hawkeyenz

His gating isn't the greatest but he was only half a length down on Brad to the first corner in the Solo Final.

Watched BWD and George Congrieve at Ronnie Moore Park yesterday. BWD started with an EF but won his other races by 40-50m. He also rode in the Flat Tracker class so he had 10 or more rides on the day. George looked as good as I've seen him winning all his races that didn't feature Bradley and passing Andy Aldridge in his first heat. I think Andy rode for Bournemouth and Rye House in the National League back in the day. I'm a little more optimistic George can make a success of his venture with Newcastle. Speedway NZ have already cancelled all of the National Champs so I don't know how much more practice they are going to get for the rest of the southern summer.

I'm glad George Congreve has been given an opportunity but I think he will need a lot of support to achieve a 4 point average. I've watched him develop in Christchurch over the last few years and I think he is short of Championship standard. Sure he is 3 time NZ u21 champion but that is a bit of a smokescreen as to his ability given the standard of the opposition. I wish him all the best and I hope he proves me wrong. Hopefully BWD will be able to help him out.

I went to the opening meeting at Ronnie Moore Park last weekend and it was announced that Ben Whalley is taking a break from Speedway. The sidecars were the main feature and there were only 5 senior solo riders and four of them are wobblers. A couple of bright spots were a two or three talented kids on the small track riding mini 125 bikes. There was also a 15 year old who has switched across from Motor-cross that had three demonstration runs on his own and looked to have good pace. Reasonable sized crowd as there was only a few participants from outside Christchurch. Unfortunately running during the day needs many watering breaks and the meeting went over 4 hours. Also 2 ambulance changes required. Fortunately those needing the ride into hospital were not too seriously injured. There are plans for lights to be added at the venue later this season.

I remember taking my little brother to his first away meeting from Eastbourne. Huge crowd and I remember being annoyed they'd under cooked the program supply.

Malcolm Ballard, now that name is a blast from the past. Number 8 to Number 1 in one season. The second half finals in 1971 and 1972 at Eastbourne were like stockcars. I don't think he liked the Kennett's much. Reg Trott appeared to carefully avoided making the final! I remember a punch up in an Inter divisional 4TT between Malcolm and Dave Kennett in 1972. Mitch Shirra and Steve Gresham were 'hard' racers.

I went to the Sidecar Gold Cup Meeting at Moore Park in Christchurch. 16 Sidecars in a 20 Heat format then a Semi and Final. Great racing on the new shaped track. Passing in almost every race. Congratulations to the people that did all the work that has gone on in the winter months. Good field with three North Island Combos. Final won by the 29I sidecar but the Rose brothers from Wanganui were the standout with four wins and a machine failure while leading in the qualifying heats. Then they were the innocent party in a nasty crash in the final and raced a borrowed bike in the rerun. 2nd Round of the Gold Cup at Oreti Park Invercargill on Sunday.

April 1971 - Eastbourne vs Sunderland 59-19 Race 1 Derek Cook (R) Roger Johns (B) Russ Dent (W) Brian Whaley (YB) R YB B W 4-2 to the Eagles. Cook went on to a 12 Point Max and Russ Dent won Heat 13 for Sunderland's only race win to deny the Eagles 60 Time was 67.2 Hooked for life at age 11

Try subs@retro-speedway.com I subscribe from NZ and I've received Issue 94 today

SKY NZ are showing the SON from Belle Vue and presumably have the GP's so all is good with the world.

First rider whose autograph I asked for!! He was in the second half in the first meeting I ever went to and was number 1 in the averages by the end of the season. 1971 As I've said on here before the Second Half finals were often a bit like stock cars with the young men throwing their bikes at each other.

I did and they now say SKY NZ has the rights. I just hope that is now correct.

Just to complicate things. Speedway GP finally responded that I could watch the GP on Fox Sports. Unfortunately they are only in Australia!! Either the Speedway GP people are geographically challenged or Sky NZ are negotiating with Fox who have the rights for the region. On a really positive note. The English league speedway has suddenly appeared on SKY NZ schedule for Mondays match at Swindon. This is a first for NZ. We had the Swedish League for a couple of seasons a few years back

It blocks me saying it is not available in my zone. SKY NZ have told me they are still in negotiation with SGP over the rights in NZ

We've had it live on NZ Sky TV for many years but they don't seem to be advertising it this year. I'll have to look at the Live Stream option. Thanks for the replies