can remember riding in a National KO competition at Hungerford when the club chartered a double decker bus to take us there, bikes on the bottom deck and riders upstairs! "Racing bibs were blue with a yellow cheetahs head on the front and a yellow number on the reverse "Star rider and number 1 was Vic Haines, whose father ran the club together with a friend of his, Sid, who marshalled the paddock. Haines' lived in Malvern Road, Dalston and Mr Haines had a Morris Commercial Van in which Vic was ferried to all the competitions, and I believe he did reach the National Individual Riders Final on 1 or 2 occasions "The other heat leaders for the first team were Tony White, who lived in a house overlooking the common, and Tony Marsh, who came from Tottenham way I think and was a London black cab driver - I used to see him from time to time when I was working in London, but that was almost 30 years ago. The other riders were Brian Hunnable, Ricky Holt, and then I'm out of names "You would be more interested in the second team, where 2 of my teammates were Ronnie and Terry Russell "To the best of my knowledge nobody went from cycle speedway to speedway, but Terry has become something of an entrepreneur in the sport, currently running Eastbourne, Swindon and the dormant Exeter - with a business management contract at Oxford. Ronnie tookover the running of Arena Essex this season from Terry "Another acquaintance of mine, not connected with cycle speedway, is currently in advanced negotiations with Terry to purchase a major shareholding in Eastbourne. Given that you have written about Eastbourne I may be able to give you some story lines, and an introduction, to my friend - assuming he's successful. "Best wishes Eddie"

That's great, miro. It could even be Norman Parker in that clip at about the right time..... The worst thing is though, I remember Jasmine Bligh...

The meeting was abandoned after heat 8 with the score Newport 27 Hackney 20. "Referee Mr W.G.Hall called a halt to proceedings at the end of the eighth heat and by that time the track was fast disappearing under water." (Speedway Star & News 18/6/65) A bit of additional information especially for Coventry fans..."Hackney skipper, Colin Pratt, would not race after his first ride...Colin thought the track was too bad for proper racing..."

As Parsloes says we've been here before. And I agree with what he says. It comes back to this question of do we want to gain more recognition for speedway or are we content to leave it as is with the following it has now? Many people complain that speedway is not given enough publicity in the media. Whether we like it or not Wembley is the spiritual home of sport in this country and to have a Grand Prix there would certainly gain speedway more publicity.

Thanks bulldog and thanks for all your support generally with this project. For various reasons which I won't go in to here, as sussex bulldog says, I think it unlikely we will be signing books at Arlington.

I would like to add, for the benefit of Kevin Hammond, that it also contains complete averages for Eastbourne riders year by year from 1938 - 2004!

I'm not sure, now you mention it, clunsey...

It's still Halifax... See:Vintage Speedway Site

It's Halifax.

He spent most of his time at AE just missing, I don't know about injured. He did injure his ankle kick starting a trials bike, but it seemed to be a minor injury. Every week, Thorogood made a different excuse for the non-arrival of Malcolm. Some weeks, Malcolm assured Thorogood he would be there but just didn't turn up. At the end of the season, Thorogood said, "I think you can just forget about Malcolm riding for Arena Essex next year....It was embarrassing enough for me to tell the fans every week that I didn't know what was happening. They always gave me the bird and most weeks someone would shout out, "Simmo's still in the Dartford Tunnel." I prefer to remember Malcolm on that magnificent night in August 1965 when he won the London Cup quarter-final for West Ham and turned from a young second-string into a top star overnight.

You're quite right, Ray. 1963 Hackney: 18 68 79 12 91 5.35 (? 0 or 1 paid max) 1964 West ham: 16 37 30 9 39 4.20 0

Speedway in the South East says that Peter Thorogood talked Malcolm Simmons out of retirement at the beginning of 1989. So I guess he didn't ride for anyone in 1988.

Very strange. It sounds like someone was living in a fantasy world...

VSM 53 is now out and it is probably the best issue ever - certainly for me anyway. It conains articles on Tom Farndon, Stan Stevens, Ove Fundin and Ron Johnson. Four of my all-time favourite riders. What more can you ask for? There is also an article on Gordon Byers another great rider. Just thought I'd throw that one in! Well done, Tony. The VSM gets better and better. But I'm not sure what you can do for a follow-up now as you've almost exhausted my favourites. It'll have to be Split Waterman and Aub Lawson in the next issue....

They were Andy Smith's only two pre-Grand prix World Final appearances. He scored 10 in both. He came 7th in Munich and 5th in Pocking.

Paddy Mills was discovered by Arthur Westwood and Bluey Wilkinson at Sheffield before the War but never really progressed beyond novice stage. He signed for Norwich in 1946 and immediately showed potential that he had not shown at Sheffield. He topped the Norwich score charts in 1947 and 48. In 1949 he was all set to make his debut for England when an horrific accident put him out for several weeks. He continued to ride for Norwich until 1952. I don't know what happened to him after that.

Jimmy Gooch was my first favourite rider because in the first match I ever saw he was the only New Cross rider to beat Norwich's Aub Lawson, who scored paid 17 from 6 rides. He performed better that night than Split Waterman or Eric Williams. Do you mean Jack Milne, spartan? Cordy Milne never rode for New Cross.

The local newspaper cutting I have reporting Max Pearce's death does not mention he was the son of Frank Pearce. That's not to say he wasn't, of course. It just says he came from Melbourne. p.s. Incidentally, with reference to what this thread is all about, Stenner's Annual reporting his death says, "Pearce [was] the last man of the 50 rider Australian invasion to arrive..." The Stenner's report also does not mention Frank Pearce. Bill Harris is mentioned in the 1949 Who's Who. It says, as speedyguy says, that he arrived in England in 1947 to ride for Tamworth. He also rode for them in 1948. He stayed at Tamworth in 1949, moving on to Hanley (Stoke) in 1950 and 1951.

I think that's only the second time we've agreed on something in three years, SCB. So it must be right!

What he says on Grachan's clip is that the riders are "in full agreement WITH ME." He also prefaces this by saying "It's really coming down now." It sounds to me as though it is the Clerk of the Course who has decided it's unfit for racing.

The interesting thing about Steve Langton is that in the report of his first meeting at Eastbourne his style of riding is remarked upon as he was using a foot-forward style unlike everyone else who, were, of course, leg trailing.