star ghost

Regarding the "were Wembley Finals fair to all" angle ........... Maybe Tommy Price & Fred Williams (twice) were Wembley riders but then Jack Young (twice, including as a 2nd Division rider) was not. Also Jack Parker and Vic Duggan, though not World Finals in name, still took honours at Wembley. Then along came Peter Craven, Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs and Ove Fundin to win the titles without being Wembley riders. When World Champions were crowned in the past they had to fight through a number of rounds before the Final. Nowadays they only need "inviting" to get a chance of topping the title-race.

I thought John Dews rode for Wimbledon at some time On the subjerct of one-team riders - Phil Clarke (13 years) Norwich Stars was a prime example of this type of rider

I thought the name began with H???????

Well spin king the reason I can class two riders without a World Title above someone with one is the same as someone???? can class a once winner ahead of a five times winner. In fact it is really only a matter of opinion after all. I could have said Tommy Jansson or some of the others. Rickhardson won some G P titles but I have not quoted him among my selections as his titles are "entry by invitation only" I do not consider that the two systems should be ranked equal. If Jack Young arrived in England today and signed for Edinburgh (in the 2nd division of Speedway) he would not get an invite to next years G P system. He did in the past and qualified to go into the final and win it Also iris123 I agree Olle's is a story worth telling . His years spent in the Sport are unsurpassed and will remain so. One night at Harringay Olle put his shoulder "out", swung his arm round a couple of times, got back on the bike and carried on the meeting.

Top Three Swedish riders (from the real days) Ove Fundin .......... Olle Nygren ........ Rune Sormander Next best Per Olaf Soderman .......... Bjorn Knutsson ....... Soren Sjosten

Just a short note about Wal In 1948 he rode 1 League Match for Norwich scoring 12 Re Moxey63 posting ................... In 1936 Norwich didn't exist as a Speedway Team. As far as I know Wal was with Wimbledon then. In fact he didn't join Norwich until the latter part of Max Grosskreutz's first year at Norwich in 1937. He and Bert Spencer were gained to strenghten the Stars, Bert on loan and Wal on a full transfer

I can remember (Dink, Dinks, Dinky) Philpott riding for Exeter. Also his real name is unknown to me Clutching at straws the only other possibility is that the M is a misformed H and it would bring the possibility of Herbie Plain but playing at that game maybe AP and that would bring in Arthur Pilgrim. If anyone knows Dinks real name that may be the answer Maybe Mr Lethbridge could ride to the rescue here.

The Darren Slater at Coventry also rode a number of matches for Kings Lynn before signing for the Bees.

That was why I didn't think it was him anyhow

Thinking offhand I can only come up with Morrie Pyke. I cannot say where or when he rode, just a name from the past. The other name I came up with was "Mike" Poloukard, a Pole, but it would not have been him I think.

I am so sorry to hear this news. As stated he was the No 1 from U S S R My most electrifying memory is from 10th July 1964 when Norwich met the Russian team in a challenge match. Unfortunately the bookings got messed up and they arrived at the Firs with a 4 man team. The other 3 had been sent to ride somewhere else (? Coventry ?). Regardless they race 9 times each over 18 heats and beat the Stars 55 - 53. Igor got 19, Kurilenko 16+2, Kadirov 11+7 and Chekramov 9+3. For the Stars Ove took 18 from his 6 rides, but then he would. There were as many in the crowd shouting for the U S S R riders as there were for the Stars. Condolences to all his family and friends everyuwhere.

And, if I am not mistaken, the Kings Lynn promotion think this way also

Yes Bob was a great bloke but like everyone else he had moments when he had to "sort someone out". He certainly did one night beside the Pits at Lynn when this "yob-gob" gave Bob a mouthful as he came in after a last placing. A bit along the lines of Aub Lawson I would think

I thought Dickie May of Reading was related to Charlie somehow

Thinking about it Keith Anderson is a more likely bet

The name rings no bells with me. Unless it is the real name of RON Henderson who rode for Newcastle if i remember

And as I said on the other thread - Johnnie Chamberlain - the 4'9" Bloater. He may have been short but he was a tall scorer for east Anglian Speedway teams. J C is still living in Australia but I understand his health is not so good nowadays

Pre-Reading Bob was at KingsLynn with Terry, Simmo, Barry Crowson, Eddie Reeves and Tiddler Turner where he was a regular in the team for a number of seasons.

somewhat earlier Snetterton in Norfolk was mentioned. This was given the go ahead at one time but Mildenhall objected (Wally Mawdesley) and the possibility died.

I remember Stan and Len together in the Tigers line-ups in the 40's. They rode as a pair in matches sometimes, much like the Parkers in the England team. It is always sad to read of the passing of the old-timers. Condolences to all family and friends of Len Also I can confirm "our" Fred Rogers passed on a few years back. He was an ex-President of the V S R A (1998 I think)

Welcome Annie to the forum. On the Vintage Forum there is an item about Tom's son riding Cycle Speedway, could you add to this please? Also anything about Sid who was Tom's brother. I have seen his name mentioned with a Leicester slant somewhere about pre-war days

Rune Sormander was a Swedish rider, and a fine one at that. He rode in a number of Finals and also joined Wembley, Belle Vue and Leicester for short spells in the old National League days of the 1950s'. Top man with Dackarna in Sweden. The East German was, I think, Jochen Dinse (or near that) ?What nationality was Syd van der Vyver who rode for Leicester?

Mention of South Africa recalls Cecil de la Porte (Hall Green 37) and Keith Harvey who rode for Palace and Norwich prewar and Neew Cross after the war when he was the oldest rider competing in the sport. Then there were Brummies Arthur Duncan & Neil Mortimer. Norwich had the Sayer twins Dick & Tom. PreWar the Canadians had a number of riders here. Most notably the great George Pepper

There have been other Hungarians besides Sandor Gerhard Uhlenbrock reputedly came through the Wall on a motorbike with his family in the sidecar from what I read at the time. Maybe just a publicity item though. Ronnie Moore probably decided to be a Kiwi for himself, Much the same thing as Ron Johnson (Scot) and Bert Spencer (England) became Aussies. They were U K born but decided to ride for Australia where they learnt Speedway. Phil "Tiger" Hart rode for England and Australia. Nowadays there are riders who take out a licence "of convenience" to allow them to get round some rule or other

How about Mr Lindback from Brazil or Graham Warren from Fiji?