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Hard Riders Of The Past Any Thoughts?


Sidney the robin

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2 hours ago, gustix said:

One of the hardest riders I saw was Al Sparrey who rode for Rye House, Swindon and Yarmouth from the mid-1950s into the early 1960s.

My mum used to tell me about him. Not so much "hard" as "wild"!!!

Steve

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Andy Galvin was a hard but fair (mostly:wink:) rider. He used to fall foul to a lot of refs who automatically reached for his exclusion light when his opponents got blown off by the breeze of Andy overtaking them so quickly.

He also managed to orchestrate the odd 5-0 when we needed it!

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4 hours ago, steve roberts said:

I believe that both Chris Julian and Blewitt fall into the same category?

Blewett definitely, but I never considered Chris Julian "wild". Spectacular, yes, but that is different to "wild"!

Steve

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On 2/3/2019 at 10:13 PM, gustix said:

One of the hardest riders I saw was Al Sparrey who rode for Rye House, Swindon and Yarmouth from the mid-1950s into the early 1960s.

 

21 hours ago, chunky said:

My mum used to tell me about him. Not so much "hard" as "wild"!!!

Steve

Some background on Al Sparrey:

http://www.national-speedway-museum.co.uk/page874.html

http://www.national-speedway-museum.co.uk/alsparrey.html

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On 2/5/2019 at 7:36 AM, steve roberts said:

The late Kelvin Mullarkey was a hard rider and I remember one such occasion where he and Barney Kennett (another shrinking violet) had a coming together!

I remember seeing Barney have a punch up with Martin Dixon up at Middlesbrough. It was well worth the admission money!

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6 minutes ago, cityrebel said:

I remember seeing Barney have a punch up with Martin Dixon up at Middlesbrough. It was well worth the admission money!

When Oxford put on an 'Eagles' vs. 'Panthers' meeting Barney was guesting for one of the teams (can't recall who) and he was getting upto all sorts of antics on track with the opposition. Great days at Cowley when we had meaningful second halves due to our promotional attachement with the aforementioned teams.

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I remember bumping into Barney at Vojens when he was giving Eddie a bit of vocal backing.I was impressed at what a nice bloke he was and thought at that time he had more muscle in his legs than most have in their whole body.Dave was also there,but I only saw him passing as he was mostly in the pits

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  • 1 year later...
On 11/10/2017 at 8:02 PM, Sidney the robin said:

Top class rider i supported him in 75 after he defeated Ashby in the British Final run/off he

was one of my favourite ever riders ever at his best could beat Briggs not. many could.

Would wilson have left ashby as much room on the last corner?

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2 hours ago, geoff100 said:

Would wilson have left ashby as much room on the last corner?

NO Geoff certainly not,,,  but Ray was a class act i forgive him!!! Ray was one of the first riders who could beat Briggs at the Abbey in the late 60s on merit great rider tough as old boots top class as well,my uncle told me that  from the beginning from his Long Eaton days.

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