racers and royals Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Peter Oakes has posted on facebook that Graham sadly passed away earlier today. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellevueace Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Sad News RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IainB Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 (edited) Just read it. A real Speedway "promoter" and how the sport could do with somebody like this in it's current state. For me, he flew under the radar a bit as a rider but as a promoter brought glory to what at the time was my local team the Long Eaton Invaders and gave me something to look forward to during the long close seasons with the Telford meetings. Was only listening to him recently on the Speedway Tavern podcast telling some great stories and with some great opinions on Speedway, if you've not heard it, check it out. https://youtu.be/7TY4fDm8gkA?si=7jB8Hq0UJJXQY-gp RiP Judge Edited January 26 by iainb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Sad news indeed. A valuable member of the "Cheetahs" RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTT Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Sad news. RIP Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusky Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Sad news, had many enjoyable evenings across Europe with Graham at the ice meetings that he PROMOTED with Ian Thomas. Thoughts are with his family at this time. RIP Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Been a bad couple of days, eh? He really wasn't that old, either... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyretrax Posted January 26 Report Share Posted January 26 Sad news. R.I.P. Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmauger Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Just seen the sad news, big shame, RIP Graham.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk_martin Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 RiP Graham & Condolences to Denise and all the family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Incredibly sad news to wake up to. A very underrated rider especially at Hull An outstanding Promoter for Brummies and a man whose opinions were always worth listening to. A genuinely nice man and family and thoughts very much with Denise. It all sounds like a very sudden illness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deano Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 How very sad. RIP fella. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25yearfan Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 Not an easy man to get on with at times with his draconian, old style headmaster like management/ people skills but together with his wife he was a very good speedway administrator and manager. The fact the highly efficient Tony Mole employed the husband and wife team over a number of years at quite a few tracks speaks volumes. The indoor ice speedway meetings he promoted with Ian Thomas over many years and at many venues and different Countries were a big success and became a regular part of the speedway calender. Graham also had a decent racing career but like others have rightly stated, his riding abilities went under the radar somewhat mainly I think cause he rode in the 70's/80's golden period for British speedway when Britain had 3/4 times as many riders as they do now and spent many years at Hull Vikings when he was team mates with legends like Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Kelly Moran and Dennis Sigalos. Presently British speedway could do with more riders and Managers as good as Graham Drury was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevePark Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 We (GRT Media) used to record the meetings at Workington when Graham was team manager/Promoter and was a delight to work with. Always honest in his interviews and very easy to get on with. RIP Graham. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluenose Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 RIP Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted January 27 Report Share Posted January 27 (edited) I raced for Graham at long Eaton, found him very straight to the point and hard to get on with , bumped into him at various different tracks over the years but it wasn’t until I was a mechanic at Birmingham and he was promotor that I really understood him, we had many chats about the state of the sport, he was always backing up my views privately that I was spouting on social media at the time although kept telling me not to swear on them, telling me to keep at them, I asked him if he shared these views why he never spoke out ? He said “the sport had been good to him and he didn’t want to appear ungrateful “speedway needs a Graham Drury now, thoughts with Denise and the family at this sad time.RIP Graham Edited January 27 by THE DEAN MACHINE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGould Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Looking through one of my Speedway Star yearly Binders I found some pictures of Graham circa 1882 1983 at Oxford. It was noticeable that he must have been one of the last riders to switch from the Jawa 4 valve, which looked rather heavier and more cumbersome than the Weslakes of the day. I wonder if they were ex Mauger or Briggo motors from his Hull days. That was a golden era in both Divisions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinmauger Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 Quite possiibly an ex-Briggo bike. I know Graham had some leathers off Briggo which he wore in 1977, red with yellow sleeves poss from Briggo's time at Wimbledon. Graham favoured the 4v JAWAs over Weslakes, as did Ivan & Olsen of course til late in their careers, apparently they were 'swines' to set up but despite being a tad top heavy, they flew once you got one going right. Graham was 'on fire' riding it in 1977, posting a 9pt ave, til it went 'bang' & his form never really recovered that year. He was one of what I called the 'Fab 4' at Hull, along wth Bobby Beaton, Joe Owen & Frank Auffret, all spending 5 or 6 years together at the Boulevard.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE DEAN MACHINE Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 41 minutes ago, martinmauger said: Quite possiibly an ex-Briggo bike. I know Graham had some leathers off Briggo which he wore in 1977, red with yellow sleeves poss from Briggo's time at Wimbledon. Graham favoured the 4v JAWAs over Weslakes, as did Ivan & Olsen of course til late in their careers, apparently they were 'swines' to set up but despite being a tad top heavy, they flew once you got one going right. Graham was 'on fire' riding it in 1977, posting a 9pt ave, til it went 'bang' & his form never really recovered that year. He was one of what I called the 'Fab 4' at Hull, along wth Bobby Beaton, Joe Owen & Frank Auffret, all spending 5 or 6 years together at the Boulevard.... The end of the DT500 was the reduction of the carb size to 34mm, they were thirsty engines and worked well with bigger size carbs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted January 28 Report Share Posted January 28 RIP Graham who was also a former Elle Port Gunners rider always gave 100% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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