Graham Posted April 3, 2006 Report Share Posted April 3, 2006 Hi everyone Did any of you ever see this team in action? I've always been slightly curious about this short-lived team, which seems almost to have been forgotten about. Why wasn't the "Long Eaton" name used at the time? Why was this venture an apparent failure and why was the original name revived a couple of years later? Similarly if you've got any random memories of Nottingham, let's hear them. Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashie Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hi everyone Did any of you ever see this team in action? I've always been slightly curious about this short-lived team, which seems almost to have been forgotten about. Why wasn't the "Long Eaton" name used at the time? Why was this venture an apparent failure and why was the original name revived a couple of years later? Similarly if you've got any random memories of Nottingham, let's hear them. Graham. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Not sure, bit before my time. I assume the Nottingham name was used to attract people from Nottingham, but I am sure someone will confirm or correct this. The Nottingham Outlaws raced at Station Road, which is Long Eaton and technically is in Derbyshire so seems a bit strange to me, but hey ho. LE is actually on the border of Nottm and Derbyshire, about 6 miles each way. In my opinion since my time watching speedway very little was made to attract people from the rest of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. During our title winning year of 84, we were sponsored by Radio Trent which is Nottinghams local independent station, hard to tell if that or the success resulted in higher crowds. But apart from small speedway pieces in the Nottm and Derby paper there was never a big marketing campaign to get people in from the two big cities. heck, for a long time the local Long Eaton paper never even covered speedway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 I remember Nottingham visiting Canterbury many moons ago Did Mike Samson or Sampson ride for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Mike Sampson rode for Nottingham in both 1979 and 1980. In 1980 he topped their averages with a cma of 9.88. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wessex Wanderer Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Hi everyone Did any of you ever see this team in action? I've always been slightly curious about this short-lived team, which seems almost to have been forgotten about. Why wasn't the "Long Eaton" name used at the time? Why was this venture an apparent failure and why was the original name revived a couple of years later? Similarly if you've got any random memories of Nottingham, let's hear them. Graham. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Purely from memory: Long Eaton were taken over (or reopened) by Dan McCormick the former Cradley promoter. I believe the idea behind the renaming was both to break from the team's past (which had always been a bit of a Cinderella outfit) and also to make it more attractive to the larger population of Nottingham. The "Outlaws" had nothing to do with Robin Hood's gang - the race jacket depicted a Wild West type with cowboy hat etc. They had decent teams during their short existence and Mike Sampson was one of their top riders (I distinctly remember him conning Martin Yeates into breaking the tapes at Station Road one night - Yeatesy should have known better!). I think Graham Drury also rode for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 Mike Sampson rode for Nottingham in both 1979 and 1980. In 1980 he topped their averages with a cma of 9.88. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> wow and I remembered him I'm impressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashie Posted April 5, 2006 Report Share Posted April 5, 2006 I think Graham Drury also rode for them. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Drury certainly rode for Long Eaton Invaders, not sure he rode for the Outlaws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 No, he didn't ride for Nottingham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shazzybird Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 Norbold might be easier if you listed the names of those that did ride for Nottingham to save us all playing guessing games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted April 6, 2006 Report Share Posted April 6, 2006 As always Shazzy, your wish is my command: 1979: Dave Perks Mike Sampson Kevin Hawkins Glenn McDonald Les Sawyer Nigel Wasley Craig Featherby John Homer Mark Williams There were also a few who only rode in one or two matches: Tony Garad, Paul Share, Neil Collins, Terry Freeman, Roger Lambert. 1980: Mike Sampson Ivan Blacka Glenn McDonald Craig Featherby Mark Collins Arthur Price Steve Sant Mark Williams Peter Bacon John Homer Steve Mildoon (Paul Bosley rode for them once) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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