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Oldest Surviving World Finalists


BOBBATH

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OK here goes- I contacted Reg Fearman. Arthur does not use e-mail, but Reg took the trouble to contact Pam Warren ( ex-spouse of Graham Warren) , and also Peter White the Australian journalist and member of the Australian Speedway community and they both confirm Arthur is 99.. So it looks like he WAS indeed born in 1923. I will update his birthdate the next time we update the oldest World Finalist list. It's great speedway people are so helpful, particularly as some are getting up there in age. I was glad to see so many forumlanders wanted to ensure this was corrected

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5 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

OK here goes- I contacted Reg Fearman. Arthur does not use e-mail, but Reg took the trouble to contact Pam Warren ( ex-spouse of Graham Warren) , and also Peter White the Australian journalist and member of the Australian Speedway community and they both confirm Arthur is 99.. So it looks like he WAS indeed born in 1923. I will update his birthdate the next time we update the oldest World Finalist list. It's great speedway people are so helpful, particularly as some are getting up there in age. I was glad to see so many forumlanders wanted to ensure this was corrected

Nice thing is that we had a way of confirming it!

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You got that right Chunky-off topic but in 1965 did Wimbledon run on a Monday night or am I dreaming- I am sure West Ham ran on Tuesday( along with Long Eaton) and Hackney on Friday. I was working in Basildon -used to watch 'em all- would get the train from Laindon to Barking and then get on the underground. The best viewing for me was at West Ham. In 1965 was Oxford on Thursday- not sure- but certainly Sheffield was on a Thursday. Wonderful days-at that time just across the road from Barking Station was a Wimpy's  where I used to scarf food down. I always recall they had the ketchup  in a round container that looked like a Tomato-are Wimpy's still around or have they been defeated by McDonalds, Burger King etc etc

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7 hours ago, norbold said:

Wimbledon's might was always Monday back in the day.

Monday: Wimbledon

Tuesday: West Ham

Wednesday: New Cross

Thursday: Wembley

Friday: Harringay

Yep, that was my mum's weekly speedway action in the early 50's!

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3 minutes ago, chunky said:

I think Oxford was Thursday, but Norwich was definitely Saturday.

Yes Oxford was most definately Thursday...it changed to Friday when Hackney's license was acquired back in 1984. It reverted back to a Thursday for a couple of seasons (can't remember the reason why now?) and then back to Fridays during the late eighties.

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7 hours ago, norbold said:

Wimbledon's might was always Monday back in the day.

Monday: Wimbledon

Tuesday: West Ham

Wednesday: New Cross

Thursday: Wembley

Friday: Harringay

Must have been great being a speedway fan in London during those days!

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17 minutes ago, BL65 said:

Wimbledon home meetings were mainly staged on Saturdays during 1965 and 1966 before switching to Thursdays in 1967.

Now you come to mention it, I seem to remember that in 1965, Wimbledon only held "Big" meetings on Mondays - Internationale, Laurels and GB v. Soviet Union Test match. Their regular night was Saturday. I don't remember much about 1966 as I was away at college in Norwich, so didn't get to see much speedway in London.

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Speedway researcher is the place t go when wanting to know race nights for tracks in various years. Tbh i only thought of it myself after asking roughly the same question here for a year , although it was one when Walthamstow were also running

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On 9/6/2022 at 4:06 AM, chunky said:

Even in my teens, I had three a week!

Four a week for me sometimes and I went to all four.

Monday: Wimbledon

Tuesday: West Ham

Wednesday:  Oh dear, what can I do? Occasionally it was Crayford....think that was a Wednesday.

Thursday: Wembley

Friday: Hackney

Then it was follow wherever West Ham was on a Saturday and Canterbury or Eastbourne on a Sunday

But, it would not be unusual for me to go six times a week. Damn, what a Speedway NERD I was!

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Just now, andout said:

Four a week for me sometimes and I went to all four.

Monday: Wimbledon

Tuesday: West Ham

Wednesday:  Oh dear, what can I do? Occasionally it was Crayford....think that was a Wednesday.

Thursday: Wembley

Friday: Hackney

Then it was follow wherever West Ham was on a Saturday and Canterbury or Eastbourne on a Sunday

But, it would not be unusual for me to go six times a week. Damn, what a Speedway NERD I was!

Crayford was Tuesday. After I started driving (after White City closed), I used to pop over to Crayford sometimes. Biggest problem was the poxy drive around the South Circular! Plus, they never opened until after Wimbledon switched to Thursdays.

Hey, I was the same. After Crayford closed, I like to pop up to Milton Keynes on a Tuesday. I also liked Canterbury and Rye.

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2 hours ago, chunky said:

Crayford was Tuesday. After I started driving (after White City closed), I used to pop over to Crayford sometimes. Biggest problem was the poxy drive around the South Circular! Plus, they never opened until after Wimbledon switched to Thursdays.

Hey, I was the same. After Crayford closed, I like to pop up to Milton Keynes on a Tuesday. I also liked Canterbury and Rye.

My old friend now deceased, Tony Armstrong used to ride for Crayford.

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 Hi Roger. Did you know Tony after he emigrated to Canada or before? I recall him marrying Stan Bradbury's daughter. How old was Tony when he passed, I think they had moved out west- Edmonton maybe?? Glad to see him mentioned and glad he lives on in our memories.

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1 hour ago, BOBBATH said:

 Hi Roger. Did you know Tony after he emigrated to Canada or before? I recall him marrying Stan Bradbury's daughter. How old was Tony when he passed, I think they had moved out west- Edmonton maybe?? Glad to see him mentioned and glad he lives on in our memories.

Tony passed away eleven days before his 67th birthday.

Also, it appears that andout was correct; from 1968 to 1970, Crayford rode on a Wednesday (I was still a kid, then...)

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11 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

 Hi Roger. Did you know Tony after he emigrated to Canada or before? I recall him marrying Stan Bradbury's daughter. How old was Tony when he passed, I think they had moved out west- Edmonton maybe?? Glad to see him mentioned and glad he lives on in our memories.

I first met Tony in 1977 at Welland but I had seen him at Crayford, never remembered him though from there. Pretty good rider at Welland winning one Canadian Championship.

An absolute quiet spoken gentleman....Yes you are correct he went to Edmonton to live, I did visit him once out there.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Okay, time for the latest update. Here are all the former World Finalists born in the 1940's and 50's, including an addition (in bold) to my previous list.

What scared me was the fact that I've gone through the 1980's now - and it's incredible to see how many riders who rode in World Finals in the 80's are no longer with us. Toni Kasper, Roman Matousek, Vaclav Verner, Kenny Carter, Alan Grahame, Billy Sanders, Kelly Moran, Simon Wigg, Zenon Plech, Edward Jancarz, and two non-riding reserves, Emil Sova and Henryk Olszak. To me, the 1980's seems like yesterday...

Bengt Jansson - 09/01/1943
Anders Michanek - 30/05/1943

Trevor Hedge - 30/08/1943
Terry Betts - 15/09/1943
Howard Cole 29/12/1943
Martin Ashby - 05/02/1944
Jan Simensen - 26/07/1944
Zygfryd Friedek - 19/10/1944
Jerzy Trzeszkowski - 10/01/1945
Eric Boocock - 02/02/1945
John Boulger - 18/06/1945
Hasse Holmqvist - 18/06/1945
Jim McMillan - 03/12/1945
Soren Karlsson - 23/10/1946
Ole Olsen - 16/11/1946
Ray Wilson - 12/03/1947
Doug Wyer - 16/08/1947
Grigori Khlinovsky - 11/11/1947

Egon Muller - 26/11/1948
Christoph Betzl - 13/02/1949
Jiri Stancl - 18/11/1949
Viktor Kuznetsov - 27/11/1949
Georg Hack - 20/02/1950
Marek Cieslak - 28/06/1950
Alois Wiesbock - 31/07/1950
Tommy Johansson - 21/10/1950

Vladimir Gordeev - 30/11/1950
John Titman - 26/01/1951
Dag Lovaas - 25/02/1951
Jan Verner - 03/03/1951
Petr Ondrasik - 08/10/1951
Phil Crump - 09/02/1952
Henny Kroeze - 11/03/1952
Valery Gordeev - 28/08/1952
Dave Jessup - 07/03/1953
Ales Dryml - 10/06/1953
Scott Autrey - 09/07/1953
Gordon Kennett - 02/09/1953
Robert Slabon - 15/09/1953
Peter Collins - 24/03/1954
Larry Ross - 15/06/1954
John Davis - 10/11/1954
Finn Thomsen - 16/02/1955
Mikhail Starostin - 24/02/1955
Tommy Nilsson - 10/03/1955
Jan Andersson - 07/05/1955
Kai Niemi - 15/09/1955
Jerzy Rembas - 18/04/1956
Chris Morton - 22/07/1956
Steve Bastable - 16/09/1956
Bruce Penhall - 10/05/1957
Karl Maier - 24/08/1957
Roman Jankowski - 05/10/1957
Bo Petersen - 21/02/1958
Les Collins - 24/05/1958
Mitch Shirra - 27/09/1958
Michael Lee - 11/12/1958
John Cook - 18/12/1958
Dennis Sigalos - 16/08/1959
Erik Gundersen - 08/10/1959
Hans Nielsen - 26/12/1959

Edited by chunky
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