Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Can anyone help with the names of this traditional Whitsun Monday classic at Plough Lane from 1975 thru' to its last staging... Come to think of it...: WHEN was its last staging..??!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifer sam Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Can anyone help with the names of this traditional Whitsun Monday classic at Plough Lane from 1975 thru' to its last staging... Come to think of it...: WHEN was its last staging..??!! Parsloes, It was last staged in 1981, when it was rained off on its traditional May date and restaged in August. Hans Nielsen was the final winner. The following season (1982), the Internationale was scrapped and replaced by the £5,000 winner takes all Embassy Open at White City. It was a crap meeting on a very slick, with no passing, except in the run-off, where Dennis Sigalos passed Hans Nielsen to claim the money. It was the only time the Embassy Open was staged - with the competition mutating into the British Open Pairs. All the best Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted August 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 Parsloes, It was last staged in 1981, when it was rained off on its traditional May date and restaged in August. Hans Nielsen was the final winner. The following season (1982), the Internationale was scrapped and replaced by the £5,000 winner takes all Embassy Open at White City. Cheers mate. I was at that meeting at the White City - staged, I felt, because for the first (and only) time the World Final was going to be out of Europe.. Which is similar to why the Internationale started isn't it..: in 1961 the first year the World Final was staged outside of England.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOBBATH Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 You're right Parsloes re the year and reason for first Internationale-I recall a huge surprise in 65 when Charlie Monk from the old Prov. Lge. won it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Dyer Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 I seem to remember Malcolm Simmons won it in 1975 with a 15 point max and two nights later won the British Final at Coventry also with a 15 point full house. Quite an achievement in those days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star ghost Posted August 1, 2008 Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 (edited) In 1963 the Great Ove Fundin made it a hat-trick of victories in the Internationale. A crowd in the region of 15,000 were stunned as Ronnie Greene grabbed the microphone whilst they were ready to do the presentations and said "evidence had been given to him that riders had been paid not to win a race". Apparently it was heat 19, though Greene said the last heat, and Ove took the victory from Peter Craven & Peter Moore with Sverre Haarfeldt flat on the track & out of it. This gave Ove 13 withg Sverre still on 12. Ove offered to give the new bike (prize) to Wimbledon if Greene could prove the accusation. The National Press jumped on the story, although one paper said it happened at Wembley. The Control Board called for an enquiry to be held. I never heard the result of that enquiry or if it actually got held. After that the Internationale seemed pretty mundane in later years. Incidentally the 1975 British Champion was John Louis and Simmo won it in 1976 & 1977 Edited August 1, 2008 by star ghost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted August 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2008 I've been PM'ed with the following list of all winners: 1961 (at Harringay) Ove Fundin All others at Wimbledon: 1962 Ove Fundin 1963 Ove Fundin 1964 Barry Briggs 1965 Charlie Monk 1966 Gote Nordin 1967 Gote Nordin 1968 Nigel Boocock 1969 Trevor Hedge 1970 Ivan Mauger 1971 Ivan Mauger 1972 Ivan Mauger 1973 Ole Olsen 1974 Peter Collins 1975 Ole Olsen 1976 Malcolm Simmons 1977 Edward Jancarz 1978 Peter Collins 1979 Michael Lee 1980 Dave Jessup 1981 Hans Nielsen The first meeting I ever saw at Wimbledon was the 1974 Internationale, won by PC and still one of the most memorable meetings I've ever seen.. Q What a shame that such a top event came to an end in 1981... If ever British speedway needed a 'World Final-style' and quality event, it's now..!! And surely Wembley and then perhaps later the Olympic Stadium are crying out as the places to stage it.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star ghost Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 The first running at Green Lanes followed a series of Qualifiers with invited "Europeans" not usually seen here in England. Josef Bossner & Timo Laine both came over for the event. Then it became "invitation" Unfortunately the Internationale suffered the same fate as the "Daily Mirror" World League, another excellent event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 The first running at Green Lanes followed a series of Qualifiers with invited "Europeans" not usually seen here in England. Josef Bossner & Timo Laine both came over for the event. Then it became "invitation" Unfortunately the Internationale suffered the same fate as the "Daily Mirror" World League, another excellent event. Of course, that brings to mind Junicho "Jimmy" Ogisu, the Japanese rider who competed in the 1970 Internationale. It also brings to mind some of the great individual events, such as the Brandonapolis, Laurels, Superama, Westernapolis, Shaytona, Dews Trophy, Golden Hammer, Yorkshire TV Trophy, Blue Riband, Olympique, Golden Gauntlets, Pride of the East etc, plus things like the London, Northern, Midland, and Southern Riders Championships. Here we go again...sniff, sniff Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddfossengen Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Of course, that brings to mind Junicho "Jimmy" Ogisu, the Japanese rider who competed in the 1970 Internationale. It also brings to mind some of the great individual events, such as the Brandonapolis, Laurels, Superama, Westernapolis, Shaytona, Dews Trophy, Golden Hammer, Yorkshire TV Trophy, Blue Riband, Olympique, Golden Gauntlets, Pride of the East etc, plus things like the London, Northern, Midland, and Southern Riders Championships. Here we go again...sniff, sniff Steve have been putting loads of similar memories on the poole web site ,could get rid of the cr*p craven shield event and bring back major open meeting and southern northern and midland riders champs and international test series and maybe uk would be taken seriously as a world speedway power again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Cheers mate. I was at that meeting at the White City - staged, I felt, because for the first (and only) time the World Final was going to be out of Europe.. Which is similar to why the Internationale started isn't it..: in 1961 the first year the World Final was staged outside of England.. Yes, it was awarded as a sort of consolation prize by the F.I.M. because the World Final was to be held outside Great Britain for the first time. As star ghost says there were qualifying rounds in that first year. I saw the round at New Cross which had joint winners in Ronnie Moore and Ove Fundin, both with 14 points. Bob Andrews and Split Waterman were joint third on 12. Timo Laine took part but only scored two points. I then saw the final at Harringay, which is one of only two occasions I managed to get to Harringay - the other being the Provincial League Riders' Championship final held the same year. As for Charlie Monk winning in 1965, I remember penning a rather angry letter to the Speedway Star & News about this as it was my belief that he had ridden on the grass in Heat 14 and should have been excluded in his race against Barry Briggs. Had he been excluded he would have finished equal first with Gote Nordin and Bjorn Knutsson and there would have been a run-off. My anger, of course, had nothing to with the fact that Bjorn had been the West Ham captain in 1964 and was still much revered by us Hammers fans...The letter was published and I recently came across it while researching something else. I have to say it made me cringe with embarrassment re-reading it. Still I was only 17 at the time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speedyguy Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Yes, it was awarded as a sort of consolation prize by the F.I.M. because the World Final was to be held outside Great Britain for the first time. As star ghost says there were qualifying rounds in that first year. I saw the round at New Cross which had joint winners in Ronnie Moore and Ove Fundin, both with 14 points. Bob Andrews and Split Waterman were joint third on 12. Timo Laine took part but only scored two points. I then saw the final at Harringay, which is one of only two occasions I managed to get to Harringay - the other being the Provincial League Riders' Championship final held the same year. As for Charlie Monk winning in 1965, I remember penning a rather angry letter to the Speedway Star & News about this as it was my belief that he had ridden on the grass in Heat 14 and should have been excluded in his race against Barry Briggs. Had he been excluded he would have finished equal first with Gote Nordin and Bjorn Knutsson and there would have been a run-off. My anger, of course, had nothing to with the fact that Bjorn had been the West Ham captain in 1964 and was still much revered by us Hammers fans...The letter was published and I recently came across it while researching something else. I have to say it made me cringe with embarrassment re-reading it. Still I was only 17 at the time! Yes, the New Cross meeting was a poor one for Timo Laine of Finland. Previous to the round at New Cross, he had been racing in Holland ans somewhere along the way his bikes went missing and he had to ride on borrowed equipment - I think he used a bike belonging to Jim Chalkley (but not certain about that). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
star ghost Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 I think I saw on the speedwayplus site recently where Jim was trying to get some info. If he sees this he may be able to enlighten us on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WATigerman Posted August 2, 2008 Report Share Posted August 2, 2008 Parsloes, It was last staged in 1981, when it was rained off on its traditional May date and restaged in August. Hans Nielsen was the final winner. .......and here is a picture from said meeting of the victorious Mr Nielsen............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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