2002 Wimbledon Revival And Other Happenings

[iris123]

Not sure where gustix gets some of his info from.Think we have had this with Kennett before and had the same answer.He never seems to learn,but maybe he is referring to the period when Gordon was riding in the second half at Plough Lane?

 

[steve roberts]

No he wasn't, he only rode for one full season. In that season his average dropped by at least a couple of points.

...If I recall Gordon rode in some second halves very early on in his career.

 

He slipped thru' the net I'm very happy to say as he eventually moved to Oxford and, of course, White City...my local and then adopted teams.

[Guest]

Here's a quiz question: name the Canadian riders who have ridden for Wimbledon and the seasons. Sorry - no prizes for correct answers!

 

::::: Gordon Kennett was a Wimbledon favourite.

 

 

 

No he wasn't, he only rode for one full season. In that season his average dropped by at least a couple of points.

 

Thank you for pointing out the error in my original Post which also claimed in the caption '...for several seasons...' - a fact which was wrong. I have Edited my original Post now. What happened was that the error appeared on the jpg where I had the Gordon Kennett photo filed. That should have been amended previously but was not. I then regenerated the error when I copied and pasted the old but wrong caption. Well spotted on your part salty.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Guest

[Guest]

Vic Collins was Southampton captain for a while in 1929 when just 17 years old.

This is what Ron Hoare wrote about Vic Collins back in 1979:
"Memories of the old Southampton Saints are conjured up by the name of Vic Collins. Vic started his motorcycle career on a BSA road bike, joined the Southamptopn & District Motorcycle Club and in October, 1928, was riding at the new Wymering Park racecourse where he won the Scratch race for bikes in the 600cc class
"In the same month Banister Court opened its doors to dirt track racing and in the following year Vic became a member of the original Southampton side, with Jimmy Hayes, Tommy Cullis, Clarrie Eldridge, Ceceil Bounds and many other wll-known southern based riders.
"Despite breaking a leg in the early part of 1930, Vic came back tremendously to win the Golden Gauntlet Championship at his home track's final meeting from a class field including Tiger Stevenson, Roger Frogley, Arthur Warwick, Ron Johnson and Reg Bounds.
"Vic was another of the early riders who bridged the gap between pre-and-post-war speedway and he made a comeback in 1947 to turn out for his old side when they re-entered the league."
So, with that reputation, why did Vic Collins ride in a 1946 novice race at Wimbledon?

This is the 1931 Southampton team. It includes Vic Collins. Another member of this team, Norman Parker was the post-war captain of Wimbledon.

Southampton 1931. From left - Frank Bond, Arnie Hansen, Norman Parker, Jack Parker (on bike), Vic Collins, Jimmy Baxter (promoter), Ernie Rickman, Frank Goulden.

Edited September 19, 2017 by Guest

[BL65]

 

So, with that reputation, why did Vic Collins ride in a 1946 novice race at Wimbledon?

 

 

 

The race you refer to was in the second half of the London Cup Final 1st Leg between Wimbledon and Wembley on 26th August 1946. 5 riders were programmed but only 4 came to the tapes, with Jimmy Coy winning from Basil Harris, Collins and Dennis Gray. Coy went on to ride in a handful of meetings for the Dons in 1947, but spent the season with 3rd Division champions Eastbourne, where he averaged well over 7 points per match. Harris made his Wimbledon debut in 1946, also rode in a few meetings the following year, but as with Coy he turned out for Eastbourne in 1947, averaging over 9.00. Dennis Gray made a few appearances for Wimbledon between 1946 to 1948, before hitting the high spots at Oxford in 1949, returning to the Dons in 1950, where he was a solid performer before moving on to Leicester then Rayleigh in the mid 1950s.

 

Vic Collins was also programmed to ride in the Novices Scratch Race in the second half of the National League meeting against Odsal the following week. The race was won by Gray, from Coy and Robinson. Harris was the other participant in the 5-rider race.

 

Assuming that the Vic Collins referred to in the Wimbledon programmes was the same Vic Collins that returned to Southampton in 1947, maybe his appearances were part of the process of blowing away the cobwebs, given that his last full season for Southampton was in 1937, appearing only a handful of times in 1938. Also, taking into account the level of results achieved by Harris, Coy and Gray in 1947 it seems that the tag of novices was possibly somewhat inaccurate at this stage. Harris, Coy and Robinson had, in fact, been riding in Wimbledon second half races since the middle of May. There were three categories of second half races at Wimbledon, those for 'senior' riders, with usually a race each for 'junior' or reserve standard riders and 'novice' riders (which seemed to include anyone without a team place as a reserve), although sometimes the novice race winner progressed to the junior race or the junior race winner moved to the reserve race.

[Guest]

Has anyone been near to Wimbledon Stadium recently? Any signs of activity there?

[Guest]

Will there be a reunion in 2018 - something on the lines of this year's successful event?