star ghost

In 1963 the Great Ove Fundin made it a hat-trick of victories in the Internationale. A crowd in the region of 15,000 were stunned as Ronnie Greene grabbed the microphone whilst they were ready to do the presentations and said "evidence had been given to him that riders had been paid not to win a race". Apparently it was heat 19, though Greene said the last heat, and Ove took the victory from Peter Craven & Peter Moore with Sverre Haarfeldt flat on the track & out of it. This gave Ove 13 withg Sverre still on 12. Ove offered to give the new bike (prize) to Wimbledon if Greene could prove the accusation. The National Press jumped on the story, although one paper said it happened at Wembley. The Control Board called for an enquiry to be held. I never heard the result of that enquiry or if it actually got held. After that the Internationale seemed pretty mundane in later years. Incidentally the 1975 British Champion was John Louis and Simmo won it in 1976 & 1977

Training Speedway riders would be difficult as most tracks are limited to a very few hours a week and this will only cover the match times. The cheaper admission idea could work. After all a lot at a reasonable price is better than a few at astronomic prices, the ones attending at cheaper prices would pass the word round and have more chance of bringing others and the possibility of them continuing to come on a more regular basis. Unfortunately the days are gone when a junior from the second half stepped up into the team to replace a top man, and succeeded. This happened at Norwich when Phil Clarke was pitched into the side to replace injured Bert Spencer and kept there for 13 years. Nowadays its "Bring in a Guest" every time. Ev ery season teams are torn apart and riders leave. How can people form allegience to that

This rider has been named as Peter E Smith in some records to avoid confusion with the Poole rider Peter's record shows him as first riding for Lynn in 1975 and being loaned to Middlesbrough. From 1975 to 1978 Peter rode in 115 matches for the lower League side. During these seasons he also filled in at Kings Lynn on a few occasions and in 1978 he doubled up riding 17 times for Lynn, mostly as reserve. During 1979 & 1980 Peter appeared 70 times in the Stars team. In 1979 he had what I think was his finest hour. In the Maurice Littlechild Trophy Peter scored 13, a score equal to Gordon Kennett & Bo Petersen. Peter led the way for three laps in the run-off and then his bike ground to a halt robbing him of the trophy. For the 1981 season Peter was a regular in the Leicester team riding 42 times for them. He also had a spell riding for Stoke during that season on 18 occasions. Stoke was his home for 1982 & 1983 when he made a further 74 appearances for the Potteries side. His official match appearances total some 340 but he scored well enough for all his teams. I remember Peter as a rider who was always friendly to the followers of Speedway and one who was always ready to give it "a go" when it was really needed.

H R "Ginger" Lees (Burnley), Roy Barrowclough (Leeds), Al Wilkinson & Fred Wilkinson (Leicester), Frank Chisswell & Jack Chiswell (Preston), Cliff Watson & Cyril Wilcock (Salford), Jack Wood (Warrington) and Les Wootton (White City) were all English riders

The new Trevor Davies book - Warzone Speedway - has Split's interview with Trevor. Some of the names of riders in Army Speedway are amazing - try "King" Fisher, "Sticker" Stamp or "Splash" Fountain for instance, then there was "Doughy" Baker and "Spilt" Flour. Split's given reason for the name "Split" is another surprise to me from his army days. It had nothing to do with his laugh, which was what I was always told.

I agree those named by stansolo with Charlie May third from left. This is 1948 as in 1949 May rode for Walthamstow, not being part of the Division One line-up, where he was replaced by Wilbur Lamoreaux. As to this event it could be a presentation at the end of the National Trophy Second Division Sectional Final in August. The sky is still daylight which rules out an end of season night. The final was at the beginning of August. From memory there was no cup for this feat, just a place in with the First Division teams in the next round. This is only a guess however. Touching on that "elevation" to Division One I have always thought that Bristol were by-passed for 3 reasons. Firstly crowdwise ........................... far more attended @ Brum than Bristol Secondly travelling ........................ Bristol was more difficult to reach in those days Thirdly the London promoters wanted Graham Warren and the only way to get him was to promote his team as Les Marshall would not have dared to transfer G W to somewhere else.

Looks like Charlie May third from left and definitely Buck Whitby third from the right

Definitely not. I have emailed the paper with the details some time back. Norwich had a board fence, no wire. I think the film was at an Internationale meeting And there was nothing wrong with The Firs. It was a Speedway track, not a glorified palace

Sorry to disagree with the "Winged Wheel" item but Ron Sharp did appear three times in 1952 for the New Cross Rangers in League matches @ Harringay on 11 July he crashed in his first ride and was replaced in his second @ Birmingham on 27 September he took two rides scoring a third place from his first beating Cecil Hookham @ New Cross v Norwich Stars on 1 October he took two rides scoring two points in his first ride splitting Phil Clarke & Bill Codling Ron was a regular second-half junior race winner during that season. I think he also rode for Southampton in the late 50s as well as his S A L racing days with the Poppies

That sums it up two minute warning. I will add that Harry also rode for Belle Vue between Walthamstow and Norwich. When he left the Firs he went on to ride for Leicester, Rayleigh & Wolverhampton. I was told he drowned at sea in a fishing boat disaster but have been unable to find details of this event. I think Bert was the eldest, but Harry was in the Walthamstow team before I heard of Bert riding

Tape breaking exclusions were not a British League "invention". It was the norm in the early post-war years for a rider to be excluded for the offence. In some seasons a reserve was not allowed as a replacement for the offender either. Maybe it might have been the case for before the War in the 30s also.

From Speedway Researcher 1952 Harringay Section 2nd May - Greyhounds Scratch Race - Stan Clarke, Jimmy Gleed, Jim Tebby, Jim Purdy Harringay staged second-half one-heat events for "Harringay Greyhounds" riders against a visiting pair of Juniors on some weeks and Jim Tebby was a regular in them and through to the end of the season in second half racing. Jim also appeared for Birmingtham in 57, Ipswich in 58, Oxford in 61 in addition to his California, Harringay and Wimbledon matches. He was also a member of the Speedway Footballers team on a number of occasions ?Maybe the Greyhounds could be added to Jims total of teams on the "most teams" thread. Well it's only an idea

I've just noticed the mention of Tommy Price and agree the date of his Harringay meeting. There was another Tommy Price who rode in the old-days at Preston and went on to ride for Liverpool in the 30s, brother to Ernie of Bradford fame. This maybe where the 1920s date came from

As far as I can tell Geoff Pymar didn't ride before his 1930 efforts on the Firs "field" Of the other Norwich Greats Ted Bravery rode in the 20s, 30s, 40s & the 1950 season. Wilf Jay rode in the 30s, 40s, 50s & also the 1964 farewell meeting at the Firs and a match for Sheffield

Yarmouth Mariners .... the original name but the fans wanted Bloaters, so Bloaters it was Southern Rovers .... 1956 and early 1957 before invitation to be a Rayleigh based side? Norwich Stars .... 1937 to 1964 Nottingham .... 1936 to early 1938 when they moved to Leeds Anglian Angels .... Combined Junior side (Ipswich & Kings Lynn) Leicester Stadium .... 1937 (short-lived effort) Birmingham (Hall Green) .... ceased after 1938 season Birmingham (Alexander) .... opened 1946

John Debbage was a Norwich product and close friend of Derk Strutt. He moved from Norwich to Swindon in mid-1964. John and Derek were known as the "Goons" when they were at the Firs. Named after the famous Radio Show. John lost his life in a road accident whilst travelling to a Car Auction.

Lanarkshire Eagles were early 50s. The site has nothing from those days ......... as yet Just about everything is British League days stuff

In 1962 the Billman at weymouth would have been Bill Billman from Norwich. He also races Midget Cars

In 1958 National Trophy matches were 10 a side and Tommy Sweetman rode for Norwich Stars in these matches in addition to his appearance for Norwich II

They are some good tales now on this thread, some are almost as good as "Who invented Speedway" At Norwich we had it round the other way ............ A chap named Reggie Derisley came to Dick Wise for a trial. He didn't do too bad and Dick decided to give him a chance. Dick said you cant use your name as a Speedway rider and so he christened the new man "Charlie Smith". So Reggie actually rode speedway for about 3 years but his name never shows in the record books

The only name resembling this at Harringay that I can think of is Graeme Murphy

There is a photo of George chasing Tom Farndon on the Johns Defunct track site

Speedway Researcher results for 1968 British League fixture - 8 June 1968 Heat 3 - Nigel Boocock, Jon Erskine, Alby Golden, Roger Hill 68.4 Heat 13 - Nigel Boocock, Torbjorn Harryson, Jon erskine, Chris Harrison, 69.2 I assume the photo would be from heat 3 as the background is in daylight

On an Ann Michelle website it introduces her son - Eddie Blue Reeves. One of his interests is motorbike racing and it says inherited from his father Eddie Reeves Speedway rider ...... It doesn't say on the site if Eddie is still with us or not

I have dug out my Kings Lynn programme for 2 June 73 and it carries a welcome to Eddie Reeves. He had married Ann Michelle the previous year. It mentions his first race in New Cross colours, with Reg Reeves his dad. Seems that Reg sent Eddie sprawling on the shale first time out. A hell of a welcome that was.