BOBBATH Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 Enjoyed your comment Norbold- I reckon we should call it a draw between us-otherwise what would stop us getting a friend(I don't have any) to post a supporting view-not suggesting you would do that of course!! Otherwise handbags at 20 paces!! Either way 1965 was my favourite season of speedway!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Split Posted June 11, 2015 Report Share Posted June 11, 2015 Going from memory again (dangerous) but wasn't the move of Gooddy, Genz and Geran forced on Oxford as the team's combined average was above the maximum allowed? I seem to remember that there was some such rule introduced back then. If so the strength of the revised Oxford Line up would at least on paper, have been close to that of the 1965 Hammers. So presumably if Oxford had been allowed to keep their "second strings" they would indeed have been hard to beat in the championship race. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOBBATH Posted June 12, 2015 Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 You are right split-the rule was called rider control-have to point out West Ham suffered as well-losing Reg Luckhurst to Wimbledon I think. But I feel your post echoes my thoughts-Oxford had been a traditional wooden spoon type team until 1964 but in 1964 they blew everybody away -wotta team that was!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 12, 2015 Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 Ok o great one-with all due respect I feel I have to retort. Oxford team of 1964 members averages in 1965-if they'd stayed together. Pander 10.6,Gooch 10.6, How 10.4, Gooddy(Exe) 9.9, Genz(Poole) 9.4, Geran (Exe) 9.7. I'd stack 'em up as a team against Ken Mck 11.4, Sverre 11.1 Hunter 9.7, Luckhurst (Wimb) 9.6 Simmo 6.9. Oxford suffered from an awful long tail without the 3 departed e.g. Bishop, Vale, Eddie Reeves. I'd still take Oxford with the 64 team to win 65 BL- both great teams though Ron How was injured in the GB v Russia test match at Wimbledon on July 5th and was replaced in the Oxford team until the end of the season by Stan Stevens. At that stage Oxford were second in the league table, one point behind Hackney with 3 meetings in hand and 7 points ahead of eventual champions West Ham, from the same number of meetings. Ron How averaged 10.23 in the league and Stan Stevens was 6.87 lower at 3.36. Oxford finished 4th in the final league table, 7 points behind West Ham. If Ron How had remained fit to complete that season and scored 6 points per match more than Stan, Oxford would have accumulated 48 league points. This would have included a draw and a win against West Ham instead of two defeats, leaving the Hammers with 44 league points. That shows the impact of How’s injury and puts the strength of the Oxford top three of Pander, How and Gooch into perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted June 12, 2015 Report Share Posted June 12, 2015 (edited) I don't think you can say that Oxford would have beaten West Ham once and drawn with them twice instead of losing to them twice. Once Malcolm Simmons suddenly came good in August he moved up from an average second string to a fourth heat leader. It was at the same time that Tony Clarke came into the team to bolster up the lower order. West Ham were unbeaten by any team from August onwards. 1965 was the first year of the British League. All former National League teams were weakened so they could be evened up with the former Provincial League teams. Edited June 12, 2015 by norbold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longlivefrankie Posted June 14, 2015 Report Share Posted June 14, 2015 Rip Arne from the IMO ..the golden age of British speedway I agree 1965 one of my favourite seasons when team speedway was a team sport Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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