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Pip Austen


KevH

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I only saw Pip Austen ride the once but it was at a very memorable meeting. The Golden Jubilee of Speedway meeting arranged by John S. Hoskins 50 years after his role in the birth of the sport (don't get on my case, norbold! :rolleyes: ). This was held at Hoskins' then home track and certainly seeing Pip's place of birth, Austen's home track too: Canterbury's Kingsmead Stadium.

 

Main part of the meeting (though there were also guest appearances by the likes of Dave Jessup and Barry Briggs later on...) was a four team tournament as follows:

 

Canterbury 19 (Les Rumsey 1; Barney Kennett 9; Graham Banks 4; Derek Cook 4; Pip Austen 1)

 

Ipswich Juniors 31 (Mike Lanham 9; Ted Howgego 7; Trevor Jones 9; Dave Gooderham 5)

 

Birmingham 29 (Paul Gilbert 1; Arthur Browning 8; Malcolm Corradine 9; Roger Johns 12 [Max])

 

Rayleigh 17* (Brian Foote 5; Bob Young 7; Tiger Beech 1; Trevor Barnwell 4)

* this was AFTER Rayleigh Weir had closed its doors to Speedway for the last time...

 

Don't know if Austen ever appeared for the Crusaders in Div II action.... :unsure:

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So what's Pip's story?

 

I can remember him riding second halves at Wimbledon (maybe 72 or 73) and entertaining the crowd with the odd startline flip or first bend wipeout, then he does what amounts to a full season at Long Eaton, gets a respectable average and promptly disappears.............

 

I'm tempted to ask about one of his partners in crime, but I've had no success on here so far; Rocky Coutts anyone..............?

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I'm tempted to ask about one of his partners in crime, but I've had no success on here so far; Rocky Coutts anyone..............?

 

Yup; there's one I remember... I remember a second-half race at Plough Lane involving Rocky, when all four juniors came off before they hit the back straight! I think the other three were Ian Fletcher, Graham Crook, and Ian Silk. There, how about those names from the past? From what I recall (although I could be wrong - I was about 10 at the time) the meeting was a London 4-team tournament, including a former Wembley team. Cany anyone help with the details?

 

Steve

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