coldace Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 1 hour ago, coldace said: Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. Ian "Tiddler" Turner was another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, coldace said: Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this. Johnny Chamberlain was also 4' 9". Jerzy Kowalski was another under 5 feet, I know, and so was Sam Nikolajsen. Obviously, there have been plenty of "short" riders, but I'm not sure how many have been exceptionally short (5' or less). Edited December 31, 2020 by chunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Didn't realise Chamberlin was as short as that. Do you know the height of Peter Craven and Billy Bales? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 3 hours ago, coldace said: Didn't realise Chamberlin was as short as that. Do you know the height of Peter Craven and Billy Bales? I've found nothing "official", but it seems that both were around the five feet mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted December 31, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Thanks Chunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sotonian Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Lionel Levy was exactly 5ft Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ONTWOMINUTES Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Steve schofield wasn't the tallest of riders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chadster Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 Norman Strachan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 1 hour ago, Sotonian said: Lionel Levy was exactly 5ft I had a feeling he would have been on the "short list"... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 23 minutes ago, Chadster said: Norman Strachan? Beat me to it! Paul Gachet was another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triple.H. Posted December 31, 2020 Report Share Posted December 31, 2020 I don't know how tall Sam Nickolajsen was but when he retired he became a painter and decorator and had to have a special skirtingboard ladder made for him 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw42 Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 Soren Sjosten was responsible for this 7 year old genuinely believing I would only need to wait a couple of years and I could become a fully fledged Belle Vue Ace, if someone as diminutive as Soren could do it with such style and success then nothing was going to stop me, nothing! I'm 61 in Feb and I've still never sat astride a running speedway bike, yet I still think I could've been a contender, maybe this will be the year I finally make it to a ride n slide day, if only to put my dreams to bed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 So many great calls here. Generally speedway riders tend to be on the average to shorter side. But what prompted me to post was the photo on page 91 of Philip Dalling's excellent book which shows Sonny Dewhurst in relation to all of the others. May have had a bigger impact if he had been stood next to Reg Fearman that night! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted January 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted January 1, 2021 Report Share Posted January 1, 2021 52 minutes ago, coldace said: There was a photo of Arthur on track adjacent to 'Mini-Maestro' Paul Gachet (as he was known) taken at Arlington many years ago I remember. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted January 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldace Posted January 6, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2021 Found this, seems that Billy, George and Peter were the same height 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoff100 Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 On 1/1/2021 at 10:02 AM, nw42 said: Soren Sjosten was responsible for this 7 year old genuinely believing I would only need to wait a couple of years and I could become a fully fledged Belle Vue Ace, if someone as diminutive as Soren could do it with such style and success then nothing was going to stop me, nothing! I'm 61 in Feb and I've still never sat astride a running speedway bike, yet I still think I could've been a contender, maybe this will be the year I finally make it to a ride n slide day, if only to put my dreams to bed. I will come with u , the number of times i have passd ivan on the last corner at wembley only to be woken up by the alarm clock lol i have to give it a go 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw42 Posted January 7, 2021 Report Share Posted January 7, 2021 4 hours ago, geoff100 said: I will come with u , the number of times i have passd ivan on the last corner at wembley only to be woken up by the alarm clock lol i have to give it a go You're on mate, seriously, as soon as it's all back on again. I've been racing for years, never once fell out of my armchair when cornering and that includes the tight tracks like Arlington, scored paid 11 last time I rode at Monmore Green, when in doubt wind it on. Lets ride speedway!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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