cityrebel

it might not be a bad thing if tomorrow nights meeting is rained off. after the awful events of last night, a few days off might do everyone involved some good.

you should be able to pick them up on ebay for about a pound if you are patient.

christer lofqvist, what a rider. my first ever meeting at west ham in 1970 was christer's debut for the hammers against my beloved dons. he certainly made a big impression on me as a young kid. his dicing with the fence on the wide open spaces at custom house will live with me forever. a few weeks later i saw him score a fifteen point maximum at wembley that secured his status as a speedway hero to me. i was gutted when the hammers closed and he moved to poole in 1972. i was over the moon when he was allocated to ride for the dons in 1976, but sadly it never happened. thanks for the memories christer.

i've made no secret of the fact that i don't like defunct clubs riding in the league. i don't include dudley because they don't use the cradley heath name. now that the raiders are back, i will be attending their meetings this season, weather permitting and regardless of their team strength!.

i'd better dig those speedway stars out from 1973!

i matched the race jacket from that excellent website, but i don't know what heat format was used in those meetings.

i've just aqquired a race jacket used in the 3 match senior poland v great britain test series in 1973. does anybody know who rode at number 3 for the brits in all of the 3 matches.

i'd nominate the great ronnie moore, a fantastic one club rider for the wimbledon dons. although i only saw mirac ride from 1969 to 1972, he made a lasting impression on me as a young fan that stays with me today.

as a neutral i'll be happy to see some close matches at the launch pad this year. those landslide home wins of seasons gone by bored me to tears, but i guess some rockets fans might prefer the latter.

i remember seeing the late steve bast ride for wembley 1970. i still have a photo of him in a lions race jacket in my collection. it must have been the only one ever sold at the empire stadium!

when i saw the first clip i thought it was norwich because of the grandstand and the houses surrounding the circuit, but i never went to the firs so i decided to keep quiet on the subject!

sadly there is very little footage of league racing from the 1970's. i've never seen any filmed action from white city or wembley league meetings. british pathe have got footage from the press and practice day at wood lane in 1976. you would have thought that someone with a cine camera would have filmed something at some of these historic venues.

the 1980's were a stange time for international speedway with loads of english fans supporting the yanks or the danes. whatever peoples views on kenny carter at least he was patriotic. as for bruce penhall, his antics at the white city in 1982 were blatant and unprofessional and finished his golden boy image with a lot of fans. i remember the incident like it was yesterday and the boos and the objects being thrown at him made it unforgettable.

you and me both shads. i went to watch the gooners on tuesday for a tenner, i wish every game we played was in the carling cup!

one of my first memorys of gote was watching him ride for the lions in 1971. a very stylish rider.

with december fast approaching, time is running out to get a new year meeting organised.

i saw him race regularly on the IOW and some of his fence scraping riding was scary to say the least!

any speedway promoter that runs two teams in this financial climate must have very deep pockets. i don't think the hornets will be the last casualty of this winter.

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!