steve roberts

...I can confirm Oxford didn't! We were on course of winning the 1984 Easter Triangle until presented with a diabolical track surface at Smallmead on Easter Monday morning! You couldn't see the action due to the amount of dust and the track being slick which was the norm at Reading.

However I wasn't a great fan of the 3TT. For a third of the meeting your team wasn't involved and you had to rely on the other two getting a heat result that benefited your team...and Oxford were never that good under that format but we had to give Reading and Swindon an opportunity to pick up a few crumbs as we picked up the major honours during the glorious Cowley years of the middle/late eighties!

I don't particularly go along with that one. Many Number One's (based on average) rode further down the team order...the likes of Collins, Lovaas, Gundersen, Jessup, T.Jansson, Wilson, Boulger, Simmons, Lee, Crump, Sanders etc etc and would meet the opposite Number One twice. Even Mauger would ride at Number Four or even Number Two on occasions for tactical reasons. Not sure about the second half analogy either...the competition would often be quite fierce amongst team mates and Betts, Cole and Simmons, for example, always wanted to get one over resulting on one occasion Terry receiveing an injury in one second half event. I liked the Second Halves...gave an opportunity for youngsters/prospective team members gaining a team place and experience. I've said it often enough we were lucky at Cowley what with the Promotional tie up with Eastbourne and Peterborough we got the likes of Balllard, Kennet, Davis, Greer, Geer etc plying their trade before eventually makin the move into the main team. Phil Crump was reported as considering his postion in British Speedway due to the loss of the Second Halves and lost earnings. I did put the question to Martin Rogers some time back and he did give an interesting insight in an edition of "Backtrack" citing Bert Harkins as one example who loved the second halves and who also went into print citing same.

I think it's fair to say that Middleton had been side tracked by off track business deals (he gave 1974 a miss) and his speedway 'star' began to fall. I'm sure if he had re-focused his mind and concentrated on speedway he may well have achieved more but one can only speculate. I recall seeing him at White City in 1976 and he scored a quite superb 12 points (albeit from, if I remember, 6 rides?) but it did prove he still had it in him given the right incentive (in this case riding against the "Rebels") Again he guest rode for Cradley in 1975 at Cowley and scored 9 points in front of his once home crowd.

Thankfully I got to see him in a rare appearance at Cowley after he finished competing in the UK during the Daily Mirror World Tournament in 1973 representing Australia against Poland. If memory serves he scored 10 points?

Yes I would give you that one as much as I liked the old 13 heat formula but, like yourself, definately a second half of one shape or another. Those that don't wish to stay on can leave after the main event if they so wish (afteral they've already paid their admission money up front so makes no odds) but fifteen heats of racing just doesn't give value for money in my opinion. The extra bonus point was simple and easy to comprehend and calculate...nice and simple without complicating things.

Apparently Travis McGowan was renowned for it? Remember the 1986 World Final where Neil Evitts off gate one put Erik Gundersen off as the tapes rose and Erik's defence of the title ended at that point!

Always remember the story when one of the assistants lined up behind the bikes at the tapes picked up Bily Sanders rear mudguard using the grab rail in a subtle way so when the tapes rose Billy's wheel wasn't in contact with the track momentarily thus gaining a disadvantage. Billy wanted to make an issue of it with the person responsible but John Berry took him aside explaining to him that anyone who was able to lift a bike while at full revs was someone who obviously possessd a bit of muscle and best avoided...of course the ref didin't see anything!

I know that the remit in the past (and I guess it's still the case) that the start marshall would get the riders up to the tapes making sure that the 'incentive' to roll was minimal thus gaining an advantage. He/she would also often indicate to the ref that all was satisfactory who would then put the green light on putting them under starter's orders.

Agree with points 2 & 3.

Briliant post again BL65!

My brother has been sending me some great images of work in progress at Cowley Stadium. Unfortunately I'm unable to download picturs but it all looks very promising!

It's a difficult one to juggle. I went to two American Football "Wembley Bowls" and can't say I really enjoyed the experience. Because of the stop/start nature of the game what became more important apparently to the fans was the off pitch entertainment. The game itself became of secondary importance. I used to enjoy watching edited highlights of American Football when first broadcast on Channel 4 but when they decided to show games live I lost interest...too much padding.

Fabulous!

...also in running steam locomotives.

Agree entirely!

I viewed some footage of electric bikes (think it was from Denmark?) and there was a strong element missing...not sure if I found it appealing personally!

Agree entirely!

Was Plymouth's track at one time made up of crushed sea shells or some such other?

Those were tha days...second halves at Cowley when the likes of Julian Wigg, Ken Matthews and the Drewitt Brothers would ride their grasstrack bikes!

Perhaps one could also include Garry Middleton who 'retired' when still relatively young? It's been suggested that he got side tracked with outside business interests but who's to say that he couldn't have resurrected his career if he had put his mind to it?

...he did ride for Mildenhall however which is outside my initial remit but who am I to argue? Some great responses from some very knowledgeable posters!

....and I sold off all my programmes!

...you beat me to it!

I also remember that Eric Boocock was part of a team that was experimenting with Honda engines with a view of standardising/cutting costs?