Parsloes 1928 nearly

As you say Ian...: a little 'gem' here in the middle of the BSF and in the dead of winter! Maximum respect to all those contributing... I'm just listening and learning!!

Quite a lot of Speedway activity these days in the Netherlands, Steve. And spreading into the rest of Benelux too..

So Speedway in France was still relatively thriving into the 1960s.. When did it decline to the position I'm more familar with: ie of there being scarcely any!!?

Ah, that's better...! An Austrian World Champ..!! Did any of these successful in France fellas ride over here..??

With a succession over the years of double headers against (usually..) weak opposition, the Crayford Kestrels must've produced a few 'two maximums on one night' efforts. Certainly the legend that is Laurie Etheridge did so as early as May 1975 with full 12 point maximums against Ellesmere Port followed by Weymouth

Approaching 24 hours since our last French le twit bit...! Come on speedy....

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Dec 13 2009, 08:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Sorry Slickmick, the 'Dons' did not feature any double headers home or away in '76, except for the London Cup match at Hackney. When Hackney raced against Wimbledon and White City at home in November. Not strictly true... The Dons also appeared that year in another double header (though themselves just the once like your example, obviously...) away at White City in August with the Rebels beating Wimbledon 45-33 in the League match, then tripping up 38-40 against King's Lynn in the second match, a KOC tie... Are you sure that the Hackney meeting you refer to was in November...? Seems late and I thought the Warners Holiday Chase at the end of October was the last meeting at the Wick that year..?

Why not hire the New Den for the event!!!

:approve: Mind you, seemed a bit unfair if there were four Londoners but only TWO of our French cousins...!!!

More 'le magique' from speedy!!

Come on, speedy...: you need to be writing a book on this subject...! If you don't hurry the good Dr. (sic) will get there before you....!!

I love the way these little snippets on French Speedway history are being drip-fed us by speedy!!! As he said before, considering the now content of this thread (full of facts I certainly didn't know!) perhaps a shame that it still labours under the less than helpful name as a thread of "Footage of West Ham"..!!

Tell me about it... I think the only salvation is probably Wetherspoons - who buck the trend and OPEN pubs (usually good ones and ALWAYS serving decently priced real ale.. ) where all around them others are closing.. And it's out and out closure not conversion to poncey versions of licensed premises that's the problem, believe me... In the East End where I work, pubs are closing due to lack of customers: in a hugely Muslim area what can one expect AND to redevelopment schemes (the latter regretable IMHO.. ); in Barking & Dagenham most pubs close due to violence, meaning licences are revoked..: which to me just says really that people there don't deserve decent pubs.. if they're incapable of behaving themselves; and in the rest of London..? Well, I couldn't say - though one imagines the drop in trade must have some links to the smoking ban.. All very sad...

I thought you couldn't care less about Football at all, LS..??!!

The French connection's a fascinating part of this whole thing too isn't it.. Strange that back in those incredibly early days for dirt track motorcycle racing in Europe, France seemed quite a big player yet over the intervening years has been so relatively uninvolved with the sport...

m8, sadly almost ALL the pubs in London have gone..! Am used to that being the situation in East London but was astonished when down the Old Kent Road earlier this year to see even the Thomas A-Beckett and the Dun Cow have closed.. The Dun Cow's been converted into a Health Centre for gawd's sake!! And is it just me but isn't NEXT November one heck of a long time for the Lewisham Local History bods to plan ahead their talks...?!

Hmm, well you know things confuse me easily... Like the Highway Code for example!!! But I think what's most confused me about this Stamford Bridge story is how come the good Dr. Belton hasn't written a book about it yet...!?

This is puzzling.. You say there was dirt track racing at Stamford Bridge in 1927... That's pre-High Beech..! What's the story of this..?

Which sounds about right... So what's the derivation then of the clips this thread has been talking about - the last West Ham meeting and that practice session as White City reopened... - BOTH of which are AFTER 1970..? They're on the Pathe web-site so the people putting them together obviously feel they come from that company.. One can only assume they're actually made for TV broadcast...

Cheers! Historic footage indeed then! No-one looked very cheerful did they..? And who's the geez who keeps putting his hand over the camera!? When one considers the great racing footage World of Sport showed which was thrown away, amazing that this Pathe stuff (clearly NOT in broadcastable format) has survived..! Incidentally isn't 1976 very late for Pathe News... I was a kid in the '70s (well, ten in 1970 etc.) and went to the cinema loads in that decade but can rarely if ever recall seeing any news reels..!!

Great clip. It's White City, of course... And that's GORDON not Barney of the Kennett bros!! Other riders shown in the pits cleaning their bikes are Richard Greer and Richard Hellsen.. Must be Press & Practice Day as the stadium is empty (no sarky comments please that that could mean it was a league match... ). Not year one with those race jackets I'd say..?? And certainly NOT 1970... Has to be between '76 and '78..

I am mate, but I am also an old geezer and prone to memory loss!! Also 1981 was absolutely the height of my drinking 'career', so no wonder with all those brain cells disappearing I forgot this....!!! I lie, BTW, I drank just as much in '82-'87: then came the kids!!!!

Absolutely.. My first ever visit to Plough Lane was in '73 to see PC win the Wills Internationale... What a meeting... And what a rider... Another Plough Lane memory (less good...) was climbing aboard the Tee Mill coach in the Wimbledon Stadium car park in '77 for the long drive (including ferry crossings) to Gothenberg for the WF, to open the Star and read of Peter's freak accident with the drain cover. It was a cruel, cruel blow as he was nailed on to retain his world crown. But blimey, in the shocking rain at Ullevi he so nearly did anyway.. What a rider. Exactly like you iris, I was taking my degree in '78 to '81 and saw less of the sport, though recall seeing PC riding for the Aces at what became for those years my 'home' track, Blackbird Road... And went on the Leicester Supporters club coach to Coventry to see PC in what I think was his only British Final win.. Am puzzled by one thing though, this comment: What's that about..? I certainly don't recall any such ban..?!

Bloody hell, Tony...: that's in unbelievably bad taste...

As would John Louis... 'Tiger' was in a totally different class at his peak to Carter.. I agree with Rob that Carter would never have won a World title...