norbold

Well that's put Tom Farndon in his place. Obviously john Chaplin and I were wrong about him. Just remind me again of all the major titles and trophies George Newton won.

Talking of the match race championship and time machines...my choice would be Tom Farndon. Tom won the match race title in 1934 and was unbeaten through five challenges until he died following a track crash in 1935. So much did the championship become synonymous with him that the competition was suspended on his death and did not return until after the War. Tom was the ultimate professional of his time. He trained hard, didn't smoke and was tee-total. He was also the most spectacular rider of his time. He was a charismatic figure who was idolised in his day, with a personal following only equalled by footballers and film stars. Funny he never found it necessary to be "one of the lads" in the pub the night before a meeting to achieve all this. He did his talking on the track. If there are any lessons to be learned by Darcy Ward, he need look no further than Tom Farndon.

Has it ever occurred to you, gustix, that the people supporting the Facebook page, the petition and the Twitter feed are the same people?

Here is a sample from the petition: Reasons for signing Rolf Harris LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM So what if Darcy got pished as a koala on Fosters? Those Europeans are always trying to convict us fair-dinkum Aussies for little indiscretions. I was also stiched up at the Court of King Caractacus. Kim Jong-Un KIM JONG-UN CITY, KOREA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF Ward is an imposter. I am the true Speedway World Champion of the Universe!! Oliver Reed POOLE, UNITED KINGDOM I like Darcy cos he drinks loads!!!!!!!!!! There's lots more like this. So he does have some powerful supporters with excellent reasons. No doubt the F.I.M. will give it all the attention it deserves.

You could make it 351, gustix. Why haven't you signed it?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why won't you be signing the petition, gustix?

"Everyone looks forward to watching him race and speedway is not the same with out him" I can't say I really noticed his absence in the last five GPs. P.S. If everyone's so confident that Darcy will get off because the F.I.M.'s case won't stand up thanks to an off-duty policeman and wrongly calibrated instruments, what's the point of the petition?

I would have put Coventry and Eastbourne at nos. 1 & 2. That's why I mentioned them earlier. Forgot about Sheffield though. There was a meeting at Eastbourne in 1953, The Championship of Sussex, won by Ron Barrett. It was the size of the crowd for this meeting that encouraged Charlie Dugard to revive Eastbourne in 1954. So, does that make 74 seasons? Anyway, thanks so much for all the research and presenting this Arnie. It's been fascinating, interesting and a very worthwhile project.

Can't say I agree with you there. I belong to a number of local history sites on Facebook and have learnt a lot through the sharing of information on there. And there are some brilliant photographs that turn up from time to time. You don't have to get involved with all the dross on there. Be selective and it's excellent.

It's beginning to look as though the 1965 final audience was made up entirely of Forumers!

Sounds good to me, BOBBATH! It is one of my regrets that I never asked Fred Williams about this on the number of occasions I met him in later life. But it never seemed quite appropriate just to go up to him and say, "Did you deliberately prevent Biggs winning the World Championship because he wouldn't bribe you or did you allow Split to win that last race because he did? Just one other point. I do think that in the long run the better rider actually won the 1951 World Championship as he later went on to prove.

If that is the case, why would the F.I.M. prolong the case even further and finish up having to pay even more loss of earnings etc.?

By the way, Gustix, one piece of drivel that appears on all your posts is your signature. Voltaire never said this. That was written in 1906 by Evelyn Beatrice Hall (pseud. S. G. Tallentyre) in the biography "The Friends of Voltaire". She did not attribute the words to Voltaire. They were her own.

Have you actually read this thread, Gustix!?

Rye House: The original track was where the present track is. the second track was where the go-kart track is.

I'm gutted.

Thanks BOBBATH. Always interesting to read others' views on this famous race - possibly the most famous single race in the history of speedway? My friend who was with Biggs at the London Riders' Championship was also at the 1951 Final, though in the crowd, but, as I said, his view has always been it was nerves and he was a Harringay supporter, so he would have had every reason to blame his loss on to Williams and Lawson. Eric Linden, writing later, also blamed Biggs's loss on nerves. He particularly made the point about the long gap between his fourth and fifth rides and commented on the number of people who came up to Biggs in the pits before the race prematurely congratulating him. "Why couldn't they have just left him alone?" he said. He felt this just made him even more nervous. My understanding of the race itself was that Biggs was drawn in gate four, made a bad start for the first time that night and tried to make up for it by blasting round the outside on the first bend but made a hash of it and went too wide, leaving the others to get too far in front for him to make up the ground. The fact that he also came last in the run-off was a further indication that by then his nerves were just shot. By the way my friend mentioned above was at the first meeting at High Beech on February 19th 1928! Sadly he can't remember it as he was only 8 months old at the time!

So can I just get this straight. This off-duty policeman was called in in an unofficial capacity specially to test Darcy Ward because there were suspicions that he had been drinking. Yet somehow this unofficial off-duty policeman had already tested other riders. Was that in an unofficial capacity as well? And if so why was he called on to test them? In addition, the story being put round - and in spite of protestations by Starman to the contrary - disputed by no-one that Darcy Ward was only just over the limit, he now seems to have been acting in such a suspicious manner that he needed to be tested. So more than just a little over the limit then?

Now you come to mention it, that must be exactly what happened. Why haven't we all seen this before? It is the only possible reasonable explanation for the events of that day. Where do I join the Darcy Ward Support Group?

So who do you think he was then? Some oik who just wandered in off the street, took a breath test and then got the FIM to accept his findings even though they had no idea who he was?

I've met your grandfather a few times at the annual Norwich Vets Lunch. He's always very friendly and full of information and anecdotes. Happy Birthday, Fred.

54 Moore; 55 Craven; 59 Moore; 62 Craven