Leicester Hunter

That name's worth a hell of a lot of points on the Scrabble board! Seriously though, if his pedigree is as good as it suggests, looks like Birmingham have picked another winner.

Nope. Well, not yet, anyway. Who've you been talking to in the last week?

If that's the case, his CMA will be 8.90. Even better!

Well, if the conversion rate is twice his PL average, it will be 9.34. Excellent signing regardless.

OK, I've taken this from my copy of John Louis' book 'A Second Look Inside Speedway' published in 1976. John Louis 15 Peter Collins 13 Malcolm Simmons 13 (after a run-off) Ray Wilson 11 (after a run-off) Those four qualified for the Wembley World Final Martin Ashby 11 (Reserve at Wembley) Chris Pusey 10 Tony Davey 9 Gordon Kennett 6 Dave Jessup 6 Doug Wyer 5 Jim McMillan 5 Bob Kilby 5 Chris Morton 5 Dave Morton 3 Alan Wilkinson 2 Carl Glover 1 Other good British riders of that time included Nigel Boocock, who was eliminated at Sheffield after a run-off with Carl Glover and Chris Pusey for the last qualifying place and Terry Betts, also eliminated at Sheffield having only scored 5 points. Wolverhampton's George Hunter and Eric Broadbelt of Poole both fell by the wayside at the Leicester semi. And Reg Wilson, who had enjoyed an exceptional early part of the season was incapacitated with a broken leg. It's been said many times that the run-off between Ray Wilson and Martin Ashby was the greatest match race ever. For some reason, PC and Simmo raced for the rostrum positions in the first run-off, leaving Wilson and Ashby to race last of all. The organisers on the night couldn't have made a better call.... Neck and neck for three and a half laps, Crash got past Wilson on the back straight, but kept his inside line round the last two bends. Ray wound it on round the fence and caught Martin literally at the flag. He said later he was lucky Martin was such a fair rider, and that he gave him room to race. With what was at stake, Ray Wilson admitted he wouldn't have been so accommodating.... I only attended two or three British Finals at Coventry, but what you got was a packed house, fantastic atmosphere and some great racing. On a Wednesday night, too. Of course, there was no live TV transmission then, merely recorded highlights, either shown on the following Saturday on World of Sport, or on a couple of occasions when the BBC were there, it was shown the same night at around 10.30 on Sportsnight. Happy days....

Yes, that's very true. Consider also that before 1975, the Brits had to contend with the Australasians, riders of the calibre of Mauger, Briggs, Moore, Airey, Boulger, Valentine, Crump and Sanders to name but a few. And when you look at the first all-British Final line up in 1975, you realise how far British Speedway fallen away over the (mainly last few) years.

TBH Peter, I can see Kings Lynn being at Perry Barr against the Brummies and Heathens on a Wednesday when the Stars have EL fixtures. Birmingham and Cradley will probably be in Norfolk on a Friday night. Seeing as it's a track share arrangement, I would think it involves both clubs.

Fully endorse that - he's a real gentleman too.

That's correct, it was in 2010. Redcar on the first Wednesday, followed by Sheffield on the Bank Holiday Sunday and then Somerset in the League the following Wednesday. The Redcar and Sheffield matches were rearranged after being rained off, and to simply get them out of the way.

According to an interview Joe did with I think the Speedway Star some years ago, he was offered good terms to move to Birmingham for the 1980 season after Hull went sailing over the points limit the previous year. He turned the move down out of loyalty to Ian Thomas and Bryan Larner. Joe did admit that with hindsight it wasn't the brightest thing for him to do, as the move would have given his career a further boost by going to completely different type of circuit. Joe Owen was bloody good round the old Perry Barr, and I would have loved to have seen him there.

That's OK June. I knew my old Yearbooks would come handy at some time or other.

It's always interesting to note that no one ever mentions that Scott Autrey wasn't alone when he ventured over here in 1973. He was accompanied by two other Americans, one of whom could, given the right circumstances, easily made it over here. Sumner McKnight was an unmitigated disaster at Swindon, averaging less than 2 points a match in his short spell there, but the other rider was Rick Woods (Gene's elder brother), and he was making a half decent start to his British career at the notorious Somerton Park rectangle in Newport - that is until he had a major strop over not getting a place in the British World Championship Qualifying rounds, and he jetted back to the States, never to return. His CMA when he left was almost bang on 6 points a match, better than Autrey, who at that time was averaging between 5.25 and 5.50. Autrey's average at that time shouldn't really be sniffed at either, as he apparently had very little speedway experience before he arrived on these shores. As for Mike Bast, well, having read his AMA citation above, I'm not surprised he didn't venture over here. Earning all that money just for beating tourists in his own backyard, not bad work if you can get it. And he didn't even really have to put his reputation on the line either. Any regrets on his part? I seriously doubt it.

Hi June I've just looked through my 1980 Yearbook and found the following: Cradley Heath 55 Hull 23 on 28th May 1979 was a challenge match. Cradley Heath 41 Hull 37 on 28th July 1979 was a Gulf British League match. Poole 39 Swindon 39 on 25th July 1979 was a Gulf British League match. I've drawn a blank on the last result you mention from 3rd October 1979, so I can only assume that match was abandoned and not re run. It looks like it was the first leg of a two leg challenge, as Swindon beat the Pirates 49-29 in a challenge match at Blunsdon on Saturday 13th October 1979, the same night as the epic British League showdown between Coventry and Hull at Brandon. Hope that helps.

Ah, missed that bit. Thanks.

It certainly would. Given his range of contacts with the u21's, and man management skills, he would be my first choice for the Team Manager role. Nice thought, but Rusty would be out of the equation on two, possibly three counts. 1. He's Australian. Rules concerning our colonial friends racing at NL level were considerably altered a few years ago. He probably does have British ancestry, but that's too far down the line to be considered. 2. His CMA is way too high. Any rider with a Green Sheet PL average of over 4.00 is automatically barred from riding in the National League next year. 3. It's widely rumoured that he's retiring anyway, and upping sticks with his family back to Oz. Shame really, if we had have got Premier League racing next year, Rusty would have been the first name on my team sheet. No, and point 2 above addresses that. He's Somerset asset anyway, so I anticipate he will be racing for them next season. Again, it's a shame, because despite all the clubs' problems in 2014, Paul gained valuable experience riding in the Elite League, and built up an excellent rapport with the fans. One rider who may fit the bill is Jake Anderson. Now I know he's Australian, but there was some angle on his ancestry (first or second generation, I think) which allowed us to sign him on a 3 point average back in 2010. His average for Plymouth in 2013 was 3.97 - just inside the criteria required to allow doubling up with a Premier League side. His nationality may be a problem though, and then there's the question of whether he could afford to be in this country living on NL payscales alone should a Premier League place not become available. All in all, I'm looking forward to next year. A new start in a new (for us) League. It will be very interesting to see how it all pans out. The only downside for me is I'm on a night school course until mid May, it's on a Wednesday!! Sorry about all the double up (!) info here, Islander15's post went on while I was composing mine! You sure about Chris Mills? I've just looked at the BSPA website, and his final average for this season just gone was 3.74 - which would allow him to ride in the NL and double up with no problem. Pending a rule change, that is.

John Cook. He's still alive and well and promoting speedway at Lakeside.

You didn't miss much, Mike. Let's not forget, this same competition saw Swindon eliminated by a hat !

Well, you did ask. If a team was 6 (or was it 8?) points behind after heat 4 and before heat - well, that bit was open to a fair amount of interpretation, their team manager could nominate (a maximum of two times) a rider, but not the same one twice, to challenge a member of the opposition. A match race. Clear so far? But only one rider could score points, and that one was from the losing team. If the rider from the team that was ahead won, the heat was classified as a 0-0. With this 'facility' being used at any stage, the two boxes set aside for it in the programme were completely separate from the scorecard, so if it was used successfully, the scorecard didn't make any sense at all. In all my years of following speedway, that has to be the daftest 'rule' ever....

Thanks for that. I thought that allowance had gone years ago. So that's even more expense to come out of the gate receipts. A 400 mile round trip would equal £60. Another £200 at least to be put aside, and that would just cover the home team. And I suppose the visiting team has to be factored in as well.

Wouldn't have thought so. I know it was around during the Rider Control era, but that to simply to recompense riders who got moved around, some individuals having to cover greater distances for 'home' matches in particular. Starts are not paid anymore either, are they?

And yet if houses were to be built on the land, road improvements wouldn't come into it if the standards of my local and county council applied. A couple of years ago, a planning application to build approximately 350 homes on green belt land was submitted, over doubling the size of the village where the developer wanted to build. Most of the access roads are country lanes and farm tracks, but when complaints started rushing in regarding road improvements, the general (and I have to say usual) response from the planning committee was "So what?" So many complaints have been received that a planning review was instigated, and is still going on even now by the looks of things. Road improvements will be made eventually of course, but you bet your bottom dollar the developer won't be paying for them. Vested interest and all that.

Hi Steve Re 4. I've just dug out the old programme I have from that meeting and Rider Replacement was operated for Soren Sjosten at 1 and Alan Grahame at 2. Arthur Browning rode at No8, covering Alan Grahame's two programmed outings in heats 5 & 11. Despite the Brummies operating double R/R, no No9 is in the programme. Riding order: 1 R/R Soren Sjosten 2 R/R Alan Grahame 3 Bob Valentine 4 Garry Middleton 5 Lou Sansom 6 Jan Gravningen 7 Ove Olsen 8 Arthur Browning Hope that is some assistance to you.

I think that's about right, and it's a shame. Speedway at Elite League level anyway, has become one dimensional in that respect, as it's now the league title or nothing these days. I think that depends on how well your team does in the Play Offs! I've only attended the Play Offs once before, and that was last year's Birmingham v Wolverhampton encounter. The crowd at Monmore was excellent, and the atmosphere like a cup final, but of course Birmingham won on the night and that more or less killed that. The second leg at Perry Barr was played out in front of an average at best attendance and without a discernible atmosphere. That's open to debate I suppose, but at the end of the day, them's the rules, and we all know about them before the season starts. Yes they are, but that's progress for you. At least with the KO Cup as well, there was always something else to try to win. Maybe when the original Sky package was put together, cup matches should have been included, but we'll never know whether or not that would have helped now.

All a bit different to the Somerset experience last year. On 23rd August 2013, a group of five of us went to the OTA to Somerset's match with Ipswich. The match was rained off after 4 heats. As we all stood in the bar wondering how we were going to get to Somerset again before the end of the season, an announcement was made over the tannoy. Readmission tickets could be used for the restaging or other league matches in 2013, but get this - if for any reason you couldn't make it back before then, they would be honoured at any Somerset league or cup fixture in 2014. All you had to do was keep your readmission ticket and matchday programme safe and use them to gain entry to the match of your choice. Now that's what I call customer service. Recognising that supporters may not be able to get to another fixture that season, so use your ticket anytime over the next 12 months or so. It automatically gets round any nastiness regarding claiming your money back, and is good PR for the club at the same time. I did comment at the time that I couldn't imagine an Elite League club doing the same thing, and that view hasn't changed. All five of us used our tickets to attend the Newcastle match in July this year and didn't get any hassle at the turnstyles at all. Kudos to Somerset, I say. A professionally run club who put on a good show and know how to treat the punters. As a neutral now, I know who to give my hard earned cash to if I want to see a match in the future....

Thanks for that. Yes, I remember this topic came up around a year ago, and BWitcher mentioned that. I wasn't at home at the time, so couldn't search for the post concerned. It wouldn't be difficult. More self regulation in effect, I'm afraid. It was, and it surrounded Wolverhampton's point blank refusal to be promoted as 1963 Provincial League Champions into the National League for 1964. The Provincial League backed Wolverhampton to a man and the whole League was declared illegal by the Control Board. That they raced and were successful with it is now a matter of record. The big stumbling block, which brought everything to a head was Belle Vue's hosting of the Provincial League Riders Championship. Liking what they saw, and with their season virtually over, Belle Vue then embarked on a series of challenge matches at PL venues. The Control Board immediately suspended the Aces, and in retaliation, I believe Belle Vue submitted a tentative application to join the Provincial League for 1965. That would have been a mere rubber stamping exercise, and terrified they would loose their flagship team to another league, the Control Board rescinded the ban. The result in effect was that the 'junior' Provincial League absorbed the more senior National League to form the British League in 1965. It's a totally different scenario today, in that riders are not forced to choose which league they compete in, and indeed, the leagues today are not on a war footing, showing outright hostility to each other. Quite the reverse, really. Too many riders these days are competing in too many leagues in this country alone, and a strict review should remedy that. The remit is totally different to what Lord Shawcross faced almost half a century ago.