whowasthatberntpersson

In what promises to be the start of a fantastic weekend for speedway people a dinner in recognition of Crumpy's tremendous World Championship Victory will be held at the Parklands Harness racing Complex on the Gold Coast this Friday night - 15th December 2006 Almost 200 tickets have been sold, with special guests including Jason (of course), Ivan Mauger, and many other personalities and not just from the speedway world. Pre dinner drinks at 6pm kick start the night. There will be racing just down the road at Mike Hatcher Park the next day, with Crump on the programme.

This Saturday see's the running of the Dave Booth Memorial at Mike Hatcher Park Speedway on Australia's beautiful Gold Coast. Dave was a very talented and likeable speedway rider who recently lost his life to cancer, he was top line performer at the Gold Coast track, a rider who could of made it Overseas in my opinion. Current World Champion Jason Crump tops the bill on Saturday along with a huge lineup of local and interstate riders all wishing to pay their tributes. Racing starts at 2pm with twenty Junior (Under 16) riders on the small infield track as well as 350cc's, evolution solos and sidecars. The main event will be run under lights with the junior semis and finals. Proceeds from this meeting will go towards Junior development, it was Dave's wish to put any money made towards a 125cc and possibly a 350cc speedway bike, which will be ued by the club to help develop the sport and give potential new riders the opportunity to give it a go. A record crowd is expected and anyone attending is advised to get to the track very early.

Yes tremendous performances by the two sixteen year olds Josh Grajczonek and Mitchell Davey both fresh out of Junior racing and both from Townsville. Four riders were tied on 12 points behind Troy Batchelor's 14, not 100% sure how it all worked out however it was local rider Ricky Barney who missed out leaving the four finalists, Troy Batchelor, Scott Smith, and the two sixteen year olds Davey and Grajczonek. Scott Smith led the final and looked a dead set certainty to take out the State championship prior to blowing his motor, leaving Batchelor to win in a very close final, ahead of Davey and Grajczonek. Quite a competetive meeting despite a few Queenslanders sitting it out, including Dave Watt, Trent Leverington, Christian Henry, etc, whilst Mitch Shirra was prevented from riding by politics and red tape, remember this is the meeting won by Oliver Allen at the Gold Coast last year. The Juniors also ran during the main programme, a huge programme of events which left the track quite slick with a blue groove on the inside, there were five rounds of heats with an A and B Final. Nick Morris was unbeaten all night, and led the A final from start to finish, results; A Final 1st Nick Morris 2nd Jonathon Lewis 3rd Clinton Dennis 4th Dylan Blain B Final 1st Jake Moore 2nd Tyler Moon 3rd Matt Day 4th Jack McLean This was the final meeting of the year at Pioneer Park as promoters Richard "Rhino"and Shelly Ryan close the dates for the Tropical Cyclone season in North Queensland, if the rain that fell at the completion of events is any indication of things to come the promoters have made a very sensible decision, it absolutely bucketed down right at the death. Many of the riders on show will ride at this weekends Dave Booth Memorial meeting at the Gold Coast, along with world champion Jason Crump.

Speedway v Swimming in Queensland Australia at a time when the number one news story is of a swimmer retiring...I kid you not (Ian Thorpe has retired...wow), what chance has he got?????

Not sure if John rode in this meeting but he will be riding at Pioneer Park on Saturday 25th November, looking forward to seeing him ride on the pacey PP track.

Hi Nobby, Had a very good night last night, just dropped one point after being forced off the track in one race. PP next week, along with our very special guest......another old bugga from your part of the world..

Following on from the Queensland Championships at the Gold Coast and Pairs at North Brisbane the NQ mob follow up with consecutive meeting this weekend and next. Tonight the Ayr Motorcycle Club have their final meeting of the year at the Brandon Complex, and the Under 16's will feature on the nightime program. Next weekend its the Solo Masters at Pioneer Park with the Under 16's also on the program. Then on the 9th December, Junior Solos will be on the support card for the Queensland Senior Solo Championship

Congratulations to all the boys, general opinion was that the Junior final was the race of the night, although in my opinion it should of been re run as the boys had only travelled two and a half laps when Dennis went down. Darcy certainly looks class and handled the tricky conditions well, the track suited the bigger kids and was much better for the final after it had been graded. One moment of note from the final when Nick Morris layed his bike down to avoid Dennis, first on the scene was none other than Ivan Mauger...now there's one for the family fact file.

It certainly was warm on Sunday, the track needed a lot more water and so did I. For the record Jack Mclean had x rays with no broken bones, and hopes to ride at Ayr this weekend. Overall it was a good weekend with plenty of enthusiastic racing from the kids, the first time many of them had ridden on fenced tracks. The future certainly looks very bright in Queensland.

As the saying goes the horse has already bolted; BIG mistake pushing the youngsters on 500's in the first place, one step at a time...it works in every other country apart from the UK. The 250's are the perfect preperation for the 500's. In my opinion the 12 months leading up to a sixteenth birthday is when the kids should step up to the 500's.

We are just about to depart Australia, looking foward to catching up with everyone starting with those on the Thursday flight from Stansted, then all those participating on Friday night, we'll also be at the practice. See you all soon.

I'm doing it. Back to Torun after the GP then a very early start to get to Tarnow in time for the meeting against Bydgoszcz (by car) Fortunately i have a few days to play with before flying back to England from Bydgoszcz.

I remember it as if it was yesterday...well almost. The masses of coaches heading from the North/Midlands, and every second car showing off a speedway scarf or car sticker. The big lineups outside the turnstiles, the roar when the riders peeped out of the pits (particularly for the two Cradley riders) The great racing (as mentioned previously) The presentations,..yes I did get on the dog track by the start/finish line. The air horns, the banners, .....ahhhhh those were the days

Thanks Gary, we'll be there.

We are staying in Poland for a week so got a bit of time to play with. We are taking the very long drive to see Tarnow v Bydgoszcz on the Sunday, and staying in the area for a couple of days to do some touristy stuff around Krakow. Then back to Torun (where a mate lives)

Sorry to be a pain (my work pc is too slow to search through old posts) Could someone please confirm the details so I can make arrangements? Also, will my 12 year old Son be able to get in?

Gold Coast Australia. Caught up with him a few years ago at the Gold Coast Speedway.

Looks like I'm off to Tarnow now, in conjuntion with some tourist type stuff in and around Krakow. I hear its around 4-5 hours drive from Bydgoszcz????

A very sad loss. My first memory was of him riding for Hackney at Waterden Road against Cradley in the early eighties, he also guested for the Heathens later that year. A big talent who will be sadly missed.

Looks like Leszno v Torun for me.

Congratuations to the two Aussie boys. A tremendous achievement on unfamiliar tracks and riding borrowed bikes.

This is a rough itinary, will probably change a little, trying to get my Son as many rides as possible; September 19th - Arrive Heathrow - Straight down to Isle of Wight Speedway. 20th Poole Speedway 21st Flight from Stanstead to Bydgoszcz (Polish Junior Meeting that night??) 22nd GP Practice?? 23rd GP 24th Polish Extra League Playoff Meeting 28th Fly back to stansted, pick up hire car and drive to Peterborogh (Thanks London Witch) 29th Somerset Speeway 30th Eastbourne (Son riding on Junior Track) October 1st Wimbourne Whoppa/Elite League Riders 2nd Belle Vue Speedway 5th Sheffield Speedway 6th Coventry Speedway 7th Eastbourne/Sittingbourne (Son riding) 8th Sittingbourne (Son riding) 9th Wolves Speedway 11th Sittingbourne Practice (Son riding) 12th Fly from Birmingham to Prague 14th - Pardubice - Golden Helmet Day 1 15th - Pardubice - Golden Helmet Day 2 16th - Prague - Tomek Lubicek Memorial 17th Fly back to Brum 18th Oxford Speedway 19th Fly home.

Thanks for everyone's help. Be good to catch up with as many people as possible at the airport and again later in Bydgoszcz. On a sidenote, surely there will still be speedway at most tracks in late September / October.

Any news of the other Aussies? Particularly Queensland Champion Darcy Ward, quite possibly the pick of the Aussies that went over (he replaced Taylor Poole) but would of qualified anyway had he not had bad luck during the Aussie Under 16 Final.