BOBBATH

OH NO- October 8th 1964-a day that will live in infamy- my own personal Pearl Harbour!!!!! I am still wincing, BL1965--the only point the Wasps took off Wolves that night was when Alby Golden in Heat 2 finished behind Cyril Francis and ahead of Jim Airey.(This is not from memory as I still have my 1965 Speedway stars) It gets worse-it was my 18th birthday(you don't have to send me a card next year!!), I had just started my first year at Nottingham Univ. I got German measles-was put in quarantine and missed all the first weeks' social dances etc.-where many of my friends picked up girls(or birds as we used to call them--is that term still used??)-poor me,this is the story of my life, I have never recovered!! Couple of points- if Newport had had Dick Bradley (he was never replaced after getting injured against Sheffield at Somerton Park early in the season-the dreaded Clive Featherby being the miscreant(I like that word) who knocked Dick off his bike) we might have picked up a few more points. Newport in 1965 had a perfect League home record -not so good away-only 2 wins (at Long Eaton where we won 32-46 I hitch-hiked up to see it and we won only because of the terrible injury record of Long Eaton who had started the season so well)) and our old rivals Cradley Heath which you had the good luck to attend -wish I'd been there!!.Glad you recall Jack Biggs great year at age 43 in 1965-amazing stuff. A side bar- I was in touch with Dick Bradley's daughter who kindly responded to one of my posts-Dick is a gent and is now one of the oldest surviving World Finalists-and apparently recalls the crash that ended his speedway riding career. Clearly Oct 8th 1964 must have been a dark and stormy night(registered trademark comment) for the Wasps to lose so heavily-it made such an impression on me that I felt betrayed when Peter Vandenberg defected to the dreaded Wolves in 66 or 67.Monmore Green is a track I never got to go to-I'd guess it is now a shadow of its former self. Clearly 1965 was indeed a golden year and thanx a million for starting this great thread. P.S. if you go on youtube and enter the words "Clive Featherby" you can see him hear and talk about his speedway career- a very tough guy in a universe of tough guys!!).

Cheers mate, that explains it- thanx a million-I'm also glad to find out that I am not the only one interested in all these stats!!!

Hi BL65- I was on Speedway researcher website year by year section and it shows Jack Young in 1951 with a CMA of 11.63 not 11.72 and in 1952 with a CMA of 10.97 not 10.88-reckon maybe the ones I am using include more than NL League matches-although the title on both pages says NL Averages. Are you able to get to pages listing league matches only as you have different numbers-realise this is a nerd type comment but am trying to understand why your Speedway researcher website numbers are different from the ones I have.

Re norbold comment about Jack Young.. In 1951 Jack would of course have been in Div 2-and I am sure top of those averages(I will do in depth research on this) In 1952 he was second in Div 1 averages at 10.97 behind Ronnie Moore. In 1953 he was third at 10,83 behind Moore and Olle Nygren, 3rd in 1954 at 10.36 behind Moore and Eddie Rigg and 2nd in 1955 with 10.74 behind Ronnie Moore., and just ahead of Ove Looks to me like Ronnie Moore and Ove were the top consistent guys in 1950's. I aim to please or as it used to say on urinals in UK "please aim" I have been up all night researching this and am now going to bed!!.ZZZZZZZZZZZ

Great thread, while World Finals and Journalist/Expert Rankings of are important I gotta look at the top of the NL averages for each year-so courtesy of Matt Jackson(thanx Matt here they are) oops made a mistake -here goes 1946 Jack Parker . 1947 48 and 49 Vic Duggan. 1950 Graham Warren. 1951 Aub Lawson.. 1952 ,53,54,55 and 56 Ronnie Moore. 1957 Peter Craven. 1958,59,60 and 61 Ove Fundin. !962 Bjorn Knutsson,.1963 Ove Fundin. 1964 Barry Briggs. Highest averages wer Duggan 11.48 in 1948 ditto Ove Fundin in 1960. Others over 11 average-Moore 11.42 in 1952, Peter Craven 11.14 in 1957, Fundin 11.35 in 1958 (Peter Craven finished 2nd that year with 11.22), Fundin as noted 11.48 in 1960 and Fundin 11.41 in 1961 (Knutsson finished 2nd that year with 11.03). To me Moore and Fundin have to stand out- Vic Duggan's career was outstanding but short lived and who knows what warren would have done if not for that terrible accident

Thanx waihekeaces started my morning with a good laugh-just so you know-my real name is Crazy Joe Divolo

As us vets know -these were all Eric Linden pseudonyms-was he any other people in the Star also? Further who was Frank Drake reporting on Exeter speedway-assume it refers humorously to Sir Francis Drake?? And here was me, at the time thinking the Speedway Star had an army of journalists working for them Great thread this- however I prefer to go by Riders Averages as a better indicator of rank-think Fred Williams tended to be over rated- World champ on home track only-give me a break-ditto Tommy Price. If the World Final had been held elsewhere-not a chance. Glad Jim Squibb got a mention-born in 1921-he was still riding in the mid sixties-wot a rider-Capn'Jim we used to call him-he looked like a pirate(not that there's anything wrong with that!!)--that's a Seinfeld reference BTW-not sure if it was popular in England. Thinking further on this -if World Final had been held at Exeter in mid sixties maybe Jim Squibb would have been World Champ!! Ditto Nigel Boocock at Coventry, George Hunter at Edinburgh and for sure Charlie Monk at Glasgow!! Sadly not to be.

Glad to see this post started since 1965 was to me a golden year and the season I enjoyed the most. Wonderful for a PL fan like me to see the NL riders for the first time-some as good as I expected, others not so much(particularly on the rough Somerton Park, Newport track). Re point #1- I think the guest rider system was a curse and even if a star rider was injured it sometimes gave a chance to second halfers-rider replacement I could tolerate. Although were guest riders allowed in 65??-thought that started in BL in 1966-could be wrong. #6 Agreed-challenge matches were a waste of time but I still went just to see the racing. #2 -I looked back at my programmes(all of which I still have-holy cow that's 50 years ago) and I attended 4 rained off meetings. At Newport on 9 April (v. Exeter )abandoned after 4 heats, on 7 June (v. Hackney) after 8 heats, at Belle Vue on 4 Sept (v.Newport) after 8 heats and at Newport on 24 Sept (v. Coventry) after 1 heat -so I thought fair enough in my experience. First NL rider I ever saw was Brian Elliott then riding for Halifax, won his first ride against good old Dick Bradley(glad to see both these gents are still with us)-helluva race and I thought no way the PL guys can keep up with these guys -but was I wrong!!! Just for the record Brian finished 2nd in his second race to Peter Vandenberg and then won his third against Geoff Penniket, Vic White and Bob Jameson. Halifax had a wonderful team that year-with Eric Boocock, Dave Younghusband and Eric Boothroyd -all of whom were in the all conquering Dukes team of 1966( not forgetting of course Bob Jameson, Bert Kingston and -in 65- Clive Hitch. One thing I do wish was that in 65 there would have been bonus points for close away defeats. I recall that no-hopers Newport went to the mighty Wimbledon(their first visit to an ex NL track) early in the season and lost 40-38-they sure as hell deserved something for that amazing performance imho. Hope some of this brings back memories for other vets of 65.

Correct- Eric passed away in Toronto as well as being born here, to be specific in the Toronto district of Willowdale which is close to where I live. Reg Fearman who was a friend of Eric's is still in touch with Eric's son, who lives in Ottawa. In fact they often meet up in Florida during the winter.

Thanx Macca, went to those websites-at least there is still a Waterden Road, not sure re Carpenters Road. A thing that stuck in my mind was that in the Hackney programmes in the sixties job adverts. for Lesney's makers of Matchbox toys under the heading "GET A BETTER JOB IN HACKNEY-you could apply at Eastway next to the stadium-wot happened to all those jobs available in the sixties!! Wot went wrong since then I ask.I remember practically zero unemployment. Its a tragedy.

No way, please add me to the Norman Jacobs Appreciation Society- I just got the book "Pie and Mash etc." Great read and highly recommended I reckon you didn't see CHR, Norbold, because he was stood behind the tallest ever speedway rider-which as we all know was either Graham Miles, Johnny Fitzgerald or Archie Windmill. That meeting btw which I wasn't at was the most famous performance by Simmo IMHO ever !! Couldn't believe it when I read about it in the Speedway Star.

Ah!! Hackney at Waterden Road, in 1967 recall catching the speedway special bus from Stratford Underground-it wended its way up Carpenters Road(street of a thousand smells)- can anybody tell me what is on the Waterden Road site now-something to do with the Olympics perhaps. A goddam shame Hackney's speedway home is gone(but not forgotten)!!

Was Len Read also the same guy as Tich Read?? Can't think of any others still alive who started riding in 1946-although maybe Split was riding in Germany with the forces

Yup he was the bad guy in the James Bond book!

Thank you all for the erudite explanations re Moonraker country- the only Moonraker I knew was Sir Hugo Drax!!(who he I hear you all ask) So-is there still Moonraker margarine??

Somewhat off topic but since you mention Roy Trigg, I always wish he'd got to a World Final. Tremendous rider. I remember he would always go well at Somerton Park(not the easiest track). He was there with Hackney in I guess 1966-another dark and stormy night- Roy scored a maximum, with Ernie Baker scoring zip. In the parking lot Ernie was surrounded by a bunch of young Newport fans asking why he did so badly when Roy did so well-Ernie graciously answered "well, we can't all be Roy Trigg". A very true comment. Ernie was a great trier and a real gent. Back to Roy -always remember him beating Pete Kelly in a run-off for 3rd place in the great 1964 PLRC Final. I think I may be getting too old for this website as the 70's were after my time. After all I'm even older than Norbold(didn't think that could be possible!!) Maybe we should start a topic area called "Very Many Years Gone By" !!!! I'd be posting all the time to that.

I woz there Norbold-it was a dark and stormy night!! You probably didn't see me because I was standing behind the tallest ever speedway rider-I think his name was Johnny Fitzgerald!!!!

Sadly guys I have to go all the way back to the 1965 Brit. Final at West Ham. Charlie Monk had not lost a race in all the qualifying rounds. Comes to West Ham and lost to Peter Vandenberg-and that was the only race Peter won all evening-did enough however to spoil Charlie's best ever chance of qualifying for the World Final-and he never got that close again. Anyone still out there who was at that famous meeting (delayed a week because of rain and then the riders refused to race unless they got increased money-which they ended up getting!! Oh happy and long gone days!!

Thanx guys, always learn something new on this site-and there was me thinking it was something to do with Dave Lanning's hyperbole and related to the Moonraker brand of margarine!!-is that still around BTW??

Looking thru some (very) old Speedway stars from the mid sixties does anyone know why Dave Lanning invariably referred to Swindon as being in moonraker country e.g. as in for example "Edinburgh's visit to deepest moonraker country, yielded another home win at the Abbey Stadium".

Very sorry to hear this- I best remember Reg as a member of the all conquering Hammers of the first BL season in 1965. Not only a great trier but a real nice guy too-does anyone know how old Reg was when he passed? So thanks for the memories Reg and R.I.P.

Sorry to read on the Speedway Plus website that John Edwards-Yarmouth,Stoke, Cradley and Wimbledon -has passed away aged 79.I remember him for among other things the 2nd Leg of the PL KO Cup Final v. Newport in October 1964. Despite being 20 points down after the first leg at Newport and despite missing George Major through injury, Cradley just missed winning the 2 leg Final by only 2 points, winning the second leg 57-59. John rode 6 times and scored 13 pts. including beating the great Alby Golden-great effort and great evening. As an aside in 1967 I was working for STC in Basildon during the summer and briefly lodged at 20 New Century Road Laindon, where apparently John had lodged a few years earlier when he would travel up to Stoke and ride for the Potters-can't remember the name of the landlady though. Thanks for the memories John and RIP .

No question in my mind-Bjorn Knutsson-I woz there in 1965when he finally did it after being so close before-second choice Anders Michanek

Well Norbold-sorry to hear you don't remember the Winston Churchill/ Woodbine/Red Revolution song-but then I recall you are younger than me-so good on you Whiteknight-BUT is Park Drive still going-I recall a prospective girlfriend saying to me "you can't afford me I smoke Park Drive"- shows who I used to hang out with -her name was Trixie Tulk.(can anybody put me in touch with her!!! In the shop we used to sell both Park Drive and Woodies in fives-anybody recall that??

Astorias is a long gone cigarette brand-my old man used to sell them in our corner shop in Cardiff -along with other defunct brand- e.g.wot about Park Drive, Strand, (You're never alone with a Strand)Bristol(Today's cigarette is a Bristol-this was before Bristols assumed another meaning), Olivier, Bachelor, Senior Service(are they still around), Admiral, Capstan, Du Maurier, I could go on and on-reckon I already have!! Anybody remember these -are Woodbines still going strong over in UK?? There was a line in a song-"We'll make Sir Winston Churchill smoke a Woodbine every day, when the Red Revolution comes" - Norbold may remember this!!