The Lighter Side Of Speedway

[tyretrax]

Neil Middleditch could (and should) write a book about the goings on at Ballie House.

[FTM]

Two stories involving yours truly

British Final late 90,s Sunday afternoon at Brandon Stadium. I had been employed as new Track Curator after Colin Meredith had gone to Oxford at the start of the year .Very sunny day and watering had been paramount all day since 5 am .Around about I think it was after Ht 12 I was asked by the ref to give it a fairly good soaking and proceeded to the tractor and water tank which in those days was allowed to be in the centre green .I started off across the green to the exit on the back straight drove down the raised paving onto the track then to my horror the weght of the water in the tank which was under 3/4 full lifted the back of the tractor up into the air breaking the tow pin on the back of tractor .We then provided the whole of the crowd to ten minutes of complete amusement and laughter with first myself trying to push the bowser back down onto a level position but to no avail then 1 other raker helping, still no good until eventually it took 4 of us hanging on the front of the bowser to change the water level and reconnect to the tractor to a very understanding round of applause .

Second story

First match in charge of Brandon at home to Oxford (my home town team) with new manager Colin Meredith in charge We had a very poor day with weather lot of rain but luckily as it was the first match of the season the track was well packed down .1 hour before the start we had a heavy downpour the ref and both sets of riders walked the track and were understandably worried but I asked the ref to give me a crack with the big blade to take off the top surface to the outside of both bends and on the inside of both straights I reckoned about 45mins to an hour which he agreed to .The meeting started 55 mins late the bees lost 26 52 with Laurence Hare riding at number 7 scoring 15 pt max .

Not two of the best days of my life but you got to have bad to have good.

Edited May 25, 2014 by FTM

[Paulco]

There is one thing missing from British speedway these days , which produced a wealth of funny moments in days gone by .................................the centre green phone link to the referee . Get it out of the pits and back onto the centre green . Watching the great Ivan Mauger kick it all over the grass at Coatbridge was hilarious .

Neil MacFarlane was the Glasgow promoter in the early nineties and he would use it to get the crowd riled up . He was probably asking the referee what he had for his dinner before the meeting , but the gestures etc made it look like world war 3 was going on .

[screm]

Don't know if its been posted on this thread yet but I remember Michal Makovsky plus mechanic having a more than eventful trip down to Somerset a few seasons ago.

[Odds On]

^{Going to a packed Brandon for one of the British Finals, it was heaving and entry was always a nigthmare espicially the bit where you go into the stadium under the grandstand, the stewards were non existant but one guy took control and started shouting to go this way and that way and all was sorted by one bloke.....I later found out that bloke was "soldier boy"..}

 

 

^{A last heat decider at Cov against Cradley, massive crowd with a great atmosphere, I think it was Wiggy and Alan Graham, anyway one of them was left at the start and just parked his bike long ways across the starting grid, race was stopped and Cradley done the business in the re-run....which didnt go down too well}

 

^{Pedersen being handed a beating after knocking S Robson off at Brandon, guess Pedersen just nailed the wrong guy}

 

 

^{Craig Boyce giving it large to a fellow team mate at the Isle of Wight whilst ont he track and ion the pits afterwards, Boyce may of lumped Gollob but was battered and was only saved even more punishment when mechanics and other riders had to pull his team mate off of him.}

 

Edited May 27, 2014 by Odds On

[Tsunami]

Don't know if its been posted on this thread yet but I remember Michal Makovsky plus mechanic having a more than eventful trip down to Somerset a few seasons ago.

Quite agree. Was that the one about the guns.

[Ommer Mon]

A last heat decider at Cov against Cradley, massive crowd with a great atmosphere, I think it was Wiggy and Alan Graham, anyway one of them was left at the start and just parked his bike long ways across the starting grid, race was stopped and Cradley done the business in the re-run....which didnt go down too well

 

I remember it well - 1983. Very dangerous really but Wiggy won the rerun after gating third in the original heat. I think it ended 40-38 and Cradley went on to win the title that year.

 

Suffice to say the Bees fans were less than impressed with us. I learnt a few new words that night!

[The White Knight]

^{Going to a packed Brandon for one of the British Finals, it was heaving and entry was always a nigthmare espicially the bit where you go into the stadium under the grandstand, the stewards were non existant but one guy took control and started shouting to go this way and that way and all was sorted by one bloke.....I later found out that bloke was "soldier boy"..}

 

 

^{A last heat decider at Cov against Cradley, massive crowd with a great atmosphere, I think it was Wiggy and Alan Graham, anyway one of them was left at the start and just parked his bike long ways across the starting grid, race was stopped and Cradley done the business in the re-run....which didnt go down too well}

 

^{Pedersen being handed a beating after knocking S Robson off at Brandon, guess Pedersen just nailed the wrong guy}

 

 

^{Craig Boyce giving it large to a fellow team mate at the Isle of Wight whilst ont he track and ion the pits afterwards, Boyce may of lumped Gollob but was battered and was only saved even more punishment when mechanics and other riders had to pull his team mate off of him.}

 

I haven't been to Specsavers. :sad:

 

Sorry - unable to read Post - too small. :sad:

[SCB]

Don't know if its been posted on this thread yet but I remember Michal Makovsky plus mechanic having a more than eventful trip down to Somerset a few seasons ago.

Was that the one where someone saw a foreign van with "gun" in the back? Turned out after the armed police closed the motorway and got him to pull over it was his handlebars.

[rusky]

A couple for starters:

 

Many years ago we were on a coach from King's Lynn to Eastbourne, and we arrived at Eastbourne where there was one guy 'organising' the car park and he stuck our coach in the most awkward place imaginable. Our coach driver was less than impressed and a discussion started. However, quite a few of our number had come straight from work to get the coach. They were lab technicians for British Sugar (I think it was) and they had there work clothes with them - white lab coats. They promptly donned the lab coats and proceeded to 'arrange' all the incoming cars for them - it was very funny

 

I was doing a spot of driving for an international tour where there were about 14 or 15 riders of varying nationalities and it involved a ferry ride. One of the number, an English International who had a certain reputation with the ladies, had just started dating a very attractive young lady who was the star of a soft porn magazine that month (think Penthouse, Playboy etc.)Said international was very keen to show everybody these pictures relentlessly but after a while it became a bit tiresome and people were starting to get a little bored with it all. After a while this magazine went missing, and the said rider was more than a little angry. Several hours later the magazine re-appeared and the pages of with the young lady were now stuck together - I'll leave you to imagine how they were stuck together other than to say it was the handy work (if you'll excuse the pun) of another English international. The guy whose magazine it was, was less than impressed...

[screm]

Quite agree. Was that the one about the guns.

 

That's the one.

Was that the one where someone saw a foreign van with "gun" in the back? Turned out after the armed police closed the motorway and got him to pull over it was his handlebars.

 

That's it, his then mechanic, rider, kit, all laid out on the motorway.

[CaptainAudi]

David Bellego had a blonde moment at Armadale a couple of weeks ago, pulling up just before the line to gift Kevin Doolan (on a T/R) third place, thinking he would get 2 points instead of 1.

Would you believe it happened again? Berwick need to teach their riders the T/R rule.

 

*Substitute Bellego for Kus and Doolan for Jensen.*

[ColinMills]

suzy perry interviewing rosco on 1st ever live match at coventry, and asked him before a race "are you hoping to make a fast start"?

[redlead]

In the inter-league challenge match, Coventry v Middlesbrough, 3 riders had been excluded from a race, leaving Rick Miller the only rider left. He proceeded to entertain the crowd pulling 'wheelies' the ref excluded him for not making a bonified attempt to race!!

[spin king]

My mate " Wee George " getting told he wasn't getting let on the National Express coach coming back from Birmingham in 2009 cause he was pissed . And convincing a , yet again , pissed Wee George that he was hallucinating when the Somerset chicken mascot hugged him . He poured his scrumpy out in the flower beds

 

I remember the incident in Birmingham, also you forgot to mention that you were interviewed for the meeting video.

 

Another George classic was the time he phone you at 0600 am in Poland to tell you that the hotel staff had refuse to serve him a drink.

[Gavan]

Talking about speedway but the old grass track days were the best.

 

I was about 7 and have no idea where the meeting was but my uncle was British Sidecar champion in 1980 His name was Ray Andrews and the driver was Dave ' Ben' Heath.

 

Anyway on the way back from the meeting we stopped at a service station and Dave Heath, Ted Tucker and Dennis Teasdale were there along with Jeremy Doncaster, Simon Wigg and i believe Chris Baybutt.

 

As a 7 yera old i found it highly amusing when these 'stars' kept taking the food from the service counters and passing it backwards along the line to the end guy who would then walk off. Eventually only the only guy who paid for anything was the guy at the front who was Trevor Pye, Steve Smiths passenger.

 

Good times

[brianbuck]

One of the best true stories I have heard was told to me by Tony Mole. When he re-opened Workington, it was much against the wishes of the local Environmental Services Officer who was so miffed about his council over-ruling his recommendation that planning permission should be refused, that he took it upon himself to visit all the houses closest to the stadium to try and persuade the occupiers to complain.

 

On knocking one particular door and finding it answered by an elderly lady, he asked her whether she could hear the speedway from her garden. "Oh yes, I can hear it clearly" she says. "Well don't you worry my dear" he says, "i'll will arrange for a lady from my office to call round next Saturday evening to help you to write a letter of complaint." "Thank you very much says the old dear, but don't send her on a Saturday as I will be at the speedway." "I go every week!"

[Dave Goddard]

In the inter-league challenge match, Coventry v Middlesbrough, 3 riders had been excluded from a race, leaving Rick Miller the only rider left. He proceeded to entertain the crowd pulling 'wheelies' the ref excluded him for not making a bonified attempt to race!!

 

That reminds me of a heat between Wolves and (I think) King's Lynn in about 2002 which saw three riders excluded for knocking off others, and Daniel Nermark - who had been brought in as a reserve for another Wolf who'd been injured in one of the initial crashes so wasn't even in the race in the first instance - going round by himself.

 

The Kevin Doolan incident at Birmingham mentioned further up the thread was quite scary - I remember him getting an electric shock off the bike when he tried to yank out the spark plug.

[customhouseregular]

suzy perry interviewing rosco on 1st ever live match at coventry, and asked him before a race "are you hoping to make a fast start"?

I can forgive Suzy Perry anything!...must stop drooling.

[moxey63]

Thirty years ago... a long time... but some things never change in speedway.

 

Back at 1984 Eastbourne, and this sounds oh so familiar, they again they were bemoaning low crowds and losing money.

 

The club said, their gates were just 1200 - 600 lower than they needed to be to break even!

 

The Sussex strugglers were also rocked with a 300(?) loss on the average gate.. they felt, just by the mid-season retirement of number one rider Paul Woods, whose absence lasted a few weeks, after which those hundreds never returned.