Wolverhampton Indoor Speedtrack 12th January 1972

[BL65]

Birmingham v The Rest 

In one of a series of indoor meetings at the Whispering Wheels Roller Skating Rink in Temple Street, Wolverhampton, a Birmingham team was defeated 42-36 by 'The Rest' on 12th January 1972.   The meetings at Wolverhampton and Granby Halls, Leicester in 1971/72/73 were the brainchild of Harry Bastable, with Alan Eagles the co-promoter.  Howard Cole equalled the track record in this meeting.  Does anyone have the full heat results please?

[steve roberts]

13 hours ago, BL65 said:

Birmingham v The Rest 

In one of a series of indoor meetings at the Whispering Wheels Roller Skating Rink in Temple Street, Wolverhampton, a Birmingham team was defeated 42-36 by 'The Rest' on 12th January 1972.   The meetings at Wolverhampton and Granby Halls, Leicester in 1971/72/73 were the brainchild of Harry Bastable, with Alan Eagles the co-promoter.  Howard Cole equalled the track record in this meeting.  Does anyone have the full heat results please?

I used to have the programme!

[steve19620]

This was reported in the Speedway Star as due to be staged on 12th January 1972.Unfortunately no heat details were published. Sorry !

Edited February 10, 2021 by steve19620

[BL65]

13 minutes ago, steve19620 said:

This was reported in the Speedway Star as due to be staged on 12th January 1972.Unfortunately no heat details were published. Sorry !

I have a progamme with the scorers, but the heat results are not entered.

Birmingham
George Major 1, Arthur Browning 10, Rob Homer 6, Derek Timms 4, Chris Harrison 9, Andy Hunt 3, Phil Corin 3
The Rest
Arthur Price 9, Peter Jarman 5, James Bond 10, Alan Harvey 4, Howard Cole 9, Dave Harvey 1, Tony Darby 4   

[Split]

Indoor speedway meetings are rare but I attended one here in South Africa back in 1983

 

 

 

[racers and royals]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:34 PM, Split said:

Indoor speedway meetings are rare but I attended one here in South Africa back in 1983

 

 

 

Not sure how many meetings were held at the Wembley Arena, but i definitely  attended one  plus one at the NEC Birmingham.

[steve roberts]

25 minutes ago, racers and royals said:

Not sure how many meetings were held at the Wembley Arena, but i definitely  attended one  plus one at the NEC Birmingham.

I think that there were three (?) and I attended two. Did the first NEC one (I think that there were two (?) but never bothered with Telford...never appealed to me personally.

Edited February 13, 2021 by steve roberts

[cityrebel]

Did anyone on here attend any of the Midlands indoor meetings.

[cityrebel]

On 2/13/2021 at 2:00 PM, steve roberts said:

I think that there were three (?) and I attended two. Did the first NEC one (I think that there were two (?) but never bothered with Telford...never appealed to me personally.

I went to all of those at Wembley, most at the NEC. I also went to the London Arena, Manchester GMEX, Milton Keynes Bladerunner, Hull Arena, Telford, Murrayfield, Bournemouth and Brighton!

[WembleyLion]

2 hours ago, cityrebel said:

Did anyone on here attend any of the Midlands indoor meetings.

Hi Tony
Just managed to obtain three programmes from 1973 staged at Leicester’s Granby Halls! I wonder how many fans saw meetings there!

[steve roberts]

1 minute ago, WembleyLion said:

Hi Tony
Just managed to obtain three programmes from 1973 staged at Leicester’s Granby Halls! I wonder how many fans saw meetings there!

I remember attending an Entomolgical Show there on a couple of occasions.

[BL65]

19 minutes ago, WembleyLion said:

I wonder how many fans saw meetings there!

I was there.

Wolverhampton
14^th December 1971 (Midland Riders Best Pairs Championship)
22^nd December 1971 (Midland Individual Riders’ Championship)
29^th December 1971 (Devils v Demons)
12^th January 1972 (Birmingham v The Rest)
26^th January 1972  (Wolverhampton v Leicester v Grass Stars v Sprite American Eagle)

Temple Street was a small venue, with the capacity reduced for safety reasons at the insistence of the authorities.  The venture was probably unprofitable, with only between 200 and 300 allowed to attend.

Leicester
10^th January 1972  (Midland Riders’ Individual Championship)
17^th January 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
24^th January 1972  (Midland Riders Best Pairs Tournament)
1^st February 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton v Grass Stars v Sprite American Eagle)
7^th February 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
14^th February 1972  (Leicester v Sprite American Eagles)
21^st February 1972  (Leicester Hunters v Midland Grass Track Stars  - Cancelled)
22^nd January 1973 (Midland Riders’ Individual Championship)
6^th February 1973  (Leicester v Midland Select)
12^th February 1973 (Leicester v Sprite American Eagle)
19^th February 1973 (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
26^th February 1973 (Leicester v Birmingham)
6^th March 1973 (Leicester v Birmingham v Wolverhampton v Midland Pirates)

Granby Halls meetings were well attended.  The crowd for the first meeting was around 2,000.  More meetings would have been staged in 1972 but the season was curtailed by power cuts during  the  mine workers strike.  As soon as it had been announced that no more meetings would be staged the strike ended!

 

 

[cityrebel]

5 hours ago, BL65 said:

I was there.

Wolverhampton
14^th December 1971 (Midland Riders Best Pairs Championship)
22^nd December 1971 (Midland Individual Riders’ Championship)
29^th December 1971 (Devils v Demons)
12^th January 1972 (Birmingham v The Rest)
26^th January 1972  (Wolverhampton v Leicester v Grass Stars v Sprite American Eagle)

Temple Street was a small venue, with the capacity reduced for safety reasons at the insistence of the authorities.  The venture was probably unprofitable, with only between 200 and 300 allowed to attend.

Leicester
10^th January 1972  (Midland Riders’ Individual Championship)
17^th January 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
24^th January 1972  (Midland Riders Best Pairs Tournament)
1^st February 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton v Grass Stars v Sprite American Eagle)
7^th February 1972  (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
14^th February 1972  (Leicester v Sprite American Eagles)
21^st February 1972  (Leicester Hunters v Midland Grass Track Stars  - Cancelled)
22^nd January 1973 (Midland Riders’ Individual Championship)
6^th February 1973  (Leicester v Midland Select)
12^th February 1973 (Leicester v Sprite American Eagle)
19^th February 1973 (Leicester v Wolverhampton)
26^th February 1973 (Leicester v Birmingham)
6^th March 1973 (Leicester v Birmingham v Wolverhampton v Midland Pirates)

Granby Halls meetings were well attended.  The crowd for the first meeting was around 2,000.  More meetings would have been staged in 1972 but the season was curtailed by power cuts during  the  mine workers strike.  As soon as it had been announced that no more meetings would be staged the strike ended!

 

 

That's very impressive. What was the racing like at both venues. Were the tracks small.

[geoff100]

On 2/11/2021 at 12:34 PM, Split said:

Indoor speedway meetings are rare but I attended one here in South Africa back in 1983

 

 

 

Good stuff we rode bigger cycle speedway tracks in workington in the 70s 

[BL65]

4 hours ago, cityrebel said:

That's very impressive. What was the racing like at both venues. Were the tracks small.

The tracks were similar to each other in size at just under 100 yards per lap.  Specially produced 175cc machines were used.  Much slower than outdoor speedway, with times around 50 seconds for 4 laps.  Some of the races were very eventful, with riders bouncing off the fence and going sideways on the straights.  In one race with only 3 finishers the third placed rider fell and carried his bike, rather than pushed, for the point.  As with the Telford meetings in later years, it was a welcome speedway fix during the winter months.  Arthur Browning adapted really well and was one of the leading exponents.

[iris123]

Missed all of these meetings. Went to two in Germany, but can't say either really impressed me.

One at Wittstock on an indoor horse riding surface was very deep and only the sidecars were worth watching

The other at an indoor stadium in Kiel, normally used for concerts and handball I think was a concrete surface and quite dangerous. One heat I remember had no finishers as the last rider was excluded for 'not racing' !!!