1965 Golden Helmet Decider - Briggo V Booey

[TonyMac]

Can anyone please help - BL65, this should be right up your street! - by confirming where and when the deciding leg of the 1965 Golden Helmet match-race between Barry Briggs and Nigel Boocock WOULD have been staged if it had been needed?

 

We know that Briggo beat Booey 2-1 in the 1st leg at Glasgow on Aug 13.

 

And that Briggo also won the 2nd leg 2-1 at Hackney on Aug 27.

 

So, obviously, no deciding 3rd leg was required.

 

But had it been, where and when would it have taken place?

 

A strange question, but we need the answer to fill a gap on a little chart we'll be running in the next issue of Classic Speedway magazine.

 

Thank you.

Edited August 17, 2016 by tmc

[BL65]

I don't recall seeing the venue for a deciding leg being published at the time, so I will have to delve through my archives.

 

In 1965 the Golden Helmet legs were shared around the tracks and I believe it was the intention that no track would stage the event more than once. All legs were held on neutral tracks, so the clashes between Barry Briggs and Nigel Boocock could not be staged at Swindon or Coventry. Barry had already defeated challengers Charlie Monk (Poole, Sheffield and West Ham), Ken McKinlay (Wolverhampton and Newport) and George Hunter (Newcastle and Oxford), so that ruled out a further 7 tracks, as well as the the tracks staging the two scheduled legs (Glasgow and Hackney). This potentially left 7 tracks available to stage a decider.

 

Incidentally, Barry suffered machine trouble at Poole and Charlie then pulled up in the first race, refusing to win unless he could do it fair and square. Briggo then kept us waiting for the Wolverhampton leg against McKinlay, managing to get stuck in traffic. The decision to allocate the Briggs-Boocock clashes to tracks in Scotland and London was not universally popular, due to the travelling involved in those days of limited motorways, with Nigel initially not happy to ride at Glasgow. Charles Ochiltree and Bryan Seery both used programme notes to air their views, suggesting that hosting at Midlands tracks such as Long Eaton and Cradley Heath would have been more sensible and would have allowed Coventry and Swindon fans to travel to support their riders. Sverre Harrfeldt had been on standby in case Nigel withdrew his nomination. Hunter was originally scheduled to meet Briggs at Newcastle and Hackney, but after the Hackney meeting was rained off on 23rd July the second leg was staged at Oxford on 5th August.

 

The 7 tracks available to stage a decider included 5 Saturday tracks, when Barry or Nigel would have been in action at Swindon or Coventry until late September. 4 of these raced only on Saturdays during the period when the decider would need to be staged (Belle Vue, Edinburgh, Halifax and Wimbledon). The only non-Saturday date at Cradley Heath was Monday 30th August, when Boocock appeared in the Alan Hunt Memorial Trophy. I attended that meeting and I am absolutely certain that a possible Golden Helmet decider was never mentioned beforehand.

 

The remaining two possible venues were Exeter and Long Eaton. With the second leg of the July challenge by Hunter having been staged in early August and the second leg of the August challenge by Boocock taking place as late as Friday 27th, it is likely that any decider (if it had been necessary) would have been held at the beginning of September. As Barry Briggs was with Swindon at Long Eaton for a league meeting on 7th September I believe this would probably have been the chosen date and venue.

 

Nigel Boocock was at Cradley Heath on 30th August, so could not have met Briggs at Exeter on that date. Both Barry and Nigel rode in the World Cup in Germany on Sunday 5th September and bearing this in mind, as well as the disquiet already caused by the staging of the first two legs at far flung places, I think it would have been unlikely that the County Ground would have been selected for a decider on 6th September.

 

I am not convinced, so far, that a deciding venue had been chosen in advance as Bryan Seery, the BSPA official statistician, was bemoaning the lack of selection of Long Eaton and Cradley Heath in the Archers' programme around that time.

 

One other oddment appeared in a Coventry programme, which suggested that George Hunter's challenge was to take place at Glasgow and Hackney, with a decider scheduled for Newcastle if required.

Edited August 18, 2016 by BL65

[BL65]

Can anyone please help - BL65, this should be right up your street! - by confirming where and when the deciding leg of the 1965 Golden Helmet match-race between Barry Briggs and Nigel Boocock WOULD have been staged if it had been needed?

 

We know that Briggo beat Booey 2-1 in the 1st leg at Glasgow on Aug 13.

 

And that Briggo also won the 2nd leg 2-1 at Hackney on Aug 27.

 

So, obviously, no deciding 3rd leg was required.

 

But had it been, where and when would it have taken place?

 

A strange question, but we need the answer to fill a gap on a little chart we'll be running in the next issue of Classic Speedway magazine.

 

Thank you.

Further to my previous post (#2), Speedway Star carried a report by Paul Parish on 13th August (page 7) stating that Briggs and Boocock would meet at Glasgow and Hackney, but there was no mention of the venue for a deciding leg if such proved necessary. The report also commented that 'these were the tracks originally selected for the July challenge but force of circumstances caused the event to be held at Newcastle and Oxford'. This explains the remarks in the Coventry programme which I referred to.

[BOBBATH]

Blimey this post brought back some memories as I was at Newport to see the Golden Helmet challenge of McKinlay v. Briggs in 1965. Always recall Ken wearing his bobble-hat or as we would say in Canada his "toque"(pronounced "took")!!!

[TonyMac]

Many thanks, BL65, for such a lengthy and detailed response.

[BL65]

Many thanks, BL65, for such a lengthy and detailed response.

Some further information. The Glasgow programme for 7th August included a comment by Trevor Redmond that

 

'there is a chance that next Friday will also give us a chance of seeing Barry Briggs defending his golden helmet match race title should he have succeeded in defeating George Hunter at Oxford last night. If he lost to George, we may well be granted the decider.'

 

Perhaps this confirms that the venue for the deciding leg was not always determined until it became necessary during the 1965 season. Alternatively, it may be that the rota was already decided and if Glasgow was not needed for the decider it would automatically stage the first leg of the next challenge. The sequence of tracks hosting the Golden Helmet after Glasgow and Hackney was Wimbledon (20th September), Coventry (22nd September), Edinburgh (8th October), Halifax (13th October). However, as referred to in my earlier post, Wimbledon could not have hosted the decider until late September. Wimbledon held meetings on 28th August (Boocock was at Coventry and Briggs at Swindon), 4th September (Briggs and Boocock were riding at Swindon), 11th September (Briggs at Swindon, Boocock at Coventry) and 20th September, when both riders competed in The Laurels. Delaying the decider until that date would have almost certainly led to the September challenge not being fitted in. Coventry was not a neutral track and could not stage the August decider. Neither Edinburgh or Halifax staged meetings in September when both Briggs and Boocock were available so it would not have been possible to select a staging track from the rota, hence the likelihood that Long Eaton would have been chosen.

[BL65]

Many thanks, BL65, for such a lengthy and detailed response.

Just when I thought it looked straightforward..... I have now found a reference in the Wolverhampton programme for the meeting on 13th August, which reported that Barry v Nigel would take place at Glasgow and Hackney, but regarding the deciding leg (if required)

 

'A date and venue have not as yet been announced but Exeter are hot favourites.'

 

This might have been news to Exeter as the only reference to the August challenge was in their programme for the meeting on 23rd August, which included the following:

 

'BRIGGS v BOOCOCK

World Champion Barry Briggs (Swindon) defends his Sunday Mirror sponsored Golden Helmet British Match Race Championship against Coventry's Nigel Boocock in the August challenge. He won 2-1 at Glasgow on Friday, August 13 with the second leg due at Hackney this Friday.'

 

Surely if Exeter had been chosen as the venue for a decider the possibility would have been detailed in the programme. Just to complicate matters, the Exeter meeting on 30th August had a morning start time, so Nigel could have ridden if he was prepared to travel there and then back through holiday traffic on the A38 to get to Dudley Wood for the evening meeting. Very unlikely in my view.

 

This leaves a choice of a decider at Exeter the day after the World Cup Final in Germany, or at Long Eaton the next day when Barry was riding there for Swindon. I wonder if anyone has any Sunday Mirror cuttings containing more information.

[norbold]

 

'A date and venue have not as yet been announced but Exeter are hot favourites.'

 

This might have been news to Exeter as the only reference to the August challenge was in their programme for the meeting on 23rd August, which included the following:

 

'BRIGGS v BOOCOCK

World Champion Barry Briggs (Swindon) defends his Sunday Mirror sponsored Golden Helmet British Match Race Championship against Coventry's Nigel Boocock in the August challenge. He won 2-1 at Glasgow on Friday, August 13 with the second leg due at Hackney this Friday.'

 

Surely if Exeter had been chosen as the venue for a decider the possibility would have been detailed in the programme.

 

 

 

'A date and venue have not as yet been announced but Exeter are hot favourites.'

 

Surely if Exeter had been chosen as the venue for a decider the possibility would have been detailed in the programme.

Yes, but Exeter hadn't yet been chosen. The Wolverhampton programme just says they were hot favourites. Maybe Exeter preferred to wait until a final decision before getting their fans too excited about the possibility and then have to let them down.

 

Anyway, this is all fascinating stuff BL65 and a fantastic piece of research.

Edited August 18, 2016 by norbold

[Sidney the robin]

'A date and venue have not as yet been announced but Exeter are hot favourites.'

 

This might have been news to Exeter as the only reference to the August challenge was in their programme for the meeting on 23rd August, which included the following:

 

'BRIGGS v BOOCOCK

World Champion Barry Briggs (Swindon) defends his Sunday Mirror sponsored Golden Helmet British Match Race Championship against Coventry's Nigel Boocock in the August challenge. He won 2-1 at Glasgow on Friday, August 13 with the second leg due at Hackney this Friday.'

 

Surely if Exeter had been chosen as the venue for a decider the possibility would have been detailed in the programme.

 

 

 

 

Yes, but Exeter hadn't yet been chosen. The Wolverhampton programme just says they were hot favourites. Maybe Exeter preferred to wait until a final decision before getting their fans too excited about the possibility and then have to let them down.

Anyway, this is all fascinating stuff BL65 and a fantastic piece of research.

Great post great subject.

[BL65]

There had been calls for the first challenger in May to be Newcastle's Ivan Mauger, top rider in the Provincial League in 1964, but that prospect ended when Ivan was injured at Wolverhampton on April 16th. Having been on the wrong end of a 5-1 in his first ride, being beaten by Tommy Sweetman and Jim Airey, Mauger then fell in his second race and Gordon Guasco following very close behind was unable to avoid fallen man and machine. Ivan was taken off to hospital and was variously reported to have a badly broken ankle and/or broken leg.

 

Charlie Monk, another ex-Provincial League rider, was then a worthy first challenger for the Golden Helmet after a tremendous start to the 1965 season. During April Charlie broke the track records at Glasgow and Edinburgh on consecutive nights, won the Easter Trophy at West Ham against a field containing many ex-National League riders and apart from a machine failure and an exclusion dropped just a single point in home meetings when defeated by Trevor Hedge of Wimbledon. Although beaten 2-1 by Briggs in the Golden Helmet, Charlie went on to prove his quality by winning the Internationale at Wimbledon at the beginning of June, against a line-up which included Briggs, Knutson, Nordin, Fundin, Nigel Boocock, McKinlay, Pander and How.

[Sidney the robin]

There had been calls for the first challenger in May to be Newcastle's Ivan Mauger, top rider in the Provincial League in 1964, but that prospect ended when Ivan was injured at Wolverhampton on April 16th. Having been on the wrong end of a 5-1 in his first ride, being beaten by Tommy Sweetman and Jim Airey, Mauger then fell in his second race and Gordon Guasco following very close behind was unable to avoid fallen man and machine. Ivan was taken off to hospital and was variously reported to have a badly broken ankle and/or broken leg.

 

Charlie Monk, another ex-Provincial League rider, was then a worthy first challenger for the Golden Helmet after a tremendous start to the 1965 season. During April Charlie broke the track records at Glasgow and Edinburgh on consecutive nights, won the Easter Trophy at West Ham against a field containing many ex-National League riders and apart from a machine failure and an exclusion dropped just a single point in home meetings when defeated by Trevor Hedge of Wimbledon. Although beaten 2-1 by Briggs in the Golden Helmet, Charlie went on to prove his quality by winning the Internationale at Wimbledon at the beginning of June, against a line-up which included Briggs, Knutson, Nordin, Fundin, Nigel Boocock, McKinlay, Pander and How.

BL can you remember the Silver Sash coming into operation and did you like it.?

[BL65]

BL can you remember the Silver Sash coming into operation and did you like it.?

Sidney, there is some excellent information on the Silver Sash provided by britmet at http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ under the British Match Race Champs tab. This provides information going back to the Southern Area League from 1955-59, through the Provincial League 1960-64 and the British League from 1965 onwards.

 

I used to look forward to the Silver Sash match races, featuring the holder against the top scorer of the opposing team. The rules of the event led to occasional successes by surprise challengers such as Chris Julian and Graham Coombes, both Cradley Heath riders, in the 1960s.

Edited August 19, 2016 by BL65

[Sidney the robin]

Sidney, there is some excellent information on the Silver Sash provided by britmet at http://www.speedwaychampions.com/ under the British Match Race Champs tab. This provides information going back to the Southern Area League from 1955-59, through the Provincial League 1960-64 and the British League from 1965 onwards.

 

I used to look forward to the Silver Sash match races, featuring the holder against the top scorer of the opposing team. The rules of the event led to occasional successes by surprise challengers such as Chris Julian and Graham Coombes, both Cradley Heath riders, in the 1960s.

Thanks so much BL great stuff was going through my old programmes the other week i think it was 1969?. With Eric Boocock beating Briggo in the Sash at the Abbey that did not happen much over the years.

[BL65]

Thanks so much BL great stuff was going through my old programmes the other week i think it was 1969?. With Eric Boocock beating Briggo in the Sash at the Abbey that did not happen much over the years.

Yes, first home meeting of 1969. Just as big a surprise as losing the Sash was the fact that Barry managed 2 bonus points in the that meeting, ending up with 8+2 from his 4 rides. They were the only bonus points recorded by Briggo in league racing in the whole season.