BOBBATH

I woz there. Like you Wessex I was at the rained off meeting but since I was still at school was able to go to the rerun. As a sidebar: for the first meeting I had hitch hiked up from Cardiff-when the meeting was rained off I begged for a ride from the Newport Supporters Coach and as they had a free seat they were ok with it. Not only did I get a free trip back but Ian Terrar(later briefly rode for Newport) who like you couldn't make the rerun, gave me his ticket. Thanx ian if you're reading this -I owe you one!!. Now to the meeting- Charlie Monk had won every race in all his qualifying meetings - and was the top ex Prov.League rider that year. The program note referred to him as "a true star and world champion in the making".. Charlie duly won his first race (heat 2) -finishing order was Monk, Broadbanks, Briggs, Gooddy. In his second race(heat 5) the result was Vandenberg,Monk,Genz,Bill Andrew. As a Newport supporter could it be Vandenberg's night-sadly no as that was the only points he scored all night. After 4 heats- Monk had 8 points, other contenders: N.Boocock 8 McKinlay 9,Gooch 7,Luckhurst 7,Broadbanks 8,Guasco 8,Brett 8,Briggs 10. Charlie's last heat was 20. As I recall Mckinlay and Monk were tussling for second place(I could be wrong on this-perhaps BL65 or Norbold et al can confirm or correct me)Over goes Ken Mckinlay, Monk excluded and in re-run the result is Gooch, McKinlay ,Mauger (Ivan still suffering effects of early season crash). Charlie doesn't make the top six who qualified and even missed out on run off for reserve-(Broadbanks beats Guasco-both on 9 points.) So qualifiers were Briggs 13,Boocock 11, McKinlay 11 , Brett 10, Gooch 10, Luckhurst 10. For the latter three it was to be their only Final appearance. Never mind we thought- Charlie will for sure be back next year and in several future World Finals. However you know the rest of the story.... P.S. Glad I kept my program all these years, and hope this brings back memories for any forumlanders who were also there. Before I forget, the rerun meeting was also run on a rainy evening and the start was further delayed as the riders went on a strike to get more money before they would ride!! An agreement was fortunately reached and the meeting went on.

Ronnie repeated his 1961 feat of getting to the British final which was the penultimate hurdle for the World Final, by doing the same thing in 1965 when he got to the British Final again when it was also the last hurdle before the World Final. Great rider , sadly missed by all .

Just heard from Reg Fearman that Ronnie died today. R.I.P.

Debbie, I can't tell you how sorry I was to read your post. I remember your dad very well and like you say he was a legend in my eyes also. Particularly remember him from the mid sixties with Poole before I left for Canada. I know that many people in forumland feel the same way, if possible please let your dad know how well respected he remains by a whole generation of supporters.Wishing you the best at this tough time.

I agree that Republic of Ireland tracks should be excluded as not part of UK. If we start including them we might as well try to add NZ,SA, Canada and Australia tracks-at least they were part of the Commonwealth (SA till 1961) while the Republic was not.

Blimey this post brought back some memories as I was at Newport to see the Golden Helmet challenge of McKinlay v. Briggs in 1965. Always recall Ken wearing his bobble-hat or as we would say in Canada his "toque"(pronounced "took")!!!

Can anybody update the above list - I think we have lost 3 or 4 of the above names. On a happier note-last month Split celebrated his 93rd birthday. Looks well.

Since we are talking about Roy Trigg- while I agree that he had great success by finishing 3rd in British Final and that may be his greatest success -don't lets forget his achievement in the 1964 Prov. league final- -a tremendous meeting. Mauger beat Monk in a run off for first and second but Roy beat Pete Kelly in a run off for 3rd. Roy had a great PL career with Hackney and carried this on to the 1965 BL season- Roy always went well at Somerton park and never complained about the state of the track. Glad to hear he's enjoying life in the rickety rackety islands. Great memories of a great rider.

I think it has to be Uncle Joe

But ain't Jimmy Squibb still top?

Thanx for posts Split and Norbold-didn't really think it thru. My idea was that riders who achieved fame in BL after riding in PL and making their name in that league should be included -thus Jack Kitchen should be included along with Ivan. The guys I didn't include were those who were NL regulars who had made their name in NL and then joined PL at the end of that league-thus I wouldn't include for example Alby Golden, Dick Bradley and Peter Vandenberg as PL graduates. Thanx for the posts though-here's another PL guy who might make the cut-Pete Jarman (the Lemon Drop Kid) BTW can you still purchase PLJ lemon juice in UK-no-one has heard of it over here!!

Never saw Al Sparrey ride (before my time) but at one time had a pile of 1950's Speedway Stars so am familiar with his career--quite a character. Is Al still with us or if he has taken the great checkered flag when did he pass away? Thanx for this post gustix-he was another character that should never be forgotten.

You're right Split. Jack rode fully for PL in 63 and 64 , but in 62 rode 13 times for B.V. , 17 times in 61 and once in 60. So tough call either way. Jack was a great rider and great guy and as we found out from his daughter on Speedway Plus site passed away far too young from a brain tumour.

Yup Split-I missed the obvious one

Reckon I should have mentioned Clive Featherby also-if you go to youtube and enter his name- interesting interview with him-sounds like he's mellowed over the years-he was one tough s.o.b.!!

Back to 1965-the posts about George hunter remind me that he was one of the very best Prov. League stars to make it big in BL 1965-always did well at Newport. Didn't seem to do so good at World champ meetings though. Others of course include Charlie Monk, Jim Airey, Gordon Guasco, Ray Wilson, Ivor brown etc etc. -can anyone around add to the list-BL65, Norbold, Gustix etc etc. Was looking at my old 1965 programs the other night -wotta year that was!

Went to the link mate, excellent analysis, found it most interesting and thanks for the hard work you put in on this.

Brian Brett- retired far to early. For sure should have made the 1964 World final after leading the qualifiers for the British Final where there were 8 spots available for the qualification for the World Final.. Made the 1965 World Final-scored 9 points then retired 2 or 3 years later.

Very sorry to hear this- do any forumlanders know old was Dave at the time of his sad passing?

Great to see the names of Jimmy Squibb, George Hunter and Colin Gooddy at the top. Was privileged to see all three race in 1964-68. Amazing longevity of JS career-always a great entertainer!! BTW- Gooddy is quite an unusual name-was Colin any relation to the Great Train robber of the same name-anyone know??

Tommy Miller was my choice for the same reason as Iris123 mentioned-particularly when you compare Tommy to his contemporary Ken McKinlay!! I also still maintain David Crane never went as far as he seemed likely to do when he first started. Not to take away anything from any of these riders though!!

Deano,I wouldn't worry about that- I would time travel into the frigging stadium-not outside it and try and get in!!

BL65 , I agree with Sidney really enjoyed reading your post-many memories. If I could add one comment-some old NL riders who didn't do so well in 1964 got a new lease of life in 1965- the best example being Jack Biggs with Newport (wait a minute when I think back ,he might have been the only example).!!!!. What a thrill it was for me to visit BL tracks like Swindon, Belle Vue, Wimbledon and West Ham for the first time. Didn't get to Coventry or Oxford till 1967 and 1968. Too bad Norwich closed before I got that chance.

I'd like to go back to see the 1955 World Final that Peter Craven won.

Yeah BL65 I went to about 32 meetings in 1965- to Sidney the Robin-missed Charlie Monk winning Easter trophy or Internationale -but was there when Charlie who looked like a cert to qualify for the World Final, just missed out at the British Final in September at WH. Reckon he would have done well if he'd qualified. A damn shame that he didn't. What a year though!!