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Clive Featherby RIP


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53 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

I can still picture the crash Clive had at the Reading Tilehurst track back  in 1972. It was a world championship qualifying round and Clive crashed with Eric Broadbelt, which left Clive with a badly broken leg that led to his retirement.

Me too - first really serious accident I saw

Edited by arnieg
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I never saw Clive ride but I was lucky enough to interview him for the Owlerton Legends book a few years ago.

I wrote to Clive and he invited me to spend the day with him - he was living in a luxury caravan at the time on a farm near Norwich.

I was a bit nervous as I had only heard stories about what a hard rider he was but I need not have worried. Clive was one of the nicest men you could wish to meet and could not have been more helpful. It was a fantastic day and we kept in touch for a while afterwards, including him finding me at Owlerton one Thursday night when he was visiting.

R.I.P. Clive, a true Owlerton Legend and a gentleman.

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On 8/29/2019 at 5:41 AM, 25yearfan said:

Tough rider and character as well!

 

Never a star but a middle order/ lower end team rider who contributed much to a golden era of speedway!

Who were the heart and sole of British Speedway and often under-rated and forgotten about.

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2 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Who were the heart and sole of British Speedway and often under-rated and forgotten about.

I always hated the so-called "speedway" fans who were quite happy to admit that they were only interested in watching the top boys. EVERY rider is important...

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Been thinking about posting to this thread for a while-saw the comment re  Clive being a middle order rider and with respect I think this applies post 1965. In the Prov. League Clive was a consistent heat leader and a crowd puller- he was either top or second in the Sheffield averages from 61 thru 64. I don't think (request input from historians here) that he had an average below 9 points his entire time with Sheffield!!!. He was second in their averages in 1961 behind Guy Allott and then was either first or second in their averages(changing back and forth with Jack Kitchen)  for the rest of the League's existence. Even in the first BL year he was their second heat leader to Jack, ahead of Billy Bales.

 I checked thru' my programs and discovered that I saw Clive ride in 6 meetings in 65-66. The first time was most memorable-9 July 1965. Clive knocked off Dick Bradley in Heat 6 of a BL clash at Somerton Park. That was Dick's last race-he was 40+ and decided to pack it in. No criticism of Clive meant he was just a tough rider. As an aside - Dick was the Wasps second highest average heat leader at that time and Newport were unable to get a replacement. Newport finished  as the highest of the old PL tracks (OK OK I know that Halifax was composed of  a large part of the Middlesbro' Bears old team) that year and I wonder if Dick had not been injured we could have ended on  top even. We would have had a solid team with 4 heat leaders -Biggs, Bradley, Vandenberg, Golden!! Don't forget we lost only by 40-38 at Wimbledon

Second time I saw Clive was  at Poole July 28th for a British Semi-Final(that meeting is a story in itself-were any forumlanders there?). Very tough field , Clive got only 2 points , but did finish ahead of Colin Pratt when they met!!

 Saw him another three times in 1966 riding for CH but to me will always be a Sheffield Tiger(a team that always offered good entertainment).

 Don't want to downplay the importance of the PL here -in the combined year of 1965 a number of PL riders more than  held their own- e.g. Dave Younghusband, Eric Boocock,  Colin Pratt, Charlie Monk, Bill Andrew, Pete Kelly , Tommy Sweetman , Roy Trigg etc.etc.

 So , a tip of the hat to you Clive for providing so much enjoyment to myself and many others. R.I.P. indeed!!!!

 

 

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27 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

In the Prov. League Clive was a consistent heat leader and a crowd puller- he was either top or second in the Sheffield averages from 61 thru 64. I don't think (request input from historians here) that he had an average below 9 points his entire time with Sheffield!!!. He was second in their averages in 1961 behind Guy Allott and then was either first or second in their averages(changing back and forth with Jack Kitchen)  for the rest of the League's existence. 

Clive's league average was over 10 in both 1962 and 1963, impressive indeed.

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Sorry being a Norwich Stars fan in the old National League pre 1965 amalgamation, I didn't see much Provincial League action apart from a few meetings at Great Yarmouth in 1960. Indeed Clive Featherby was a top star in the Provincial League!

 

I was referring more to the British League 1965 onwards!

 

Great character was Clive! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good as he was did Clive ever get to a PLRC Final? I know Jack Kitchen did and wasn't Jack part of a four man run off ( a Grand Final) for the 63 Championship- I am trying to remember the four riders in that race- I think they were Mauger (who won in a re-run), Kitchen, George Hunter and Wayne Briggs. Any forumlander at that meeting at Belle Vue?? Wish I could have gone.

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4 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Good as he was did Clive ever get to a PLRC Final? I know Jack Kitchen did and wasn't Jack part of a four man run off ( a Grand Final) for the 63 Championship- I am trying to remember the four riders in that race- I think they were Mauger (who won in a re-run), Kitchen, George Hunter and Wayne Briggs. Any forumlander at that meeting at Belle Vue?? Wish I could have gone.

Clive scored 1 point, representing Cradley Heath, in the 1960 PLRC final at Cradley Heath, 5 points in the 1962 meeting and 9 in 1963, both at Belle Vue.  The 1963 final was between Mauger, Kitchen, Ross Gilbertson and Hunter.  Wayne Briggs was second to Len Silver the year before.

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