norbold

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

Me too, Gustix.....well, one anyway, 1963.

This is getting exciting now....

One other name to throw into this - Vic Duggan.

I am very sceptical about all this "who said what to whom" stuff re-Jack Biggs, BOBBATH. It has been said that because Biggs didn't ask the other riders in his final race - Williams, Waterman and Lawson - to "cover" him, i.e. let him win, they ganged up on him. Considering that Biggs had had four lightning fast gates that evening and had carried all before him and Lawson and Williams were having poor evenings, Lawson's probably due to a hand injury sustained four days before, even if they had have ganged up on him there didn't seem anything they could have done, especially as he only needed third place. I take the view that he was beset by nerves for that final race. His draw meant that he had a long gap between his fourth and fifth rides, time to sit in the pits and worry about the race. He was, in any case, a very nervous man normally. A friend of mine who was with him in the pits at another big night when again he was in with a chance of winning, this time the London Riders' Championship, said he was a bag of nerves and his hands were shaking so much he was surprised he could even hold his bike upright, let alone ride it! In that fateful heat in the World Championship he was drawn in the outside trap and just completely missed the gate. Nothing to do with ganging up; Biggs lost it on his own. That's my view anyway. But it's always good to have controversies and talking points that never go away. And then of course there was the controversy surrounding the Lionel Van Praag/Eric Langton run-off for the first-ever World Final.......

You've got to hand it to Darcy and the F.I.M though. At least they've given us something to talk about to while away those dark winter days and evenings when there's no speedway.

Probably the nearest of the nearly men to miss out on the World Championship was Cordy Milne, who missed out by four days. He was hot favourite to win the 1939 title on 7 September, but when War was declared on 3 September, all speedway was suspended, so he never got his chance.

Talking of Dave Jessup just missing out, it is often forgotten that in the year Ove Fundin first won the World Championship, 1956, that, after four rides, Fundin and Ken McKinlay were joint leaders on 10 points. In his last race, Hurri-ken got a great start and was well in front when, with no real pressure on him, he fell, handing Ove his first of five victories, with Ken missing out on even a podium place.

I was there in 1965, BOBBATH, and supporting our former captain. Yay!

Technically there have been three tracks at Rye House, but all within the same overall stadium area.

Hi BOBBATH. I'm younger than you, but saw all of the riders I mentioned.

Do you mean my list, Arnie, the one that does include Brandon and also (by default), Kirky Lane? Also, the point I was really making there was that those tracks I mentioned have missed very few seasons in all those years; the ones you've added had much longer fallow periods.

....er....excuse me, but speaking from personal experience, may I say you do not need to be 80 years old - or even 70 years old - to have seen Peter Craven and Brian Crutcher or even Jack Young, Split Waterman, Aub Lawson and Ron Johnson.

As if to prove Grand Central's point, along comes Starman.....

Either the official concerned was a properly authorised official or he wasn't. Either the testing equipment used was properly calibrated or it wasn't. What do the F.I.M. hope to gain by postponing the date of the hearing? I can't help feeling that neither of those reasons are the cause of the delay.

Surely whether he was an on duty or an off duty cop has no bearing at all on the matter. What matters is whether he was officially appointed by the F.I.M. to carry out the test. I can't imagine he was just some off duty cop who happened to wander into the stadium with his breath test kit and decide to take breath tests at random! And, even if he was, where was the official tester? P.S. Great minds, Arnie. We were posting at the same time!

You're obviously a Poole hater, Gavan.

Although not continuous in the sense of every year like the examples you give, Arnie, I think the point should be made that some tracks like Coventry (Brandon) have been operating since 1928, Eastbourne since 1929 and Rye House since 1935 with very few breaks. Also, of course, there is Belle Vue, the club having been operating continuously since 1928 (including the War years),albeit at different tracks.

Well that sounds like everything to do with luck to me. Where the stadium happens to be. Anyway, even your answer doesn't answer why there is now no speedway at Sunderland and Yarmouth just to give two examples.

I think I'd go along with iris. Plecahnov and Waterman. But, of course, there was also our very own Sverre, CHR.

Interesting response, Lioness. #howdoyouknow

Luck?

While I agree with the sentiments, CHR, there is already a thread on this, started on 3 January.

If, as you have done, you're including World Champions to be as well, the Internationale Final 1961 had six world champions riding, five of whom had already won the World Championship. Jack Young, Ronnie Moore, Peter Craven, Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs plus Bjorn Knutson. The Tom Farndon Memorial Trophy at New Cross in 1961 contained Jack Young, Ronnie Moore, Bjorn Knutson, Barry Briggs and Peter Craven. I expect, in answer to your question, it has happened reasonably frequently.