norbold

Having just written books on Wembley and Eastbourne both with year by year statistics I have all the riders averages for pre-War Wembley and Eastbourne 1938 - 2004, if you are interested.

I've just had a message from a friend of mine - and Norwich expert - Bryan Tungate to say: REG HAY, from Tasmania, who rode for Norwich and Newcastle MICK SIMMONS (Melbourne?) who had a season at Norwich in the 50s

It's just that I'm full of pre-War Wembley statistics and 1950s Eastbourne stats at the moment!

Ever or British League?

Frank Pearce was certainly here in the early days, in 1928 in fact. I'm not sure how many years he was here. Owen Gyles broke a bone in his neck after falling and being hit by another rider on 27 March 1948 at Bradford. The accident wasn't fatal.

Great site, Steve. Excellent. Well done. I notice you don't have the full date for Frank Charles' death. It was 15 July 1939.

Max Pearce died in Yarmouth Hospital on the morning of 14 July 1948 following injuries suffered in an accident at Yarmouth the night before. He was lying fourth after a bad start and was trying to make up ground on the straight. His bike wobbled, struck the fence and dragged him across the track. He came from Melbourne and had only arrived in England a few weeks before. He originally signed for Norwich but was soon transferred to Yarmouth. He was the second Yarmouth rider that year to lose his life in a riding accident; the first being Reg Craven. Pearce's accident happened on 13 July in Yarmouth's 13 meeting of the season. p.s. Frank Pearce didn't ride for Harringay in 1939. I don't know if he rode for anyone else, but I can't find any record of him racing in 1939 in England.

Bob Sharp

Bob Sharp

As always Shazzy, your wish is my command: 1979: Dave Perks Mike Sampson Kevin Hawkins Glenn McDonald Les Sawyer Nigel Wasley Craig Featherby John Homer Mark Williams There were also a few who only rode in one or two matches: Tony Garad, Paul Share, Neil Collins, Terry Freeman, Roger Lambert. 1980: Mike Sampson Ivan Blacka Glenn McDonald Craig Featherby Mark Collins Arthur Price Steve Sant Mark Williams Peter Bacon John Homer Steve Mildoon (Paul Bosley rode for them once)

No, he didn't ride for Nottingham.

Mike Sampson rode for Nottingham in both 1979 and 1980. In 1980 he topped their averages with a cma of 9.88.

Bob Kilby is English Bob Sharp is an Australian. He rode for Ipswich in the old National League. Dick Wise was an Australian. He rode for - and managed - Norwich. I don't think Triss Sharp was an Australian, though I am not 100% sure. He was Crystal Palace captain in 1929 and continued to ride for them until 1933. He owned a motor business in South London. Sig Schlam rode in Britain, but I'm not sure if he was attached to any league teams.

Junior Bainbridge is Ron Bainbridge We've also discussed Cliff Watson's nationality at some length! Terry Betts and Ray Wilson are English unless they are a different Terry Betts and Ray Wilson

It was called Malmo Stadium. It held 31,000 spectators. It was opened in 1958 and the opening event there was a World Cup match on 8 June 1958. It was administered by the Malmo Athletic Council. The architects were Fritz Jaenecke and Sten Samuelsson. Attached to the stadium were 7 football pitches. The total area of the complex was 50 acres. Does that help?

P.s. The 1964 Ullevi World Final Programme also has double s.

The 1961 Malmo World Final programme has it spelt with double s.

This is true, Steve. Even authoritative books such as Speedway in London spell it Knutsson with double "s". However, I understand that the correct spelling of his name is with one "s" but when he came to England the programmes and magazines spelt it with two and he couldn't be bothered to correct it so he just let it go. ooops - overlapped with you there, Jim!

Hmmmm.....

And his name is Knutson.

Allen Trump told me that he has some pre-War correspondence between Sir Arthur Elvin and H.R. "Ginger" Lees, in which he wrote to Lees as "Dear Ginger", so his ban on the name in Wembley programmes didn't extend to his personal correspondence.

Further to my comment above, Billy Galloway and Keith McKay put on an exhibition race with two of the local riders at Audenshaw on 3 March 1928. The race was won by McKay after Galloway suffered engine failure. Although I have seen no report of the race it could be that Galloway at least (given Ross's remarks regarding McKay) practised sliding in this race, which, if so, would beat the second High Beech meeting by just over a month as the first time broadsiding was seen in Britain.

I don't know about other tracks. Sir Arthur Elvin refused to use the name "Ginger" in Wembley's programmes as it was a bit "downmarket"! He insisted on Lees having his initials, H.R., printed in the programme. I don't remember seeing any away programmes of the period featuring Lees. Interesting point!

Yes, that's true. Of course it was expected that Galloway and McKay would demonstrate the art of broadsliding at the first High Beech meeting but, owing to the nature of the track, they were unable to do so. Galloway also suffered from another difficulty and that was that he was unable to use his own bike and instead had to borrow Freddie Dixon's Isle of Man TT machine with road racing gearing. Even worse for Galloway was the fact that he never managed to get out of bottom gear because, as he said afterwards, he didn't know how to. This also shows, of course, that the bikes had gears as well as brakes at that first meeting.