Jimmy Gooch

[yesterdaysman]

You are right Nigel, so the story went at the time but memories have a habit of changing things like that around.

Ove "filled Jimmy in" with wet shale a couple of times one night in 1963, Jimmy, obviously not too happy with his "team partner" for those actions, went across the pits and did some "filling-in" of his own. The story was that this caused Jimmy to leave the Firs and join Oxford for the 1964 season. When I mentioned this to someone recently they did not remember the matter at all.

 

I think that's pretty much how I understood it to be. Jimmy, although a very jovial and easy going chap off track, was a very no nonsense guy when it came to 'on track' time. He would, I'm sure, after the first incident have calmly pointed out to Ove the consequences should it happen again! Ove was the king at Norwich and the management would bend over backwards, sideways and inside out to keep him happy, sometime it was felt, to the detriment of other team members. Thus it was that Jimmy moved to Oxford with George Major going the other way, though he (George) was not informed of this, but just sent a booking for a meeting at Norwich. His pairing with Ove didn't fair much better which lead to his moving to the, then black league, with Cradley Heath.

It must be said that most, if not all, true champions have by nature, a very solo, must win, mind set and Ove was certainly a true champion. Also they usually have the edge on the majority of riders so win race after race unhindered. However that year they were operating handicap starts, with Ove being one of half a dozen top riders starting behind everyone else. Now, in normal conditions this was not much of a handicap but in the wet, well that was a different story and Ove often found himself in positions quite alien to him. So it could be said that he would instinctively try to make his way to the front at all costs, and that would mean passing three riders however possible! Several partners were tried through the season but all, I think, pretty much with the same result, but really brought about by the handicapping.

I always thought at the time that maybe the management could have done more to sort out the situation but in hindsight perhaps they just wanted to get through to the end of the season.... and Speedway at Norwich.

 

[BOBBATH]

I think there were just 3 riders in 1964 who were placed on a handicap-Fundin, Knuttsson,Briggs-is that right or were there more??My memory is shaky on this-if it applied in 63 there would have also been Craven and Moore-known as the big five.