Chadster

There was a meeting at Belle Vue in 1968 when the second half was sponsored by the TUC, as they were celebrating their foundation in Manchester 100 years before. Part of the prizes were a copy of the book published to commemorate the centenary. I often wondered what Tommy Roper and Soren Sjosten made of that.

To be fair to Gustix (and someone has to be), I was at the last Wimbledon meeting and can hardly remember anything about it. The thing that has stuck in my mind was that one of his prizes for winning was a sewing machine, which seemed an unusual prize to say the least. Perhaps we could have a thread abour unusual speedway prizes. I'll leave Gustix to start it.

He'll have been cross about that...

According to the Speedway Researcher website it was 5th October. The meeting was 'The Laurels' and it was won by Mark Burrows.

I must have been lucky, having lived in London for 40 years, gone around by public transport and never felt threatened. Actually, I did feel threatenedonce, when I went to watch Liverpool at Upton Park and the West Ham fans kicked off big time. Not much evidence of Londonistan there, the make-up of the crowd was almost entirely WASP.

Much of it focussed on his post-speedway 'career' but I thought the tone of it was warmer than the same papers obituary of Ivan Mauger.

The first race I would have seen was at Liverpool in 1960 but I can't remember a thing about it, except that it was very wet. The first meeting I can remember was Belle Vue v Newport in 1967. We sat on the third bend and my recollection was of these lunatics belting down the back straight towards me. I was sure they were going to crash, shut my eyes, waited for the smash, didn't hear one and opened my eyes to see them roaring off the fourth bend. That was me hooked. For the record, according to the Speedway Researcher the result was Nevitt, Roper, Golden, Erskine in a time of 74.6.

Not sure I agree with this. Speedway has long had both team and individual traditions. Is there another team sport that has an individual world champion? The point made above would be an argument against international team sport, England footballers, cricketers, rugby players not going hard against each other when playing for their clubs. Doesn't seem to happen.

Individual meetings were popular in the one big league days because you only saw riders once a season. If, say Barry Briggs was injured when he was due to ride at your track your promoter could book him and more or less guarantee a crowd. Today, teams visit twice a season and some teams three times so the attraction of an individual meeting is much reduced.

Went there in the first season (1968) for a challenge match (remember them?) against Reading for the Kent-Berks Trophy, obviously a name that has stuck in my memory for 50 years. There was an odd incident in the second half when a young second halfer went out for his first ride before the previous race had quite finished, went the wrong way round the track and met the finishers as they were winding down coming off the second bend. Caused quite a commotion..

I watched Cardiff on TV and was underwhelmed. Those who went give a different impression; no surprise, really; a lage crowd, good atmosphere and what was at stake will all contribute to a sense of occasion. I was lucky enough to attend a couple of world finals at Wembley. Few of the races stand out in my memory but occasion and the prize on offer more than compensated. I've seen good racing at Cardiff. This year the track almost seemed too good, with no ruts. Once you got on the fast line you were away an anyone trying to pass usually ended up going backwards.

Speedway match scoring; 3 points for a win one for a draw, an extra point for an away draw, an extra point for an away win by more than 6 points. Can't be that complicated if it can be explained in less than a line. I don't know enough about the scoring systems in rugby and cricket. Can someone explain how they work?

Andy Galvin was always guaranteed a 'warm' reception at Plough Lane. Preben Eriksen had a tough time of it after a crash with Kelvin Tatum in which Tatum broke his leg. I can remember Kenny Carter breaking the track record at Belle Vue. The Aces fans were unimpressed, to put it mildly. The reception Chris Morton got a couple of races later when he broke the record was as noisy and fervent as I can ever recall at Hyde Road

Roger Johns

Did Graham Plant not wear a scarf?

The classic design from 1937 to 1973 was simple and striking. Most of what came after was ill-advised and needlessly fussy. Are Wimbledon the only team whose colours were a foreign flag? (Vietnam). Was Ho Chi Minh a closet Dons fan? Is there a Ronnie Moore Boulevard or a Mark 'Buzz' Burrows street in Hanoi? I think we should be told.

I came down to London in 1976 and saw quite a bit of the rebels in the following two seasons. I can't remember much about the racing, except for Kennett bombing along the straights as if he were riding long track. The impression I got was of poor crowds and a lack of atmosphere that meant even the best races felt flat. That was brought home when I started going to Wimbledon in 1978 and the bigger crowds and more enclosed stadium meant that the racing seemed much better. As for tracks around football grounds how about the one round a cricket ground?

I like the idea of a big league, but there would be a serious rider shortage. Leaving aside the issue of doubling up, one big league would have to mean the end of fixed race nights so there woud be fixture clashes with Poland, especially, Sweden and Denmark. Belle Vue would almost certainly lose Fricke and Bjerre, Kings Lynn Lambert, Poole, Kurtz, Holder and Klindt, Swindon, Doyle, Musielak and Batchelor and Wolves, Thorsell and Masters. There may well be others. That's a lot of new riders to find on top of the double uppers (23, I read somewhere) How would we manage this problem. Even 6 man teams wouldn't be a solution. 5 man teams like in Denmark?

When Wimbledon were in the CL, I was impressed by how well most of the riders got around what was a very tricky track. They were a far cry from some of the wobblers I remember from watching second halves in the 60s. When Barry Briggs visited Plough Lane he said he couldn't have got round that track in his early days and yet we were watching some good racing there.

I'm a little puzzled by the timing of this. If you'd asked me a year ago, I'd have said that the logic underpinning the BSPA's actions over the previous decade had been to reduce the gap between the 2 leagues so as to make one big league possible, but last winter the decisions taken seemed more likely to widen the gap, making a big league less likely. I know I used logic and BSPA in the same sentence there..... To make it viable, you'd need 18 teams at least in a big league, so 34 league meetings, 2 (minimum) in cups and some meaningful regional competitions. Individual meetings become more attractive because you're not seeing the same old riders every week. I'd always thought Matt Ford was a convinced top league man, so maybe there's a significant shift in attitudes developing.

At times in that race he reminded me of how Nigel Boocock used to race. Great stuff!

Saw a Belle Vue v Sheffield KO Cup tie in 1969 and Bengt Larsson beat the great man from the back and Arnie Haley did the same in the second half in the Silver Sash match race. That didn't happen very often!

Is right.

Saw quite a lot of Fundin when he signed for the Aces in 1967. He was obviously still a top class rider, though apparently Hyde Road was not a particular favourite of his, not that you would have known from watching him. The first home meeting after he won the world title was against Newcastle. He came round on the tractor with the World Championship trophy, won his first two rides and then was beaten third time out. Who was the Newcastle rider to beat him? It's not the obvious answer....

I seem to recall reading that it was quite heavily banked, which might have contributed to its nickname.