cityrebel

it's hard to believe olle nygren was 41 when i used to watch him ride at west ham in 1971. god that makes me feel old!

or kelvin mullarkey!

bridger would have to leave eastbourne to ride for rye with both tracks running on saturday nights. i can't see it happening with his very high average.

i walked around the track a few times prior to meetings and it was quite narrow and bumpy in places. when i used to watch buzz burrows race around there i'd think to myself he must be very brave or mad!. to be fair to the promotion at the time they had very limited access to the stadium to prepare the track especially after stock car meetings.

i went to every competitive meeting at the london stadium in 1996. the 10 quid admission price was way over the top for a venue with poor viewing and some of the time poor racing. if the lions had lasted a few more seasons the crowds and racing might have improved, who knows.

derek, i hope you don't include me as a london speedway snob! i even dragged myself over to arena in 1996 for their season in the CL.

west ham averaged 3000 in their last top flight season. a poor crowd by early 1970's standards but excellent by todays. according to jon cook lakeside are getting about 1200 for friday elite league matches. in my opinion this is a very good turn out for a venue with limited facilities and an awful place to get to traffic wise. the majority of the crowd at arena does seem to be made up from fans of defunct london/south east clubs, me included!

when i was a good few years younger i was lucky enough to meet the great man on several occasions. even as a youngster i knew i was in the presence of a speedway legend. my most endearing memory of johnnie hoskins was seeing him greet the fans on their arrival at kingsmead. how many promoters would do that these days!

as a nipper i went to the 1970 staging of the london fours. great memories of great clubs. RIP london speedway.

all done.

that was the tragic thing about his death. he survived all those crashes during his racing career and ended up dying in a road accident.

sounds great value for money in these hard times.

ron had already retired by the time i went to my first meeting in september 1968. he was without a doubt one of the all time greats in the history of wimbledon speedway. RIP ron.

jon cook's coming out of retirement is he bryn!

i remember seeing him ride when i was a kid at the four 1st division london tracks in the early 1970s. he was a top class heat leader for the tigers in my favourite era for speedway.

the lacemen was an unofficial nickname used when they raced as nottingham olympic. in 1933 they rode as the wasps at the rebuilt white city stadium. i know all of this info because i'm half way through reading the history of nottingham and long eaton speedway book!

nottingham were known as the wasps in 1933.

the county ground had its critics, but i loved it there. i was a regular visitor there right up until its closure in 2005 and i miss it greatly.

maybe uncle len can talk two laps tom out of retirement!

i didn't realise derek barclay worked for the northern echo!

the naming of teams is definitley an issue for some fans. the idea of letting long time defunct clubs like boston and hackney run in the league doesn't sit well with me. on the other hand this years combined sheffield and scunny team seems to have no identity, even the BSPA webite not knowing how to list their away fixtures. regarding the CL shield and trophy matches, didn't some teams riding in those matches use riders from teams that were only competing in the league. at wimbledon joel parsons rode for the dons in the trophy and rye house in the league.

i thought it was a good idea when sittingbourne and weymouth just rode trophy fixtures. an ideal solution for those tracks that can't commit to running a full season of matches.

bike problems was the rumour i heard at sittingbourne on sunday. i find that hard to believe when you are riding against one of the weakest teams in the PL. who knows what goes on in the world of uncle len these days.

hi phil, dave doesn't post on here but when i see him at rye i will ask him if he has made any mildenhall badges.

regardless of the team name NL speedway was too expensive at arena and rye. when clubs run two sides most fans will always attend the higher level of racing. unless uncle len drops the price at the launch pad nothing will change.