Grachan

When he rode at reserve for Wolves he actually had 007 on his race jacket. Said so in Speedway Star and News so it must be true.

I think he was announcing at Poole's openener this year.

Still don't see what all the fuss is about. Had to laugh at Speedway Star today as well. Nicki could be in trouble for giving money away, but nobody seems to be in any trouble for accepting it. Just more mass hysteria in my opinion.

Personally I'm not so bothered that they split the pot, but if Nicki is in hot water over it then I would agree. Easy scapegoat, though, isn't he, as he's not riding here anyway.

At the end of the day, Nicki still won the 60,000 and it's up to him what he does with it. If he wants to stick with the agreement made before the race then it's up to him. If he'd wanted to change his mind and pocket the lot, then that, too, would have been up to him. I don't know why everyone gets so hung up on what other people do with their money. It's up to them (as long as it's legal).

Personally I think selling tickets through BIC gives a certain amount of status and may also make it noticed by people on the BIC website. I don't see why every attempt by speedway clubs to do anything positive is always seen as ripping people off.

Geoff Curtis was killed on December 15 1973 at Sydney Showground (assuming he died there and not later). (I'm guessing you already knew that, though, and really wanted his birth details).

I remember he qualified from the British final one year. I think it was the Carter broken leg one.

I think Orion makes a very valid point actually. If too much emphasis is put on tickets then it will deter people from turning up on the day as they might feel they won't get in. Or is that the case anyway? Is it ticket only?

For along time he had a motorbike dealership in Thatcham Broadway. I used to go in there from time to time and remember taking my moped there for repairs. "Speedway Motors" was the name, if I recall correctly. It had a collection of race jackets on the walls and there were often speedway bikes on sale inside. There's still a Leonard, B in the area according to the phone book. I assume that's him, although his shop is long gone now.

What a strange looking track. Can't tell which is the bend and which is the straight.

On the subject of Hackney, this is the speedway segment in the 1970 film Bronco Bullfrog that was shot as Waterden Road. Anyone know who the riders are. Its Hackney v Wolves and presumably heat two. I assume it's either 1969 or 1970.

A friend of my wife used to live near Long Eaton speedway and he reckons the big "manor" type pub was almost certainly called The Pavillion and was knocked down about 20 years ago.

I never actually went to Long Eaton. It's just that I bought the 1967 Speedway Stars off ebay and have been reading about Swindon's matches that season.

I think the reason for that was because he refused to ride for Oxford after being allocated there by Rider Control in 1975.

It was one of Briggo's worst matches of the season. He ended up with seven points, what with those two defeats plus an ef in his final ride. Bob Kilby was the star for Swindon - beating Michanek from the back in his final race and then going on to beat Wilson in the second half final. It was, indeed, an impressive array of names in the Long Eaton side that year. It was Michanek's first year in Britain and he was one of two sensational new Swedes to come in to the league, the other being Hasse Holmqvist at Wolves. I think Michanek reached the World Final that year too.

Bobbath, were you there the night in 1967 when Long Eaton beat Swindon? Ray Wilson took the track record in heat one on his way to beating Barry Briggs and then took the Silver Sash from the World Champ in the second half. I wasn't there, by the way. I was reading about it recently. Speedway Star and News called his first race win over Briggo "the race of the season" at the time. That same year, a young Aussie called John Boulger was signed and scored a maximum in his very first match.

Thanks for the appreciation Bobbath. I put the Knowle one up, but, much as I'd like to take the credit, the Southampton one isn't one of mine. My mum was a regular at the old Knowle stadium back in the late 1940s, so it was great to actually find some footage of it for myself too, and that clip came from a Speedway in Bristol video that I bought my mum a couple of years back. One place I'd love to see footage from is Reading's old Tilehurst stadium, but both footage and photographs seem to be very few and far between unfortunately. So, if anyone has any.....

That would most likely be the British Semi-Final on July 13 1967. Briggs won with 15. Trevor Hedge came second with 11. My own main memory of Wimbledon is playing a Sade tape all the way there. I don't even particularly like Sade, so Lord knows why I was playing it, but Sade always reminds me of Wimbledon Speedway now. When I arrived, John Davis was in the car-park putting a wheel on his bike, although that could have been a different time to the Sade time.

And Colin Farquharson. Whatever happened to Colin Farquharson? Best name ever for a speedway rider.

Bob Kilby is in charge of the Swindon Sprockets junior side. Took over from Wellie last season.

I didn't know he'd died. That's a bit of a bugger. Last seen riding at Swindon in 1988 in the "Champs are back" meeting. I vaguely remember him riding for Exeter in 1974. Wasn't that his last season in the sport?

In which case I won't bother to ask it!

Aha! Would that be why he wasn't in the 1966 World Final then? Or is that too obvious a question?

Just been reading about Ove Fundin not riding in the British League in 1966 due to a ban. Anyone know why he was banned? Something to do with being a Johnny Foreigner perhaps? Seems to have been quite a lot of resistance to overseas riders at that time.