chunky

This is a thread called "Wimbledon Memories", which - I believe - is a place to share your memories of Wimbledon speedway. It is NOT a place where you come to deliberately provoke others, others who have a long-time and GENUINE knowledge and love of Wimbledon speedway (unlike yourself). Is it really to much to expect you to act like a normal person, and post stuff you like, and ask questions to which you really don't know the answers? Most of the people on the BSF are intelligent enough to engage in regular conversation without you trying to stir things up...

Didn't Ho Chi Miny Waln ride for the Dons in the 30's?

So it wasn't just me that was sitting there scratching my head when I saw that one??? Yet another bizarre comment, eh?

I really thought Ali was going to have a long and successful career...

By THE John Hyam??? Sounds like some kind of conspiracy theory here...

Calm down, John! You seem to be using the fact that Terry hasn't been mentioned on the group as some kind of validation for you not knowing him, but that is totally irrelevant. The fact that they probably haven't mentioned the riders I named either is just as irrelevant - or relevant, depending on how you look at it.

You stated, "Those names mean nothing to me."? That - and the sentence above - would again indicate that you didn't know who "Jacko", "Maido", and "Briggo" were. You also claimed that nobody was able to name the riders CORRECTLY, when it was clear to everybody that I knew exactly who they were. Yet you threw your toys out of the pram, all because I answered in a friendly and informal manner... Still shocks the hell out of me that you didn't recognise Igor. Another totally peculiar statement! It's almost like you are trolling the internet in an effort to disprove the fact that Terry rode for us! Does the group mention Mark Fordham, Keith Whipp, Jack Wright, Sigvart Pedersen, Ian Williams, Gene Woods, Warren Mowat, Philip Lac-Szyrma, or Bob Abell?

Sorry if you think I am being a little harsh, John, but am totally nonplussed by the fact that a speedway journalist from the 1950's and 60's (and who spends a lot of time on speedway forums and groups), was unable to identify one of the most successful and recognisable figures in post-war speedway. Part of the reason I am probably more shocked than I should have been is because it follows on from you not being able to recognise Cyril Brine, Gerry Jackson, Cyril Maidment, and Barry Briggs, either facially or by nicknames. Not sure of the relevance of that comment, and it seems a little disrespectful to Terry. You make him sound unimportant, by boasting that you can name a lot of other riders - including juniors who undoubtedly never came close to reaching Terry's level.

Wore yellow Yamaha leathers... Being good on the grass, I expected him to do a little better on the shale than he did.

Yep, at Tommy Knudsen's Testimonial.

Nothing like making a clear decision, eh?

Never seen a rear engine bike...

Then again, John didn't know Igor Plechanov, so - and no disrespect to Terry here - that isn't surprising...

If you were there, I'm sure you would remember it! As Terry said, Dave was really trying to calm everybody calm down, and this was the closest thing I've ever seen to a full-scale riot. And it was a "friendly"!!! Bleedin' Galvin...

Yes it was! I have the video of it, and you can hear Dave pleading with everyone!

Yeah, the injury stopped him in his tracks, and it was another case of, "What if?" To come back after the layoff and do as well as he did was an incredible achievement.

Were you at Plough Lane the night of that "friendly" (the London Pride Challenge) when two last heat exclusions (which I can only describe as total b*llocks!!!) gave the 'awks the win???

From a darts point of view, I can tell you that it is often the mixture of ego, alcohol, and p*ssy that does it!

Of course, getting Todd AND Ray at the same time was fantastic! That was a great time in our history, and I even flew up to Glasgow to see us win...

I love how people have always gone on about the need for opportunities and events for youngsters, and how important they are for the production of the future British superstar. The British Junior Championship was a prime example. There were some incredibly talented - kids that competed there. However, how many of them actually went on to have a reasonably long, and genuinely successful (at the top level) career? Very few... I'm not sure why, but generally (certainly in the UK), youth and Under-21 events don't seem to provide the quality of competitors that they should (and certainly not the quantity), and that applies to most sports. As far as speedway, most of the riders who rode in the Under-21 went on to have some kind of career, but so many of them never got past NL level, or perhaps a BL second-string level. In darts, I know it is exactly the same; most of the really good youngsters never went on to a top-level career. Same with football. The truly promising youth players usually don't develop into the top senior players they should. I don't really understand why...

Oh, I didn't realise you were a local! Yeah, we played at the Duke for many years; one of the few pubs where we played that's still standing...

Well, The Doctor named him not long after the original post, and I confirmed it...

"El Diablo Rojo"...

I remember the first time I saw Andy. I drove over to Hackney on a cold and miserable winter's day to watch the Hawks take on the Aces in a junior match. He was 16... Seems like a lifetime ago!