asturmer

Thanks for all the info to date. I hear he was also known as the king of crashes, breaking many bones during his long riding career!

I will try the Old Time Speedway Group for more info!

Phil Bishop was a very long serving member of the Speedway community from rider through to Manager and subsequent death in Belgium on a speedway trip as Manager of the WestHam speedway Team. Can anyone fill me in on essential information, which teams he rode for, any other information?

Barry Thomas has moved back to Kent, close by the Sittingbourne track. He is building a bike for fun. Will he have another skid around Iwade the track he used to run with brother Ivor?

Sounds like an excellent day out! Unfortunately I,m on the other side of the World, hope it goes really well!

Before I left England for the Colonies ie in the early 90,s I watched both Alan Sage and Malcolm simmons riding at a trials meeting in Kent. They were both excellent to watch and showed they still had great balance!!!!

Lance King is contactable but never answers polite emails! Ex pat speedway riders living in Perth say he will never answer as he thinks he is above every one else in the food chain! You are no doubt aware that all these riders are on Facebook, Lance I think lives in Arizona, both Morans are now contactable. Dennis Sigalos does answer emails as does Ron Preston, both could feature, and both are gentlemen!

Thanks Jim!

Thanks to everyone for the feedback on Hradrecky. I remember meeting Mike Lohmann at Iwade speedway when his son was practising as a junior. Mike showed me his arm injury which marked the end of his career. He was also praising Gordon Kennett as the best inside line rider ever!!

Re the Red Star Team from the 80,s can anyone give me any info on Ladislav Hradecky???

I am a little biased perhaps as I was a travel guide in Croatia for Enterprise holidays, and met my Croatian wife in Zagreb!!!

The Teeside Andy Buck may be the same one who went on later to ride for Peterborough from 1979, he would have been a very young reserve at Teeside!The Andy Buck who joined the Police Force rode also at Scunthorpe for one season in 1985 after leaving Eastbourne!! So must be the tall balding Andy Buck, same one?

We have heard of speedway riders who went to jail! What about those who became policemen after they retired from the Sport. The one I,m thinking of is the tall gangly underrated but highly skilled National League rider for Eastborne and others..... Andy Buck, who is now a police dog handler in the North East of England. Any others out there?

I was pleased to see such interest still in the Red Star team, and this forum always gives me new information and feedback from you budding speedway historians out there!! Some people posting in years gone by, obviously do a lot of research to help the rest of us. What would we do without British Speedway Forum!

It has already been plus 40c here in Perth Australia this January and will be plus 42 c on next Saturday. I can not imagine -40 only dream about the possibility of seeing ice speedway in Europe one day!!!!

I would guess it may be Jiri Hnidak? He toured in the early 80s.

Ex Exeter and Aussie team rider, 53 year old Alan Rivett, showed recently that he has still got what it takes by finishing second to Ty Proctor in a meeting at the small and tricky Pinjar speedway in Perth!

Zagreb is a lovely relaxed City, friendly people, nice food, great weather in summer, you will have fun!

Unfortunately speedway in the West of Australia is slowly fading away this year. Not sure if the cancellation of both the Ron Johnson Memorial and the Western Big One is due to riders not wanting to race in the West or the recession! In the Eastern States the sport seems to be very much alive! What happened to Perth????

Ivan was looking great when I spoke to him before Christmas in Perth, following his recent leg/knee surgery.

I am still convinced to this day that the bouncing Czechs of the 70,s Red Star Prague team, including riders like Zdenek Kudrna literally used the boards at turn 2 and 4 to gain more drive out of the turns! These were great meetings to watch at NL tracks. The Czechs always put up a fight and my own memories were mainly vs Canterbury at Kingsmead.

Racing in the 70s was much more spectacular and unpredictable! Roger Johns in the outside dirt, overtaking two riders on 3rd and 4th bends at Wimbledon, Barry Thomas, from the back in every race without exception!!!

If you join Facebook you can talk to the man himself! He is on there and likes to keep in touch with fans and riders together with lots of other former riders! good luck with the restoration, I recently restored a 1986 Glenn Doyle Godden Max upright and its picture is on my face book page.

Around 2005 when I was last back in the UK I ran in to Alan Johns by chance at his shop Alan Johns products in Lakedale Road , I think London SE18. A grasstrack bike in the window tempted me in for a look. Alan was very charming and chatty and his trade mark from the 70,s the bushy beard had gone, so he looked young for a fifty something!

I spoke with Chum Taylor at a classic speedway show here in Perth last sunday. He is very fit and well and is a spokesperson for pensioners here in WA. He still has a lot of fire in him when speaking out for the rights of Aussie over 65,s!