Billy Hamill Farewell - Wolverhampton 22 March

[rami]

As a Cradley fan i thought it was a brilliant day out - The banter between the fans was still there and the atmosphere was great, oh how we wish for cradley to return for more of the same. 2 riders that really impressed me today first was Tai Woffinden who i thought was excellent the boy will go far he has a great style and loads of bottle, and the other one was Ricky Wells who really was on the pace and looked impressive.

 

Good luck to Billy for the future a great servant to british speedway and a True Cradley Legend.

[Sandie]

What a fantastic day we had.

Made better by my girls spoiling me to entrance and Hamill goodies.

 

The racing just went on and on with no break for a 'wee'!!!

Ricky was excellent and just keeps improving!

 

But race pf the night was Crump and Fisher. Jason - you were sooo mean, we wanted a Fish win!!!!

A very very good meeting today bt one complaint - Why couldnt you do something about the wind, it was ruddy freezing!!!

 

 

Lots of old friends re-united and some new friends met over the last few days. Brilliant

[stevebrum]

Pretty decent day with some decent racing. (if only for heat 20 - its like watching a GP heat!!!!!)

A really good crowd with lots and lots of Heathens in very vocal support.

If any set of fans deserve a team and track to support its the Cradley lot. Amazing support after all this time.

The Cradley war cries won each time - no contest.

 

Crumpy - deserved winner and a class above. Is he on for a proper tilt at the world title again? He looks it.

 

PK - lost out only to crumpy and pushed him in heat 20. Otherwise classy when behind. I remember many saying he`s to old to be back in this league

 

Freddie - deserved 3rd place with 3 good wins .

 

Adams - thought he would go through the card but is as adams as you can get.

 

Hancock - popular on the terraces but missed out in heat 20.

 

Nicholls - NO SHOW - BOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

the rest -

 

Wells - very impressed with him even tho he has had a fair bit of practise on the track the past few weeks. On the pace, going for gaps and generally suceeding. Great at wolves. Another to be worried about in the future at the Green imho.

 

Mcgowan - impressed in heats 1 and 17.

 

Lyons - scored a few without really impressing.

 

Kennett - always seems to score less than effort deserves.

 

Complin - completely off the pace. The Panthers may need there other double up option when they come in the league.

 

Skornicki - a little off key tho a win to finish gave us a delicious donut! yum yum!!!!!!!!

 

Smolinski - decent effort and put in plenty of effort.

 

Proctor - impressed in the first couple of heats then went backward.

 

Woffy - impressive. Seems to revel against big guns.

 

Klindt - terrible day for him.

 

Fisher - again, impressive. stunning to lead crump for nearly 3and 9/10th of a lap! Bike problems prevented a bigger score.

 

OLD SKOOL - a Wolves win - enough said!!!!!!

 

Sam and ronnie still look like they can do a job!!!!!!!

poor jonah had a terrible crash - hope he is ok.

The grahame`s - well they tried and thats all i can say.

 

HAMILL - pretty sure he enjoyed the day and did ok in his races.

[Fourentee]

A grand day out and a fitting send-off for one of the greats. A big thumbs-up, too, to the Grudziadz fans for helping the atmosphere (enormous flag, lots of drumming and cheering). I hope the pictures I took of Hamill with fans and banner come out; one of the Polish contingent pressed two cameras into my hand and, bless him, he couldn't have selected a more inexpert snapper had he looked for one.

[21st century heathen]

I thought it was a cracking send off for Billy, with some terrific racing despite a slightly slicker track than normal. To be fair, there was a brisk wind and the sun drying it out, and a lot more races than normal so that had an effect too.

 

Jason/Ryan/Ed was worth the admission alone. Superb racing. Grin chasing down and passing Tai after losing about 30m in mid-race was a stunning effort. He really rolled back the years with that effort. PK also rolled back the years with a particularly good 3rd/4th bend swoop on Tai. Classic PK move. Lyons loved that move in his youth too, and showed he hadn't forgotten the way around Monmore. And since I'm talking about the Brummies number one it should be documented that he did unbelievably well to turn left on the straight to miss Ryan when he had an engine failure, but not so far left that he collected Ricky who was level with him at the time. Lightening reactions by Lyons and kept a cool head for that vital spilt second. Well done Jason. Ricky is improving all the time, but won't always get away with one or two dodgy starts. The track suited him and he made a real fist of it. He made a few passes and his battle with Smoli was a cracking race. Smoli was well worth his points and perhaps one or two more. I can't believe nobody has been on the phone to him in the last couple of seasons. Surely he has more potential than some of the 5-pointers out there. Crump deserved the win in the end. PK was a worthy second and Freddie nicked third due to the fact that the top four faced each other in heat 20. Had he been in heat 20 he'd have probably dropped a couple of points and allowed Greg or Leigh to take a podium place. There was little to choose between the top 5 all night. Tai was solid and worthy of a place near the top end. Then a 3 point gap back to Edward. It's unusual to see a gap like that, and showed a clear difference between the top end and the middle order. Lee, Travis and Nicolai were very poor. Especially Lee, who was never even in a race to the first turn. Ty found the pace a little hot, and was passed a fair bit. Adam rescued his evening with a last race win. By contrast Ryan found his night go the other way. He was going well enough until a last race engine failure spoilt his night. I think that's everyone.

 

It was great to see the Cradley/Wolves heats. Though there was no real racing it was great to see as a Cradley fan. The funniest moment of the night was after Graham Jones had got up from his spill Porky called for a round of applause for him and then a round of applause for the fence. Superb! Just as a footnote - He didn't come out for his second ride so best wishes. I hope he didn't do himself any harm.

 

And just to end I have to add that we always did drown out the Wolves fans and today was no different.

 

'OMMER UM CRADLEY'

 

My most sincere best wishes to Billy and his family for whatever the future brings.

[Col]

A great afternoon. As previously documented the Crump/Fisher race was awesome and Woffinden was very impressive, even if he did lose out to two of Monmore's veternan track craftsmen after leading them. Thought Wells looked good, Kennett deserved more than he got. The no show from Nicholls (BOO!) handed a rostrum place to Lindgren as he wasn't in heat 20 (Adams v Hencock v Crump v PK).

 

Felt for Greg in heat 20 he was the only rider that didn't ride the very apparent inside blue groove that had appeared in an attempt to pass someone and missed out because of it - not enough water & too much wind. Crump deserved to win, he looked absolutely awesome in his first ride I was sure he'd taken the track record and Fisher did a great job holding him back for 3.9 laps.

 

Great to meet Steve Evans and thanks for your efforts in organising the event.

 

Thought Proctor found the pace a little too hot to handle (the new Monmore mobile chicane?) and Klindt was utterly awful for a rider that has called Monmore his home track for a year now. Complin needs more power and to learn to gate, for a rider that grew up and Sheffield he was smooth enough around the tight turns just had no pace. Smolinski did enough to suggest he is worth a punt for an EL track in need of rider.

 

I'm sure Billy enjoyed the day as much as we all did. Surely PK's involvement in heat 5 of Cradley v Wolves wasn't needed, it should have been the show down of the four American's as it always was in the early 90's - and yes it was a contrived result though not in the finishing order I expected.

 

Farewell William Gordon Hamill aka Billy the Kid, The Bullet, you've left me with some heart stopping memorys in your time in British Speedway, I wish you well in your retiremrnt.

 

The grahame`s - well they tried and thats all i can say.

 

They are both in their mid 50's and have been retired for at least 10 years. None of the Wolves riders are that old and most were still riding a couple of years ago, what did you expect? I don't think either even had a bike a week ago.

[BWitcher]

Just want to echo everyone else in saying that yesterday was a wonderful day.

 

And as a Wolves fan, just seeing those Cradley race jackets brought back some wonderful memories. And I did feel genuinely sorry for all those fans from Cradley, decked out in their colors, some with faces painted to see their heroes one more (hopefully not last) time.

 

Lets hope that sometime soon, somewhere can be found for this great club to return. Their fans deserve it.

[dj350z]

Farewell William Gordon Hamill aka Billy the Kid, The Bullet, you've left me with some heart stopping memorys in your time in British Speedway, I wish you well in your retiremrnt.

What a lovely sentiment - ditto!

[willp]

 

Billy got the crowd he deserved. It was a great afternoon yesterday and seeing the Heathens race jacket back on track was the highlight. Although we lost on the track we definatly won on the terraces.

 

The only down side to the afternoon was that i missed the Fisher/Crumpy race as i was in the queue for a pork sandwich.

 

Does anybody know why Scott Nicholls wasn't racing??

[dj350z]

Does anybody know why Scott Nicholls wasn't racing??

He's giving the UK a miss this year!

[ceders123]

Can only add, what a great day. Really enjoyed it.

 

BUT

 

The highlight for me.

 

The national anthems.

 

 

[rickmiller]

Best races were Fisher Vs. Crump Vs. Kennett and Hancock Vs. Woffinden. Hancocks ride was, in particular, extremely superb. He made up so much ground on Woffinden and then executed a perfect pass, super stuff from the old man.

 

Wells really impressed me.

 

Couldnt agree more but don’t, what ever you do, use the word ‘old‘ in front of GH as apparently it's not in his vocabulary!!!!! Ricky is clearly a fast learner and this was another good step after not being too far off the pace at Sheffield last week - just needs the work permit now...

 

Great meeting with some spirited riding and all in all a fitting tribute to the legend that is ‘The Bullet’.

 

The top 5 was pretty much as I expected with Jason being kept honest throughout.

 

Great atmosphere. Enjoyed the war cries although I remember the rivalry being much more fierce 'back in the day'. Oh, and I really can’t believe I ended up supporting Cradley!

 

 

Thanks Billy and good luck to you and your family for the future..

 

[oleoleole]

Fully agree with the general comments of an enjoyable meeting.

 

The GP riders showed their class. Ricky Wells looks promising, improved with every race. I thought the last race of the Wolves v's Cradley was a bit odd. Sam and PK had a conversation on track before the race and I was sure they'd let Greg and Billy get a last 5-1 to tie up the meeting but in the end it was a bit of a let down as Billy was blocked out and came last.

 

Must say well done to Smoli who put in a good competitive showing despite being on borrowed machinery (Tobi Kroners bike and mechanic).

[MOT]

What a great afternoon i enjoyed it very much the banter between fans was great. This was my first visit to wolves, the pork sandwiches i enjoyed very much. Crump was fantastic, a great turn out of fans from allover but the highlight for me had to be the national anthems can you get them on a download for mobiles i wonder?

[stevebrum]

They are both in their mid 50's and have been retired for at least 10 years. None of the Wolves riders are that old and most were still riding a couple of years ago, what did you expect? I don't think either even had a bike a week ago.

 

 

thats PRECISLY what i expected hence why i made the comment!

It wasnt a derogatory comment so lighten up eh

[21st century heathen]

Quick thank you to fans of other clubs for comments about Cradley and its fans. Is there another club that could take such vocal numbers to a farewell after 12 years out of the sport?! How are we not back on track yet?!

 

Must say well done to Smoli who put in a good competitive showing despite being on borrowed machinery (Tobi Kroners bike and mechanic).

 

Indeed. I think it's fair to say that Tobi has no excuse not to get his act together now. Smoli jumped on his bike, rode well and scored respectably.

 

The last race was just a staged 'dance'. I am surprised Billy didn't come through for the flag though. He just wasn't bothered. I think he was probably under strict instructions not to do anything silly.

[Gemini]

I can't believe nobody has been on the phone to him in the last couple of seasons.

 

They probably have. I thought he didn't want to ride in England?

 

The no show from Nicholls (BOO!)

 

So why didn't Scott show up? I hope he let them know beforehand.

[willp]

He's giving the UK a miss this year!

 

[21st century heathen]

Perhaps they have and perhaps he doesn't. If the right offer came along then who knows?! Perhaps he's waiting on a place with the Bees?

 

I'm trying to reserve judgement on Scotty, but it's not easy given the circumstance. The notice given was not sufficient for his name to be left out of the programme whereas Wayne Cater (due to ride for Wolves against Cradley) clearly had given enough notice as his name as replaced with a blank.

[BWitcher]

Quick thank you to fans of other clubs for comments about Cradley and its fans. Is there another club that could take such vocal numbers to a farewell after 12 years out of the sport?! How are we not back on track yet?!

 

 

 

Indeed. I think it's fair to say that Tobi has no excuse not to get his act together now. Smoli jumped on his bike, rode well and scored respectably.

 

The last race was just a staged 'dance'. I am surprised Billy didn't come through for the flag though. He just wasn't bothered. I think he was probably under strict instructions not to do anything silly.

 

Billy was probably a bit nervous in the last one, one fall could have caused him problems.

 

It was a staged dance, but they were still going pretty quick and he just hadn't the pace to get there unless they'd have slowed quite dramatically at the end.

 

He was definately slower than the others (understandabley so) as evidenced when Correy outpaced him, and Sam after 2 laps of messing around made up 40 yards on him.

 

Correy... he would make a much better reserve than Mr Stichauer! At home anyway!