mervjankefanclub

dont blame him to be fair best final line up for a while wouldnt be surprised if we dont have all four finishing do my lugs decieve me or did tony dullard just say "great start for jenson button!"

pretty sure ken mckinlay started riding in the late 40s before finishing up in the early 70s

some slight corrections on the scottish clubs Glasgow Tigers 1946 - 1953 1964 - 1972 1977 - 1986 1988 - 1995 1997 - present in 1954 the tigers started the season but closed down before the end of april and in 1987 they rode at workington as the glasgow tigers changing to the workington tigers mid season but they were kicked out of the league and records expunged Coatbridge Tigers 1973 - 1977 Coatbridge Monarchs 1968 - 1969 Scottish Monarchs 1996 Edinburgh Monarchs 1948 - 1954 1960 - 1967 1977 - 1995 1997 - present Ashfield Giants 1949 - 1952 Lanarkshire Eagles 1951 - 1954 thats the best i can come up with for league racing all my books and progs are up in my mums loft

according to the 1982 yearbook andy the northern trophy/ frank varey northern trophy was first contested in 1966 the roll of honour up till 82 is 1966 sheffield 1974 sheffield 1975 belle vue 1976 belle vue 1977 belle vue 1978 belle vue 1979 sheffield 1980 halifax 1981 not held - maybe because this was the year that the league cup was introduced

thats it frigbo cheers it was the name that was ringing a bell

didnt he appear for berwick in their early days

he was an aussie kev

didnt exeter record one against rye house a few seasons back because i am pretty sure they almost repeated the feat against glasgow the following week when guest scott swain became a tigers folk hero by snatching a second place

dont know if it was a sixteen heat format andy it may have been the fourteen but i am pretty certain it was against the stripes

the sixteen heat NL format was used in 1982,1983,1988 and 1989 parsloes dont recall any team hitting the magical 80 mark or even 79 but im pretty sure 78 was reached by a few clubs ellesmere port is one that springs to mind and the power packed diamonds of 82 and 83 must have racked up a few scores in the high 70s

i think he appeared a couple of months into the 83 season and returned for the start of 84 WW i am sure he rode at blantyre for the rockets that year as far as i can remember he was a decent rider who never returned after the 84 season i think he may have suffered an injury not sure how serious though maybe a sparklers fan out there can fill us in

i think he was german kev

not as many as people might think steve its 6 for england and 4 for young england according to the 86 yearbook

he was a right cocky wee b^stard really full of himself one helluva rider though i used to love watching him when the kestrels then the hawks visited in fact i am pretty sure he was fined heavily at blantyre one year for storming the referees box he must have been still just a teenager at the time aswell happy days dont see enough of that these days in my opinion

i know shazzy i should have added not for the first time

i remember andy galvin trying to start something with wee martin mckinna after a race at shawfield one year until big brother kenny who was about to go on his lap of honour after winning the heat spotted it and did a u turn at which point galvin thought better of it and was off like a shot back to the pits

the funniest bit was gollob giving it the dying swan act like some big old drama queen speaking of gollob this wasnt a punch up but who remembers the GP when whilst hammering down the straight full pelt for no reason whatsoever yer man reaches out and grabs henka gustafssons haw maws another that hasnt been mentioned was the stramash that followed at newport after will beveridge and emil lindqvist had a set to

thats the one

i remember james grieves and peter oakes rolling about the centre green when peterborough were at shawfield one year after an incident with ronni pedersen surprise surprise but that was more funny than anything else i mean peter oakes for fcuks sake! john jack the machine examiner at glasgow for many years was a bit of a stickler for the rules i think and i remember phil white and dave jackson to name two having a go at him big lee dicken also cracked frede schott on the jaw in the ashfield pits a few seasons back also remember seeing a photo of a big ruck in the star years ago must have been rye v eastbourne because kelvin mullarkey and bob dugard were in the thick of it as usual

i am pretty sure JD came up to glasgow as a guest for a talk in during the winter of 87/88 before the tigers big move to shawfield and quite a few fans got the wrong end of the stick with a rumour going around that he was the man who was going to lead us into a bright new era mitch shirra was another who was linked to a tigers return during the early shawfield years

29.1.1958 Eye, Suffolk

stevie lawson tells a great tale on his testimonial video about one night at workington when big des wilson was coming round to the tapes for a heat when he spotted a guy talking to his (des') girlfriend so he parked up the bike went over the wall and skelped the guy who he assumed was chatting her up

Mark Vincent Courtney Born 25.3.1961 Braintree, Essex British Junior Champion 1980 he was an exceptionally talented motorcyclist and one of the smoothest and controlled riders i ever watched just a pity he wasnt as dedicated as he might have been especially in his latter years there is brief summary of his career here marcin http://www.speedwayplus.co.uk/mark_courtney.shtml

not a rider but auld jimmy beaton used to be fun to watch in the early blantyre years especially the night when he went after nigel flatman with a rake after flatman fenced young jim after a race when youre a youngster on the terraces thats the kind of excitement you want to see

i also got to cradley once when as a youngster a real speedway stadium in a real speedway area i was down on an fa coaching course in the midlands and one of our treats was a visit to dudley wood which i thoroughly enjoyed although i spent most of my time at the track shop including being there when when the rest of the boys were out on the centre green when one of them won the half time draw i was gutted this was also the same year my dad took me to plough lane on the tigers supporters bus for the nlrc which had a special mystique about it especially being a youngster who had watched his speedway at the the two blantyre tracks and being a glasgow fan maybe i should whisper this but when i was a boy i used to love going to powderhall wether it was a glorious summers night driving along princess street and smelling the hops from the brewery and the stadium was immaculate and spotless with the manicured centre green or it was a cold dark october night with the fairy lights twinkling in the darkness to be fair the racing wasnt always great and the track lighting was shocking but when youre a young keen collector of old programmes then norries stall under the stand more than made up for this it always puzzzled me why the place never got any of the big bspa events i thought it was a perfect little speedway stadium maybe it was the location up here or the fact that it was a bit of a trick track two meetings that stick in my mind were ivan maugers farewell to scotland and i had never seen the place so packed and the 94 ko cup final against the tigers where again the place was heaving and the atmosphere was electric great days i was actually working through that way last week and had a wee drive down to see what they put in its place soulless modern flats which look the same all over britain and a few industrial units very sad to see