Beirao

Andy Meldrum got one midway through the 1970 having sustained some shocking facial and jaw injuries at Ipswich when wearing an open face injury. John Berry remembers in one of his books that he was in no hurry to see the extent of the injuries.

Glad you liked it Salty. It was written by Mark Sawbridge to whom the thanks should go.

Now a year since the last Classic Speedway magazine. Still hugely missed but I hope the on line mini version fills the gap to a limited extent.

This month's edition features One Team Riders - riders loyal to one team Coatbridge - Scottish Speedways Saviour? - thank you Coatbridge More TV Memories - further TV transmissions Crossroads - when Speedway featured on a national "soap" Big Birthdays - more candles to blow out Anyone Remember Number 7 - the monthly test of your brain cells June Obituaries - Bruce Ovenden remembered Preview of the July Edition https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/

Thanks and Happy birthday Billy who turns 53 on Tuesday but I only do "big " birthdays ie 50, 65, 70, 75, 80 otherwise there would too many to mention

Poole have a blank on June 28 and Glasgow have nothing on June 30 so they seem obvious dates, although Glasgow are due at Wimborne on July 5 in the league

Really poor that with no rain forecast the track was so dusty.

From the Berwick website When the fixtures were planned, May 6th was just another date on the calendar. No-one could have appreciated how a greater proportion than expected of the population (and therefore a greater proportion of the potential speedway crowd) would decide to celebrate the Royal day with a knees-up, and give our attraction a miss. From Wikipedia The organisation of the coronation was the responsibility of the earl marshal, the Duke of Norfolk.[8] A committee of privy counsellors arranged the event.[9][7] On 11 October 2022, the date of the coronation was announced as 6 May 2023, a choice made to ensure sufficient time to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II before holding the ceremony.[10][7]

The following articles are included in this months edition which is now online50 Motherwell Memories - a look at Speedway at Milton Street World Championship Minnows - the long path to the World Final in the 60sWe're on the Telly! - recalling some early TV broadcasts Regrets of not getting to away tracks - wish I'd gone there!Big Birthdays - this month's cake and candlesAnyone Remember Number 6 - the very first BL table Preview of the June Edition - what's coming next month https://classicspeedwaymemories.webador.co.uk/

He's certainly one for the future but not sure that he gained anything from four match races where he finished more than hald a lap ahead. Really we need all competitors to turn up.

He's not 16 till late August which precludes him from riding in the Championship until then.

Not sure that the duration is a selling point, though 30 heats certainly is. Did you think the crowd was far better today. I guestimated between 200 and 300 but might be wrong. We need to consider whether we have classes where there are four or fewer entrants. Only two showed up in the 500cc class today.

The Glasgow promotion have made a rod for their own back. Right now there's a similar forecast for Sunday afternoon when the Brit Junior event is scheduled and possibly they need to be careful for the youngsters. Are crowds down because of the lack of fixtures or because of the aftermath of the heat six abandonment ?

Might be wrong but feel Scunny will suit Marcin, a fast round track. Scorpions will be trying to match Ablitt with Pijper while Glasgow should be avoiding that. A battle of team managers. Who will win that? Scunny have a strong opening pair and are stronger at reserve too but Basso and Vissing should outscore their opposite numbers. Glad it's on BSN.

Surely just four - two in your section, one semi final and one final. Interesting that Edinburgh and Berwick two of the club's running NDL sides are out of the BSN and KO Cup competitions already and Oxford are out of the BSN too. The NDL tail is wagging the Championship dog. Has to be changed for next year.

Jesper Olsen by a mile. Not a superstar but arguably the most exciting rider we had during the Shawfield era. All action, great entertainer, it was a huge disappointment that he didn't come back when the Tigers reformed in 1997.

Hope you noticed Redcar have stood us up. Only this afternoon they listed May 19 as Redcar v Glasgow in the KO Cup. Presumably we now race Scunthorpe that night at Ashfield, with this Fridays meeting at Scunthorpe now being a BSN fixture.

Two Friday night tracks without a common blank Friday till June 30 and July 14. Can we wait that long for these meetings or use the league meetings instead. May 12 at Scunthorpe, June 23 at Glasgow?

Yes they have. It's on their fixture list on their website. Didn't you look? http://www.redcar-speedway.com/fixtures/

Will the ties take precedence over the KO Cup? Right now we seem to be at Redcar in the Cup on May 19, although this has still to be acknowledged by the Glasgow promotion. If we get Redcar does the tie become the BSN semi final? Are BSN Committed to showing all four semis. If so you can't have two on the same night. Getting Poole would certainly simplify things slotting them in on May 26 and they can have the first leg on their blank date on May 17... or do they not do first legs?!

Not great at updating fixtures either. Our KO Cup meeting at Redcar on May 19 has been on the BSPL fixture list for four or five days but nothing has come out from our people either on FB or the official website.

Sorry to burst your bubble but Glasgow have with held information quite a few times before... and none of the other meetings were rained off.

The current trend seems to be to delay any negative news until the last minute with team line ups not being publicised until the afternoon. In this case the rain off meant they never had to reveal that the Danes were missing. Official FB posts went out of their way to avoid any mention - write up highlighted Chris Harris, Tom Brennan, Sam Masters, Scott Nicholls only and while there were plenty of photos there were none of Ben or Claus; its poor that we need to rely on fans "in the know" to keep us informed.

Yesterday was only a minor problem for Glasgow and their supporters. However a repeat of the Berwick abandonment would have caused far greater damage. Another mid meeting postponement resulting in fans having paid £32 for just 12 heats racing or if it went to heat ten then £36 for 16 races. It was a chance the promotion were right not to take.

The upset over the Berwick abandonment was down to the really poor discount given. While ithe terms are clearly laid down, they are a huge rip off and for many supporters this was the first time they have been invoked. This needs to be reviewed nationally for next year. Leicester were determined not to race that night though the track staff felt sure they could have sorted the track. It was down to them and there was no reason for the promotion to have called the meeting off earlier in the day The Poole abandonment was down to the Glasgow promotion who simply didn't like the way the meeting was going and pushed for an abandonment. Possibly this was why they offered a full refund, something of a precedent that set supporter expectations which were dashed after the Berwick call off. Surely home fans don't need to be told of call offs until early afternoon, so you can let things ride until then to see how the weather is going to turn out. Sadly away fans are becoming a dying breed with the non refundable costs incurred for rained off meetings.