Wessex Wanderer

My team: Joe Thompson 9.11 Paul Bowen 4.56 Henry Atkins 7.24 Ace Pijper 6.90 Lee Complin 7.27 Vinnie Foord 3.85 Luke Killeen 3.00 Total 41.93

Bit chaotic at times but enjoyable all the same. Strong reminder how useful helmet colours are. Never really thought much about that before. agree young Cairns looked very good.

One of Lew Coffins trainees. He won the Weymouth Speedway Training School Championship in about 1970 before embarking on an excellent career as listed by Racers and Royals. In his later spells at Weymouth he was always a very good heat leader and definitely the best team rider we ever had. One night at Workington our two reserves got beat for a 5-1 in heat two but each of them came out in their next ride as Brian’s partner and he somehow got them out in front and then blocked all attempts by the home pair to get past. A Weymouth 5-1 each time. And that was a verY strong Comet’s team at the time. RIP Brian and thanks for (usually spectacular) memories.

Good post Dean. I have watched a lot of telly Speedway this season and I reckon this meeting was the most enjoyable of the lot. But then I am a fan of Speedway RACING and we usually get that in abundance at Belle Vue. The moans about “we need a couple more riders” etc I find very boring. They should try living without their team due to closure. It is 100 times worse. In these days any fans whose track is still open should count themselves very lucky and stop bellyaching. great meeting, more of the same please. oh yes, one more plus - the complete absence of that bloody helmet cam which is and always has been a real pain in the ass

OK now

Mine still ain’t going

Why the hell have they brought helmet cam back. It has always been a pain in the ass and has stopped viewers seeing what sounded like very good racing.

Such a shock and so sad. Thanks Steve for giving this to a wider group of people for you are right, Bob was first and foremost a Speedway fan rather than a fan of specific tracks. He enjoyed Speedway at all levels. I have stood with him at the very top level right down to the training schools run by Lew Coffin at Weymouth and he always enjoyed them all equally. When the consortium ran Weymouth there were major changes in the local press with the result that none of the new reporters had any idea about what Speedway was. Bob readily stepped in to give them guidance at our meetings and a first class job he made of it. Partway through the season he quietly said that the regular reporters were now sufficiently knowledgeable to no longer need his help. That was Bob. No fuss just quietly going about whatever he could do to help Speedway. RIP Bob. It was always a pleasure to know you and I am proud to have called you friend PS. Just couldn’t resist one more mention of “Parrots”. Your tolerance of Wessex Boy and my “sense of humour* was always appreciated.

Good luck for tonight and the rest of the season.

Second hand knowledge perhaps but I would like to comment on the Fundin v Craven question. (The best ever and my favourite ever respectively by the way. ) Years ago I got talking to an old timer who had followed Norwich regularly right from the opening of the track. He was of the opinion that Ove had more difficulty beating Peter than any other rider of the time. He didn’t mean Peter was the better rider but just that he gave the great Ove consistently more trouble than anyone else. love these conversations

Sad news. A real stalwart of the sport over an incredibly long time. Always a star man who gave his all for his impressive number of clubs. Somehow I always envisage him wearing the number one race jacket and stamping his presence on a meeting from the very start. A true legend. RIP Olle

Sad news. Was at Lew Coffin’s Weymouth Training School 70-71ish and was a big character from day 1. Good career and never changed from being a friendly and approachable guy who was always ready for a chat. Finished as runner up to Brian Woodward in one of the annual Training School Trophies. RIP Pete

Very sad news. I also remember the Rybnik visit to Poole in 1965. Relatively unknown riders making a sensational impact on a very large crowd. Great days. RIP Pogo.

Thanks for that Grachan I seemed to remember him being unbeaten in a major international meeting but was not sure which one!

Sorry to hear this. A very good rider who was vastly underrated in some quarters. World Champion and good international rider (including 18 point max in one World Class meeting - World Pairs?). R I P Jerzy

The last Weymouth 1955 home meeting was a 39-57 loss to Rayleigh on Friday 20 May. The next scheduled meeting was on Wednesday 25 May v Leicester but this was not run. The change of night was to accommodate the same regular race night with Weymouth due to visit Leicester on the Friday - also not run. All meetings were National League 2. Hope this helps.

But what does it matter what would have happened on a better track. The track was as it was and some riders adapted better than others. Martin was only the second NL rider to even reach the British Final (Wiggy was the first) which was a great achievement in itself. the conditions on the night were very bad but they were the same for every one.

Hey hang on there. Yeatesy made it to the Overseas Final on merit. The conditions were the same for everyone on the night. He just coped with those conditions better than others. Another thing to remember is that he did it at a time when there were still about 16 teams in the top division so there were a lot more top league riders competing than in later years. At the Overseas Final he got a decent second place in his first ride but then found things things a bit too tough. Not unlike at least some riders in every qualifying round there has ever been. I would agree that Martin was a very good NL rider who didn’t make a consistent splash in the BL but like a lot of competitors in a lot of sports he had his moments and it is not really fair to pt down one of the highlights of his career. Not many people can say they finished 4th (or 5th) in a British Championship.

No. Not saying that just saying you cannot discount him. Particularly when comparing him to Ivan you have to take into account that Ronnie had been a top world class rider for some 15-16 years before Ian won his first World Final. For me the best three ever riders have been Fundin, Mauger and Rickardsson. But Ronnie absolutely deserves his place among the legends.

Absolutely no way could you discount Ronnie Moore. If anything he was the most consistent of the “big five” not just meeting to meeting but race to race. Also remember he started a bit before the others so might very well have had 2-3 titles before Fundin, Craven and Briggs really got started at top world level. And he didn’t have things easy before either with the likes of Jack Young around. These discussions are always so enjoyable.

The one I really liked was the Belle Vue one. Three colours but very distinctive and still clear if seen from one end of a big track to the other. Race jackets then were a huge part of the identity of a team. I don’t like to be a moaner but today’s jackets/race suits are an indistinct mish mash of colour, words and small logos which mean absolutely *£@* all. I think it has been forgotten that they were primarily for the benefit of the customers like a lot else from the days when the sport as a whole recognised that the customers were the main reason everyone else was there. whatever is written on today’s jackets they can never match the simple spectacle of seeing (say) two from Belle Vue and two from Wimbledon battling it out on the track under the lights on an evening in the 60s.

Real tragedy this one. Tony George was far and away the star at Lew Coffin’s training school despite the presence of such riders as Mike Cake, Colin Sanders, Phil Woodcock, Laurie Etheridge, Richard May, Bob Coles etc etc etc. He always looked like a proper super star in the making until the accident but was never the same afterwards. Such a shame.

Bengt Jansen, Ron How, Chris Morton, Trevor Hedge, Scott Autrey. with the usual caveat that if you asked the same question tomorrow I would probably come up with a completely different list. How and Jansen would definitely be there though.

Got to be Peter Collins. I am not going any further although I am tempted to put John Louis second. . I understand about excluding riders from the later years but if we didn’t I would have Simon Wigg challenging Peter. surprised Phil Crump has not been mentioned. He was sensational when he first hit these shores. another great thread. Thanks for starting it.

Only just read this. Sad day for Speedway with the passing of one of the best ever Speedway journalists. I luckily had a number of occasions to communicate with him. He was a true gent and professional who was always a pleasure to work with and never at any time did he "talk down" to my semi amateur status. Not so well known was that he was also an excellent announcer who could add a lot to a meeting with his humour and knowledge. RIP Eric/Angus/Danny. A real Speedway Great.