Northern Riders Championship 1946

[Rich]

I've been given a Programme of this Meeting dated October 25th 1946. Does anyone know why it was held at Bristol?

[BL65]

4 hours ago, Rich said:

I've been given a Programme of this Meeting dated October 25th 1946. Does anyone know why it was held at Bristol?

This was an end-of-season individual meeting for which the Bristol management invited riders who had appeared at the track during the season.  It was not a meeting for which riders had qualified.  It would be better described as 'a championship for northern and midland riders' (plus Roger Wise of Bristol) rather than THE Northern Riders' Championship.    The advertisement ahead of the meeting described it as 'a gala night, when 16 "stars" of Northern and National League teams will meet in a Northern Riders Championship'.  Afterwards it was reported as consisting of riders whose clubs had been the main opposition of the Bulldogs throughout the season.  Of the riders who took part, Jeff Lloyd and Roger Wise had appeared regularly for Bristol during the year.  Frank Hodgson, Norman Evans, Jim Boyd, Wilf Plant, Stan Dell, Frank Lawrence and George Craig had also represented the Bulldogs during the 1946 open-licence season.

[Rich]

3 hours ago, BL65 said:

This was an end-of-season individual meeting for which the Bristol management invited riders who had appeared at the track during the season.  It was not a meeting for which riders had qualified.  It would be better described as 'a championship for northern and midland riders' (plus Roger Wise of Bristol) rather than THE Northern Riders' Championship.    The advertisement ahead of the meeting described it as 'a gala night, when 16 "stars" of Northern and National League teams will meet in a Northern Riders Championship'.  Afterwards it was reported as consisting of riders whose clubs had been the main opposition of the Bulldogs throughout the season.  Of the riders who took part, Jeff Lloyd and Roger Wise had appeared regularly for Bristol during the year.  Frank Hodgson, Norman Evans, Jim Boyd, Wilf Plant, Stan Dell, Frank Lawrence and George Craig had also represented the Bulldogs during the 1946 open-licence season.

Thanks for your reply, makes more sense now. Interested to see the 3 track reserves were Jack Mountford, Billy Hole and Mike Beddoe, I got to know them all later, mainly Mike as my dad was one of his mechanics and they kept in touch after he retired. Mike was a big help to me when I started Grasstrack in the 70s.