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Steve Johnston Speedway Testimonial - Coventry, 22nd June 2008, 1pm


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Had a brilliant time but just wish I had brought a tent to sit in to get out of the awful wind! It took me half an hour to untangle my hair tonight and although I can't afford to lose much hair, because it's so fine, I reckon I must have lost a whole months worth in one go. Still not as much as Bryn though. :lol:

One good thing we were lucky with the dust on the 4th bend as it wasn't being blown in our direction but I think the management are going to need a few lorry loads of shale to replace all that was blown away. I must say I have never seen a blue groove at Coventry but there was definitely a great big one on the 3rd bend today.

Enjoyed the auction in the downstairs bar afterwards and "people watching." As well as the programmed riders and Lol Hare, I also spotted Sean Wilson, Garry Stead, Neil Middleditch, Tai Woofenden, Alun Rossiter, Scott Nicholls with his daughter, Jeremy Doncaster, Billy Janniro, Shane Parker, Bruce Cribb, Sam Ermolenko and there were no doubt others who I didn't recognise.

Bryn being shaved was funny but I actually felt a bit sorry for him (only a bit!) because it was being done with a razor & foam rather than an electric shaver so it took ages to do. Sandie, Billy & Nikki all seemed to end up covered in more foam than Bryn. Strange. :lol:

It was good to meet Ozyace for the first time and also have a chat with my forum favourites Addy and Liontamer again.

All in all a great day out and I hope Johno gets loads and loads of money. :approve:

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Had a brilliant time but just wish I had brought a tent to sit in to get out of the awful wind! It took me half an hour to untangle my hair tonight and although I can't afford to lose much hair, because it's so fine, I reckon I must have lost a whole months worth in one go. Still not as much as Bryn though. :lol:

One good thing we were lucky with the dust on the 4th bend as it wasn't being blown in our direction but I think the management are going to need a few lorry loads of shale to replace all that was blown away. I must say I have never seen a blue groove at Coventry but there was definitely a great big one on the 3rd bend today.

Enjoyed the auction in the downstairs bar afterwards and "people watching." As well as the programmed riders and Lol Hare, I also spotted Sean Wilson, Garry Stead, Neil Middleditch, Tai Woofenden, Alun Rossiter, Scott Nicholls with his daughter, Jeremy Doncaster, Billy Janniro, Shane Parker, Bruce Cribb, Sam Ermolenko and there were no doubt others who I didn't recognise.

Bryn being shaved was funny but I actually felt a bit sorry for him (only a bit!) because it was being done with a razor & foam rather than an electric shaver so it took ages to do. Sandie, Billy & Nikki all seemed to end up covered in more foam than Bryn. Strange. :lol:

It was good to meet Ozyace for the first time and also have a chat with my forum favourites Addy and Liontamer again.

All in all a great day out and I hope Johno gets loads and loads of money.

 

 

And Stekkers was there. :lol:

 

And the shaving was my fault - A wet shave always looks more spectacular as you see it all in more dramatic style BUT - it didnt quite go to plan :oops:

Sorry Bryn - hope you have been able to tidy it up now. :wink:

 

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So Shane is out of hospital now then obviously ...................

Yes, but thankfully obviously not well enough to do a strip like he normally does at testimonials. :wink:

One more thing I must mention Superbart and his return to Brandon. Great music which really showed what we have been missing this season. Wish he could come back to liven things up again.

Also it was nice to hear the mellow tones of David Hammond on the mike again.

 

And Stekkers was there.

 

Yes I missed him off my list....and Mike Broadbank, Amando Castagna, Stuart Robson, Joe Screen & Jim McMillan. Great turnout for Steve.

Edited by Gemini
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And the shaving was my fault - A wet shave always looks more spectacular as you see it all in more dramatic style BUT - it didnt quite go to plan :oops:

Sorry Bryn - hope you have been able to tidy it up now. :wink:

Whaddawewant?? :unsure: WE WANT PHOTOS!! :lol:

 

PS Ozyace really does look like Mel Gibson doesn't he??

 

At night, in bad weather, from a distance, with a following wind.

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Ozyace really does look like Mel Gibson doesn't he??

 

:blink: Not from where I was sitting. :lol:

 

Few photos on here to give you the general gist of the proceedings. :wink:

http://community.webshots.com/album/563880201fWxlcp

Edited by Gemini
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Hmm - not sure I am pleased you put those on there now Gem.

 

My camera battery pack has failed so I thought I would sit up for a while and then try again in 30 minutes or so. But now Im not so sure.

I know I came away filthy but I hadnt realised quite how much was going on behind my back.

In some of those shots poor old Bryn looks terrified.

 

Thanks Gemini - off to have another shower - Im sure there is still some shaving gel down my neck!! :lol:

 

Edit - anyone notice the carefully chosen towel - just for Bryn!!! ;)

Edited by Sandie
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It was soooo good

 

A very enjoyable day at the Beehive. The last I saw of Bryn he was having the skin scraped off his face by Billy Janniro.

Nice seeing Gemini, Summit & Addy again, as well as being introduced to a couple of new faces.

Hope Johno made a few bob out of it.

 

 

Lovely to see you again :)

 

 

Hi VV - sort of!!

 

My error on this forum is not always reading more than one line and moving on. So I got a new razor and sme shaving gel thinking I was just doing his beard and moutache. Oh and some nail scissors just to clip a little before shaving.

 

Well - I had not realised the task in hand. And how long that amount of hair takes to remove.

 

As some one has said - Bj got involved and did quite a good job. As I clipped he shaved!!

 

Bryns hair was done to a thin scissor cut and we got through most of the beard and moutache but it took forever so we let Bryn up and he will finish the job at home.

 

And remember guys - dont let Janniro anywhere near a can of shaving gel - a lot of playing was going on behind me but I was trying to concentrate!

As soon as I can I will get photo's on here. £130 in the pot - so if anyone hasnt paid up yet the total will hopefully rise.

 

 

Now - The meeting - superb, a great win for Scott but a brilliant day for Johno.

he was still there when we left at 8.30pm and was fully involved with Mr Sandhu and out with the dogs as the evening turned from speedway to greyhounds.

 

Congratulations to all of his team for making today such a brilliant meeting.

 

And Ozyace - I LOVE YOU!!!!!

 

 

£5 well spent

 

It was so funny.

 

By the time they had finished the place was drenched in water and shaving foam.

 

Looking forward to the pictures B)

 

 

Had a brilliant time but just wish I had brought a tent to sit in to get out of the awful wind! It took me half an hour to untangle my hair tonight and although I can't afford to lose much hair, because it's so fine, I reckon I must have lost a whole months worth in one go. Still not as much as Bryn though.

One good thing we were lucky with the dust on the 4th bend as it wasn't being blown in our direction but I think the management are going to need a few lorry loads of shale to replace all that was blown away. I must say I have never seen a blue groove at Coventry but there was definitely a great big one on the 3rd bend today.

Enjoyed the auction in the downstairs bar afterwards and "people watching." As well as the programmed riders and Lol Hare, I also spotted Sean Wilson, Garry Stead, Neil Middleditch, Tai Woofenden, Alun Rossiter, Scott Nicholls with his daughter, Jeremy Doncaster, Billy Janniro, Shane Parker, Bruce Cribb, Sam Ermolenko and there were no doubt others who I didn't recognise.

Bryn being shaved was funny but I actually felt a bit sorry for him (only a bit!) because it was being done with a razor & foam rather than an electric shaver so it took ages to do. Sandie, Billy & Nikki all seemed to end up covered in more foam than Bryn. Strange.

It was good to meet Ozyace for the first time and also have a chat with my forum favourites Addy and Liontamer again.

All in all a great day out and I hope Johno gets loads and loads of money.

 

 

Whaddawewant?? WE WANT PHOTOS!!

 

PS Ozyace really does look like Mel Gibson doesn't he??

 

At night, in bad weather, from a distance, with a following wind.

 

Well we had the wind :lol:

 

 

Not from where I was sitting.

 

Few photos on here to give you the general gist of the proceedings.

http://community.webshots.com/album/563880201fWxlcp

 

Great to meet up with you, Gem, Summit, Liontamer, Carlo & co, the Stranger, Queen Bee, those fun people formally known as the fairies, SCB, Siver Bee & family, 21st Cent Heathern, any one else who had slipped my mind,

Oh and Ozyace :D

 

 

I think Johno enjoyd himself.

He well deserved this special day. B)

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Hmm - not sure I am pleased you put those on there now Gem.

 

:D

 

In some of those shots poor old Bryn looks terrified.

 

Are you surprised? Mind you it could have been worse - you with a cut throat razor in your hand. :P

 

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One more thing I must mention Superbart and his return to Brandon. Great music which really showed what we have been missing this season. Wish he could come back to liven things up again.

Also it was nice to hear the mellow tones of David Hammond on the mike again.

 

It was a pleasure to be there for Johno!, Coventry only have to ask us and we'll be back like a shot, the balls totally in their court. But its nice to know our efforts were appreciated ;) Johno came over to us in the bar and said what a great job we'd done and how he was looking forward to working with us with Sky next week at the British GP. He also gave me one of the trophies as a thankyou for stepping in at such short notice which was a nice touch.

 

Fingers Crossed ;)

 

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Others i noticed Rob Woffinden, Tai's dad, Glyn Taylor, not sure Armando Castagna has been mentioned,Neils Kristian Iversen,Stuart Robson, who was there with Laura,i'm sure there's some i've missed too, so feel free to add folks.

 

Edited to add one more: Seen this guy & couldn't think who it was, it's just clicked that it was Joel Parsons.

Edited by colincooke
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Jeez it's cold around the lugholes this morning BUT it was all in a great cause wasn't it? Thanks to everyone who chipped in sponsorship that has already enabled us to hand over £150 (with I think more to come) to Johno on what was a really great day for one of the sports great characters.

And talking of characters, Billy Janniro (now known as Sweeney Todd!) - well what can I say???? Well for one thing, PLEASE stick to riding speedway Billy cos you sure as hell won't make it as a barber and Vidal Sassoon has nothing to fear!!!! :P

All in all a great day at Coventry yesterday and it was wonderful to see so many there paying tribute to the man in question especially so many riders and ex-riders who, although not actually competing just HAD to be there to say, "Johno - thanks mate!" The DVD will b well worth getting for sure!

 

Bryn

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Some great photo's Sandie, I'm not going to say who looked the funnniest :rolleyes: ....

 

What a great afternoon with a lovely atmosphere, lots of happy smiley faces and people having fun... :approve:

 

It was great having the presentation back again, so many commented on how much it is missed, it really adds to a meeting. So Allen can we have it back please? Oh and can we swap Yorkie for that Aussie Bloke ? Ta.... :wink:

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Some great photo's Sandie, I'm not going to say who looked the funnniest :rolleyes: ....

 

What a great afternoon with a lovely atmosphere, lots of happy smiley faces and people having fun... :approve:

 

It was great having the presentation back again, so many commented on how much it is missed, it really adds to a meeting. So Allen can we have it back please? Oh and can we swap Yorkie for that Aussie Bloke ? Ta.... :wink:

 

Yeah, pleeeeeeaaaaaaasssssssssssse can we Allen? LOL :)

 

If anyone has a number for Allen Trump I'll give him a bell myself if you can PM me his contact number ;)

 

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My personal highlight of the day...

 

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/27561...096369632KCOMQD

 

:lol:

 

Hats off to Bryn. If I'd have seen a p!$$ed up Billy Janniro coming towards me with a razor I'd have been out of the door like a bat out of hell. I didn't know whether to laugh or cringe most of the time. I was sure we were about to see a piece of nose or ear fly across the room, and he (Billy) nearly took an eye out with his first stroke. Truly x-rated stuff...and they let the kids watch! :o:D The laughs came thanks to where most of the shave gel ended up. :lol:

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It was a shame the sun and wind dried the track out as much as the racing suffered due to it. Still, there were a couple of decent races. General opinion amongst our group was that David Howe probably provided more entertainment than any other rider, with his chasing hard after riders in every heat. The top three were a class apart, with Rory and Steady then a step ahead of the rest. Scott rode a superb heat 20 to leave Jason and Leigh eating his dust. A very well deserved maximum from Scott. Wear those gating gloves in the GP's please Scott. It was a little disappointing not to see Johno take a heat win on his big day, and ended the day with a puncture was cruel luck (nobody else had one). Still, I'm sure he wasn't too bothered. He was certainly in good spirits in the bar. Of the rest all that can be said is that there wasn't a great deal to choose between them. Sundstrum found it tough but I was impressed by a first bend effort in one heat. He stayed in it (so-to-speak) around the outside, and only backed out as the fence came hurtling towards him. He almost squeezed around everybody, and it would have been interesting to see how he'd have gone if he could have got his nose in front. Risager was a big disappointment. His gating was awful, and although he tried to chase riders down the track wasn't really conducive to good racing.

 

After about 15 heats, with the track last seen blowing towards East Anglia, I did comment that it was like a heat 1 Brandon track of the 80's when Olsen was riding. :P

 

The Americans obviously fixed their 'races' but they could have at least made it look convincing. Ronnie - You had him beat in heat 2! lol

 

Nice to see PC have a spin. I was never a fan, but always appreciate seeing the 'old boys' back on a bike.

 

I felt the auction went on a little long, and could perhaps have been split into two sections. Rosco did a great job. Although, that wasn't a swear word I heard (twice) was it? lol I don't think a total was announced but it was certainly a very healthy one. Riders' race jackets typically went for around £70 but some were way over £100. Off the top of my head, Johno's went for £250, Steady £200 and Crump, Adams and Nicholls around £150-170. Other bits and pieces, such as framed and signed pictures, seemed to go for in the region of £40.

 

Overall it was a good afternoon/evening and a fitting tribute to someone that has entertained us for many a year.

 

*edit* spelling and grammar

Edited by 21st century heathen
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