speedyguy

You do know that Tuff McBride's not in this year's party?

Probably the official in charge of the car racing - they do have them! - felt the track was safe for the cars to continue racing?

It is embarassing but the car meeting must have been arranged months ago - without the use of long range weather forecasting! I think there was also a stock car meeting at Norfolk Arena (King's Lynn) on Saturday. Also sad because the American riders do contribute to their travelling expenses for these meetings.

All sorted now. I hope you have now been found?

I tried the given link for the Amateur Speedway Link but got this response. Any help please? Sorry, the website amateurspeedway.co.uk i cannot be found I now have this link, I have tested it, and it looks good. http://www.amateurspeedway.co.uk/

The website is amateurspeedway.co.uk, As a discussion site I am associated has two teams - Lakeside and Rye House - in the AJL, can anyone please confirm the website for amateur speedway is amateurspeedway.co.uk, link as given previously by Michael # Name Removed #.

The old days of cycle speedway have some incredible memories. I remember how teams used to meet at a central point, then cycle on in convoy causing traffic mayhem as they went to visit the away track. But that was all part of the fun in those days, and of coure many of the leagues were centralised so there wasn't really a long way to go to away matches. What I do remember especially in London was the problems some riders had in regard to the lines when the trams were still running. One area in particular that I remember is the junction at the 'Marquis of Granby' at New Cross in south London. This was a main junction point for crossover of trams and they even had an official to handle the switchover of lines for trams to continue on their correct routes.

LEICESTER MONARCHS http://www.cyclespee...g.uk/1403.shtml SYSTON FOXES http://www.cyclespeedwayhistory.org.uk/1417.shtml

The site giving details of all known cycle speedway teams makes the total 2,722.

Here's an update on the track at Ellesmere Street, E14. http://londonspeedways.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=sniffy6&action=display&thread=1407&page=1 Here's more on the Poplar Penguins but there's no mention of where the track was. http://www.cyclespeedwayhistory.org.uk/472.shtml

The draw for the European Cup can be found here: http://www.britishcy...ionships-Draw-0 British clubs taking part are Horspath, Leicester, Sheffield, Birmingham, Wednesfield,

THE SPOKESMAN ON LINE, APRIL 4, 2012: Filton Cycle speedway track is based in South Gloucestershire. TOP TRACK COULD BE BULLDOZED - posted 4 April 2012 One of the best cycle speedway tracks in the country could be bulldozed to make way for football pitches. The shock news follows reports that Filton town council is considering plans to demolish the track, transform it into five-a-side football 'hub' and develop a multi-use games area. Despite its small membership, the local club, the Filton Flyers, is due to host the most important event in the cycle speedway annual calendar, the national championships which take place over the August bank holiday weekend. The track has been the focus of considerable debate since it was built and has attracted criticism due to its charging policy and lack of use. Proposals to establish a local club in the area have been slow to take off. However there is a small nucleus of enthusiasts who are still keen to see a local club established. Last week, the town council imposed a charge for use of the track which had previously been free. The cash-starved authority agreed by a large majority to charge Filton Cycle Speedway £15.40 per hour, with all day bookings costing £123.20. Cycle speedway's governing body, British Cycling, is keen to retain the facility which is currently provided at a peppercorn rent. BC's regional development officer, Mark Adams, has written to the town council asked for an urgent meeting in the hope that the hire costs could be significantly reduced or even waived for a short period.

And all about the Morden Monarchs can be seen here http://www.cyclespeedwayhistory.org.uk/1105.shtml as can data on many other cycle speedway teams.

Unlike London proper (with no arguments please about Lakeside Hammers and Rye House - again!) which has no speedway tracks, there is one cycle speedway club in London. These are its details. They race home matches on Sunday afternoons. http://eastlondoncyc...aguematches.htm And here's one I hope to get more information on - it's rather outside the London area however. Sun Apr 17 World Championships (at Edenton, North Carolina, USA) to Mon Apr 25

Excellent photography. It's all so different from my bomb-site track days in the 1940s and 1950s. But it is still very much good old cycle speedway and it's nice to know that it is alive and doing so well.

That sums up my opinion too. I am also fairly certain that Bill Osborne also rode for England in test matches in New Zealand in the late 1940s early 1950s. With respects, he was by far the better rider of the two. He had specially modified handlebars on his bike after breaking an arm which was left with a deformity. I also have a suspicion - and I do have memory lapses - that both Bill and Oz were at one-time in their early speedway racing days around 1946 involved with West Ham. Oz Osborne was certainly around before 1949, of that I am certain though.

This Tuesday April 3 2012 New Zealand Herald link may be of interest. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10796075

Good luck to everyone trying to rekindle the domestic New Zealand speedway scene. It's a mamoth task when compared to challenging the current small oval car scene there. It would be great to one day see speedway in New Zealand back on a healthy footing - maybe even with a revival of the once flourishing speedway league scene when the teams used to import overseas riders. And some very big UK names were involved in those days.

The problem is not encouraging kiwi kids to ride speedway. It's proving to the public at large in New Zealand how good and exciting speedway is. There may have been a 20-25,000 crowd but take away the genuine overseas speedway fans, how many of the remainder were New Zealanders interested in speedway and how many were people attending what promised to be a good day out? To kindle interest in speedway in New Zealand is a mammoth job - no top flight international riders to create spectator interest, just three speedway only tracks and about 30 meetings a season between them? There is nothing I would like more than to see speedway in New Zealand get back even to the strength it enjoyed in the 1950s and 1960s with real international stars like Ronnie Moore, Geoff Mardon, Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger. But is there enough interest among the paying public to back this in a country where car speedway is very much in the driving seat (so to speak). I have no doubt that future GPs in New Zealand will prove as successful - perhaps more so - this year's event. But I have to be convinced that it will generate a major upwards surge in interest for the kiwi sporting public. I hope to be proved wrong.

That is a good point. What do our NZ-based site posters think in the aftermath of the GP. How can speedway there benefit from its staging in Auckland. By the look of it the NZ media has already moved on.

Yes, there is a report but it's not dated the day after the meeting but is for Monday April 2 2012. For all that, iit's an interesting read. Many thanks for the updated link.

Here's another view of the GP sent by another friend in New Zealand:: From: "Bill Walsh" <candbwalsh@....... Date: 1 April 2012 00:17:44 GMT+01:00 To: "John Hyam" <john.hyam1@..... I can't believe that Ronnie Moore had to buy a ticket. What a miserable thing to do. I was expecting to see a lap of honour at the start by Ivan Mauger, Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs. I heard later about Briggo being sick. It was a great event for Auckland. I left home at 2 pm for a 4pm start, a 20 minute drive to join the back of the queue to the car park and it was full. Drove around several back streets to find a park and had to write down the names of the streets we navigated to get to the Springs, so we could find our car later! What impressed me was the large number of oldies present, many with disabilites, walking difficulties, wheelchairs etc, nothing was going to stop them seeing this wonderful event. [i thought the Army band was wonderful, and this is one thing that our government has said is going to go in cost cutting excercises. I was disappointed when the track marshalls were introduced and they just walked out casually waving to the crowd. I was expecting it to be like Odsal in the 1940s/50s where they marched out to the tune of Blaze Away. No way. I was also disappointed with the people on the speaker systems. The introductions were poor. There was not one race time mentioned after each race. That is all part of it surely. I gave up on marking my programme after the first race. I thought I can fill in the programme later from the newspaper reports. Believe it or not, in the "Sunday Star-Times", our main Sunday paper, I had to wade through to near the back of the sports section to find a report and THEN it was only about a 1/4 page across the top. NO heat results or times. NO mention of the size of the crowd. I guessed it to between 20-25,000 but that is just a guesstimate. I was thrilled with the evening. There was no way I was going to pay 150 dollars for a ticket, (my wife might have divorced me if I did) but we took a few cushions and a picnic and we were happy. My wife indulged me in going with me and my son went too for his first taste of speedway and seemed to enjoy it. I think that they were more worried about me behaving myself after the recent heart scare and I am supposed to be taking it easy. There were several interviews during the quiet spells between races, while they were grading/watering etc, some of the riders and some of the overseas dignitaries (is that the right expression) involved in the GP events management, and they all said good things about Auckland, the stadium, the track, with comments such "It's the biggest and best track I have ever seen" (that was an English official), "the fastest track I have ever raced on" Superior to most tracks in Europe"etc etc so there is lots of good stuff to be taken from the evening. Let me finish by saying a big thank you to Western Springs promoter Bill Buckley for spending several million dollars to stage this event and I sincerely hope that he gets a return on it, not like the debacle in Australia 10 years ago when it cost them a lot of money to stage it and it hasn't been back. Bill has contracted for three years so I can't wait until this time next year. Cheers. Bill Walsh, Auckland, New Zealand.

The NEW ZEALAND HERALD the day after the GP at Western Springs. Look at the sports coverage for April 1 2012 Sunday edition. Am I missing something...? http://www.nzherald....ines.cfm?c_id=4 And here's an email from a friend in New Zealand on the same topic: ----- Forwarded Message ----- From: David L <davejl@...> To: John Hyam <speedstox12@...> Sent: Saturday, 31 March 2012, 22:01 Subject: Speedway GP in New Zealand Hi John Lucky you people around the world who I believe had a live broadcast on TV. I tried to watch it via web streaming but had the same problems as I noted others did as well where the streaming stopped and started. Here in NZ, we will get a delayed broadcast from 6.30pm - 9.30pm Sunday night, around 24 hours after the event. I had thought of going but did not in the end. No doubt when friends get back to Christchurch, I will get a run down on how everything went. Auckland papers seemed to have given a fair amount of publicity, but here our local major paper seems to have forgotten that it was a world championship event, but every small cricket and ruby game gets massive coverage. Our local paper also seems to want to ignore most if not all speedway events here, we even had trouble getting the results published. They were not even interested in a major NZ Sprintcar Championship held here with some of the world's top drivers competing. Oh well , awaiting the broadcast tonight. Cheers Dave ::::::::::: Here's an update that might be of interest which was forwarded to me by Bob Andrews. [ Subject: Watch Thrills and spills at the speedway dave@...... wants to share this video with you: Thrills and spills at the speedway Video: Close Up gets down and dirty with the riders who will be tearing up Western Springs Speedway tomorrow night. http://tvnz.co.nz/cl...y-video-4808896[/indent]

When you analyse the in-depth strength of New Zealand solo speedway I would think many of the NZ attendees are new to speedway and overall it means little to them. Most are possibly there for a "good day out of entertainment", people in the same mould as hose who would go to a major pop concert. But, if the meeting does have an effect on creating more domestic (ie New Zealand intrest for speedway) some good at that domestic level may come from it. A concern though is that a kiwi newcomer after witnessing the GP riders might turn up at one of the three domestic New Zealand tracks expecting the same sort of action and sadly they will be disappointed with what they get in regard to rider standard and action. To me a comparision is watching your first ever football match and seeing Barcelona v Manchester United, then visiting your own local team for the first time and - with respects - watching say Welling United v Dover! Let's hope my concerns are proved to be wrong.

This what the New Zealand Herald Saturday March 31 has to say about the GP. Scroll down the page to find it - rugby is the kiwis No.1 sport after all. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/headlines.cfm?c_id=4