History of Brandon 1961-2

[Bee]

I think I lost track of these...I can find upto 1960 posted. I have up until 64. So here is the 1961 and 62 season at Brandon.

 

1961. Les Owen appears on the scene...Booey tops the averages!

 

BOB MARK took over from Vic Emms as Team Manager. He had a hard baptism as the Bees lost at Belle Vue scoring just 21 and worse at Oxford where we only managed 19...

 

It looked gloomy. But unlike 1960 when we had a good start and faded, 1961 saw the Bees start slowly then finish on a high.

 

Henryk Zyto didn’t come back from Poland, but we were allocated Kazim Bentke. He was not in the same class as Zyto though.

 

Six of the Bees were ever present in 1961 and Bentke only missed two. The injury free run contributed to a final placing of 3rd.

 

Jim Lightfoot struggled all season and retired again.!! It was Young and Boocock who led the way with “little boy blue” coming out on top as No1 a position he was to keep for most of his career at Coventry.

 

Les Owen finally arrived, and was on the verge of a international place by the end of the season averaging 7.80 in 35 matches.

 

We dropped just one point at home, when Southampton got a draw at Brandon. We picked up two wins on our travels, they were at Leicester and Norwich.

 

Wimbledon won the League for the third consecutive season. Coventry won the East Midland Bowl against Leicester. In the National Trophy we went out to Ipswich, which was a major surprise as we lost at home having already drawn in the first leg at Foxhall Heath.

 

Coventry scorer’s 1961.

1. Nigel Boocock 136

2. Jack Young 135

3. Les Owen 123

4. Nick Nicholls 88

5. Ron Mountford 85

6. Kazim Bentke 55

7. Jim Lightfoot 50

8. Maurie Mattingly 4

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE TABLE

Division One 1961

 

1. Wimbledon 18 15 0 3 830 573 30

2. Southampton 18 13 2 3 788 613 28

3. Coventry 18 10 1 7 676 728 21

4. Belle Vue 18 10 0 8 761 642 20

5. Swindon 18 8 0 10 683 719 16

6. Ipswich 18 7 1 10 681.5 720.5 15

7. Norwich 18 7 0 11 691.5 700.5 14

8. New Cross 18 7 0 11 626 774 14

9. Oxford 18 6 1 11 665 727 13

10. Leicester 18 4 1 13 599 804 9

 

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1962. Teams dwindle, handicap racing, Foreigners banned! Big Mac at Brandon along with Chippy (Elliot)

 

The numbers in the League was reduced again Leicester joined the provincial league, and New Cross closed. By July we lost Ipswich as they folded.

 

Handicap racing was introduced to the National League. Foreign riders were banned. But after fierce objections, from Norwich who didn’t relish the thought of Speedway at the Firs without Fundin.

 

That particular winter conference decision was over ruled.

 

The handicap racing was here to stay. But that too added to the discontent of supporters. Initially the grading system was to be reviewed monthly by the SCB under the Chairmanship of W Fearnley.

 

That caused problems and the SRA objected there were three grades of handicap. They wanted two. It was confusing to everyone, especially as riders had different handicaps at home and away.

 

Amendments were made with alarming regularity, until CHARLES OCHILTREE steeped in with some sound common sense advice and guidelines.

 

That only the reserve and supplementary reserve should start from scratch.. All other started 10 yds back, with the exception of Briggs, Craven, Fundin, Knutsson, and Ronnie Moore. They had to start 20 yds behind. These star some became known as the “Big Five” even then more amendments were forthcoming when a Supplementary reserve being used to replace a reserve would start from 10 yds back, and the reserve only started from scratch if his average was below 4.00.!!

 

Southampton with two “back markers” (Briggs and Knutsson ) won the title which finally gave Charles Knott his realised ambition of leading a team to a major prize.

Kazim Bentke returned to Poland as had Zyto in 1960, never to return.

 

Coventry signed KEN McKINLAY and BRIAN ELLIOT from Leicester when they switched to the Provincial League.

 

Jack Young never returned. Peter Brough made a comeback. Les Owen crashed in July and suffered head injuries which curtailed his season. LES McGILLIVARY signed from Ipswich when they closed in July.

 

Reg Duval and Col Smith (Bradford) Nick Nicholls (Cradley) Rick France Eric Hockaday Col Smith and Trevor Eadon (Leicester) Maurie Mattingly (Plymouth) Eric Hockaday (Stoke) and Graham Warren and Eric Eadon (Wolverhampton) were all ex, or contracted Bees on loan in the booming Provincial League during 1962.

 

Nigel Boocock introduced those famous “blue leathers”. Actually they were initially black but he painted them blue and painted his boots white, before later having those sky blue leathers made especially.

 

Coventry again finished 3rd behind Southampton and Wimbledon. Our only home defeat came when Southampton took the points at Brandon.

 

Away from the Hive, wins at BELLE VUE our first there..our second wasn’t to happen until the mid seventies. Norwich and Ipswich were the other two away wins, although the Ipswich one was deleted later when they closed.

 

Jim Lightfoot again returned to act as Captain and we opened with a 59-18 win over Belle Vue to avenge the thrashing they gave us the previous season. Noticeable we got that match in first in ‘62 as opposed to two visits to Hyde Rd in ’61... Nick Nicholls was actually in the Aces line up for that match.

 

New faces in the second half were HOWIE BOOTON, MATT MATTOCKS and COLIN COTTRELL.

 

Nigel Boocock won the Midland Riders Championship. Ron Mountford and Ken McKinlay finished 2nd and 3rd.

 

Coventry scorer’s 1962

 

1. Ron Mountford 194.5

2. Ken McKinlay 194

3. Nigel Boocock 182

4. Jim Lightfoot 136

5. Brian Elliot 121

6. Les Owen 89

7. Peter Brough 38

8. Les McGillivary 23

9. Rick France 14

10.Colin Cottrell 1

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE TABLE

Division One 1962

 

1. Southampton 24 18 0 6 1084 785 36

2. Wimbledon 24 14 1 9 1034 836 29

3. Coventry 24 13 0 11 992.5 875.5 26

4. Belle Vue 24 12 1 11 886 984 25

5. Norwich 24 12 0 12 909 962 24

6. Swindon 24 9 2 13 869 997 20

7. Oxford 24 4 0 20 767.5 1102.5 8

 

Ipswich 15 4 0 11 480 690 8

record deleted.