Grachan

Why, thank you Norbold. I'm not sure everyone else will agree though!

I saw this meeting on the live internet feed with Danish commentry, so I never saw all the Sky Sports allegations. I saw the final race and saw Scott Nicholls get stuck behind Hans Andersen on the first turn. Very disappointing, though I wasn't surprised to see Sweden win in the end as there was a feeling over the last round of races that they had stepped up a gear. I'm not a great fan of Hans Andersen. Sometimes I think his riding is extremely dangerous, and that hair style - whooo, no Hans. Don't like it. I have to say that this hysterical reaction to that last race is somewhat ludicrous to be honest, and I've just been to the link to his Guestbook and just think that the whole thing is getting a little bit silly. Maybe he shut off to help Peter Karlsson, maybe he didn't. I can't be sure as I just watched the race once. If he did, then I guess that's his perogative. If he wasnted a Scandinavian country to win and was prepared to do that, then that's up to him isn't it? He may ride for Ipswich, but he is a Scandinavian and he rode a perfectly legitimate corner. The fact is, if England had been good enough they would have come through to win. This is just a typical reaction to an English/British sporting defeat. Why does it always happen? Oh, we lost because of the ref. We lost because someone cheated us out of it. We lost because our shoes were too big. Need a scapregoat. Etc etc Blah blah blah blah blah. No. GB lost over 25 heats, not just one, and I was supporting them all the way. To come up with comments like throwing breeze blocks at him are offensive and plainly ridiculous.

I have to say I agree with that. When push came to shove, the Swedes stepped up a gear. Forget Hans Andersen - that's why they won. Is that the fault of the manager? That's debatable I guess, but wasn't it lovely (sarcasm) to watch another sporting event with England/GB fans looking dejected at the end?!

Why is it that people who criticise other people's use of English are always pretty hopeless at it themselves?

Interesting to see the Swindon team there as it's almost identical to the side that won the league 2 years later. It was obviously a young team and struggled, but it was allowed to mature into a great side over a couple of seasons. That just wouldn't happen these days. It would have no doubt been chopped and changed over the season and even more so over the following winter. Maybe there is a lesson there for impatient promoters (& supporters).

Blimey! They've just mentioned on Radio 5 that Great Britain have qualified for the Speedway World Cup Final. There's a thing. I got all excited there for a couple of seconds.

If anyone is interested, I wrote an article for the Oxford magazine The Chronicle about my trips to the Autorace meetings, and I've copied it online at: http://www.geocities.com/gam_noticeboard/autorace.html There's a few pictures there too.

Didn't Canterbury have one Sean?

Does he still look like Jason King from Department S?

They were called The Saxons according to my trusty little book. Hmmm, doesn't really work does it. Should they not have been 'The Normans'? Hastings Saxons is a bit of a mouthfull anyway - it doesn't really roll off the tongue well. How about Hastings Conquerers? What do you think? Much better I reckon. Track length 388 yards. I wish they still made tracks that size. Rode in the National League Third Division 1948-49. Is that it? Just 2 years. Came sixth in 1948. Promoter - Charlie Dugard. Interesting that Eastbourne closed in 1947 and opened again in 1950. Must be some connection there methinks. Most appearences: Ken Middleditch, 85. Most points: Jack Grierson, 766. Never went. Wasn't born.

David, There is a video available on the history of Bristol Speedway. You can get it HERE if you're interested.

I also recall that Good Ol' Bernie Leigh used to love it at Bristol.

Coincidentally I have said programme right here on my dusty old desk. It was one of a few oldies I found in the loft a short while ago and brought down to read. Daily Mirror Open Tournament: Edgar Stangeland: 0-2-3-F 5 (I seem to remember he broke his leg after helping build the track) Vaclav Verner: 1-3-F-2-3 9 Peter Collins: 2-2-2-2-0 8 Ole Olsen: 3-2-3-3-3 14 (The Winner.) Dave Jessup: 1 (withdrew) 1 John Titman: 0-0-2-1-1 4 Martin Ashby: 2 (withdrew. Better than Jessup though, which was all that mattered!) 2 Doug Wyer: 3-1-3-1-1 9 Chris Morton: e/f-0-0-0-2 2 Phil Crump: 3-2-1-3-3 12 Joe Owen: 1-1-1-0-2 5 Steve Gresham: 2-3-2-3-2 12 Ivan Mauger: 2-3-2-3-3 13 John Davis: 1-1-1-F 3 Scott Autrey: 3-3-3-2-2 13 John Louis: ef-0-0-1-1 2 Tom Leadbitter (Res): 1-0-1-0-F 2 I think that the efs by Louis & Morton in thier first riders were actually them pullingout of the race due to the surface, and their efforts after that were very half-hearted. Phil Crump also beat John Louis 2-1 in the Golden Helmet. Heat 13 result was: (Awarded) Gresham, Leadbitter (f-inj), Davis (f-inj) Stangeland (f-inj)!!

I went to the opening meeting at Eastville. It wassomething of a disaster race wise, with several riders - including Martin Ashby, who I was a fan of - walking out because the track was so bad (they were effectively riding on the Greyhound track). The crowd was huge though, and there was a traffic jam on the motorway, which passed behind the 1st & 2nd bends. People were actually stopping their cars to watch the racing.

How about this for a score chart - Swindon v Halifax, Friday 8 April 1977. Swindon 62 1. Martin Ashby 3-3-3-3 12 2. Soren Karlsson 2'-2'-3-2' 9+3 3. Bob Kilby 3-3-3-3 12 4. Jan Andersson 3-2'-3-2' 10+2 5. Bobby McNeil 2'-3-2'-2' 9+3 6. Geoff Bouchard 2'-2'-1 5+2 7. David Ashby 3-0-2' 5+1 Halifax 15 1. Henny Kroeze 1-ef-2-0 3 2. Tom Godal 0-f-0 0 3. Graham Plant 1-1-1-1-1 5 4. Ian Cartwright 1-2-0-1-1 5 5. Chris Pusey 0-0-0-0 0 6. Geoff Pusey 0-0 0 7. Mike Lohmann 1-0-1' 2+1 Blooming reserves let us down!!

Just in case anyone missed it the first time, there is brief footage from that first ever Swindon v Oxford match HERE.

The oldest currently competitive rider in Japan is 64 years old, so you never know!!

I don't know how old you are, SJW, but if that was around 1971?? time it could have been Jimmy Ogisu, who came over to ride in the Internationale.

Don't wish to go off topic but as you already have: Swindon 21 Oxford 56 is one louder.

I think Mitch Shirra did too.

Here are some not particularly brilliant pictures that I took in 1987. They are from a match between Newbury Town and a Motorcyclists XI, which was a benefit match for Motor Cross Rider David Stirland, whose brother played for Newbury (and was also in the same 1st Hungerford Cubs Six-a-side team as myself that won the six-a-side cup a few years earlier with a suburb display in the final over 1st Kintbury - but I digress). Picture 1: The teams pose for pictures slightly to my right. On the far left are Steve Schofield and Simon Cross, with Martin Yeates a bit further along. Picture 2: Simon Cross prepares to, er, cross. Picture 3: Goalie Martin Yeates and a big, beery looking bloke, leave the field.

I remember a horrendous crash between Bob Kilby and Ivan Mauger at Swindon on the pits bend. I'm not sure what injuries they suffered now, but Ivan was excluded and Killer was unable to come out in the re-run. More recently was Andre Compton's crash at Sheffield when he broke his ankle. He slid off his bike and was run into by James Birkenshaw. It was one of those where the whole crowd gives out a gasp and falls silent.

I was going to buy this month's copy at Swindon last night, but they were still selling the Kenny Carter edition. Looks like I'll have to wait another week to get it.

Slightly flawed is, if anything, an understatement and claiming that they show the best rider hasn't neccesarily won is not true. It may be interesting to see how much they have averaged, but the fact is riders don't score points in the GP because of the format. Using that method, a rider coming fourth in the final would get a 0 point average for that race, whereas a rider winning a first round eliminator would get 3.00 for that race. It just doesn't add up, but well done for doing it anyway.

You can get it from http://www.bellevuezoo.co.uk If you select the 'Speedway' menu it brings up a whole load of archive videos for sale. I've bought 3 of them and they're all very interesting. The one featuring Swindon v Oxford is No 6 in the Aces of Yesteryear series.