steve roberts

Yes you are correct Sid...however Kevin was contracted to ride for Oxford (that was the loan agreement for seasons 1976 & 77) but choose to miss a match that he was contracted to ride in preferring to ride for his parent team instead therefore breaking the agreement (I think that it was only for a second half ride but may be wrong...memory and all that!) I certainly recall the Champions Trophy being held at Cowley between 1973 and 1975. The £100 placed on the 1973 event was a winner take all I recall...which was a fair amount of money back then!

Kevin Young showed some promise when with Oxford but was sacked when he missed a meeting to ride at/for Swindon during a second half if I remember?

Yes I well remember my brother coming home from meetings and talking about John Bishop...just before my time! I recall Melvin Soffe together with Kevin Pope...I think Billy Wall was actually born in Oxford? The big Individual meeting at Cowley used to be 'The Champions Trophy'...prize money of £100!

You're right Sid and I remember Norman Hunter saying that he saw the poor lad fighting for his life in the changing room with the doctor trying all he could to revive him. As regards Geoff he used to live not far from me and it was strongly rumoured that he was about to join 'The Rebels' for the 1974 season. His protege Alan Sorensen rode a few second halves at Cowley and, I believe, Swindon that season.

Svein Kaasa was the first rider i knew of who died as a result of a track crash. He started the 1972 season at Oxford but was soon replaced by Preben Rosenkilde and eventually signed for Glasgow where he was showing promising form before his death. I was quite shocked by the news I remember and in my present job portraying a Viking I have adopted his name (Svein) in memory of him.

The Collins and Morton brothers and the likes of Dave Trownson used to ride on farmland, if I recall, and Ainsdale Sands was another opportunity for budding young riders (Peter Craven for example)...very different era back then!

Also the Kent Grasstrack scene supplied a lot of riders particularly at Eastbourne (Jessup, Kennetts etc) where Arthur Nutley took a great interest.

Went to a couple of Dog Meetings...out of curiosity more than anything but not my thing!

Yes I sold off my programmes (vastly under priced I have to say) as I didn't have the room for them when I re-located...regretted it ever since!

Hi Sid! Yes I have those plus Ivan Mauger's, Simmo's Michael Lee etc...I did have the Mirror books but gave them away!

I have many of the aforementioned books including ones written by John Berry (which I constantly refer to on here...much to the annoyance of one particular individual recently I'm more than happy to say!), Len Silver, Reg Fearman, Eric Boocock etc etc. All good sources of reference plus excellent statistical books including the many year books and Histories of the British League publications (Take a bow Alan Robertson and Peter Oakes)

Have to agree with you there...especially those giggling voice overs between programmes!

...I enjoy taking threads off topic!

Reg Fearman, in his book, comments on how the lease had been re-negotoated under the Dore/Bliss promotional era which in effect shortened 'The Racers' tenure!

Used to purchase (or my dad did!) the 'Speedway Star & News', 'Speedway Express' and 'Speedway Mail' when I used to go. Now I purchase the 'Backtrack' and 'Classic' (used to be Vintage) magazines of which both are great reads. Vaguely remember something called 'Five-One' but it didn't catch on.

I was attending a meeting at White City when the news filtered thru'. RIP

...sounds ominous!

Some great images on this thread!

My uncle, Keith Lawson, used to take photographs at Oxford and other tracks. Some of his photos crop up now and again in magazines and books.

I like that! It would save all that messing about at the pits gate...imagine the rush to be first at the starting line!

Yes I remember Briggo's Golden Greats Meeting at Brandon in 1988...all good fun and at least it gave me the chance to see the great Ove Fundin put in a few laps!

Never liked the fix gate ruling...on occasions it gave a team (or rider) an advantage when they had a run early on with inside gates and then vice versa (as the dirt began to move out) The outside gate at Oxford early on was often a killer (Simon Wigg on at least one occasion confirmed) what with there being a short run up to the first bend. If fixed gates meant alternate gates then it would even things out somewhat but the formula wouldn't obviously allow for that with every rider requiring a share of the gates throughout the meeting. Choice of gates also allowed some tactical play which I was always in favour of and unfortunately, in my opinion, the role of the Team Manager and tactical awareness had become restricted over successive years during my time going to speedway. Of course the argument for introducing fixed gates was to stop the 'star' riders from picking the best gate, which of course often happened, but wasn't always the case and it's interesting when reading articles how common it was that riders of a lesser ability were offered the better choice on occasions in the hope to gain some advantage for the benefit of the team. I recall when England won the World Pairs in 1980 Dave Jessup was instructed to take the more difficult gate and Peter Collins the more advantageous so as the get the desired result which in this case obviously worked. I do remember some years ago Ole Olsen coming up with a theory of riders starting slightly staggered so as to give everyone one a fair chance but can't recall the detail.

Think we'll have to activate a 'Sidney the Robin' and 'Steve Roberts' thread! Do you recall the race between Hans (then Birmingham) and Phil Crump around Swindon (1981?) when they passed and re-passed numerous times? I think that Phil nicked it on the line but a great race!

Tommy could be quite ruthless round the first and second bends and some of his encounters with Hans were hand ringing stuff...no quarter asked or given on both sides. I was at the 1986 World Final and admit that Hans rode a very tough fourth bend and the decision could have gone either way. Personally I felt Tommy was riding his usual 'square' bend and left a gap and tried to close it but unfortunately, for him, Hans had filled it...now if Frank Ebden had been in charge!

Reading on a Bank Holiday Morning...dust flying everywhere and as you say slick as a board. To think that maybe none of those tracks will exist if the situation isn't soon sorted at Blunsdon and Cowley. A real shame and with the apparent demise of Coventry and long gone Dudley Wood all the local derbies that I once enjoyed very much a thing of the past. As regards you're reference to Tommy Knudsen...not one of my favourites I have to say although I would enjoy an interview with him in 'Backtrack!'