norbold

I've heard of all of those except Terry Mussett. Are you sure he rode for Wimbledon?

Next Wednesday (20 May), the Talking Pictures TV Channel has a programme entitled, "West Country Gazette". It’s synopsis reads, "1948. We take a look at a speedway track outside St Austell where Vic Duggan makes an appearance....."

I don't know if anyone remembers a board game called Wembley. It was a football game, the idea being to win the FA Cup. All the League teams of the time were included. So as not to get silly results, but to retain the possibility of upsets, there were six different dice, so that red was a First Division Team at home down to white being a third division team away. I can't remember now what the actual numbers were on each side of the dice, but the red dice would include high numbers (5&4) and perhaps just one zero, whereas the white dice would have 2 or 3 zeros and so on. If you're still awake, what I am leading to is that the way I played speedway was with these dice, by throwing red for the home heat leader, down to the white for the away reserve. For individual trophies, I gave the Big Five the red dice and so on. Bob Andrews once won one of my World Championship Finals!

Buzz is also an all-time speedway legend.

My profile photo is of Vic Huxley and Billy Lamont.

I used to play whole County Championship seasons with Owzat! I got to know the names of all the cricketers and which county they played for through that.

I never quite made it in mine. I was one of the best riders but never as good as Roger Gooding or Chris Friendship, two classmates of mine!

It seems highly unlikely that there would be an "official" Test match at High Beech in 1948. It was just a training track at the time; I don't think there were any matches of any sort that year, let alone an Official Test match. No idea who Ronnie Smith is either - he doesn't appear in Stenners' 1949 Who's Who in Speedway. I am wondering if maybe this was a birthday or Christmas present to a little lad called Ronnie Smith made up by his parents? Or perhaps Ronnie Smith was one of the trainees and it was a bit of a joke.

Peter Lipscomb

What more details do you require other than those already in the comments section?

It wouldn't have mattered. It was my brother who named me.

Norman Parker was a very special rider. I think it therefore goes without saying that anyone named after him must be very special too....

I have seen a copy of the cover you posted before (in fact I have a copy saved in my "Eastbourne" file), but I have never seen the whole programme.

Just to add, that when i was researching for my book, "75 Years of Eastbourne Speedway", I spent many happy days at the Colindale Newspaper Library searching through the Eastbourne Gazette and Eastbourne Courier files. I had read Homes of British Speedway, so I started my search for any mentions of speedway or dirt track racing at Arlington at the beginning of August 1928. The first mention I found, was the one I quoted above from 5 October 1928. There was absolutely nothing about speedway or dirt track racing before that. Honest, guv.

I can't see how there could have been an unofficial meeting in September 1928, seeing as the future track was just a field at the time and it wasn't until October that any work started on turning it into a dirt track. What contemporary sources are there for the 1928 meeting?

I don't think there were any meetings at Arlington in 1928. The Eastbourne Courier announced in its 5 October edition that, "The Eastbourne Motor-Cycle Sports Club have purchased a field at Arlington, with a view to building a dirt track." It wasn't until 5 August 1929 that the track opened to the public.

Thanks for telling me, BL!

When New Cross raced Belle Vue on 25 June 1947, Van Praag beat Langton in Heat Three. It was the only time they met that night. They met again on 16 July when again Van Praag beat Langton (Heat 11). They met for a third time at New Cross on 13 August, with Van Praag beating Langton yet again (Heat Seven). So 3-0 to Van Praag.

Quite frankly, Sidney, your tantrum and completely false accusations against chunky make me very wary of engaging in any more conversations with you on this Forum as it is difficult to know when you might suddenly turn on someone for no reason at all.

I really can't see your problem Sidney. This is what Chunky said: "I had seen Tommy a few times in 1975, and yes he was very good; the last time I saw him was when he won The Laurels with a 15 point max. I hadn't been at all in 1976, but it was Tommy's death that brought me back the following week. I get the point that Doug is making, and I agree that he was much improved in 1976, and as I said, I think he WOULD have got there - quite possibly that same year - but it was too early in 1976 to actually say that he had reached the elite few. It was a terrible tragedy, and we will never know." What do you disagree with there and what do you think he is lying about?

I'm not sure what the proper procedure was. It depends on who had the authority to grant approval in such matter. If the procedure at the time was that an application like the one Lansdale and Mawdsley submitted had to be approved by the County Council, then the District Council's approval would have in effect been a recommendation to the County Council that the application be approved, in which case, they should have waited until the County Council's final approval before starting work and if they started before receiving final approval than it's their own fault and can't be compensated. If the District Council had the authority to grant the approval, then, yes, you could be right, but I wouldn't have thought that was the position if the County Council overruled the District Council's approval.

Meetings were held at Rochester with a few trial meetings at the end of 1931. Two more were held in 1932, on 1 and 9 August. Lea Bridge's Alf Foulds won the Chatham Scratch Race. Pete Lansdale and Wally Mawdsley looked to revive speedway at Rochester in 1969 and built a 340 yard track. A demonstration race was held for the local Council on 14 March which was won by Martyn Piddock from Reg Luckhurst, Judd Drew and Ron Stewart. On 25 March, Rochester Council gave permission for a one-year trial period. Rochester then raced their first fixture, away at Ipswich on 17 April, followed by a second at Long Eaton. Following this meeting, Kent County Council overturned Rochester's approval and Lansdale and Mawdsley submitted an appeal, but thought it prudent to look for another home for the Bombers. As their office was in Romford, they spoke to the owners of Brooklands Stadium and reached agreement with them to stage speedway there. Before finally moving to Romford, they raced two more fixtures as Rochester (so four altogether), but then on 29 May, Romford opened and that was the end of Rochester.

Tommy Jansson is a classic example of a "what if" and a "we'll never know". His record at the time he died was good, but not that outstanding. He had won the World Pairs twice, but even then, on both occasions, it was very much as the junior partner to Anders Michanek. 1973: Michanek 15, Jansson 9; 1975: Michanek 17, Jansson 7. (By contrast in 1974, Sweden also won the World Pairs, but this time with Michanek 14, Sjosten 14). As you say, riders like Collins and Mauger certainly rated him highly as did the Wimbledon faithful of course. But, sadly, it is a case of what if and we'll never know....

Sorry, r&r, the reason I haven't replied to that thread is because I don't know here they are. I don't recognise them at all. I have looked through some West Ham photos but can't definitely match them with anyone.

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/45430-jewish-speedway-riders/ If you look at the previous thread on this, you will see that someone called speedyguy said that Benny Kaufman was Jewish.