chunky

You're 'avin a larf, mate! I don't think there has EVER been anything "official" as far as results and scores in American speedway, except in the short-lived league racing. The formats for domestic meetings are basically just a series of qualifying races with riders advancing according to position, and nobody is interested in keeping scores... A few years ago, they had a meeting in Springfield, Illinois, which was actually run (under the jurisdiction of the AMA) as a qualifier for the US National Championship. It was a standard 20-heat, 16-rider format. I think I was the only person in the entire place with any kind of scorecard (I printed my own). Seriously. People were whining because they had no idea what was going on, and wondered why a rider with three last places was still riding? They have no concept of anything other than a win-and-advance system, and certainly no inclination to keep any kind of scores. Results are just listed as "Scratch Main" and "Handicap Main", and nothing that happens before the finals is considered worthy of record-keeping.

Here is a clipping from the Fresno Bee on Tuesday, September 24, 1935. "Prospects for an all-star scratch lineup for the final weekly short track motorcycle races Thursday night in the Fresno State College Stadium were given another boost today with the entry of two additional riders, one of whom will be making his first appearance here this season. Byrd McKinney, Pasadena "strongman" of the short track and Tiny Carroll are the latest additions and bring the total of "zero" riders entered for the final chance for points to qualify in the national championships to seven. Already entered are two former champions, Cordy Milne, 1934 titleholder, and Wilbur (Lammy) Lamoreaux, 1933 champion, and Ken Scofield, Pete Colman, and Sam Arena. McKinney's entry, his first here this season, will provide another week of strongman art on the track. The husky blond rider from Pasadena rates as one of the shortest in the game, along with Big Bo Lisman, and the two furthered their claims to that honor by placing second and third Sunday in a hill and road race at the Ascot Speedway in Los Angeles. Lisman will not ride here this week. The program will be featured with trick riding by Putt Mossman, world champion stunt rider, his wife and sister, Mrs. Ray Grant and one match race to be announced tomorrow. Mossman and his "bag o' many tricks" will be a complete new lineup including one with the three lined up on the motor as it travels 50 miles an hour down the track. Additional handicap stars for the program also were announced today and include Leonard Andres of Stockton, Dick Wulzen of Merced, Al Lauer of Sacramento and Bud Laughlin of Sacramento. Al Chasteen, Shorty Campbell, Chico Duarte, a newcomer from Los Angeles, Rusty Roberts, and Ray Grant already are entered in that division."

Was Brian Collins still living in Scotland when he was at Wembley and/or Poole? I think Andy Campbell was still in Surrey when he rode for Berwick.

Other than odd newspaper reports, there doesn't seem to be that much info readily available. The problem is that there never seemed to be much separation between true speedway and other motorcycle disciplines. Even back to the early days, riders seemed to be competing against each other on the boards tracks and on dirt, and even when the board tracks died out, that never really changed (there were some big dirt tracks that could never really be classed as speedway). Of course, we never had the purpose-built (or at least purpose-laid) tracks over here...

You could always start another one...

Look John, we have had our problems, but I don't dislike you. I dislike the way you carry on sometimes, when we should just be discussing speedway, and you really don't do yourself any favours. I have conversed with you on a number of occasions, on BSF posts, FB groups, and by PM on both, and much of it is me offering friendly advice - which you tend to ignore. I have told you many times that you are (and should be) a valuable member of this forum. Would I do that if I really had a problem with you? Yes, a few days ago, I was annoyed with you. Why? Because you were being rude and very ignorant to an individual who asked you legitimate questions. I questioned when you posted Mike Kemp's photo, after the discussion we had about copyrights. I wasn't rude or aggressive, and I wasn't making fun of you; I simply made a friendly suggestion that you indicated that you had permission (to save any hassle on here). You got in a huff over that, for some reason. I'm sorry, but it still shocks me (and many others on here) that you didn't recognise Plechanov, Moore or Mauger. However, you got in a huff over that. It is true that you have contradicted yourself several times regarding your career/non-career as a speedway journalist. If you contradict yourself like that, don't be surprised when people mock you. When you have genuine questions, I am happy to help wherever possible - as I am when ANYBODY needs assistance. I was grateful when you corrected one of my recent posts - and I acknowledged it. I genuinely am (I know Sidney will disagree) a nice guy, and will help anyone in any way I can. I just have a low tolerance for stupidity...

You reckon I don't back down? You are the one who keeps the grudges going, despite the fact that I have never considered us to "be at war". If I believe in something, why should I back down? At least I use fact, logic, reason, and statistics to substantiate my viewpoint. If YOU believe that strongly in something, it would probably help your case if you attempted the same, rather than resorting to name-calling and insults, ridiculously false accusations, and downright lies. To say that I have "involved" norbold is downright stupid. Norman is a well-respected and mature individual who is old enough to make his own mind up about things. When I was going through stuff with gustix, YOU (as a complete outsider) - decided to get involved - totally of your own free will. To suggest that Norman DIDN'T do a similar thing, and/or is my puppet, is a despicable claim, and you should be ashamed of yourself. It is not a case of "loyalty" to me, merely a case of reading - and comprehending - what is there in black and white.

You either can't read or you're a liar; make up your mind. If it makes you happy, I'm a f*cking moron! I'm f*cking stupid, and I can't remember sh*t! I wish I was as f*cking smart as you and knew as much about speedway as you! There. Happy???

There is nothing mysterious about Terry Mussett, and I cannot fathom why you still main there is. He is a former Wimbledon rider. End of. I know you didn't recognise Igor Plechanov; I just don't understand why you didn't. It made the situation even more confusing when you followed with a post about Igor! It seems strange that you knew it was him in an action photo, but not in a portrait. I'm sorry that the photo of Ronnie and Ivan was apparently poor on your screen, but they were instantly recognisable to the rest of us.

Yout never do, and I don't really understand why. Do you not know what you post on here? Do you remember the discussion we had about the photo copyrights? You then posted a photo on here that had "The Hellesdon Collection" stamped across the middle! Now, I don't know, perhaps you had permission from Mike Kemp (I believe he owns The Hellesdon Collection, but I could be wrong) to post that here, but if that is the case, all you had to do was indicate that. A lot of the pics on FB are from the John Somerville collection, but it seems to be standard procedure to state, "Photo courtesy of the John Somerville Collection". As I said, I used photos from online collections on my blog, but I always posted the correct attribution to cover me legally. That's all we were saying.

Here we go again... Stop telling lies! I said that Tommy was "world class". It's not an agenda against gustix; it's an agenda against stupidity and contradiction. One day he claims he is a speedway journalist, and the next day he says he wasn't. He has done that AT LEAST twice now.

So, I'm not the only one who is getting confused? John does seem to contradict himself a lot, doesn't he? He switches from journalist to layman depending on how he thinks it will benefit his status.

That happened the other day, when we were talking about photo copyrights. Immediately after we had warned John of the dangers of posting such items, he followed by posting another on here!

That is a feeble excuse - particularly as there were THREE separate photos! The Wimbledon team photo you posted wasn't the greatest quality, but it was certainly good enough for me to immediately identify the riders. Steve Hone's photo of Ronnie and Ivan was in no way an awful print, and everybody else identified them easily enough. Worse than that was the photo of Tommy Sweetman and Igor Plechanov. That was a large - and very clear - portrait, and you identified Tommy okay...

Why the hell would you suddenly dig up and quote a post that is over a year old? If (if...) there is a friendlier attitude on FB, it's because YOU don't treat everybody like sh!t! Still, you've been kicked out of groups on FB, and are barred from others, so what does THAT tell you? Besides, most of us are on FB too, and I have seen some of the crap you have posted there... Why can't you act like an adult? Why the endless self-promotion, and hijacking of threads to make it "all about gustix"? Why can't you answer a legitimate question, which is common decency? Why do you have to act like a little child, and just sit there for hours on end clicking on emojis? Why do you act like you're superior to the rest of us, just because you worked for a local newspaper? How sad is it when a "speedway journalist" - and one who supposedly concentrates on the "years gone by" - can't recognise Igor Plechanov, Ronnie Moore, and Ivan Mauger? Why do you act like none of us know anything about speedway? YOU are the one who freely admits that you haven't been interested in speedway for some 60 years, yet individuals like myself have a full lifetime of following the sport. Please John, just act like a normal person...

He might have improved. Could've been a great "Cinderella" story!

Eric Collins leading Joe Abbott.

Reg Vigor, who lost his life at Plough Lane on July 27, 1937.

Syd Jackson rode for the Dons from 1933 to 1937. In 1932, Jackson won the first Midland Riders Championship while representing Leicester.

So, back to speedway... Here is twice (pre-war)World Finalist, Alec Statham, who rode for Wimbledon from 1948 to 1950. Statham was the London Riders Champion in 1949.

I get what you are saying, but again, for the overwhelming majority of healthy under-65's, infection would not prove fatal. Even though we have "rules" and guidelines here in the US, it is incredible how many people do not follow them, so even if the number were multiplied tenfold, even a hundredfold, that is still a drop in the bucket. When you look at the fact that virus deaths are being exaggerated by "Covid-19" being listed as a cause of death, even when it is clear that they died from other causes, and that a fair percentage of those victims (particularly the elderly and and infirm), would have passed away this year anyway, you should see what I am getting at. Yes, it's very sad when people die, but none of us are going to get off this planet alive.

Sorry there are a few pages, but you can see who was discussed, and because of incomplete information, it isn't 100% accurate. It is a few years old, so there may have been some changes since. Apologies for the long-winded link, but it isn't easy trying to do certain things on my phone. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php%3F/topic/39407-speedways-most-travelled-riders/&ved=2ahUKEwiQ7azx-8DpAhVRQ80KHUKKBqcQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2bTcTdaIU72OGcO2XxAgKV

Here we go again... We just want you to pay attention and think before blurting out the first thing that comes into your head.

I didn't miss anything out. You were saying that we could all be wiped out, yet even when it is all said and done, it is very unlikely to even be the largest single cause of death...

You scare me... NORBOLD TOLD YOU ONE OF THEM IN THE CAPTION!!!