Favorite London Track For Neutrals.

[BOBBATH]

In 1967 , working in Basildon for the summer, I went to the London tracks 3 times a week-spent all my wages on admissions and getting to London. So I regularly went to West Ham, Wimbledon and Hackney-where did I like going to the most??- (and I realise this is subjective). Hands down it had to be West Ham-would get off at Plaistow underground and walk down to Custom House-wonderful atmosphere and great track. What a stadium.

Secondly for the experience had to be Hackney. Would get to Stratford underground then on a special speedway bus -up the street of a thousand smells(Carpenters Road) to the Wick. The program would always have an ad ""Get a better job in Hackney, where over 2,500,000 Matchbox toys are produced every week for children all over the world".. It was Lesney products. They were advertising for Tool Room Personnel, Experienced Bench Fitters and then it said LADIES! a wonderful choice of light well paid jobs to pick from. I wanted to apply for the latter -but failed the medical.. I assume Lesney is no longer there and that if Matchbox toys are still manufactured its in the third world( not being racist here-so please don't report me to the British Human Rights Commission). Anyway Hackney was a gritty experience with wonderful supporters and of course a super promoter.

Hackney always struck me as the most working class of the tracks -so naturally I felt at home there. I am looking at my program of July 28th 1967 when Hackney hammered the dreaded Dons 57-21. Crowd went wild (so did I)-as Wimbledon seemed to be classier and posh(unfair comparison maybe but they certainly had better facilities). Their supporters club chairperson was Mrs. Dorothy Charles- Batson who I am sure was a super nice lady-but I am not sure there were any Hackney fans with double-barrelled names.

Was anybody from forumland at that meeting-if so you will know that Les McGillivray scored a 12 point max., Bengt Jansson scored 11, Pratt and McKee both 10, Gerry Jackson 8, Brian Davies 4 and Malc Brown 2.. Sadly no Don won a race and the top scorer was Nygren with 9. Wot an evening for the Hawks fans.

I should add that Plough Lane was a great stadium to visit and I mean no disrespect to the Dons -but it was great to see the underdogs triumph (sort of like an earlier version of Brexit)!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sidney the robin]

Hackney was my favourite London track, Wimbledon was my favourite Stadium i first went to Hackney in 1976.My first impression of Hackney as a place was god what a dump but the track produced some great racing .It always seemed dark there and the track sunk low but i enjoyed every visit there a great night out before the week end.

[steve roberts]

Hackney was my favourite London track, Wimbledon was my favourite Stadium i first went to Hackney in 1976.My first impression of Hackney as a place was god what a dump but the track produced some great racing .It always seemed dark there and the track sunk low but i enjoyed every visit there a great night out before the week end.

Used to enjoy my trip to the 'smoke' every Wednesday/Tuesday up the M40 to watch 'The Rebels' at Wood Lane. Nightmare journey on a Friday evening travelling around the North Circular to Hackney...South Circular not so bad to Wimbledon.

 

Great days and I grew up fast driving as many people of my age hadn't a clue about navigating around London...especially round Marble Arch!

Edited March 7, 2017 by steve roberts

[keef robin]

Used to enjoy my trip to the 'smoke' every Wednesday/Tuesday up the M40 to watch 'The Rebels' at Wood Lane. Nightmare journey on a Friday evening travelling around the North Circular to Hackney...South Circular not so bad to Wimbledon.

 

Great days and I grew up fast driving as many people of my age hadn't a clue about navigating around London...especially round Marble Arch!

It's hard enough travelling around London with a Satnav! Lived in London in the sixties, when New Cross closed we went to Wimbledon, West Am, Ackney, and ended up following the Dons south of the river, although our favourite rider was Bjorn Knutson of the Ammers. Saw Swindon at White City in the mid 70s, Ashby, Kilby, Karlsson, more Robins fans there than City fans. The Robins were the only club to break the London Stranglehold on the title in 57. I suppose the Dons could be compared to Spurs in those days, London's top and wealthiest club. A lot of Dons fans followed Chelsea and Fulham, with Awks and Ammers fans following north and east London clubs. There was a big rivalry between norf and sarf of the river. Edited March 7, 2017 by beefy keefy

[Sidney the robin]

It's hard enough travelling around London with a Satnav! Lived in London in the sixties, when New Cross closed we went to Wimbledon, West Am, Ackney, and ended up following the Dons south of the river, although our favourite rider was Bjorn Knutson of the Ammers. Saw Swindon at White City in the mid 70s, Ashby, Kilby, Karlsson, more Robins fans there than City fans. The Robins were the only club to break the London Stranglehold on the title in 57. I suppose the Dons could be compared to Spurs in those days, London's top and wealthiest club. A lot of Dons fans followed Chelsea and Fulham, with Awks and Ammers fans following north and east London clubs. There was a big rivalry between norf and sarf of the river.

I went in 1977 Beefy to White City Mad Wellie made his debut and scored 0.😧

[iris123]

Of course i am not a neutral,so for me Plough Lane is the best.Would have loved to have seen speedway at some of the other famous tracks through the years.In fact i would rather have seen speedway than football at Stamford Bridge *spit*

[Guest compost]

Of course i am not a neutral,so for me Plough Lane is the best.Would have loved to have seen speedway at some of the other famous tracks through the years.In fact i would rather have seen speedway than football at Stamford Bridge *spit*

 

When I visited the 'Bridge' in the early 1970's the remains of part of the greyhound (and old speedway) track was still visible. Most pre-development pictures show only football but some do show the speedway track.

 

Real shame they decided the dogs were more profitable as the Pensioners seem to have been a successful team.

 

Incidentally the dogs stopped as recently as 1968 (which was a surprise as I thought they lasted less time than the speedway at Chelsea).

 

My favourite London track would be the 'proper' Wembley (but then I only visited Wembley and White City).

[iris123]

Yes,i remember the first few years i visited Stamford Bridge there was still the remnants of the track around the pitch.

 

Also remember when visiting Sportspages,the sport book shop in the 80s that they had a history of Stamford Bridge there.Mostly of course about Chelsea football club,but there was a section in the book about speedway.Didn't buy it because of my dislike of Chelsea though

[steve roberts]

I went in 1977 Beefy to White City Mad Wellie made his debut and scored 0.

I was there...he was also riding for 'The Cheetahs' that season!

[keef robin]

I went in 1977 Beefy to White City Mad Wellie made his debut and scored 0.

Was that the meeting, a Bank Holiday,

where the fans had a race around the track? Swindon won.

The late great Holloway, the Earl of Stratton, has a road named after him on the new Blunsdon Mead development, with Lee Richardson and Bob Kilby. Apt that its opposite his old hostelry, the Jovial Monk.

[Sidney the robin]

Was that the meeting, a Bank Holiday,

where the fans had a race around the track? Swindon won.

The late great Holloway, the Earl of Stratton, has a road named after him on the new Blunsdon Mead development, with Lee Richardson and Bob Kilby. Apt that its opposite his old hostelry, the Jovial Monk.

Think so Beefy was so surprised Malc got the call up as it was not long before that he destroyed the flowerbeds at the Abbey.😆 Edited March 7, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[norbold]

Of course I can't claim to be a neutral either, having been first of all a New Cross supporter, then West Ham when New Cross closed. I also went to Hackney every week for many years. In addition Wimbledon and Wembley were fairly regular venues while open. I also saw racing at White City, Harringay and Romford.

 

My favourite was New Cross, the smallness of the circuit seemed to induce close racing. Also, if a race was boring it was over quicker! West Ham was great when riders like Sverre Harrfeldt and Christer Lofqvist were blasting round the outside.

 

Although I only saw two meetings there, I have fond memories of Harringay too. The atmosphere just seemed electric, but then it was two big meetings I saw there with very large crowds which always helps.

[Sidney the robin]

Of course I can't claim to be a neutral either, having been first of all a New Cross supporter, then West Ham when New Cross closed. I also went to Hackney every week for many years. In addition Wimbledon and Wembley were fairly regular venues while open. I also saw racing at White City, Harringay and Romford.

 

My favourite was New Cross, the smallness of the circuit seemed to induce close racing. Also, if a race was boring it was over quicker! West Ham was great when riders like Sverre Harrfeldt and Christer Lofqvist were blasting round the outside.

 

Although I only saw two meetings there, I have fond memories of Harringay too. The atmosphere just seemed electric, but then it was two big meetings I saw there with very large crowds which always helps.

If we are all honest Norbold,with our rose tinted glasses on Wembley was like that.The racing not great but the atmosphere and occasion unreal what ever happened to the wooden benches.?😅

[longlivefrankie]

My uncle was I n the Welsh guards so spent many weeks in school holidays in London in sixties.

 

For me Wimbledon was my favourite seemed like a different world to Somerton park to me

 

One of my earliest memories is Ollie Nygrens white boots and was lucky to attend nearly every internationale on whit Monday's

Edited March 12, 2017 by Ken Morgan

[cityrebel]

Despite being a lifelong Wimbledon fan, west ham is my favourite track of all time. Big, fast and historic!

[salty]

Having been raised on the "luxurious" environs of Dudley Wood, moving down to London in 1981 and having Plough Lane as a local track was a bit of a culture shock. Never liked watching from behind the glass so generally stood on the first bend. Grew to love my Speedway there, but did enjoy going over to Hackney a couple of times a season.

[Grachan]

Hackney was the best track, but, oh those lamp standards!! I went there quite a few times over the years.

 

Wimbledon used to have a great atmosphere although the track itself was a bit small for my liking.

 

White City was a fabulous stadium but the track seemed a long way off and the sheer size of it meant there was little atmosphere for league matches.

 

Would have loved to have seen West Ham but it closed down before I started going.

[billybikespeedway]

Wimbledon for me , we had moved to Newport in 62 but still had relatives in london so in the summer hloidays I would get the train to paddington Underground to Wimbledon in 65 on thursday back home on friday for Somerton Park, Olle Nyrgren my Hero White boots green Scarf, great face mask well I was only 14 , but Wimbledon Stadium so Different to Somerton Park track rakers all dressed the same Stadium lights go out when racing started, track lights suspended over the track ,not Football floodlights like somerton park.

[steve roberts]

Have enjoyed reading the comment on this particular thread...memories of London speedway sadly no longer!

[BOBBATH]

' Ang on a minute billybikes -don't knock poor old Somerton-ah the memories!!!-the trains to London and elsewhere speeding by on the railway track which you could see above the fence, the lights at night from the suburban houses on the hill behind the Stadium., the Newport County Supporters Club hut behind the main stand where after paying a 5 shilling membership for the season you could go in and glug down Whitbread Trophy!! Now all gone-no more Somerton Park, no more Newport Speedway and even no more Whitbread Trophy beer!!!! Wot's the world coming to!!!! I subscribe to the theory that there are three sorts of people in this world. "One group makes things happen", "a second group things happen to" and a third group asks " wot the f***s 'appening"- I am in that third group.