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THE FIRST RACE I SAW


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On 4/19/2022 at 5:10 AM, longlivefrankie said:

Newport v Halifax 1965

 

Alby Golden, John Erskine, Eric Boocock, Dave Younghusband

 

My family was sat next to Eric Boothroyd's wife (or so my late father said) in the grandstand at Somerton park 

I remember the elephant on the race jacket! 

Great post mate, I woz there (as Max Boyce would say) also. A warm evening as I recall The result of the first heat was  Boocock, Golden, Younghusband and Erskine- a 4-2 to Halifax. What I really remember though is seeing Brian Elliott- the first NL rider I ever saw. He wasn't one of the top NL riders but he came out in Heat 2 and won the race against the great Dick Bradley, the result was Elliott, Bradley, Hitch, Penniket another 4-2 to Halifax. I can recall thinking that if Brian Elliott was typical of the old NL riders the PL guys stood no chance.

 It was a great night for Brian, in his second ride he came out and finished second behind Peter Vandenberg-result was Vandenberg, Elliott, Biggs, Hitch . in his third ride he finished first again- Elliott, Penniket, Vic White, Bob Jameson. In his last ride I think he fell. Brian didn't come out for the second half ( how I miss those second halves) So 8 points from 3 completed rides wasn't too shabby  I never saw Brian Elliott ride again but he did a great job in that meeting

Great to be at the same meeting as you-but sadly unlike your dad I never met Eric Boothroyds' wife!!

At the interval me and my mates would go to the Newport County  bar and have a couple of pints of Whitbread Trophy!!! Wonderful days..

Do any forumlanders have any memories of Brian???

 

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3 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

Great post mate, I woz there (as Max Boyce would say) also. A warm evening as I recall The result of the first heat was  Boocock, Golden, Younghusband and Erskine- a 4-2 to Halifax. What I really remember though is seeing Brian Elliott- the first NL rider I ever saw. He wasn't one of the top NL riders but he came out in Heat 2 and won the race against the great Dick Bradley, the result was Elliott, Bradley, Hitch, Penniket another 4-2 to Halifax. I can recall thinking that if Brian Elliott was typical of the old NL riders the PL guys stood no chance.

 It was a great night for Brian, in his second ride he came out and finished second behind Peter Vandenberg-result was Vandenberg, Elliott, Biggs, Hitch . in his third ride he finished first again- Elliott, Penniket, Vic White, Bob Jameson. In his last ride I think he fell. Brian didn't come out for the second half ( how I miss those second halves) So 8 points from 3 completed rides wasn't too shabby  I never saw Brian Elliott ride again but he did a great job in that meeting

Great to be at the same meeting as you-but sadly unlike your dad I never met Eric Boothroyds' wife!!

At the interval me and my mates would go to the Newport County  bar and have a couple of pints of Whitbread Trophy!!! Wonderful days..

Do any forumlanders have any memories of Brian???

 

...they served a purpose and we got well entertained at Cowley during the Dunton/Dugard era.

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5 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

 What I really remember though is seeing Brian Elliott- the first NL rider I ever saw.

Elliott was the first visiting ex-NL rider in 1965, but of course when Saints closed at the end of 1963 Alby Golden, Pete Vandenberg, Dick Bradley and Stuart Wallace moved on to Newport for the start of the 1964 season, so they were the first riders with immediate previous NL experience to appear at Newport.  In the first match you saw, against Long Eaton on 13th June 1964, Golden, Vandenberg and Bradley were in the Wasps team, as well as Ray Harris who had previously ridden in the NL.  Long Eaton's Ken Adams and Ron Sharp had also ridden for NL teams earlier in their careers.

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On 4/26/2022 at 4:49 AM, Ruth Reddy said:

Elliott was the first visiting ex-NL rider in 1965, but of course when Saints closed at the end of 1963 Alby Golden, Pete Vandenberg, Dick Bradley and Stuart Wallace moved on to Newport for the start of the 1964 season, so they were the first riders with immediate previous NL experience to appear at Newport.  In the first match you saw, against Long Eaton on 13th June 1964, Golden, Vandenberg and Bradley were in the Wasps team, as well as Ray Harris who had previously ridden in the NL.  Long Eaton's Ken Adams and Ron Sharp had also ridden for NL teams earlier in their careers.

Good point, although Ray Harris had ridden for Stoke in PL before 1964, but you are right on all counts, I was just referring to the first NL rider I saw in the combined League in 1965, I had seen all the Wasps in 1964 of course-we wouldn't have had a team without the ex Southampton riders

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On 4/19/2022 at 12:58 PM, Midland Red said:

Looked at Speedway Researcher…

Tommy Nilsson, Alan Sage, Alan Johns, Hasse Danielsson 58.2 3-3

Thanks for checking that out MR - pretty close as I'm sure Laurie was out with a back injury so Sagey would have been the first RR of the evening

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12 hours ago, Andy Downes said:

Thanks for checking that out MR - pretty close as I'm sure Laurie was out with a back injury so Sagey would have been the first RR of the evening

Date was 22 April 1980.  RR was not in operation.

You are correct about Mike Sampson’s five ride maximum next meeting.

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On 4/26/2022 at 3:19 AM, BOBBATH said:

Great post mate, I woz there (as Max Boyce would say) also. A warm evening as I recall The result of the first heat was  Boocock, Golden, Younghusband and Erskine- a 4-2 to Halifax. What I really remember though is seeing Brian Elliott- the first NL rider I ever saw. He wasn't one of the top NL riders but he came out in Heat 2 and won the race against the great Dick Bradley, the result was Elliott, Bradley, Hitch, Penniket another 4-2 to Halifax. I can recall thinking that if Brian Elliott was typical of the old NL riders the PL guys stood no chance.

 It was a great night for Brian, in his second ride he came out and finished second behind Peter Vandenberg-result was Vandenberg, Elliott, Biggs, Hitch . in his third ride he finished first again- Elliott, Penniket, Vic White, Bob Jameson. In his last ride I think he fell. Brian didn't come out for the second half ( how I miss those second halves) So 8 points from 3 completed rides wasn't too shabby  I never saw Brian Elliott ride again but he did a great job in that meeting

Great to be at the same meeting as you-but sadly unlike your dad I never met Eric Boothroyds' wife!!

At the interval me and my mates would go to the Newport County  bar and have a couple of pints of Whitbread Trophy!!! Wonderful days..

Do any forumlanders have any memories of Brian???

 

Great Days, all I remember is the elephant on the race jacket and getting a enamel Halifax badge in the shop.  I was hooked of course. and supported till the end in 1977. closures was number 2 was too much for me. I sold all my collection in 2014 to help pay for a move including that first little badge for my second favourite team "The Halifax Elephants" as I called them for a while much to everybody's amusement. 

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