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Does anyone have any stories / info about Les Sharpe? I think he rode for Halifax in the late 60's - early 70's.

I was very lucky back in the early 70's in that I worked for a motorcycle dealer and my boss, Wally Clinton, was the judge - timekeeper at Claremont speedway. Every time there were some big names in town, we would knock off work early and head down to the show grounds to watch the practice. And that's what we did the very first time Ivan Mauger hit town. I don't have any wild stories to tell about the bloke other than to say how impressed I was by his professionalism. He had two bikes with him, a square piece of canvas on the ground next to them with tools, spare plugs, chains and other odds and ends that are essential to the job, all neatly laid out. The local media was there in full force and all got time with the great man. A t.v. camera was mounted on the back of a utility and driven around the track to get shots of him riding past. He spent a lot of time with them, making sure the shots were just right and looking for slick parts on the track so they got some good pictures of the bike sliding. It must have all been worth it because he pulled a crowd of about 36,000 that Friday night, which would have put a big smile on promotor Aub Lawson's face. Wally Clinton used to be the pit marshall at Claremont in the late 40's - early 50's, and he told me of the night when he was getting all the people who shouldn't have been there, out of the pits before the racing started. There was some big name Pommy riders on the bill that night and he wanted everything to go smoothly. There was one old bloke wearing glasses, sitting on a dope can and calmly smoking a pipe. Wally went up and explained that the racing was about to start and he would have to leave the pits. To which this old fella said, "Oh dear, I was hoping to ride here tonight." Wally had just tried to kick out Jack Parker!

Thanks all. I seem to remember reading about Charlie Monk winning the Internationale. If my memory serves me correctly, ( and it doesn't these days ), the first 12 or 13 heats were won by something like 10 different riders! It must have been a cracker of a meeting! South Australian riders in the 60's and 70's didn't seem to get the credit due to them in this country, compared to the popularity of riders from New South Wales and to a lesser extent, Queensland. This even seemed to influence the officials running speedway in this country at the time. While riders like Jim Airey, Greg Kentwell, Bert Kingston and other east coast riders were almost automatic test match selections on the two Empire Speedways tracks, ( Brisbane and Sydney ), the selectors, in their infinite wisdom, one year, picked Geoff Mudge as a reserve against the English on his home track of Rowley Park in Adelaide. Even the captain of the English team was quoted in the local press when he expressed his suprise at this treatment of a very well regarded rider in the British league system at the time. I often wondered if this had something to do with the vast distances in this country. We rarely saw riders from other states and this seemed to encourage an inward- looking attitude to speedway in each state.

Does anyone have any info / stories about that very enigmatic South Aussie, Warren "Charlie" Monk? I had heard so much about him via papers and books from the UK, but it seemed that no one had heard of him here in the West ( Australia ) When he turned up here in Perth for a test match, I was telling everyone what a good rider he was and he didn't do much at all on the night..........except fall off in his first race! Also thanks to all who have responded to my earlier query re Johnny Chamberlain. So glad I found this place.

Does anyone have any info on a rider by the name of Johnny Chamberlain? I think he was an Aussie from Perth and he rode for Norwich during the early 60's. I have heard a lot of stories about him from old timers here in Perth, Western Australia, and while I love to listen to a bit of bull, I'm very curious about this bloke. He seems to be a bit of a mystery man here locally.

So sad to hear of the passing of Ken MacKinley. I have very vivid memories of "Mac" and Chum Taylor launching themselves after the field at Claremont during handicap races. They were both on handicaps of about 150 - 140 yards behind the starting line, which put them very near to the pits gate so I always had a good view of them. Before handicap races were limited to a maximum of 150 yards, it wasn't uncommon to see riders starting from 200 to 250 yards behind the field. This put some of them in the backstraight and Ken was usually there with them! However, the most enduring memory I have of him comes from the very first time a speedway Test match was held at Claremont. In one of the heats, Australia's Greg Kentwell and Chum Taylor absolutely flew out of the gate and with Chum taking the high line and Kentwell the lower, they tore onto the back straight with at least a 20 metre lead. It looked for all the world like an easy 5 - 1 win to our mob, but we hadn't reckoned on the determination of one very tough little Scot. And neither had Chum Taylor or Greg Kentwell! "Mac" chased and chased and right on the death, on the last bend, he caught and passed them by riding right between the two of them! Chum must have felt as if his pocket had been picked when MacKinley suddenly appeared by his left elbow and pinched the race! There was a standing ovation as he returned to the pits and even though Australia won the match, that is still the one race I think of whenever I am reminded of that Test match.