BOBBATH

Peter's name has cropped up in various threads and like someone else mentioned he deserves a thread of his own. He appeared in 5 World Finals-best score 12 points in 1960 just missing a rostrum spot (or was it a tractor ride then). Had a rep as an extremely fast gater. I saw him a couple of times in 1966- at Long Eaton on 24th May in a WCQR where he scored 11 pts.. Ray Wilson won the round with 14 just ahead of Eric Boothroyd with 13. Looking at the programme though, I recall mainly the outstanding performance of Ivor Hughes of Cradley who at that time was a second string (I think)-he put on an unbelievable performance-sadly he never realised his potential being fatally injured in a crash-he was from a little village in Wales called Berriew (I think). Back to Peter I later saw him 21st June at L.E. riding for Kings Lynn against the Archers -good meeting L.E. won 44-33, Peter scored 10 pts second highest behind Terry Betts who got a 15 point max (another question-can't figure out why Bettsy made only one World Final appearance in his long career). Think Peter had a couple more seasons and then dropped down a league (Rayleigh maybe?). Unfortunately Peter died at the young age of 67 in Aussie. Memories of Peter?? -would be great to hear them

Both Valeri and Vladimir made World Final appearances- I've got Vladimir appearing in 1970-71-74-75( 0 pts. from reserve)--76.. Highest score was 11 in 1971, but not sure if he got excluded later.. For Valeri I've got 1972-73-75-76. Can anyone confirm that my records are accurate-reason I am asking is that in the Maurice Jones History of World Finals book-there might be a misprint (can't find the book right now) and he might have got the two mixed up .

Thanks for sharing that Norbold-great memory from Stan -another stalwart of the Prov. League

Just heard from Reg Fearman , who got an e-mail from Bert Harkins , that Doug passed away age 90, another Provincial League stalwart gone. Reg rode against him many times and always felt he was a tough but fair competitor. R.I.P. Doug

Thanks for clearing that up guys, greatly appreciated.

Were there two riders called Jack Scott-I am not sure? One I think was a prominent Prov. League rider with maybe Plymouth say around 1962, was there another Jack Scott who I think rode for CH in the mid sixties are they one and the same? What happened to him or them??

Yup, my whole friggin' life has been spent in the Twilight Zone (I like it better there!!)

In a thread about the best Australians I also mentioned that Peter Moore seems forgotten-anybody have any memories of Peter?

People who live on the Canadian Prairies!!

Ah! The Beano with Biffo the Bear on the front, Lord Snooty and his Pals, Bash Street Kids. The Dandy with Korky the cat and on the back Desperate Dan who used to eat cow pie with two horns sticking out of the crust. Always thought The Eagle was a bit posh-but liked Dan Dare and his arch enemy "The Mekon"

Tommy Roper ran a successful chain of hairdressing salons, Johnny Reason owned a successful trucking company

I thought Peter Moore would be worth a mention!. From my limited experience (from 64-68)-I would have to put Charlie Monk top of my list -then John Boulger and Jim Airey-also Gordon Guasco, Peter Vandenberg, Jack Geran and Geoff Mudge. Overall though would have to say Jackie Biggs (still going strong until his death)!!

OK OK before anybody gets on my case I know I have to get a life. For the heck of it I looked up the great book -"World Speedway Final A History from 1929" by Maurice Jones.. I wanted to see if any of the riders of the old one-off World Finals are still with us. Obviously all the pre -war World Finalists have left us, so I looked at the 1949 Final and they have all gone too. Going to 1950 we do have one survivor -Arthur Payne, scored zero from 5 rides including one exclusion but he was there-good on him.(my buddy Reg Fearman visited him a couple of years ago in Oz). I then went to 1951-there is also one survivor-Dick Bradley. Dick was a reserve and got 2 points from one ride -Heat 17 -looks like he replaced Ernie Roccio and finished second behind Louis Lawson but ahead of Alan Hunt and Norman Parker. Incidentally I always felt that Dick-who was a real gent- never got the recognition his career deserved. I was privileged to see him ride in his last year at Newport in 1965-still leading the Wasps averages until his accident at Newport against Sheffield with Clive Featherby(also RIP)-don't think there was anything intentional but Clive was a take no prisoners kind of guy. On to 1952-now there are a few more still with us -and we are talking about 67 years ago here folks. Arthur Payne made it again - 9 points this time. After not doing so good in his first two rides he scored two points in his third ride finishing behind Jack Young in Heat 12 but ahead of Brian Crutcher and Arthur Forrest, then he won Heat 16 ahead of Graham Warren, Cyril Roger and Ron How, and Heat 20 ahead of Split Waterman, Jeff Lloyd and Dan Forsberg. A not too shabby performance I would say. The other 1952 survivors are the aforementioned Dick Bradley, Dan Forsberg, Brian Crutcher and Derek Close. So 5 of these great rides are still with us. Just a final comment-after three rides -Dick Bradley was still in with a real chance with 8 points. In Heat 4 he finished ahead of Split, Brian Crutcher and Cyril Roger. Then in heat 8 he finished behind home rider Bob Oakley but ahead of Arthur Payne and Henry Long. Heat 9 he won ahead of Derek Close, Dan Forsberg and Ron How (another favourite of mine). So after 3 rides Dick was in with a great chance-Jack Young had nine points and then there was Fred Williams, Bob Oakley and Dick all on 8 points. I still reckon that Fred and Bob as home riders had an advantage-if the meeting had been held at Bristol it may have gone the other way. Sorry to bore you guys with all this-just wondering if any forumlanders were at the 1950,1951 and 1952 Finals- anybody-gustix maybe? I sure wish I had been able to attend!! -

You gotta keep your programmes mates-I am proud to say I kept every one-got my mum (RIP) to send them to Canada when it was obvious I wasn't coming back to live in UK. Have also kept my US programs-Costa Mesa, Ascot raceway, World Final at Los Angeles Coliseum etc even theprograms from the Canadian tracks of Welland and Paris-the latter was a hidden gem-great place sadly now closed. I recall seeing a former World Finalist , Robert Slabon, who emigrated here from Poland at that track. One of the best meetings I ever saw was the Canadian Championship in Paris about maybe 15 years ago-Kyle Legault came back from UK- a favourite to win he was undefeated , broke the track record twice, although a local guy Aaron Hesmer gave him a run for his money. Wish we still had speedway here.

Sorry I should have posted this as a quote to Sidney the Robin rather than Steve who in turn quoted Sid. Anyway am glad Pete's name came up again!!

Hi Steve-I started a thread on this site on Speedy Pete way back on Dec 26 2006 entitled "What happened to the Lemon Drop Kid" there were a number of responses you might be interested in. Sadly Pete passed away in 2007 aged 72 from prostate cancer- I remember him well-he scored 11 points in the last PLRC Final and just missed a run off for third with Pete Kelly and Roy Trigg

That's a drag- I missed Cyril Brine by one year and Geoff Pymar by two-where was Wal Morton riding in 1964??-don't recall seeing him-will have to check my programs. Thanx for the info Norbold.

Enjoyed your post Norbold-where was Ron Johnson riding in 1960??wish I could have seen him although I guess he must have been a shadow of himself. I know Geoff Pymar kept going for a long time -was he in a Prov. League team when you saw him?? Think I may have only just missed seeing Cyril Brine and Wal Morton but not sure.

Jim was amazing-he was still riding in the BL in 1967 and very much holding his own-reckon he would have been 46 then. Anybody remember reading about him getting riders to stop riding in the 1963 Provincial League Riders Final at Belle Vue until the promoters agreed to come up with a five person run off to decide the last two riders to get to the 4 rider Grand Final (at least I think that was the reason although memory may be getting a bit foggy after 56 years!!!!!!!!!!). Great character was Cap'n Jim-looked like a pirate with his beard.!!

Sorry for incorrect spelling in topic title!!

I first saw speedway in 1964 and have wondered whether any of the League Riders of 46- 47 were still around and I had seen them ride-. So I consulted Peter Morrish's great book "Britsh Speedway Leagues 1946-64". I never got to see any of the League Riders of 1946 but did get to see 6 guys who were in action in 1947. In fact two from Division 1 -Jack Biggs (Harringay) and Howdy Byford (West Ham), two from Division 2 Gordon McGregor (Glasgow White City)and Jack Winstanley (Wigan) and two from Division 3 Ray Harris (Hanley) and Jim Squibb (Southampton. For subsequent seasons of course the number goes up. I am sure other forumlanders must have seen many more from those two seasons than me- Norbold for a start and Gustix (obviously)-any other memories from anyone-including the aforementioned two Cheers all

I agree-Tom finished top of the averages for Exeter in 1966-ahead of such luminaries(I like that word) as Colin Gooddy, Neil Street, Jack Geran and Jim Squibb. He was one of the Prov. League riders who more than held his own against the NL riders- Charlie Monk was another as was Eric Boocock and Dave Younghusband. I recall being at Wimbledon on July 2 1966 (had to look at my programme) when Tom top scored for Exeter and beat Olle Nygren in the second half for the Silver Sash (what happened to that BTW-does anybody have it in storage) in a very fast time. Glad to hear Tom is enjoying his retirement in NZ

Was interested to follow this thread -one question-was the Ron Taylor-actually Roy Taylor who rode for Neath in 1962?? Also interested to see Brian Brett's score- recall him being the top qualifier for the British Final in 1964-when he was a favourite to win it and regarded as a cert for the 1964 World Final-not to be. Came back in 1965 and did make the World Final- I was there- he rode very well-does anyone know why Brettie retired so young- and come to that I reckon if he had carried on he could have got to a few other Finals. Any thoughts??

I betcha Norbold will know the answer to this -maybe others too. One of my biggest regrets is that I never got to go to New Cross.

Back in the mid sixties- I certainly recall Mike Coomber, Steve Chilman and Geoff Hughes, also I would reckon on Tony Childs as a #7 -maybe in 1966. Great triers all. Since we are on the subject of #7's- I think of Ted Ede who did yeoman service for West Ham, Don Smith and for Hackney Sandy McGillivray and John Poyser-and while I'm at it Alan Jay for Sheffield (who later progressed to the regular team). At Newport Peter Harris, Ian Terrar and Alan Jones. We shouldn't forget these guys who all played their part in making speedway a great sport in the sixties.