LeapingLena Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 Can anyone help me with heat details of the 'Craven A' meetings held in Kuwait in 1978. I'm not sure of the meeting dates - I think it may have been 23rd & 24th November. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickthemuppet Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 I seem to remember there were 50,000 people there. Might be an ideal place for another GP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moxey63 Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 I seem to remember there were 50,000 people there. Might be an ideal place for another GP Your memory must need to go to specsavers. I don't recall a figure that high - more like five or six thousand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bavarian Posted June 25, 2011 Report Share Posted June 25, 2011 I seem to remember there were 50,000 people there. Might be an ideal place for another GP Definitely not, only a few thousand. They had quite a large attendance when they race in Cairo the following year, but in Kuwait and the Emirates there wasn't much of a crowd. Egypt was good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robhud Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 You are all quite a bit out with your guesstimates, the figure was in fact around 1,000 in 1978 on the two-day promotional event and they comprised mostly British expats. This was as I believe it, the first visit to Middle East countries. Whilst it was proclaimed as a success, there was little enthusiasm by the Arabs themselves, who had greater thrills and spills on their highways. For obvious reasons, motorcycling had in effect very few fans in Kuwait. However, Rothmans, who subsidised the events, were eager to cash in on the publicity under their area manager, John Dedman in an effort to popularise the old Craven A brand of cigarettes.. With Speedway Racing Developments Ltd, 1979 was organise with three participant countries, Egypt and Abu Dabi. The Speedway team came to Kuwait from Cairo, middle November 1979 with Reg Fearman as Clerk of the Course, his team included Terry Chandler (Negotiator and staff controller), Dave Lanning (Racing Controler, Announcer and Time Keeper) (also a sports reporter with thy Sun), and Eric Boothroyd (Administrative Executive & Machine Examiner) The riders were Peter Collins, Neil Middleditch, David Morton, John Davis,Jim McMillan, Chris Morton, Ian Cartwright, Richard Greer, Barry Thomas, Craig Pendlebury, Reg Wilson, Dave Jessup, John Louis, Les\Collins, Malcolm Simmons and Bernie Leigh. Once again it is doubtful the crowd reached a thousand, but any thoughts of future events in the Middle East were halted by the start of the Iran - Iraq war in 1980. After the final event, any of the riders came to my apartment, not least World Champ Peter Collins and 'old man' Bernie Leigh. They were unused to the power of home-brew and went back to their hotel joyous, collected by the Hotel minibus. It was reported that on the way back, an occupant bared his rear from a window of the bus which caused a great deal of furor, but a great roar of laughter went round the expat commniuty, and an element of envy! You just don't do things like that in Kuwait!!! The tour moved on to Abu Dhabi November 22nd. I have two programmes, one of which has the signatures of all the riders against their photographs. I will be auctioning this soon, probably Ebay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robhud Posted July 13, 2011 Report Share Posted July 13, 2011 Sorry LeapingLena, your question was what was the date of the 1978 meeting. I cannot give you a precise date, my memory fails me but it was not 23/24 November, it was towards the beginning of the month and 8th comes to mind. I will dig through my old papers and see if I can get the actual date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britmet Posted July 14, 2011 Report Share Posted July 14, 2011 Can anyone help me with heat details of the 'Craven A' meetings held in Kuwait in 1978. I'm not sure of the meeting dates - I think it may have been 23rd & 24th November. Thanks. Heat details: No, But point scorers, Yes. They can be found in "The Complete History of the British Lge" , (which is where the 50k figure comes from.) PM me if you need them. Also gives the dates, Kuwait City, 23+24 Nov. 1978, Cairo Nov.7+8 1979, Kuwait City Nov. 13+16, 1979 Abu Dhabi UAE, Nov. 20+22, 1979, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robhud Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Having dug back into my files the dates were in fact 23rd/24th November 1978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidba Posted July 16, 2011 Report Share Posted July 16, 2011 Heat details: No, But point scorers, Yes. They can be found in "The Complete History of the British Lge" , (which is where the 50k figure comes from.) PM me if you need them. Also gives the dates, Kuwait City, 23+24 Nov. 1978, Cairo Nov.7+8 1979, Kuwait City Nov. 13+16, 1979 Abu Dhabi UAE, Nov. 20+22, 1979, Do you know the name of the venue in Kuwait? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britmet Posted July 17, 2011 Report Share Posted July 17, 2011 Do you know the name of the venue in Kuwait? Its just given as Kuwait City, Kuwait. (Have just gone thru the prog again, nothing. (What's in arabic is translated to English, - just the history of speedway, intro to the riders; background of the organisers, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robhud Posted August 6, 2011 Report Share Posted August 6, 2011 Sorry, I did not check back on the site. The event was held at Al Qadsia Football Club grounds. then one of the few stadiums with grass pitches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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