16th May 1977 Scunthorpe V Coatbridge (nl)

[daveallan81]

Steve Wilkes requested information for this meeting a couple of years ago but unfortunately none was forthcoming. So I thought I'd try again.

 

Essentially the Speedway Star report appears to be a load of honk.

 

Scunthorpe seem to track 8 riders, 1. Allott, 2. Whiting, 3. Baugh, 4. McNeil, 5. Sid Sheldrick, 6. Young, 7. White and 8. Mick Sheldrick. There doesn't appear to be any r/r in operation. Further confusing the issue, Mick Sheldrick is reported in heat 2 as a replacement for Danny Young. I'm not aware of a rule that covers this but I'm open to correction. This is Mick's only ride in the meeting.

 

There is also confusion surrounding heat 13 as Steve says "Speedway Star states Collins, Baugh, White (f exc), Richardson (exc), S.Sheldrick (fell), I am not sure how White has managed to appear in this heat. The report states White was with Sheldrick in the original running of the heat with no mention of Baugh."

 

It should also be noted that the yearbook reports scores for all 8 Scunthorpe riders.

 

Only a marked programme can sort this mess out, so if you can help please get in touch.

 

 

 

 

[Nodlew]

The Speedway Star may be correct about Scunthorpe using 8 riders without using rider replacement. I attended the Peterborough v Boston (New National League) match on 31 May 1976 where Boston used 8 riders without using rider replacement. The riders were: No1. Billy Burton 5 8+1, No2. Stuart Cope 5 5+1, No3. Rob Hollingworth 5 11, No4 Steve Clarke 2 1+1, No5 Paul Gilbert 4 3+1, No6 Dave Allen 2 2, No7 Ron Cooper 2 2, No8 Derek Harrison 1 1+1.

 

Derek Harrison replaced Ron Cooper in heat 2. The 1977 Speedway Yearbook concurs with the 8 x Boston scorers for this meeting.

 

According to the Boston programme of 6 June 1976, Ron Cooper somehow got lost traveling from his Leicester base to Peterborough, missing one ride.

 

Therefore it must have been in the rules at that time to allow for this situation.

[daveallan81]

Thanks for the info. I went through the 1977 season file last night and found another 4 matches where this had happened, 2 with r/r in operation and 2 without. All the rides came in heat 2 so I assume you couldn't just use the #8 as a supplementary reserve throughout the meeting.

[Robbie B]

After checking several meeting programmes from 1976. They clearly state that a team had to nominate a number eight rider so that the team could use an r/r in a meeting under the 1976 league rules. Although the rider nominated as the eighth rider wasn't always transmitted to the general public over announcements, at a meeting.