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Remembering Ashley

A moving video tribute to the late Ashley Jones has been prepared. It shows Ashley in action towards the end of the 2005 season doing what he loved most. The video can be downloaded from Mike Bennett's website.

 

Updated on 25th November 2005 The annual Sunderland reunion was a great success last weekend. Bob Ferry provides the words and Colin Poole the pictures in this report. Trelawny Moto-Park was probably the most unique venue to stage speedway in the UK. The track in the quarry was often said to resemble a track on the moon's surface. Sadly it's another circuit that has been lost to the sport. These pictures from Neil Lowe show the Moto-Park in its pomp.

Derek Fitzgerald on Promoting in Shelbourne: "Really liked the article about speedway in Ireland. My father raced for Shelbourne Tigers his name was George Fitzgerald. I have plenty of memorabilia with photos etc." Phil Fitzgerald on Electric Dreams: "A very interesting, albeit confronting, article by Dave Green. I've often pondered what will be of our beloved sport in 2050. I must admit the idea of silent and "methanoless" speedway does depress me. The romance of speedway I believe is largely due to its bombardment on the spectators' senses. Take the sound and smell away and suddenly your left with a somewhat sterile display." Tony Mowles on Electric Dreams: "I think this is where we will end up sooner rather than later particularly if someone runs a few 'trial' meetings, word will get round councils that they could 'encourage' existing tracks to switch to the new bike format. The point that that speedway is more suited to electric motors seems to be lost on some people - personally I go to watch the racing and now the 'smell of speedway' has gone don't really care if the sound goes too." Tracey Holmes is looking for photographs of the winners of the 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1981 Internationales with the trophy. Ove Fundin and Hans Nielsen are the men in question. Can you help him? Mick Bratley is hoping to find out more about former Boston and Edinburgh rider Rob Mouncer.

 

Updated on 18th November 2005 Noise concerns continue to plague all attempts to introduce speedway to built up areas. Can technology come to our aid and defeat this monster once and for all? Dave Green looks at one possibility in this new article - "Together in Electric Dreams". Craven Park was home to the Hull Vikings for 11 seasons before closing, rather prematurely, in September. Martin Mauger took some pictures of the stadium on that last night of racing and has been back down to the track since then. Little remains of the speedway track and these pictures confirm that the sport will not be returning there in the short term. George Barclay rounds up the latest news on the VSRA Speedway Museum. You can still play a part in making it a reality.

Bernard Atherton on Hyde Road: "These pictures of the old Hyde Road track and Stadium bring back so many happy memories of the best race track in the world. So many memories come flooding back into your mind about happy times spent at the Hyde Road Track, both on race days, and also the Monday night training school. You can almost hear the bikes roaring away from the start line, and see the different lines that riders took on this the most fairest of tracks. When I first found the pictures on this site, it sent a tingle or chill down my spine, the place was MAGIC for me, and also thousands more Speedway fans not just from Belle Vue, but from all over the World. The Stadium and track is gone, but NEVER FORGOTEN." Barry Dalton is hoping to complete his collection of World Final and Grand Prix programmes. Can you help? The much-coveted Billy Hamill has a new official website. It looks good and it seems as if Billy plays an active part in keeping it up to date. You can find it at BillyHamill.com. First Bend Action videos, resident video company at Glasgow, have launched a website to promote and sell their wares. They offer payment via pay-pal.

 

Updated on 11th November 2005 Last week we told you that only one current British track was missing from our selection of track pictures and invited you to work out which one it was. The answer was Peterborough's East of England Showground. We complete the collection today by adding Graham Burrows' pictures of the track. This doesn't mean we're finished with track photographs - more from around the world are waiting to be added, as are pictures of tracks that are now closed. We're always on the lookout for stadium photographs, even for those tracks that we've already featured on the site. Drop us an email if you can help.

Tracey Lane is looking for information on Ray Williams who rode at Poole in the late fifties. Craig Hargreaves is looking for information on his grandfather Norman Hargreaves. Norman rode for Newcastle in 1938. Andy Daly is looking for a video of the 1983 Supernational Final between Newcastle and Crayford. Hull fan Martin Mauger has built a website dedicated to former Viking Garry Stead. It includes Gary's full career history. Junior rider Rikki Mullins has put together a personal website. Rikki started his career at Sittingbourne earlier this year.

 

Updated on 4th November 2005 We once expressed the view that scant information would be available about speedway in Pre-War France. Little did we know that one of our visitors, Maciej Węgrzyn, had spent a good deal of time researching early continental speedway meetings. Maciej has put together an excellent article on those French pioneer days and we're delighted to publish it here today. More track photographs from Graham Burrows this week, this time of Foxhall Heath in Ipswich. A couple of these were taken in the aftermath of the storm that hit Foxhall a number of years back - hence the debris on the track. There's now only one British circuit that operated in 2005 missing from our selection of track pictures. If you've nothing better to do then why not work out which one it is?

David Ashcroft on Hyde Road: "Wonderful pictures of the old Belle Vue - the best speedway track in the country. I remember the training schools at Hyde Road on Saturday mornings in the winter and Monday evenings in the summer. Watching Peter Collins and Chris Morton and a lot more come through the ranks and never missed a home match. Now I am lucky if I can afford to attend a handful of meetings in a season. The old Hyde Road stadium was a very special place." Nobby on Boldon Stadium: "What an absolute crying shame to see a stadium like the Boldon Stadium, Sunderland hosting only greyhound racing. What a fantastic venue it would seem to make for a successful speedway team. There are teams running today that would love to get a chance to call a stadium like this their home track." Geoff Parr on Berrington Lough: "I have to say, it's been nearly 4 years since I packed up doing grass-roots training with my son, Peter. We never had any illusions about ever becoming a 'star' rider. It was just a simple case of doing your best and see how far you could get. Not that far it would seem, however we always felt that while many people would always give us their time and help, it was sadly lacking from those in power, those 'up-stairs'. The amount of money the powers that be get from the tracks in 'Bond' money for their licences etc, the could put together a decent purpose built speedway academy, look no further than Berrington Lough! No, they aren't interested unless there is something in it for them, 'MONEY'." Stephen Mills is looking for heat details and scorers from the Edinburgh v Ellesmere Port match in 1982.