E I Addio

Sad news indeed. Rider, team manager, promoter, Very few people have fulfilled every role, so successfully. Super bloke

Not forgetting, in more modern times Leigh Latham and his brother running a chip shop !

Alf Hagon , Tommy Price, Eric Boothroyd , Tommy Roper, Tommy Sweetman, Norman Hunter, Len Silver, Ken Middleditch, Barry Briggs and Ivor Brown are a few that spring to mind albeit a little more recent than Wally Lloyd.

The stands on the back straight were demolished after a fire. Some oily rags had been dumped under the stand and somehow caught fire. It really was a great shame because on a summer evening there was no better place to be. From the stands on the home straight you could see the ships funnels all lit up in the King George V Dock, less than half a mile away . It all looked fantastic and added to the atmosphere. I think part of, the problem was that the stadium was probably thrown up in a bit of a hurry when the sort came here in 1928 when money was short and no thought given to long term plans so was life expired 40 years later. It was a great stadium though. Coventry always reminded me of it in a way and that sadly is no more. Hackney never really had the same atmosphere to my mind though.

Yes it was Arthur Atkinson and Harold “Tiger Stevenson”. I have a photo of myself when I was knee high to a grasshopper, winning a fancy dress competition at my dads motor cycle club, and Tiger Stevenson was presenting me with first prix which was a camera. I think Arthur Atkinson was connected with E. E. Atkinson motorcycle shop in Barking Road but I never quite established what the connection was. Interesting that film clip says the attendance at that final meeting was 4000. How times have changed. Most promoters today would be glad to get that many in a month.

Brian Foote - “ Foote’s me name elbows are me game “

Lakesides air bags lasted a lot longer then that. They got some second hand ones from Coventry around 2012/13 which were still,in use at the end, but some of the others were from Ronnie Russell’s days or perhaps earlier and they were still in use at the end, so they could possibly have been 15+ years old . However because of stock cars the airfences were taken down after every meeting so that might have had something to do with their longevity. Another thing is that the ones they got from Coventry were a lot lighter than the older ones. I don’t know whether the ex- Coventry ones were more modern materials, or whether the older Lakeside ones were better quality but they were back breaking to lift, usually taking at least two teams of five to lift alternately and throw them on a trailer , with two more going ahead getting the air out and folding them. Very hard work! The figure I heard for the cost of new ones was £20,000, but that was several years ago , so it could well be 25,000 in today’s money.

Looking back it’s surprising how quickly it all fell apart. To think that Briggs , Fundin etc were still there in 1961 and it was all over two years later. One of the great meetings I wish I had seen but didn’t, would be the 1961 Tom Farndon Trophy when the great Jack Young in the Twilight Of his career came back and worked his old magic and took the Trophy ahead of the Fundin , Briggs and Moore. Everything I’ve ever read about Jack Young makes me wish I had seen him at his best, so to get in my time machine to see him at New Cross would be killing two birds with one stone !

Belle Vue Hyde Road, Wimbledon ( only saw stock cars there), Swindon , Somerset, Haringey. I was tempted to say New Cross, but I once worked with someone who had been there and she said there was absolutely no crowd atmosphere, although it must have been just before it closed. Can anyone comment on that ? It seems to have had huge crowds at one point..

Well done to Adam, Dan, and indeed Charles Wright who really stepped up on the night. Very unfortunate for Kyle Howarth not to make the final after coming so close and looking hungry enough in the heats to be a potential winner. Scott and Bomber are obviously over the hill now but they both showed they have a special quality that the younger ones can only aspire to. I enjoyed watching them and speedway will be poorer when they eventually hang up their Kevlars for good. Nothing can take away from Adams win though.I’ve known him since his early days practicing at Lakeside, a thoroughly nice guy as indeed Dan seems to be. Such a shame those running the sport don’t match the talent of those riding in it.

I am not sure that tuners really made much difference before the mid -seventies. I remember Olle Nygren saying he always did his own engines but that “Ivan was always messing about with tuners” but apparently not getting much mechanical advantage. When Ivan Mauger was asked which was his most satisfying World Championship win he said 1972 because that was the last year all the bikes were pretty much the same. He said in the 1972 World Final you could line all the bikes up and race over a measured Kilometre and there would be practically nothing between them at the finish , but after that the tuners were starting to make a difference. Of course, this is Speedway so we must take most of what is said with a pinch of salt, although we now know because Mauger admitted it that some or this experimentation involved illegal fuels, although he also said that the difference was mostly psychological, giving more confidence .

I have recently been reading about Arthur Forest. Sounds like he was a natural talent that did well very young. Apparently he retired at 26 although I don't know why . I wonder if Norbold can add anything about him ?

I can only endorse the other tributes fans have put on here. I disagreed with him on a few things but such was the nature of the man you could have a disagreement in a polite sort of way and then move on with no hard feelings. I cant imagine speedway without him. Very, Very sad news.

Actually Sid I do think it is a mega tough era today in terms of the top level but for a different reason . Up to about the mid seventies tuners didn’t play a major part. It was as much about the rider as the bike, and that’s why we have to say Briggs , Fundin, Moore etc were truly great riders,. Today it’s as much about the getting the sponsors to fund a fortune on tuners , set ups , spare engines etc. I’m not knocking today’s riders by any means but it’s very much a different game today. Some have 30 different engines. On the other hand, take Terry Betts for example. He said in Classic Speedway that he used to buy one new engine at the start of the season, used it the whole season, never laid a spanner on it for the whole season except changing the valve springs and he was, on his day , capable of beating the worlds best. I admire Jason Doyle because he became World Champion relatively on a shoe string compared with most modern riders, but I doubt whether anyone will win it again without massive sponsorship money behind them. The rider used to be more important than the bike, today, I think it’s the other way round.

He carried on for at least a year and came a about 10 th in the 66 World Final but possibly he had lost his hunger after winning the title. He seems to have carried on racing long track for a few years. I have a vague notion that he took on a car dealership and building that up took a lot of his time but could be wrong about that.

Still absolutely spot on choices though Steve, albeit different eras. Always a puzzle to me why Knutson went while at the top of game, while still a relatively young man. Maybe Norbold can throw some light on this? Bjorn was I think, only a few months younger than Ivan Mauger and I feel he could well have snatched a couple more world championships from either Mauger, Olsen, Michanek, or the Pole that cheated , before age started to catch up and retirement loomed.

Agreed. Paul has suffered some terrible injuries and I think only about 3 times in his career has not finished the season on the injuries list. There comes a time when age and injuries tell your body it’s time to gracefully leave the stage.

I see no hope Sid.even if the sport were really well run society has changed. People are not interested in such a basic sport in today’s high tech electronic world. Also , with the price of Land and pressure to build houses it becomes uneconomic to keep a big stadium going just with speedway and dog racing, then shut during the winter months. Even dog racing is only a fraction of the size it used to be. I think Romford is the only dog track left in the London area whereas there used to be 40 in the 1960’s.

Yes, My memory of Knutson is that he was so accurate it was as if he was riding round on rails, almost in the same tyre tracks lap after lap. Apart from the rise of stardom of Malcolm Simmons, one of my all time favourites, we saw the rise even further of Norman Hunter , my first No1 favourite rider. I was gutted when he went to Wolves, and even more gutted when injury stopped him progressing further. I was so sure he was on the verge of a World Final appearance. Lets not forget “ Gentleman “ George Barclay . Pretty much out if his depth in the top league but as he used say when I used to chat to him at Lakeside, “I was the one who always came fourth” . Never a star but no rider was ever more deserving of the title “ Gentleman”. A truly lovely man. I don’t know if he is still with us but the last I heard he was suffering with dementia, which is tragic for such a nice man. His wife Linda was lovely as well. I never saw Aub Lawson ride, but I spent my early years living in Otley Road which of course led straight down to the main gate of the stadium. Aub was a household name among the older generation in the whole neighbourhood,for years after he retired. He is one of those riders at the top of my “Wish I had seen list” as is Tiger Stevenson, who I think I am correct in saying only ever rode for West Ham in his entire career. Fantastic memories that I wouldn’t have missed for all the tea in China.

Light summer evenings at West Ham . You could see over the grandstands to the ships funnels in Victoria Docks , a quarter mile away. Looked fantastic with everything lit up. Great race track ( Barry Briggs favourite). The history came from the great riders of the past that had ridden there, Bluey Wilkinson, Tiger Stevenson, Split Waterman and above all the great Jack Young , and the great riders of the present especially the wonderful Hurri- Ken McKinlay, and Sverre Harrfedlt, then later Olle Nygren , who a I hated as a Don but became a favourite when he joined the Hammers. Then the sadness of the Lokkoren disaster, and the loss of such talent as Martin Piddock and Peter Bradshaw. I never really got over that. And finally in the closing days the amazing talent of Christer Lofqvist. Such a tragedy he died of a brain tumour at such a young age. I used to literally have dreams that I was still there on and off for years after it closed. Hackney was never quite the same although I did like it there.

Not sure about that but I heard Rob Godfrey has been to a seance to try to get in touch with the living.

And by the time you saw him ride he already had a glittering moto- cross career behind him and didn’t take up speedway till he was about 29

By that befuddled logic football must be successful because many people involved with it are highly intelligent.

Being committed and being good for the sport are not necessarily the same thing. Certainly there are riders past and present that don’t like the management set up at. KL. Beggars can’t be choosers so we have to be grateful for whoever risks his money in promotion, but beyond that it is difficult to find much positive to say about Buster.

Like others I am both saddened and shocked. Together with Stuart Douglas they brought Lakeside back from the brink of closure for 12 years. Not everybody’s cup of tea and his outspokenness upset some but he undoubtedly had the sport at heart and I will always remember my years at Lakeside with great affection. Behind the scenes he was very much a riders man, and as team manager he had great rapport with them. Away from meetings, at club social functions he was very funny with a very dry wit. A great loss. Condolences to his family.