The Garry Stead Benefit “grand Prix”

[Tigerblade]

Not much I can add but...

 

I'm sorry I missed a few forumers last night, but I had a good vantage point on my "old haunt" - the back of the first bend terracing - with a bit of breathing space, so decided to stay there

 

Can echo everyone else re Lee Complin - I still don't know how he managed to squeeze through even now. With Richard Hall and Moggo having come to grief in a similar part of the track it was even more nerve wracking! Talking of whom, glad Moggo is okay and get well Richard, doesn't seem fair someone got injured bearing in mind what the meeting was for in the first place.

 

Best Wishes to Garry and family for the future xx

[Mr. Clemens]

Gary Stead

Every time I feel the spirit

 

It was – as you would expect – an emotional night

It was – the best night I have spent at speedway in years

 

I set off from home at 4-30pm because the gates were opening at Owlerton at 5pm to let in the anticipated big crowd turning up for this meeting

The weather was hot and that would more than ensure a lot of people – from all over the country - were going to be there as soon as they could get there

So I went there early to get myself a parking place

On arrival at the stadium – you could see the car park was already filling up with speedway folk – and the gates were open – so I made my way into the stadium

 

After purchasing my souvenir program – and as there was at least two hours to wait before the meeting began –I went for a wander round the stadium – to see who was who – what was what – and what was going on

 

As I was wearing – my new top of the range – hot off the press – Halifax Dukes T/Shirt – it wasn’t long before I was accosted by an elderly gentleman waxing lyrical on bygone days at the Shay – with new suggestions as to why those bygone days went

But this gent also had a piece of up to date news to impart to me

 

‘Do you know Michael Lee won’t be here tonight???’

It was immediately obvious – by the look on this gent’s face - that I was being drawn into a Morecambe and Wise moment here.

He was the ‘Wise’ having already said the words inviting this ‘comedian’ to deliver the punch line

 

While staring into the gent’s face – who had a twinkle in his eye and the beginnings of a grin on his face – I thought – should I ‘feign ignorance’ – as to what he was inferring – and let him stew in the agony of his anticipation of the appropriate reaction

Or – should I provide the ‘punch line’ expected of me – I decided on the latter and said –

‘Nowt’s changed then’

 

The gent’s face developed into a broad grin – as I had ‘fallen for his ploy’ of leading me down the comedic garden path – and into providing the ‘correct’ answer – required of anyone who remembered – ‘Michael from the old days’

 

But it remained to be seen if Michael was to be there or not – I thought that - it could be that the rumours – had been put about by Michael himself – to inject a little controversial spice into the evenings proceedings – for a bit of fun

But Michael wasn’t there – for the word was he’d suffered a groin strain practising for the meeting

 

But – as it often happens – people who are going to appear in a meeting – can’t be there – for one reason or another

I am sure Emiliano Sanchez would rather have been there – instead of languishing in a hospital bed

As I am sure Michael Lee would rather have been there too – but I wish Gary Stead had a pound for every time that scenario described above – was played out – inside and outside the stadium that night.

 

Walking towards the area where the riders park their vehicles – I saw a group of supporters – gathered around someone – a rider I thought – who was taking part in the meeting

 

But the person people surrounded was none other than – Gary Stead himself

So I stood and observed the proceedings from – afar

Now – in normal circumstances – speedway riders and their camp followers – are usually – wrapped in a cocoon – to insulate them from – intruders from – the outside world – that being us – the great speedway supporting public

 

And – because of the – ‘Fragile State’ – you might well expect Gary Stead to be in – caused by the injuries he had suffered – and the emotions being generated – that the evenings events – were bound to produce

 

I expected that - because of all of these things – that Garry would be - unobtrusively – brought into the stadium – out of sight of everyone – to protect him from being overwhelmed by what was going on

 

Then – from nowhere – I expected that Gary would be introduced to the assembled crowd – surrounded by a phalanx of protective minders – that included armed Securicor guards – in order to triple cocoon him – from anyone who might add to his fragile state.

 

Someone said – ‘have you got a pen?’

Out of the blue – I’d been asked the question that makes any true speedway supporters blood run cold!!!

I wanted to reply – with the time honoured response beloved of any well armed speedway supporter

‘Course I’ve got a f/king pen – how very dare you think otherwise!!!’

 

But I thought – ‘No’ – this isn’t the time or the place - for deep wicked sarcastic wit – and said brightly – ‘Yep – somewhere deep inside my bag’

 

I gave this person a pen – and followed him – as he moved in closer to Gary – to make sure I got my pen back – and to get Gary’s signature too

 

And there wasn’t a minder in sight – far from it

Garry was there – ‘on his own’ – signing autographs – with a big relaxed smile on his face – with a word for everyone who approached him – my immediate thought was

‘They’ve abandoned the poor b*ggar in a sea full of the speedway supporting public.

 

When it was my turn for Gary to sign my program – he looked up – spotted the T/shirt – and with a big smile said – ‘Halifax Dukes’

Which proved – there and then – that all Gary’s mental faculties were intact.

 

Recently I had indulged myself in having ten T/shirts made up – which cost a pretty penny let me tell you – because even though the famed Halifax woolly pully of mine – is a work of art – it’s useless because

A. it’s too small and never fitted me properly

B. it’s made of pure wool – with a roll down polo neck and – therefore – too damn hot to wear in a heat wave.

 

(‘What bleedin heat wave,’ – cry the speedway supporting millions in unison!!!)

 

So I had these ten T/shirts made up – (minimum order) – by a firm near Halifax – where else!!!

While explaining – to the proprietors - how I wanted them done – they mentioned that they’d seen Gary Stead on TV – a few days previously

 

I told them I was going to contact someone involved in raising funds for Gary – to give them one of the T/shirts – to get it signed by people –– then auction it on Ebay - or something like that

 

But with Gary’s enthusiastic response – I opened up my bag – pulled out a T/shirt and said – ‘here have one’

 

Gary can keep it – or do something with it to raise money – though I think he will hang on to it myself – even though I know – he knows – that when he wears it – it will make him one of the ‘brotherhood’ – a bit like the mafia

And as with Al Pacino – he will think – ‘Just when I thought I was out – they drag me back in again’

 

As I moved on – Gary was still smiling – signing autographs – with a word for everyone – then I spotted a friend of mine – talking to someone – I thought I knew.

 

At first I thought it was Peter Collins – then immediately realised it was his brother Les – who was great to chat to – who I thought ought to have been world champion – circa ’82’ – and told him so

 

‘At least I prevented an American one – two – three,’ said Les

‘You did us proud,’ said I, ‘and that’s what mattered.’

‘I held the track record at Halifax,’ said Les at one point.

‘What for a week,’ said I?

‘I think it was about that long,’ chuckled Les

 

Les was a gentleman to talk to – as was his brother Peter – when I had a chat with him awhile ago – at the Eric Boocock book launch in Halifax that PC attended.

 

The last time I saw Gary Stead – before the meeting – he was still smiling – chatting and signing autographs – with a word for everyone – not a minder in sight

 

I parked myself between in the stand overlooking bends three and four – and looked round at the stadium

There was a ‘middling crowd’ assembled by now – more than for the normal meetings at Sheffield – but – not as many as expected – but it was Thursday day night – and not everyone would be able to make it there – as conveniently as I had

 

Yet as the start of the meeting came closer – the place suddenly filled up. The third/fourth bend stand – usually pretty empty – found itself housing a good few folk

Some of them even ventured onto the back straight area – I was contemplating joining them till the little voice in my head said –

‘Don’t – they will be fetching them back soon’ – which they did

Wicked or what eh?????

 

I was joined - at this point - by Coventry supporter and forumite – ‘Full Throttle’

I wondered how he’d found me in such a big crowd?

Perhaps it was because – ‘I glow in the dark’ – courtesy of all my trips to Sellafield Nuclear Power plant – radioactive or what eh!!!!

 

He thought I didn’t recall him – but I knew who he was – I just couldn’t think of his forum name the moment he arrived

 

Then Garry Stead arrived on the centre green – and you could feel the emotion of the crowd – sweeping down off the terraces

You shared in this emotion – as Gary was reunited with those who had saved his life. People who had come all the way from Somerset - unknown to Gary - to be there

Gary spoke to the crowd thanking everyone for all they had done – and were doing for him

 

While filling in the changes in the line up – I told F/T who was replacing who – discussing the reasons why - people scheduled to be there - weren’t going to be there on the night.

We agreed it didn’t matter who was there – but I said what did matter was – that no one got injured tonight – as that was the last thing we wanted in a meeting of this nature

 

There were four incidents of note to record – during the meeting

One was Richard Hall’s crash – exiting the second bend - which involved him having to go to hospital

Alan Mogridge’s argument with the fence – in almost the exact place – as Richard Hall’s crash

Chris Kerr looping off his bike – between the third and fourth bend – in his second race

All of these incidents occurred - with only six heats proper - and one veteran’s race – having taken place

 

In a race - later on in the meeting - Ben Barker connected with the fence – at the same point Chris Kerr parted company with his bike - between bends three and four

Ben received special praise for not ‘staying down’ – for getting up off the track – and removing his machine – allowing the race to continue

Praise richly deserved - as he must have been in pain – but also knowing that time was slipping by – and the meeting had to be completed before the ‘curfew’

 

Everyone was putting their heart and soul into this meeting – none more so than Lee Complin – someone I don’t know much about at all – other than he left the sport in 2003 - and that he returned this year for the 2007 season

 

But as time was running out on the meeting – the semi finals were decided on the results of four races instead of five.

The final line up consisting of – Complin – Compton – Lyons – Lindgren

 

With a majestic sweep round the boards – from the outside gate position – into the lead – you could be forgiven for thinking Freddie Lindgren had the race – and the meeting – in the bag – but Lee Complin obviously thought otherwise.

 

Complin stalked Freddie for all four laps – seemingly to have ‘blown it’ in lap three – but caught up with Lindgren through lap four – squeezing between Freddie and the fence to win the meeting – and the well deserved plaudits of the crowd.

 

F/T didn’t see this race as he’d left the stadium after heat 16 – has he had to be somewhere 90 miles away by midnight – but it was nice meeting him again.

I hope to meet up with him again at the Coventry/Ipswich fixture on Friday August 31st if I don’t go down to Oxford for the meeting against Boston instead

 

Special mention also for Alan Graham who – especially in his second veterans race – looked like he’d never been off a speedway bike – and won his race two seconds slower - than a lot of the races in the main meeting

 

By now people were already drifting out of the stadium – I wondered around once more – while the car park emptied and the road outside got quieter – before I left the stadium myself

I watched the presentation on the centre green for awhile – then wandered around some more – as the traffic were still queuing to get out of the car park

 

By the pits there was Lee Complin – describing to someone – the race with Freddie Lindgren – stating how close by each other they were – as he made his pass – stating how one wrong move – by either of them could have meant disaster

 

I asked Lee to sign the program and congratulated him on his win – saying he had done well tonight and deserved his win – and was somewhat taken aback by his reply

‘Thank you,’ replied Lee emphatically, ‘I really appreciate you saying that.’

 

As I moved on round the corner towards the riders vehicle park - I was thinking that Gary Stead would really be exhausted by now – taking in to consideration all the evenings events – and the emotions involved in all that had gone on.

 

But no – there he was again – surrounded by speedway supporters – with the same enthusiastic smile on his face – signing programs – posing for cameras – with a word for everyone – just has he had been four hours or so earlier

 

There was an atmosphere present – during the – The Gary Stead Benefit Grand Prix

An atmosphere – I haven’t experienced in years – at a speedway meeting

A sense of togetherness

 

All the walls and barriers – usually erected between those – on the other side of the fence – and the speedway supporter – weren’t there

Even the usually ‘arrogant’ – were calmly signing autographs – perhaps having finally realised – there is no need for such – ‘self protecting barriers’ – in the main

 

There was a feeling of unity present – a bonding together – and all this was generated by the presence of one man – Gary Stead.

 

Gary has said – he wants to remain involved in speedway - I for one hope he does

Because in his darkest hours – he has been given the ability – to shine a light into that other darkness – that sometimes envelops speedway

 

The darkness that prevents those controlling speedway knowing what to do next

 

Gary can continue to be the – ‘Go Between’ – who can be the living embodiment of speedway as a family sport

The man who broke down the barriers – between either side of the speedway fence – and brought them together as one

 

It was – as you would expect – an emotional night

It was – the best night I have spent at speedway in years

 

That is the magic of Gary Stead

[jill]

would haven been nice to meet the peeps there but couldnt see any familar faces about, only liontamers but by the look on his face when i smiled at him he didnt reconise me

 

 

was a good night and im sure there was lots of money raised for steady.

 

a special night for a special person... xx

[tigerblues]

Mr. Clemens - what an excellent post, not for the first time from you.

[MattyHart]

Another fantastic post Mr.C they really do get better

[adz_mft]

Superb post Mr C

 

adz

[Philip Addison]

Great post Mr.Clemens. I have a friend who was gutted he couldn't be there last night but i hope you don't mind i have printed your post off and will put it inside the programme i got for him, i'm sure he'll appreciate getting some of the atmosphere of the night.Thank you. Yes, one thing i didnt realise beforehand about last night was the way in which it brought so many people together. When ever i hear the latest terrible news on the radio about the latest shooting somewhere i want to think about the goodness in people we saw last night. I know it's sad the reasons we were there i mean the circumstances for which we were all supporting Garry, but yes he was amazing. I actually had a camera and wanted a picture but didn't want to impose on him too much, i was chuffed he signed mine and my friends programmes.As others have said, his attitude and spirit is amazing and strong and a lesson to us all.I'm so glad he wants to stay involved in speedway in some capacity. He's too much of a gem for speedway to lose, and last night showed he will always have the support and friendship of thousands of fans. Even if we were there because of the dark side of the sport, last night showed speedway's good side......and the reason we all love this sport so much.

[RogH]

I was at Sheffield, great night, great crowd, great final race.

 

The overall impression I have of everything Steady has said since his terrible crash, not a single hint of feeling sorry for himself, totally positive, wanting to stay involved in speedway

 

Steady, as a Vikings fan I always knew you were a class act as a rider, I now know you are a class act as a man.

 

If ever Vikings re-open you are my vote for guest of honour on opening night.

[Hollyy13]

Not sure if anyone out side of yorkshire will have seen this....but if you to :

 

http://www.itvlocal.com/yorkshire/news/.... and watch Friday 24th August...evening news (or 6pm news).... about half way through is a very nice little feature on the meeting last night, quite well done i thought except not showing the last race or saying who won!

 

But worth a watch if your interested!

[Mr. Clemens]

Great post Mr.Clemens. I have a friend who was gutted he couldn't be there last night but i hope you don't mind i have printed your post off and will put it inside the programme i got for him, i'm sure he'll appreciate getting some of the atmosphere of the night.Thank you. Yes, one thing i didnt realise beforehand about last night was the way in which it brought so many people together. When ever i hear the latest terrible news on the radio about the latest shooting somewhere i want to think about the goodness in people we saw last night. I know it's sad the reasons we were there i mean the circumstances for which we were all supporting Garry, but yes he was amazing. I actually had a camera and wanted a picture but didn't want to impose on him too much, i was chuffed he signed mine and my friends programmes.As others have said, his attitude and spirit is amazing and strong and a lesson to us all.I'm so glad he wants to stay involved in speedway in some capacity. He's too much of a gem for speedway to lose, and last night showed he will always have the support and friendship of thousands of fans. Even if we were there because of the dark side of the sport, last night showed speedway's good side......and the reason we all love this sport so much.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I don't mind you printing the post off at all PA

I agree that last nights events drew a sharp contrast with the shooting incident

And thanks too for your other comments and thank you to those others who commented too

 

Let's hope the money being raised contributes to a bright future for Gary Stead

[Liontamer]

would haven been nice to meet the peeps there but couldnt see any familar faces about, only liontamers but by the look on his face when i smiled at him he didnt reconise me

 

Blimey I do remember some bird smiling at me....I thought to myself either my flies are open or she's just farted.......sorry I didn't recognise you. Next time buy me a pint & I promise I'll smile back at you.

[Liontamer]

p.s Liontamer...I thought your hair looked great...and those shoes !

 

Cheers mate. You don't think they clashed with my handbag do you?

[Trees]

Very nice post Mr C, as usual looking deeper into the atmosphere than most and noticing things that most people take for granted ........................

[Mr. Clemens]

Very nice post Mr C, as usual looking deeper into the atmosphere than most and noticing things that most people take for granted ........................

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

It's a curse Trees that's haunted me all my life

[Guest Steve Dixon]

Some pics from the meeting.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/560421728dSAHGK

[BobC]

Great to meet Tsunami and chew the fat for some of the meeting. Could've chatted to him for hours there.

 

And finally thanks to BobC for driving me, Bren and Tom up there, if we were forced to go to the Sheffield Wednesday Superstore as pennance.  Glad the rocket fuel kept you awake, I've needed loads of it today at work, I don't think I do 3am anymore!    Oh and special mention to Brendan for winning the gating competition, now do it again on track 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oi,watch it you! Where else do you get a taxi drver who gives you a tour of the City,an education on Yorkshires finest footie team,and a memorable speedway occasion all in one day? That rocket fuel we had is still working! I genuinely enjoyed the whole day.

 

Last night at Somerset,I met up with David Hoggart.He is thrilled with the responses on here,and even though a close friend of Garry,he couldnt believe how well Garry coped with the evening.Hoggy also gave me in insight from the moment of the crash right up to almost dragging Garry away from the stadium.

 

Its a heart warming tale of tragedy and triumph.Makes you feel very humble,yet also very proud of the way our speedway 'family' pull together at times like this.I am already looking at going along to Stoke for their benefit meeting.

 

After seeing and listening to Garry,I dont think I will be able wollow in self pity ever again.

 

Truly inspiring.

[Ozyace]

Great post Mr C, it sort of made think that i was there.

Some terrific photos Steve D , loved ry4e7695 & ry4e7696 thanks mate.

 

All the best to Garry for the future.

[Guest Steve Dixon]

Great post Mr C, it sort of made think that i was there.

Some terrific photos Steve D , loved ry4e7695 & ry4e7696 thanks mate.

 

All the best to Garry for the future.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The Oz connection no doubt...

[godmother]

Pleased to be able to attend Garrys meeting and see some fantastic racing at a great track. Good to see Garry looking so positive and hopefully enjoying himself.

Was lovely to meet King Jamie again and his Dad for the first time. Nice to meet Steve Turner too.

Saw loads of old faces there for Garry-- Got a hug from Aidan Collins who was spannering for Dad, saw Dave Walsh and had a chat and Glen Hornby and Martin Dixon too. Great to see them all there for Garry.

[Ozyace]

The Oz connection no doubt...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Correct, havn't seen my drinking partner for a while now.