Hamburg Lokstedt Dirt Track

[Guest]

On 1/17/2019 at 8:38 PM, iris123 said:

Thanks.Later in the thread I might get round to the time Fay Taylour rode at Lokstedt.And in my next post there is a visit from a rider who had a motorbike shop in Stockwell

I am looking forward very much to this update. Aside from her activities outside speedway Fay Taylour is always an interesting personality speedway-wise. And I am also interested in learning the identity of 'the rider with Stockwell links.'

[iris123]

As mentioned elsewhere the 24th was a significant day,not only because of the Wall St Crash,but because another German dirt Track Opened in Cologne.It was stated in the British press that the Stratton Troupe were heading for Hamburg and Cologne,but I can't see any evidence that those that rode in the few Cologne meetings ever made it to Lokstedt

The next meeting on the 27th saw the qualifying heats for the first German Championships and also saw the last of Ginger Lees for 1929!!Due to the poor weather that would hamper the rest of the season in both Hamburg and Cologne,a poor crowd of 4-5,000 turned up.The favourites,Niss,Stölting,Drews and Kellner all won their heats to qualify for the semi finals along with Schauer(who had a tough fight to beat Strachwitz),Heck,Werner and Steenholt who all came in 2nd in their heats

The last round of the Hamburger Wheel to win the brand new Dirt Track bike was won controversially by Bill Kellner.Seems he was given a warning for unfair riding,having cut the first bend very sharp,but still ended up the winner,ahead of Niss,Drews and Stölting

Another new rider turned up from the UK,Middlesborough rider,Jack 'Broncho' Dixon.In the press it was questioned as to whether the 'broncho' nickname had anything to do with bronchitis!!Who said germans don't have a sense of humour?In the final for the foreign riders Dixon showed what a rider he was by having a very close battle with Niels Sorensen,just losing out at the end.Lees bike packed up in his heat and didn't make the final.And in the main handicap competition,the situation was reversed and Dixons bike had problems in the quali.Lees in his last race,could only finish 3rd!!!The British press a couple of days later stated Ginger was awarded the State medal of Altona,the equivalent of freedom of the city,due to his popularity and on his return home,Bury and District MC held a charity dinner in his honour!!!

The poor continued and the meeting scheduled for the 30th October was cancelled,as were the next 2 staging dates,so the meeting was eventually held on 06.11.1929.Whereas Ginger Lees had gone back home,Dixon had stayed around and was joined by another two arrivals from Britain,namely Gus Kuhn,captain of Stamford Bridge and his team mate Colin Ford. Gus won the competition for the foreign riders ahead of Dixon and Sorensen with Ford having bike problems.Dixon also had a best of 3 match race against Sörensen,which he lost in the deciding 3rd heat,all in very quick times.

The battle for the German Championship continued,with the next round of heats.Heck + Niss as expected got through their heat untroubled.The surprise came in the other heat when Drews fell whilst in the lead and so Kellner and Werner made it to the race offs.Heck beat Niss in the first and Kellner was untroubled in beating Werner to qualify for the final of the first ever German Championship.Drews had slight compensation in continuing his run to with the last Golden Helmet final,but second placed Niss was certain of the title with a total of 42 pts followed by Wunder on 27 and Heinrichs with 26 pts.The main handicap final was won by Stamford Bridge rider,Colin Ford

It was announced that the next meeting for the German Championship would be the last for 1929,and not everyone was pleased with that!!!! 

[iris123]

10th November and the final meeting of the first season at Lokstedt

Considering the season started at the beginning of July it today seems incredible they managed 44 meetings and a number of other dates being cancelled!!

Sadly the weather in the last few weeks wasn't good and the crowds dropped off.Only 3,000 or so were interested enough to turn up to see the climax of the first German Championship.Apparently while Germany was struggling, as was shown with the very short season in Cologne as well,Copenhagen was seeing sell out crowds.The match race for the Champonship between the local matador Kellner and Heck from Berlin went to a deciding 3rd heat after first Heck,then Kellner won.Unfortunately Kellner had to borrow a bike for the decider,as his Douglas played up before the start.Heck shot off and although Kellner made a last gasp effort round the bend to the finish line it wasn't enough and Heck was crowned the German Dirt Track Champion of 1929.Fritz Niss beat Werner in the race for 3rd.

That was 1929.The season when Dirt Track came to Germany,looked to have taken a big step with a purpose built stadium and Cologne had joined Hamburg,with news of other tracks being prepared.But it wasn't long before rumours of trouble ahead were being spread around  Hamburg !!!

[iris123]

Seeing as I typed it all out, seems a pity not to put it on the Lokstedt thread for the very short 1933 season

Now looking at my info, it was probably 26th April 1933, which was the opening meeting of the season. The next meeting was the meeting v Australia in May

10,000 came, which was not bad and the 4,000 for the next meeting was quite a drop!!!

Grosskreutz won all 5 of his races including a match race v Rumrich. Case won 4 out of 5. John Glass, Dicky Wise and Ernie Evans were riding and Herbert Drews was the best local rider on the night. The newspaper report states Grosskreutz, Case in partnership with A.J. Reynolds got the Dirt Track back up and running

Can add some info that was sent to me from an article in Speedway Star and news May, 1959 about Grosskreutz

In 1933 he travelled to Germany with Dick Case and several other riders to race at Hamburg but at the time the Nazis were coming to power and they frowned on the venture. At the very last meeting Case and Grosskreutz were desperately short of money. The only solution they could see was to stage an International All Star meeting for a valuable gold cup. Minus money, they sought out an enterprising pawnbroker and borrowed a gold cup from him with a promise to return it on Monday morning, the meeting being raced on Sunday.

There was no doubt in either Case's or Grosskruetz's mind that they would be able to do this, for both were far ahead of the German and Danish riders who were to race against them. Unfortunately their plan misfired. Max had engine trouble in his second outing while Case when well placed in the lead broke a chain. This meant that a tough German farmer won the cup and refused point blank to hand it back. "I've win, I keep " he told them. They offered him as much money as they could raise: they asked to borrow the cup for a short while, but the German refused and they eventually went home..... 

I am not sure of the truth in this though. I only have found record of a third meeting, the next Wednesday 10th May. No mention of the above happening and it seemed the seasons meetings were all on a Wednesday, not Sunday as mentioned, but in the final Rumrich won after a great race just beating Grsskreutz with Case 3rd and then Drews in 4th. So it is possible this was the race everything hung on and it was Rumrich that refused to hand back the gold cup........No crowd figure given, just a note from the journalist that it remains a mystery why the Hamburg public don't support what is a great sport.......

After that it was announced a short break of a couple of weeks would take place, as I stated above.......

And the Ernie Evans version

Found an interesting version of the story from Ernie Evans, told in 1936,so not too long after, but still not tying u with the facts that I have from local papers

At the completion of the season in England I returned to Australia and while riding at the Exhibition speedway, Melbourne won the Victorian Championship

On arrival back in England next season I was offered many lucrative contracts from the speedways in London and the provinces, but I listened to the tempter Dick Case, who had remained in England during the winter and had formed the opinion that there was a fortune to be made on the Continent for enterprising speedway riders.

He found out that in some places the sport was booming and good speedway riders were scarce. Also that there was a track in Hamburg that could be leased for a reasonable amount. He put the proposition to Grosskreutz, Wise, Murphy, Cantwell and myself, so we decided not only would we ride but make a fortune by acting as our own promoters

In our egotism we felt that none of the German riders could come within coo-ee of us. so we decided that while we were about it, we would have a decent trophy. Dick Case, the bargainer spotted a magnificent gold cup in a pawnshop, so he 'hicked' one of our machines for it on the understanding that when one of us won it the machine would be redeemed.

On the night of the championship we all struck engine trouble and a Bavarian rider Sebastian Roth riding a fast JAP had no trouble winning the championship and incidentally the cup. Strange as it may seem we could not prevail on him to return the trophy.

The championship fiasco was a severe blow to our finances, so when we discovered that there was to be a public holiday the following week we thought that it was a heaven sent opportunity t recuperate our losses. Little did we know it would end our stay in Germany.

On the day of the holiday everything was ready, but when we arrived at the track we were surprised to see that there was not a spectator on the ground. Usually there were a few spectators who arrived early to watch the practice runs. As time went on still no spectators appeared, and then we really began to get worried.

At last people began to arrive, but to our consternation they were in uniforms and were Hitlers stormtroopers sent to see that nobody entered the ground. It was then that we were informed that Hitlers birthday was a close holiday and no sports or any other amusements are held.

We did not know until after we left Germany that the Hamburg papers had been writing about us for daring to desecrate Herr Hitlers birthday, a holiday which is regarded in the same light as Anzac day in Australia. To this day we blamed our publicity agent, as he should have told us of the mistake we were making. We thought we had our own back as we pinched his car when we decided to seek fresh fields to conquer....

Again the trouble with this story is Hitlers birthday, which was a public holiday in 1933 was 20th April, which was before the opening meeting of the season.....

Edited January 5, 2020 by iris123

[Guest]

Interesting re Speedway Star May 1959 article in regard to speedway in Germany. I don't recall it - must have been on holiday!!!

[iris123]

The facts of the 1933 season as far as I have gathered from local papers.

It seems Dick Case, Max Grosskreutz joined up with A.J.Reynolds, who I have an idea was involved at Wimbledon, so maybe that is where he got familiar with Case ( not sure) started up the track for 1933 and according to the press the first meeting was very well organised and a crowd of 10,000 though not brilliant was a promising start

All the Australians won a heat, with Grosskreutz winning all 5 of his and Case winning 4 out of 5. Herbert Drews was the best German on show. Sebastian Rth and Alfred Rumrich having bike trouble

A week later and it was a Germany v Australia team match as the highlight, but only 3-4,000 turned up. Who knows what the reason was ? One local journalist was dumbfounded. He was full of praise for the promotion and could only speculate that the entry price was to high. I wonder if the relatively poor performance of the German riders in the opening meeting xomared to the strength of the Australians was too much to bear with the political atmosphere at the time.....

Resuts are here

 http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/gervaus.htm

Only to add that Grosskreutz fell on the last bend in ht 8, but was already well beaten by Drews and Germany had a surprise 27: 23 win and collected 2 pts, so it seemed there were a series of internationals planned for the season. The next and last meeting had a Germany v Denmark match, so maybe a 3 way series or maybe one or two others were to be involved ? Evans makes no mention of this.

A couple of match races in which Grosskreutz beat Roth and Müller beat Evans. Then a nasty accident when Müller and Ahrens clashed and fell in front of the following Australians, who thanks to skilful riding managed to avoid the fallers. But unluckily Müller broke his leg and Ahrens received internal injuries, which would put them out of the following meeting. Dick Case beat Grosskreutz and Glass in the main final of the night with Sebastian Roth trailing well at the back using somebody else's bike

3rd and last (as far as I know) meeting of the season and ever at Lokstedt

A Germany v Denmark match, but strangely a shorter format than the week before again saw a win for the home riders

 http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/gervden.htm

Sebastian Roth broke the week old track record that Grosskreutz had set finishing almost 3 seconds ahead of Drews and Knudsen !!! There followed a handicap trophy, which in the final Case just won on the line overtaking Baltzar Hansen, who had a 20m head start, then Grosskreutz and Drews followed in behind. Then in the final trophy of the night Alfred Rumrich won a great race to beat Grosskreutz, Case and Drews in that order

So nothing that really comes close to Grosskreutz and Evans descriptions of events

The next meeting was planned for 31.05.1933........if the Aussies went to Sweden + Denmark as stated I am not sure. But it would be great to find out about Sweden at least. Really know nothing about pre-war speedway there

  

 

[iris123]

One or two other interesting bits have turned up about the 1933 season.

One funny tale, again making the mistake in saying Hitler's birthday was a holiday, was that one rider was trying to make his way to the Stadium during the 3 day holiday for Hitler's birthday and there was a parade with 250,000 people that was ending just by the stadium. He was stopped a couple of times by police, but they had no English and he could speak no German. Eventually as he was getting nowhere he shinned up a lamp post to get a better view of the parade. All of a sudden a storm trooper started prodding that bit of his anatomy that was to be seen from ground level with a bayonet and started saying something. The rider said ' He might well have been telling me to get down, but I just climbed further up the post'

As with a lot of these tales, who knows how much truth there is, as there are big holes in most stories about the venture

[iris123]

Some comments from Dick Case, to put his side of the story, which might clear up the whole puzzle

Firstly he reported back 'Speedway racing has certainly got Germans going, and Max Grosskreutz and I are running meetings at Hamburg and Chemnitz and are opening at Cologne shortly. We have the enthusiastic support of the government press. Hamburg saw team racing for the first time a few days ago and the crowd got so worked up that 70 of Hitler's stormtroopers had a busy time trying to keep order. The local champion Rumrich has beaten both Grosskreutz and myself, while Roth, who comes from Stuttgart is another top-notcher'

So he has a different opinion on the press to the Evans/Grosskreutz version. He gets it wrong on Hamburg seeing team racing for the first time, as international matches were held earlier and I am not sure about Chemnitz running in 1933. I know they had meetings in 1930.....

Another report from Case, I think gets to the bottom of why they left early

 'At the close of the '32 season in England he went to Germany to find out its dirt-track possibilities. After a few months reconnaissance he decided to go ahead and with M.Grosskreutz as a partner, promoted a meeting at Hamburg. It drew a crowd of 14,000, and was a big success. 2 German riders in particular, Roth and Rumrich showed real championship class, and prospects were good. But the Nazi papers stressed the fact that all enterprises in Germany should be controlled by Germans, and the next meeting was not nearly so successful.

To get down to tintacs, Case went to Berlin. An official of Capt. Goerings (sic) department was quite frank. They had nothing against the sport, he said, but they, the foreigners, wouldn't be allowed to take their proceeds out of Germany'

That for me is the crucial point and probably as near to the truth as we will get. That no matter how much of a success they made of the venture, they wouldn't be allowed to profit from it. So it made no sense to carry on

[iris123]

Report 

https://www.shz.de/deutschland-welt/hamburg/artikel/hamburg-historisch-ndr-areal-war-frueher-eine-motorrad-rennbahn-44512504