Leicester Hunter

Not really, no. Because similar things have happened in the past.

...And give youngsters some track time. They are, after all, the future of the sport.

Yes, that's right. It was a Midland Cup match at Swindon, 21 August 1976 Swindon 42 (Martin Ashby 10 Bob Kilby 10) Wolverhampton 36 (Finn Thomsen 20) Same night as Henny Kroeze scored his 21 point max against Birmingham. When Swindon returned to Monmore Green for a Gulf British League match on 3 September, the Robins operated R/R for Bob Kilby and Martin Ashby scored 21 points from eight rides. Woverhampton 41 (Finn Thomsen 13) Swindon 37 (Martin Ashby 21)

That just goes to show you learn something every day. I only knew of Doug Serrurier as a racing driver/constructor. He built many LDS 'formula' cars powered by various capacity power plants, the last one being fitted with an Australian Repco V8 engine, the type as used by Jack Brabham. Sam Tingle DNFed it at the 1968 South African GP. He was also famous for racing large capacity Lola-Chevrolet sports cars and a Formula 5000 Lola in South African Formula 1. Painted in red and white stripes, the cars were sponsored by Walls Ice Cream. The sports cars had the catchphrase 'Stop me and buy one' emblazoned in large letters across the rear spoiler. Happy days!

Gordon Kennett scored 639 points plus 17 bonus for White City in 52 matches in 1977, which I believe is a record for the old 13 heat format. The Rebels were a six man outfit for most of that season. BTW, does anyone know if Dag Lovaas actually received his championship medal?

They did TWK and I'm sure it was sometime during the 1977 season. I've searched through my yearbook and can't find it! I also seem to remember that their sister Ann had a match race or two with Steve Bastable's sister, as the picture of all five of the Collins' appeared in the Speedway Star. As soon as I locate the where and when, I'll let you know....

Well, if you viewed Blackbird Road as a scruffy version of Brandon when Charles Ochiltree was the promoter there, you would be bang on the money. Size-wise, they were virtually identical, as were Blunsdon, Poole and Saddlebow Road. Sheffield was the same length (more or less), but a totally different shape. Hyde Road, The Shay, White City, Exeter and The Boulevard at Hull were much bigger, Waterden Road, Hackney just a tad shorter, although the racing was very much on a par with Leicester. Cradley Heath was slightly shorter. Wolverhampton, Ipswich, Reading, Wimbledon and Birmingham were much smaller. Then you had the alleged horrors of Somerton Park, Newport and Bristol, at least when it first opened, as the dual purpose sand-based track didn't work at all. Of all the tracks I visited during my early years in the sport, I have to say that Leicester, Hackney, Sheffield and Halifax were the stand-out venues, probably in that order. Birmingham Perry Barr wasn't too bad either for a small track, as was Wolverhampton, but that was almost certainly down to the quality of the Wolves team in those days! Out of all those tracks mentioned, only two are currently operating/existing, and one of those has been altered out of all recognition. Missed certainly, but not forgotten.

Well, if ever a rider didn't achieve what was expected, he has to be a prime contender for that accolade. Came over from Finland as an unknown in 1975, did reasonably well, upped his average to almost 9 over the next two seasons, still averaged almost 8.75 in '78 in a much stronger Lions team. Then he requested a transfer, presumably to become a No1 in his own right, request denied, he got injured on the continent early in the '79 season, and his average plummeted. He was eventually sold to Cradley Heath after the Lions had virtually finished their league programme and avoided the wooden spoon, but due to the 50 point rule, did not complete any home matches for the Heathens that season, and was cup-tied too. After that, his career in Britain just ebbed away, really, and he retired from British speedway at the end of the 1980 season, finishing his riding days in the German Bundesleague. A great shame, and a missed opportunity in many ways.

And Swindon always won 40-38 (happiness!) at Leicester during the Martin Rogers era. But you're right about the lamp standards, they were dual purpose if I remember rightly, for both speedway/stock cars and greyhounds. Saw one of them demolished at the end of an individual meeting, a tangle between Alan Grahame and Doug Wyer I think, although no-one was injured thankfully. Health & Safety would have a fit if they saw those things so close to a track these days! Scott Autrey won the Golden Gauntlets three years in a row (78-80), virtually unbeatable at Leicester in those days.

No, allocated to Newport for 1972 under rider control. Lions got DJ from defunct Wembley as recompense. Yes, he did. And they were in the team that went unchanged throughout the 1969 League Championship campaign, a record that will never be beaten! I knew DJ was injured sometime in 1973, but couldn't remember when. I looked up the details in Alan Jones excellent book 'When The Lions Roared' which covers the years 1968-83. Shame Blackbird Road was redeveloped, a great race track.

Yes they did, and that would be 1973. But DJ was injured on 17th April in their home match with Ipswich, missing exactly 3 months of the season, making his comeback on 17th July against Reading. That might have cost them a decent tilt at the league title, as all three heat leaders feasibly might have achieved 10+ averages that season.

Certainly is, Sidney. Rated by some critics as the best match race they've ever seen.

It is, but I still think it's marginally better than the 1970's when a few BL teams were Guest & R/R city.

According to Speedway Updates, it occurred during the match itself in a public way. What a way to treat a supporter who has expressed an honest opinion....not.

Personally speaking, may I say I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments voiced above.

It was on sale at Perry Barr last night. Hadn't got any spare cash last night - will give it a try next week, if there's any left.

Oi! Don't give 'em ideas!

Not then, no. The total average allowed for a team at that time was 52. You had to have a stunning team or an outrageous home track advantage to get anywhere near that total. Yep, I remember Roman Jankowski, Sidney. A rider who would do sod all until a vital last heat decider and then go out and get the necessary points to win a match! Especially away from home! You were right about his score, Sidney, it was a paid max.

Remember Jerzy Rembas? How true. Using the above named as an example, Rembas was promoted as 'the next big name' in Polish speedway. The next Edward Jancarz or Zenon Plech. Len Silver even wanted him as a direct replacement for the unavailable Plech in '77, but he wasn't allowed over either. He was allowed over in '78 however, and allocated to Leicester. He struggled like hell. Uncompetitive, couldn't gate, couldn't pass either, and was hanging on to his team place week after week, but just as the axe was about to fall, he dropped to reserve and scored a few points to make him worth persevering with. Then he qualified for the Wembley World Final. He looked a completely different rider, getting to a run-off with Scott Autrey and Dave Jessup for third place, making Leicester team mates John Titman and Ila Teromaa (who were both averaging 8.5/9 points a match in the British League) look decidedly second rate. His average including bonus points for that year? 4.84!

Completed, thanks!

It still might be, although admittedly not on the back page and in banner headlines, but enough to be noticed. The best thing Neil Middleditch could have done in this case is just issue a 'No comment' reply and leave it at that. What is more worrying is the fact that Ward could afford to pay the fine straight away, a sum that would have made most on this forum think twice. It just doesn't appear to sink in with some individuals, does it? He has been involved in some very unsavoury incidents in the last eighteen months or so, but just carries on as though it's the norm. Well, it isn't. Just when sponsorship is getting hard to obtain, this happens. Poole may have difficulty in obtaining such lucrative deals in the future. Would you want your product associated with criminal behaviour?

I thought that's what happens now. They're called the BSPA and SCB, governed (and I use the term loosely) by the ACU. Yes, it's got more than a faint whiff of 'not thought of here' about it.

Because they can't. Nobody can at this stage. We're in largely unknown territory here, and so therefore, it's just a matter of debate. Exactly. As has been pointed out by a few posters here, they would simply be treated as a commercial transaction by the stadium owners concerned, to their benefit. I suppose the real acid test on this would be if the two EL tracks not rented/leased nailed their colours to the mast. What would the BSPA/SCB do then? Not a lot is my estimate. They haven't trademarked the word 'speedway' (they can't, a few other countries would have something to say about that), and as far as I can see, can't stop speedway bikes being used at other meetings. The comparison between football and speedway is pointless here. Footballers are salaried staff, receiving a weekly/monthly wage plus bonuses (I would imagine), whereas speedway riders are self-employed. If they are approached about anything like this and there is no clashing pre-arranged commitment on their part, who can stop them? It's really no different to the old style individual meetings that used to be staple diet on the speedway calender years ago. We won't know until it's tried, will we? Everything has to have a starting point somewhere. I've watched Arena MX on YouTube and it's also recently been on the local regional news. It's not my personal cup of tea, but there's no doubt these people know how to get the crowds in and generate revenue. The local TV slot was centred on a 9 year old girl who was returning to the sport after missing most of last year due to a broken arm. She was enthusiastic and said how much she was looking forward to getting involved again. Translate that to speedway, get them involved with the youngsters, we could be on a winner here with this. Just a thought.

The R/R regulations as used in the National League were adopted by the British League in 1978, that is, just one per rider, per match, giving a maximum of six rides. Can't remember if reserves could take seven if one was a Tactical Substitute. I have a copy of Hackney's programme for their opening fixture of the 1977 season, and that programme dedicates one whole page to the Rider Replacement regulations for that season - they were quite complicated. It was also the only season I believe, where a permanently short-handed team, in this case White City, used the aforementioned regulations to win the British League title. That was probably why more simpler rules were used from the following season. Here's a good one for your 'challenge' meeting records. On the 24th October 1979, Dennis Sigalos took seven rides for a USA team at Hull, scoring 20 points out of a total of 29, USA using R/R (presumably for the injured Kelly Moran) in a 4TT! The final score was Hull 31, USA 29, Sheffield 24, Exeter 12. Only in speedway could things like that happen!

Divide his EL average of 5.75 by 0.6 and you get 9.5833333. That's near enough for me.