steve roberts

...and Oxford repeated the feat at King's Lynn later in the same season much to Martin Rogers' "disappointment!!"

Thanks to a match winnig performance by "Rebel" Gordon Kennett I recall!

Me just the once as well...Eastbourne's first meeting in the top flight in 1979. Just not the same behind glass. I've had meals in the restaurant at Cowley whilst watching the racing and the same applied.

Just watched a League Cup match between Wimbledon and Oxford (1984) that you commentated on Rob where the "Cheetahs" scored three 5-1's in the last three heats to steal the match! Great stuff! I was there live also at the time.

Never liked that one! We never excelled in that competition...the 3TT format was a strange one having to rely on the other two teams taking points off each other whilst the third team sat idly by. If I recall the meeting was run over 18 heats and for 6 of those heats your chosen team didn't take part.

Yes when I recall all the great local derbies between the three teams it's a shame that the "Budgies" are the only ones now in existence.

...only because Reading & Oxford no longer have speedway! Swindon were always having to play catch up when the "Racers" & the "Cheetahs" were competing!

Fabulous!

I'm guessing that we would have known some of the same faces/characters without mentioning any names?

I would agree...I've just watched two fabulous meetings (1984) involving Oxford at first Reading and then Wimbledon both in the League Cup (commentary by our friend Rob Mac) both meetings which I attended live. Great memories and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Not sure but apparently it was on teletext (which I no longer have and haven't for many a long year) but the story was featured in the Manchester Evening News and Stockport Council apparently wish to proceed with it and have it placed in Chester Road, Woodford where Ivan once lived before moving to Bramhall which is good news indeed.

That's what kept me going for many years...meeting those on the third bend at Cowley. Great Days!

Apparently there's a discussion about placing a Blue Plaque on the one-time residence of Ivan Mauger when he was based in Cheshire during his time in Britain? Would be great if it came about and a first for speedway!

I think he was a Cradley asset and loaned out to sister team at the time Oxford. If I remember he started off quite useful at Cowley but I'm sure that he picked up a cartilage (?) injury which impeded his progress and he drifted away from the sport. He did appear in an interview in "Backtrack" a few years back.

Denmark always operated an amateur stance for many years but I guess that ceased during the eighties and/or nineties?

I often remember Erik arriving at the first bend after the tapes had risen having his front wheel just inches off the ground before placing it down before entering the bend. Whether this was his way of gathering traction or just a reactionary thing I don't know but I certainly don't recall him pulling wheelies in the traditional sense.

Yes I also knew of fans who kept away and fundamentally that was the issue in my view hence which is why I keep repeating why I was never sure who the target audience were and whether any genuine marketing was carried out at the time? I've never subscribed to SKY (and never likely to) so was never an issue with me personally.

Erik Gundersen was another who didn't perfect 'wheelies'...or I certainly never saw him do so and I did see a lot of him during the many clashes between the "Cheetahs" and "Heathens".

Just heard the news that former Workington and Oxford rider Wayne Jackson has died. Very sad indeed. Remember him well riding as a "Cheetah" and doubling up with Cradley on occasions. RIP

Got me thinking about the number of tracks still operating since my first year of attending in 1972. Of the 18 operating in the British League Division One only King's Lynn, Sheffield, Ipswich, Poole, Wolves and Swindon still operate with both Belle Vue and Leicester at different arenas. Of the 17 in Division Two only Peterborough, Eastbourne, Berwick operate with Birmingham and Scunthorpe at a diffferent arenas.

One track I didn't get to unfortunately.

Trouble with speedway stadia is that many were owned by other consortiums which made any investment difficult whereas, correct me if I'm wrong, football stadiums after the Bradford & Hillsborough disasters received generous grants and/or funding from central Government as well as a healthy input of SKY money...well those in the top leagues. However reports relatively recently suggest struggling clubs further down the hierarchy are suffering with financial difficulties...plus football's continual support at both local and national level thru' mass media hysteria which keeps it at the forefront of public awareness.

I remember a friend of mine who would stay at home and watch a match that was televised live at Cowley rather than walk the half mile to the track as was his normal want. Highlights I saw no problem with but live? Speedway's fan base was never going to be sustainable as attendances were already on the slide when live matches were introduced during the late (?) nineties. Whether speedway failed to capitalise is obviously a very good point and it seems that the sport missed an opportunity hence the current predicament that the sport apparently now finds itself in.

I couldn't agree more. I questioned the fact that live televised meetings would impact upon the sport at the time but was shouted down on numerous occasions and was 'informed' that live meetings would raise the profile of the sport and attract major sponsorship...neither of which has materialised down the years. I was never sure who the target audience was?

Yes he was caught by surprise during a Wimbledon pre-season practice I seem to remember.