HarryA

Wasn't Ron blind in one eye?

Rays 1st brush with officialdom was when he had a Ban the Bomb sticker on his bike, the Control Board told him to remove it. After his mock hanging of Ivor Brown it was reported that the Home Office terminated his position as assistant to the executioner and as a result Ray asked to ride under the name of Tyburn Gallows which was refused. He then changed his name by Deed Poll and rode as such. His career was virtually finished with a horrific crash at Cleveland Park during a match between Middlesbrough and Canterbury. Ray came down the back straight very fast and failed to make the 3rd turn, he broadsided into the fence, his bike damaged a light support, the marks were still visible when the track held its final meeting in 1996, Ray flew through the air above my head, it was my habit to stand on the boards which protected the dog track, and ended in a recess between the dog track and the public safety fence. I was quite convinced he was dead, and as the First Aid team were on the centre green I was the first to him, he opened his eyes and said to me "That's me finished" mindful of the danger of broken bones causing further damage, I told him to lay still and not try to sit up, I then let the medics take over. I did meet up with him much later and chatted about the crash and how it had affected him. Recently I was in Leeds and in an attempt to keep the Wife and my wallet apart, I wandered into Borders where I found a book on executions which gave details of the Executioner and his assistants at each one. I spent some checking, but found that while the Executioner was always named, his assistants were sometimes not. So I couldn't be certain that Ray had or hadn't been involved. Regards to all.

Brighouse has changed a lot in the last few years, Sugdens flour mill, the large(too large?) CO-OP have both shut and awaiting redevelopment. The Ritz ballroom which was up for sale a while back, may have been rescued, and Tesco have moved onto the old cricket ground. Going back to the Hoskins i remember being at Canterbury with Middlesbrough, and Johnnie as usual was shouting lets have these bikes out, I pointed out a large pile of dirt going into the 1st bend, Johnnie turned to me and shouted there is nothing wrong with the track it's a lot better than Middlesbrough. It gave me some pleasure to remind him that he had laid the track there in 1928. Regards.

I thought that Ron Johnson was Australian and a top class rider, till he had a bad accident and returned to Australia to recuperate. Against advice he returned and was given a team place by Johnnie Hoskins at New Cross, but failed to regain his past form, Johnnie got his son Ian who ran Meadowbank to give Ron a trial with the same results. Ron spent some time doing odd jobs at the track before moving on. I have a feeling I shall soon find out if my memory is as bad as the wife says. Just got back from Brighouse shopping and forgot to get 2 items. Regards to all.

From memory Alf also rode in the Clubmans TT on an International Norton, I believe he overshot Signpost Corner due to too much speed or poor brakes. It was quite common for the roadbased bikes to have the front brake lever come right back to the handlebars after a really hard descent from the mountain.

Les Whaley was only involved at Bradford Odsal, this was after Nelson had shut. I remember this very well, because Teesside refused to continue after a few heats at Nelson due to track conditions. It was ruled that the rerun was at Bradford due to Nelson having closed. Prior to the first meeting I along with several others walked from the start line with a bucket picking up stones, when we reached the pits which where just before the 1st bend everyone had a full bucket.

Talking of records, Rochdale only lost 2 matches at home, I happened to be the Team Manager both times, firstly with Middlesbrough, going into the last heat 2 points up and getting a 3/3. Peter Collins the winner, with the late Bruce Forrester 2nd and Framk Auffret 3rd. 2 weeks later I was asked to look after Rayleigh and got the same result, despite Dingle Brown being excluded for foul riding, this was incorrect as there was a slick patch going into the 1st bend, and he pulled a locker, there was no contact with anyone and Dingle did well to stay on, the referee must have thought he did it on purpose.

As a former Team Manager I deplore the current tactical rule, which was brought in to save money. I can't help but wonder how many people have stopped going because of it, in which case has it achieved anything? My preference is for the original rule which was any team in arrears of 6 points or more, after heat 4, had choice of gate positions and could put out a tactical change, provided that all members of the team had a minimum of 2 rides. This gave scope to the Team Manager to produce a closer match and gave the paying public better value for their admission money, with no loss of credibility like the present situation. One other comment is why do very few meetings start on time nowadays, and why long delays between heats? There is no valid excuse for this as during my time at Cleveland Park with Reg Fearman and the late Ron Wilson, as the parade returned to the pits the riders who were in heat 1 parked their bikes on the track, in addition heat 2 machines and riders were ready to go out as soon as the previous heat returned to the pits. We did get some complaints but these were from Reg or Ron that the announcer hadn't had time to put over information which they had requested.