steve roberts

I was there...but can not remember the exact details. May have been part of a double header?

Especially to 'Little Thumper' who I'm sure will appreciate the sentiment!!

...which could be the beginning of a whole new thread! The best Team Rider?

I, too, only saw Ronnie ride during his last season in Britain. However I knew someone who watched him ride regularly at Plough Lane and he told me that there was no better exponent in team riding home his partner. He had a great ability in controlling the pace of a race and could slow down opponents (by fair means) so as to enable his partner an opportunity to pass and so achieving the best result for the team. Ivan, also, had a great ability to team ride (I saw him ride often) as did Hans Nielsen who could dictate a race from the inside. One reason I didn't particularly rate Tony Rickardsson who was not the best of team riders...a quality that I admire in riders who were able to demonstrate what is now becoming a fast fading art.

Watching speedway live (and it shouldn't be broadcasted live on TV - too much pontificating from the experts - edited highlights instead, a far better package) The aroma (certainly in the good old days), atmosphere, meeting up with fellow enthusiasts, enjoying sausage & chips, being able to take in the whole race and not what the editor chooses (often the front runners therefore missing the action at the back) etc.

When Oxford re-introduced an Ice Hockey team (1984) it was surprising how many speedway fans attended. It was a way of keeping in touch during the winter months...and good entertainment it was too!

Used to buy mine off 'Kojak' at Cowley...who used to wind the opposition crowd up a treat!

I made the same point regarding the younger generation possibly finding chanting somewhat embarrassing...but it doesn't stop them from doing it at football matches and/or pop concerts because it's deemed as 'cool'...whatever that means! As regards programmes I wish, now, that I hadn't got rid of them as the old memory plays tricks and they were a good reference source.

My Great Grandfather was operating a threshing machine and was balanced on a board when he slipped and lost his forearm when it got caught in the machine (no Health & Safety requirements during the 19th Century) and from that day on lived with a hook on the end of his arm instead of a hand. He came from Hook Norton (where the beer is brewed) and was known locally as 'Hookie' Eden!

As I've said elsewhere I used to be a safety rep during two previous employments and see the problem from both sides. Common sense should be the rule applied but we are talking about the public at large...and that's a commodity often lacking. Slightly off beat but the old myth about clearing snow from your front door making you liable if someone then slips up. Total urban myth. People hide behind that assumption because they are often too bone idle to get out their and clear it away. Talking once to an American neighbour he told me that in the district that he lived it is a requirement that you clear snow from outside your property.

If I recall Cowley Stadium held a round of the Flat Track Championship back in 2012...the last time motorbikes took to the track there!

I guess it's been going on since speedway first appeared on the scene and still today. Simmo talked about it in his book at length which is why I never took the Sunday People 'allergations' as seriously as some people did at the time.

Thanks for that. Gordon actually married a woman that went to school with my mum!

Without trawling thru' the thread has Gordon McGregor's name been mentioned? Rode in the old National, Provincial, British Leagues One & two?

..I walk around dress as a Viking or to be more correct a Saxon because I'm from the south and proud of it!

...or getting sprayed with shale (my brother used to collect it and store it in those 'tic-tac' mint boxes - he built up quite a collection too!). The sport was dirty but it used to thrill me as youngster trying to avoid the shale at tracks like Eastbourne and Newport!

...or the story I read recently that a headmaster was considering banning children from running around in the playground in case they fell over and hurt themselves!

Ivan has often been quoted that he would have mastered any starting procedure. He rode for years on the continent when a no touching rule was in place and made most of his starts (years before the regulation was imposed in Britain). Which rider had most difficulty in coping with the then new ruling? Probably Erik Gundersen. The best gaters are those who invariably keep their front wheels on the ground and, as you say, Bob Kilby was one of the best!

Small point but I used to think that parades when riders didn't wear helmets after the introductions were made somehow made them more human as they encircled the track carrying out practice starts etc.

There's an excellent article by John Chaplin in the latest "Classic Speedway' magazine in which it states that Bluey Wilkinson was aware of the 'wheeling and dealing' between the two main protagonists!

Of course in my boy hood day riders always took kids around the track on their bikes during the interval and I remember collecting autographs in the pits as the riders were getting changed and dismantling their machinery and being in awe of my heroes...but good old H&S and all that!

I'm of the same view Sid. Watched it many times and although Persson rode a tough first bend Briggo has admitted many times since that he left him too much room. Not sure if Briggo would have gone on to win the Final however. Olsen was on fire and literally threw the title away in one reckless move when over doing it attempting to pass Christer Lofqvist...meanwhile Ivan took it all in his usual professional stride and ended up victorious! A great final with lots of incident!

Trouble is one ends up with an attraction and/or museum that doesn't appeal to any particular age group because it's either been 'dumbed down' or is looked upon as too intellectual for the average person. I go to many such attractions (as it's my job) and I find that many fit into either of these categories.

I've said same many times. £15 - £18 for fifteen (?) races just doesn't offer good value for money especially when one has to find petrol money on top. Either extra races should be included in the package (would be my preferred choice) or pay the riders less and if that means that the 'stars' no longer find it viable competing in Britain then so be it. I gave some promotional talks at some schools some 14 or so years ago but unfortunately got very little input from the promotion at the time and it proved a bit of a damp squibb. I was promised a bike that never materialised and other incentives and it was hard work trying to sound enthusiastic.

John Gaisford, of the Oxford Mail, used to give first class coverage of the sport at Cowley but I recall that it started to wain because he wasn't getting any stories/news passed to him by the promotion and therefore had very little to comment upon. Trouble is the facilities are often not down to the responsibility of the promoters who don't own the stadium but lease it on a seasonal basis. As regards the "younger generation" what do they want? As my previous posts indicate I'm at a loss and without their input and relevant research and/or marketing of the product will we ever get to know? They appear to take an interest in football but that's inherent based on the fact that it's expected and the 'cool thing to do' because of all the over exposure that the game attracts...but is it warranted? Personally I feel that it goes much deeper than that and young people take less interest in activities that appeal to us 'oldies' and the hobbies that we grew up with and openly ridicule same as 'boring!' I go fishing (surrounded by 'old' people). I pursue steam locos (surrounded by 'old' people). I've re-discovered model railways (surrounded by 'old' people). I enjoy photography (proper stuff not 'sellfie fun activities' that ultimately goes on social media to alert their many 'friends' - surrounded by 'old' people) etc etc I work with a group of much younger people than myself, and they're a great bunch, but they seem so obsessed with social media and facebook and spend most of their break/lunch times accessing same. Trying to discuss something can be tiresome because it often ultimately gets pushed to one side and looked upon as distracting as their ipiddy poddy paddy thingies must take precedence.