Speedway And Me

 

A Fans memory of Speedway at West Ham from 1964 to 1971

By R.J.Rogers

 

Speedway and Me, is not a `True` History of the Speedway Hammers, but instead, a young fans view as to what `seemed` to be happening between 1964-71

Also as time plays tricks on the mind after 40 years, a few events may slightly out of sync.

INDEX 

Chapter 01 What is Speedway?

 

Chapter 02 And what is a Spreedway Fan?

Chapter 03 Speedways Return

Chapter 04 A Legend is Reborne!(1964)

Chapter 05 The Year of the Champions(1965)

Chapter 06 The Team to Beat (1966)

Chapter 07 So Nearly Again (1967)

Chapter 08 Forty years of Speedway (1968)

Chapter 09 All change as the Glory Fades (1969)

Chapter 10 Lokeren (1970)

Chapter 11 The end is nigh (1971)

Chapter 12 Requiems for a Speedway Team!

Appendix 1 Brief History of West Ham 1928-1955

Appendix 2 Dirt Track Racing (opening meeting 1928)

“I am sure not all Tuesday Nights were that much Fun or that Sunny; it just seemed that way after all these years”.

What is Speedway?

Speedway is a spectacular sport, especially in team events, four riders, two from each team (of seven or eight) in each race (called heats), line up at the start, these black leather clad heroes, these Gladiators of Speed, with their brightly coloured race jackets, mounted on highly tuned, highly polished, 500cc Motorcycles (with NO brakes, and fixed gears), make a spectacular sight under the arc lamps of the track.

They are at the starting tapes, the tapes go up, and then away as one, the roar of both the crowd and the bikes are deafening as these motorcycle aces tear in to the first bend of the quarter of a mile oval racetrack.

You expect them to crash as they move so fast, but no, out of the 2^nd bend and down the back straight, each fan cheering for their favourite rider and team, comes the four riders, each challenging for the lead.

Four laps and nearly 75 seconds later, our team flash across the line, a 5-1 victory, and the old West Ham chant goes up,

 2-4-6-8- who do we appreciate, H-A-M-M-E-R-S, Hammers!

Depending on what type of team racing it is, there are 13 or 16 heat matches.

Some are League; some are two-leg Home and Away Knock-Out, some are Challenge Matches.

As well as team racing there is solo racing and in the 1960`s, the biggest event in the Speedway year is the World Championship, where sixteen of the world’s best riders end up in a race-off in a one match only final to find the best in the World.

And what is a Speedway fan?

The answer is a mixture of things, but hopefully the following will explain the meaning of being a Speedway fan.

West Ham were known as a family team, the Custom House Stadium was known as the Home of the `Appy Ammers` (So called because the Cockneys were known to drop their H’s (Happy Hammers))

Identifying with your team was a must for Speedway fans.

First is the team badge, to be worn at all times, to show YOU were a speedway fan.

For matches it was the team scarf and bobble hat.

Now something that seemed to apply only to speedway fans, this was to adorn your scarf with not only your team’s badge, but badges of all the other teams as well.

Now you either bought the badge or hopefully you swapped your team badge with another supporter.

Now I did the ultimate, I swapped a West Ham badge for a Russian speedway medal with no lesser person that Igor Plechanov who was the Captain of the USSR (Russian) Test team, now that was a scoop for an eleven year old!                                          (The badge is in the bottom right hand corner)

You needed a programme board and pen to write out the match results, now you could either buy a board or make your own, decorated with your team colours, favourite riders etc, and the pen, it could only be a West Ham Supporters Club Speedway pen.

For the ladies, it was the team mascot, this was normally either a doll dressed in leathers, race jacket and helmet, or a knitted mascot.

Finally the team rattle, which were large and made of wood.                                                              Now days these would be banned as a dangerous weapon, if you ever accidentally hit yourselves with one you would be in no doubt of that fact!

Speedway was an education as well as a sport.

With all the various teams you soon built up a good knowledge of the geography of Great Britain, your mathematics improved, as you needed to work out the score charts, league points and rider averages etc, your writing improved, as you had to fill in the race results in the programme.

With riders from other countries like Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand and the rest, you learned the geography of the world as well, and finally the History of the sport.

People spoke of the likes of the great John S Hoskins, an Australian Showman who is credited for inventing the sport in Australia in 1923 (originally called Dirt-track Racing), they spoke of past Victories and past Champions, such as the victorious West Ham teams in the 1930’s, riders like Wilkinson, Atkinson, Stevenson, Lawson, Bishop, Chitty, Young and the rest.

You learnt a bit of mechanics.

You do not need to know how a motor works to watch motor sports, but it does help. 

You learnt the best place to stand to watch a speedway match is by the Pits.

The Pits is the term used in all motor sports to describe the garage area for racing Bikes or Cars.  

For the true fans, their own Painting or Mat or Speedway Board Game, to race your own matches on those long winter nights, all produced by my late father John Rogers.

 Speedways Return 

By the early 1960’s Speedway was at a low point. 

The sport, which had taken the nation by storm, both in the late 1920’s and in the 30’s, also again after World War II, had lost its interest to the paying public. 

There were many problems which begun to effect the sport, not all under the control of the sports authority. 

Diehard fans still went, but with television keeping people in at night, the Entertainment Tax putting the cost up, plus people wanting more for their money than just racing, the sport was in trouble. 

Another problem was with more leisure time, people could afford Holidays, not only here, but aboard. The choice was simple, go and stand on sometimes cold, sometimes wet terraces at night, or save your money and spend fortnight lazing on a Sunny Beach in Spain. 

Football also suffered slightly, but the cost to stage a football match was much cheaper, plus in winter, unlike today, where people think nothing of having two weeks leave to go off to sunnier parts of the world, people stayed put and looked for local entertainment. The additional problem was most football matches were on a Saturday afternoon, (Work in the morning, Football in the afternoon and the Pub in the evening) while speedway was weekday and in the evening. 

Another problem was travelling. Whilst most people, especially in cites lived only at most a few miles from a Major football club, speedway was different, with not so many clubs and some of the tracks being well away from built up areas because of the noise of racing, it meant this extra cost being added to the cost of the actual match. 

The mid 1950’s started to see the decline with a lot of the top clubs closing down, especially in London. 

By the early 1960’s the sport begun to implode.

New faces were arriving on the scene and they had plans that would hopefully see the sport reborn. 

The problem was the old guard of the National League still felt that their way was right and refused to accept the new ideas, so a new breakaway league called the Provincial league was formed. 

It all came to a head at the end of the 1963 season when both New Cross in London and Southampton closed down. 

The search was on to find at least one new team to add to the National League or it would possible cease to exist. 

Many of the older and now unused tracks were looked at as the Provincial league tracks was consider `Pirate` and the National League would have nothing to do with them. 

Riders who rode in National League teams were not even allowed to ride in any `open` matches at Provincial tracks. 

Amongst the old tracks looked at was West Ham’s Custom House Stadium. 

It had in its time been one of the most famous of all tracks. It was nearly the Home of Speedway, as an attempt had been made to bring the new Sport of Dirt Track Racing there in 1927, but the stadium was not complete. 

It was also the nearest to the first track ever to formally stage Dirt Track racing in this country, High Beech (Essex) in 1928. 

It had also held its first speedway meeting in 1928, and had been one of the first league teams in 1929. 

The sport had closed down in 1955, but the remains of the track were still there, on the inside of the Greyhound Racing Track, although in a very poor condition. 

Another advantage was it was in London, as the only other track left in the Capital was Wimbledon.

Hackney had returned to the sport in 1963, but was a PL track. 

After long discussions with the GRA (Greyhound Racing Association) who owned the stadium, it was agreed that the `Hammers` would return to the sport and `save the day`. 

Although the track condition was poor, with the full support of the Stadium owners, it was more or less rebuilt to a good racing standard. 

The Management team at Coventry was to act as promoters; the team was to be made up partly by riders from both the old Southampton and New Cross teams, and some young riders who had returned to the sport from Provincial League clubs. 

The search was then on for a Team Manager, they wanted somebody who was a big name in the sport.

You could not get much bigger than Tommy `Tom-Tom` Price, one of only two Englishmen at the time to have won the World Championship. 

The other was the Belle Vue Star Peter Craven, known as the `Wizard of Balance` who had been sadly killed in a racing accident in 1963. 

The Captain was to be the Swedish international star Bjorn Knutsson, who at the end of the 1963 season has decided to retire when his team Southampton closed, to concentrate on his Racing and Business back home in Sweden.

He was coached out of retirement, and in April 1964 the sport of Speedway returned to West Ham, led by Bjorn and backed up by fellow ex-Southampton riders, Reg Luckhurst and Stan Stevens. 

So nine years after it closed down, Speedway return to West Ham on the 7^th April in a match against London rivals Wimbledon. 

A legend was reborn.

A Legend is Reborn!

 

My parents had been West Ham fans, both before and after World War Two, so when it was announced that Speedway would return to West Ham; they took me to the first match.

 

I was hooked from the first moments, and over forty years later, can still remember the wonderful times we had with the West Ham Speedway team.

 

What with the Lights, the Noise, the Bikes, the Colours, the Crowds, the Riders, the Speed and even the Smell, It was a magical world to a 10 year old East End Kid.

 

Although all new to me, I did not take long to understand the wonders of the sport and was soon shouting my support along with all the other fans.

 

It is said there was 15,000 people there on the first night in a very cold April in 1964.

 

In the programme notes for the second match, our Team Manager Tommy Price said;

“I was impressed by the many youngsters who came to our Arena to whom Speedway is a new experience”, he was right, and what an experience!

 

Because of a few problems with-in the sport, West Ham was not up to full strength, so for the first few matches, ‘Guest` riders were used.

 

I was soon to learn that only the best were considered good enough to Guest for West Ham and wear the famous Crossed Hammers Race Jacket.

In the first match, a New Zealand rider called Barry Briggs rode for us. Barry was to become the World Solo Speedway Champion that year, one of his four World Championships.

 

The Team consisted of Bjorn Knutsson (Sweden), Ray Cresp (Australia), Reg Luckhurst, Stan Stevens, Norman Hunter, Malcolm Simmons, Bob Dugard & Alf Hagon, all of England, with a second Swedish rider, Bengt Jansson joining the team later in June.

 

The first match against Wimbledon saw the Hammers win by 46 points to 38.

 

The first rider to win a heat at West Ham was Bjorn Knutsson; I had found a Sporting Hero!

 

The other riders in that first heat was Sverre Harrfeldt, riding for Wimbledon, but was later to become a Hammers Legend, Roy Trigg, who was to become a Hackney Rider, and a thorn in the side of the Hammers in many matches, and finally` Mr West Ham`, Stan Stevens, a local lad from Ilford, who was to be a main stay of many a West Ham Team through the years, ending up as the Captain of the West Ham Bombers, a short lived 2^nd Division team in 1972.

 

The league consisted of seven teams, Belle Vue (Manchester), Coventry, Norwich, Oxford, Swindon, Wimbledon and West Ham.

 

The main event was the National League, but also we rode in Britannia Shield matches, as well as the National Trophy and the London Cup.

The Wimbledon match was not the first that the Hammers had raced this season; we had already ridden away matches at Norwich and Oxford (where our Guest had been Ove Fundin).

The matches against Norwich Stars was always big events as Sweden’s Ove `the Fox` Fundin, who was the 1963 World Champion, a multiple World Champion and quite possible the worlds Greatest Speedway rider rode for them, and he was Bjorn Knutsson’s greatest rival.

 

Although we had not done well in the Britannia Shield, (we came last) we were more at Home with the National Trophy matches which were all two-legged Home and Away matches.

 

The first team we took on was Coventry, we lost by just two points at Coventry 41-43 but the home leg had seen as beat the Bees 45-39, giving us an 86-82 victory. 

 

The semi final saw us against Swindon Robins. The first leg was at Home, but controversy at the start of match saw the referee refusing to allow one of the Swindon riders to take part in the match, reducing them to seven riders. Worst was to come when in Heat 14 Swindon’s Polish rider Tad Teodorowicz crashed on the forth bend and was seriously injured.

He was taken to Hospital with suspected concussion that turned out to be a fractured scull; he sadly died 142 days later.

 

West Ham won the match 51-33, and in the second leg at Swindon, we lost by just two points 41-43, giving us a 92-76 victory.

 

The final saw us against the Oxford Cheaters.

In a thrilling two leg final we lost by just two points, 83-85.

 

We were not so successful in the National League, coming last and winning the `Wooden Spoon`.

 

The last time we had done that was in 1936, and we won the League the following year, would History repeat itself in 1965?

 

In the London Cup, again a two-leg event, we went down 81-87 to the Dons of Wimbledon.

 

In July, the Vargana Wolves of Sweden came to visit the Hammers as a part of their British Tour.   Now there was a small problem, both Bjorn and Bengt rode for them in Sweden, and to make it worse, Bjorn was their Captain, so what were we to do?

In a `Gentleman’s Agreement`, Bjorn rode for us, Bengt rode for them, but it made no difference, we still lost 36-42!

 

But the biggest event in July was an international one.

                                                                       

There had been rumours that the mysterious riders from behind the Iron Curtain, with their strange JAWA Racing Bikes, were going to visit England.

 

The rumour was confirmed; the USSR would be racing a three test series against Great Britain, the first test was to be at Wembley.

 

West Ham’s supporters club had been issued some tickets and were going to run a coach to the event.

 

The day finally came and a very excited, speedway mad 10 years old was off to see his first international match at Wembley, the old home of the legendary Wembley Lions.

 

The first thing we had to look for was the famous Wembley Towers.

(What FOOL decided to knock them down when the new Wembley was built?)

 

We were soon at the Stadium, what an atmosphere, I though West Ham was great, but this was even better, something special, the crowds were massive with fans from all over the country sporting their own team colours, as well as the Red, White & Blue of Great Britain.

 

Amongst the British squad was our own Ray Cresp.

 

The two teams lined up, Great Britain with Union Flag race jackets, and the Russian (USSR) team in Red with Yellow crossed Hammer and Sickle race jackets.

But even more interesting was the strange looking JAWA (ESO) racing machines.

 

The strangest of all was the look of the Russian, after all we had heard about them, they looked like us, one even looked like a member of the Beatles, and the girls soon fell in love with him.

 

His name was Gablrackhman Kadirov (soon christened Gabby by the fans), plus two legends of Russian Speedway, Igor Plechanov and Boris Samorodov (in fact a lot of the Russian team seemed to end with OV!)

 

The match was a victory to Great Britain, by 73-35, sadly marred by a heat 11 crash when Russia’s Vilaty Shilo was seriously injured.

 

The Russian team had begun to put their bikes away and head for the baths, but what was happening?

Instead of the crowds leaving, they stood there and begun to clap and chant “We Want the Russians!”

 

Now the Russian management were confused by this, and it had to be quickly explained to them that the Sporting British Public wanted to show their appreciation of these Sons of the Soviet Republic.

 

The Riders were soon stopped from leaving the pits, and to loud Cheering, the Russian Captain, Igor Plechanov, mounted on his bike and proudly flying the Russian flag, entered the Wembley Track followed by the rest of the team, mounted two to a Bike.

 

I do not think that the British Fans ever got the recognised for the work they did that night to help to remove the Iron Curtain. 

 

Another event in July saw the Embassy Best Pairs Trophy at West Ham.

 

Sponsored by WD & HO Wills, the makers of Embassy Cigarettes, the trophy was won by Wimbledon’s Gote Nordin and Sverre Harrfeldt.

 

The strangest thing was that in the world of today where smoking is banned from most places, Free Cigarettes were given away at the match to encourage you to smoke!

 

The last match of the season was a Solo Event, the London Riders Championship, considered by some to be the second most important trophy to the World Championship.

 

It was won by Mike Broadbanks (who started his career at Wembley), he was know as the `Red Devil` because of his red leathers, Bengt Jansson was 2^nd, losing by just one point.

 

At the end of the match, there was a spectacular firework display.

 

Well that was the end of the season; it would be a long winter waiting for the new season, although the Supporters Club holding various events during the winter months helped to speed it up.

 

There was one more important match this season.

 

Bjorn Knutsson as well as being our skipper, was as the Captain of Sweden, and he lead them to the World Cup this year in West Germany.

The Final was Great Britain v Sweden v Russia v Poland.

 

Speedway World Cup is different from football as it is raced for each year and is what is called a` Four Team Tournament` (It is now ridden for the `Ove Fundin Trophy`)

The formula is four teams, four riders each, with one from each team in each race, and is run over 16 heats, which means each rider meets the other riders in one of the 16 heats.

 

The final score was Sweden 34 - Russia 25 – Great Britain 21 – Poland 16.

The year of the Champions

 

It is now 1965, the middle of the Swinging sixties, Newham Council has been formed from the old County Boroughs of East & West Ham, and it’s was also the year that was to see West Ham’s Speedway Team enter the history books!

Following the internal arguments with-in the Sport, it was decided in 1965 to have all teams in one league, the league was to be called the British League, and would see teams from England, Scotland and Wales all racing together for the first time.

West Ham were to become the first ever British League Champions, as well as winning the KO cup, (speedway’s version of the FA Cup), and becoming London Champions, beating both our east London rivals Hackney, who rode close by at Waterden Road, E.15 and Wimbledon.

There had been major changes with-in West Ham, with some of last year’s team either retiring or moved to other tracks.

West Ham team was a mixture of experience and youth.

Our Captain was arguably the most famous of all Scottish Riders, Ken Mckinlay. Hammers No.2 was Sverre Harrfeldt, the Norwegian Champion, who had been signed from Wimbledon by West Ham in the close season, England Internationals Norman Hunter & Reg Trott, backed them up.

Our young riders included the likes of Malcolm Simmons, who was to become one of the top English riders and rode in the sport for over twenty years, Ted Ede, Brian Leonard, Tony Clarke, Bob Dugard and Australia’s Dave Wills.

The season started on the 6th April. The first match was against the legendary Wimbledon` Dons`.  This was the first of many titanic struggles against Wimbledon this season. The hammers won 46-31.

On Easter Monday, West Ham held its Easter Trophy. It was a chance to see some of the Stars of the old Provincial League, as well as the old National League in action. The match winner was Australia’s Charlie Monk of the Glasgow `Tigers`, although the true match winner for us was Anne Sidney who made a guest appearance as the current Miss World!

The reason for a Monday meeting was because West Ham’s next away match was at Long Eaton, and the `Archers` also rode on a Tuesday.

Our next home match was against the Newport `Wasp’s ` from Wales.

Before the meeting there was controversy, as the Speedway Control Board forced us to lose one of our riders left from the 1964 team, Bob Dugard. Bob had rode for New Cross in 63 and for us in 64, but was told he had to go and ride for Wimbledon to boost their team strength.

To this day it still does not make sense, but proved what a crazy world Speedway could be at times.

There was such a fuss kicked up both West Ham Management and the Supporters that a few weeks later no less a person that Mr Nelson Miles Baldwin, Chairman of the SCB, came to see the team and to `calm the waters` over the forced transfer.

May, saw the first clash between our East London rivals Hackney, since 1937.Shock, Horror, Hackney beat us both home and away; in fact they were the only team to beat us at home all season.       

Hackney were original called the Wolves, but by 1965 they had been re-named the ‘Hawks’ after West Ham’s second team, which won the National League Division Two championship in 1934.

The Hawks manager was an ex-West Ham rider Len Silver.

The last match of May saw a re-run of the match against the Coventry ‘Bees’, the earlier one was abandoned after rain had halted the meeting only just over the halfway through.  The Hammers won 42-36, but the highlight of the match was the Silver Sash Match Race.

Match racing harks back to the original days of Dirt Track riding, where two riders would be ‘matched’ against each other for a prize. In this case, Jim Lightfoot of Coventry was the current holder and therefore ‘matched’ against West Ham highest scorer of the night, who was Ken McKinlay. The winner would either still hold the Sash or pass it to the race winner.

Ken won the race and held on to the Sash for over a month.

Amongst the Holders for 1965 season were all three Captains of the London clubs, as both Colin Pratt of Hackney and Olly Nygren of Wimbledon had also held it at one time this season.

As I was at school, I was only allowed to go to away matches if they were on a Saturday night, so on the 29^th May, we went up to Yorkshire to raced against the Halifax ‘Dukes’ at the Shay, which was the name of the home ground for the local Rugby Club who’s stadium they used. Halifax promoter was ex-Hammers rider Reg Fearman, the Dukes were new to Speedway racing and their race jacket was almost the same as West Ham’s, with a white Elephant instead of Hammers, although this team were no `white elephants`. On major difference was the track; it was banked which was unusual for a Speedway track. The reason for this was because the stadium was built between two hills! At first the riders had a bit of difficulty with the track, but once they got used to it, they begun to enjoy themselves, and the final score was 39-38 to the Dukes. The reason for the odd score was because in heat 5 both the Halifax riders failed to finish and Ken led Sverre home for a rare 0-5 heat result.

By June, the Hammers were mid way in the league and slowly moving up, when tragedy struck.

On the 23^rd June, West Ham raced against Belle Vue (Manchester), the match it self went well with the Hammers beating the ‘Aces’ 44-34.

The second half of the meeting was mixture of solo events and a junior team event to help the younger riders of both Hackney and West Ham.

In the first heat, Dave Wills fell from his bike and was struck by another bike. Lying injured on the track, the call went out over the stadium Loud Speaker System, `Number 33 to the pits`, we knew this was no ordinary accident; the Track Doctor had been called for.  Soon the ambulance was called on to the track and Dave was lifted in to it, and away it went. An attempt was made to continue the meeting, but our hearts were not in it, the rest of the night’s races were abandoned.

Dave died in St Mary’s Hospital, Stratford, later that night. I was standing less than 5 yards from where Dave crashed.  He was interned at the City of London cemetery in Manor Park on the14^th July.

This was not the first fatality involving West Ham and Hackney. On the 15^th May 1936 in an almost identical accident, Hackney’s Dusty Haigh was killed at Hackney while racing against West Ham

Five years later on the 14 July, the Hammers flag flew at half-mast again, when five members of the team were killed in a road crash in Belgium, returning from a mini racing tour of Holland.

The team was at a low point, and so were the fans, but the show must go on, and throughout July, August, September, the Hammers slowly piled on the victories.

The 23^rd of July saw us on the way to Edinburgh in Scotland for a match against the ‘Monarchs’.  The match was on the 24^th, and as we left London on the Friday night by coach, it started raining. It rained all the way there, it rained all the time we were there so no chance of sightseeing (in fact we spent the afternoon in a cinema trying to dry off!), and by the time the match was due to start, the track was waterlogged.           The match was cancelled, so we journeyed all the way home in the same wet clothing, arriving back on Sunday 25^th. This was not helped by the fact that the Hammers were racing at Newcastle on the Monday against the `Diamonds`, so the coach was partly stripped out to carry two spare bikes, racing spares, and even a spare mechanic.        At 02-00 hrs on the Sunday morning on the way back, we stopped and helped to unload these at the Brough Park Stadium, Newcastle, now that’s what you call team loyalty!  (By the way, we lost 46-32)

On the 27^th July we were treated to the site of Australian Banked Chair racing. Banked Chairs were a form of three-wheeled Speedway bike which third wheel was banked at an angle and carried a passenger like sidecar racing. The biggest difference was that they raced Clockwise on the track as apposed from Speedway, which was anti-clockwise.                                                                                                       Although very spectacular it never caught on, as on smaller tracks it was almost impossible to pass.

August was an interesting month, my twelve birthday and three major matches.

First, KO cup, Quarter Final, and guess what, we drew those Dons from Wimbledon at home. Trailing for most of the match, Ken & Sverre snatched a 5-1 Victory in the 14^th Heat (KO matches were raced on a 16 heat format as apposed from the league 13 heat). The Dons then got a 4-2 result in heat 15.

We went into the last heat 45-45.Olle Nygren, Wimbledon’s Swedish Captain (and it later years to become West Ham’s) sped into the lead and despite the best efforts of the Hammers the final result was 3-3-heat result and a 48-48 draw.

It now meant we had to go to Plough lane, to face the Dons on their home track.    God must have been a West Ham fan that night, the result went backwards and forwards as first Wimbledon then West Ham took the lead.

With one heat to go, the score was the same as at West Ham, 45-45. I think my throat is still sore, 42 years later, as we shouted our support in that last heat to spur the lads on, the Hammers got a 4-2 victory and we were in to the semi-final.

On the 10^th August we took on the Vargana Wolves from Stockholm in Sweden for an International Challenge Match. Another fantastic nights racing saw us draw with Vargana, who were the top team in the Swedish Speedway league.

West Ham was chosen to hold the British Final of the World Speedway Championship on the 24 August, but our old enemy, rain defeated us!

The meeting was re-run on the 31^st, with Barry Briggs of New Zealand and Swindon, the current World Champion winning it, just beating Ken Mckinlay in to 2^nd place.

September arrived, and we had drawn Glasgow away in the Semi-final of the KO Cup. With just two heats to go, the score was 42 points each, the tide tuned in our favour in heat 15 with a freak 0-3 to the Hammers, with Sverre Harrfeldt being the only rider to finish.

World Championship time, this was a solo event for the best riders in the world.

Held at the Empire Stadium, London, which had been the home of the Wembley ‘Lions’ Speedway team, which our manager Tommy Price who had been the Captain of, as well as the 1949 World Champion, had a special interest for us.  As well as our Captain Ken McKinlay, amongst the riders were three ex members of the 1964 team, Bjorn Knutsson (Sweden), who had been our captain, Bengt Jansson (Sweden) and Reg Luckhurst (England).

Bjorn won the world crown with 14 out of a possible 15 points. As West Ham was his last team he had rode for in England, we claimed him as our 3^rd World Champion, joining Australia’s Bluey Wilkinson and Jack Young.

Another Saturday night, 25^th September saw two coaches of Fans travelling up to Manchester, to race against the Belle Vue `Aces`. Now the matches against Belle Vue were always good as both tracks are very much alike, West Ham was 415 Yards, Belle Vue was 418 yards, and so both teams felt at home. 

Belle Vue had one major advantage over West Ham; the Hyde Road track was a part of the Manchester Zoo Park, which had a giant Funfair.  So after the match that we won 47-30, the fans and the riders all went off to the funfair. I can claim to have raced against the1965 Champions, at BUMPER CARS, there was an unofficial challenge match, Riders vs Supporters, do not think there was a winner.

Sverre Harrfeldt won the London Riders Championship at Hackney with a maximum. 15 points.

In September Ken Mckinlay also won major solo trophy when he won the Brandonapolis at Coventry, described as the ‘All-Star Gold Cup Tournament’.        (He had first won this trophy 10 Years earlier)

October 1965, a month never to be forgot.

We had reached the Final of the KO cup, and in a two-leg event against Exeter; we won at Exeter by 6-point’s which added to the 24 points lead in our home leg. We beat the ‘Falcons’ by 30 clear points, so the first bit of Silverware was on the shelf.

The last home match was a London Cup match against Wimbledon.

As Hackney had been beaten by both of us at home, we needed to win against the Dons for our second trophy. In another closely fought match, we beat them and added the London Cup to our shelves.

The season ended with a spectacular Fireworks display.

Now for the big one, although the home season had been completed, we had one more match, away to the Cradley Heath ‘Heathens’ from Dudley in the West Midlands. 

We took 30 coaches of supporters to the match on the 23rd, but it was not that straight forward. Owing to heavy fog in Birmingham our coaches got lost and we ended up with two groups of coaches passing each other in the opposite direction down a clearway! Our lead coach driver pulled in to a garage to get directions and we were lucky to find a Police car in there filling up with petrol. A quick explanation to a slightly bemused West Midlands’s Police Officer saw the might of the force spring in to action. A Police car was sent to collect the other group of coaches that we had passed, we were then escorted, one police car in front and one behind, straight into the stadium.

I dread to think what the Cradley fans must have been thinking as a mob of London’s east end Speedway fans arrived with a police escort!

To win the league we had to beat Cradley, if not guess who would be Champions?

That’s it’s, those Dons from Wimbledon. Sadly neither West Ham nor Wimbledon (or Cradley) still has speedway teams today, but when the old fans of these two great rivals meet, you can guess what year always crops up.

The Hammers won 31-47, History was made, and we were the Triple Crown Champions! 

The great Sverre Harrfeldt scored a 12-point maximum, and if not for a problem in Heat one where Ken Mckinlay was a non-starter after a disagreement with the Referee, Ken was also unbeaten. They were backed up by the rest of the team, nine points from Malcolm Simmons, eight from Norman Hunter, five from Brian Leonard and two points each from Reg Trott and Tony Clark.

 

The Team to Beat 

When you have reached the top, the only way is down, but the Hammers did not quite see it that way. 

We reached the quarter final of the KO cup, losing to Halifax, who ended up as the 1966 Triple Crown Champions, winning the British League, the K/O Cup and the Northern Cup. 

We retained the London Cup, 

We finished 7^th in the League. 

Sverre finished 2^nd in the World Championship, narrowly losing it by one point to Barry Briggs. 

And finally, Norman Hunter, got renamed `Norm the Storm` as he won the London Riders Championship, as well as being capped for England, where he scored a magnificent 18-point maximum ride against Russia at West Ham in July.

There were a few changes in the team line-up; firstly Tommy Price had resigned as Manager to concentrate on his Business in Wembley. 

Tommy had done everything there was to do in the Sport, as a Rider he had both ridden for and captained Wembley and England. He rode for Wembley when they won the National League, the National Trophy (the old version of the K/O Cup) and the London Cup. He was also England’s first World Champion in 1949, as well as British Champion in 1946 (there was no World Championship that year). 

As a Manager he had won the Triple Crown with West Ham, so well done TOM-TOM (Tommy’s Nickname). 

The other change was we had lost Tony Clarke to Oxford; again the Speedway Control Board had forced us to give away a rider we had helped to bring up to a good racing standard. 

We were also minus until the end of May, Sverre Harrfeldt, who was recovering from a major Operation back in Norway. 

Our new manager was Dave Lanning who had been our Press Officer and Publicity Manager in both 64 & 65. He had also acted as Team manager on a couple of occasions when Tommy was not available. Dave was a well-known journalist and in later years was a driving force behind getting Speedway on to the television, sometimes acting as commentator.

He was quickly nicknamed `Cynthia` because he was tall and thin, after the well-known British comedian Hilda Baker’s straight man, by the Hackney fans. 

The Hammers fans in retaliation gave their boss Len Silver the nickname of the `Bouncy Wicky Gnome`, in respect of his centre green antics when he felt his Hawks were being hard done by. 

Both Dave and Len were true `sons` of Speedways greatest Showman, the `Father` of Speedway, Johnny S Hoskins, when it came to putting on a show as well as racing. 

One of the first things Dave did as Manager was to contact Newham Council to try and arrange some sort of Civic Reception or Award for the Hammers for the Fame & the Glory they had brought to Newham in its first year as a London Borough, but sadly he was ignored.

It was alleged that Newham was only interested in its football team who was also having a successful time, winning the FA Cup in 64, a European Trophy in 65, and was to play a leading part in the England’s World Cup Victory of 1966. 

The first match of the season was on the 5^th April against Hackney in an East London Derby, where we beat the Hawks 44-34.

A taste of things to come was Norman Hunters first 12 pt maximum of the season. 

As Sverre was out, we had Bill Andrews of Poole as a `Guest` Rider. 

Now `Guest Riders` is another thing, which seems only to apply to Speedway.

If you have a rider absent owing to Injury, or are on International duty, you are allowed to have a rider from another team to `guest` in their place.

The rider has to have an equal point average as near as possible to your rider; this is to stop you replacing your No7 reserve with the World Champion! 

Another famous face to join the Hammers was the `India Rubber Man`, so called because he had broke every bone in his body, the ex-West Ham rider Phil Bishop. Phil became our Machine Examiner, another of the many people behind the scene that makes a speedway meeting work. 

At this point, let’s list the people who mostly never ever see, but are needed for a Speedway meeting to work. 

First we need a Referee, now some Ref`s would quietly arrive, referee the match and unless something very major happened, would quietly go away again. But there were others, who you knew as soon as you read the referee name in the programme that there would be a rumpus before the meeting was over. 

Team Managers, They were mostly ex-riders, but as in the case of Dave Lanning, not always. 

A Machine Examiner, this mans job was to make sure A) The bike was safe to ride and B) To check nobody was cheating by altering the engine size, or any other illegal actions.

A Speedway engine was 500cc, although they were allowed to be 10 cc above or below this.

The majority of Speedway engines were either JAP (J.A.Prestwich) or the JAWA (ESO).

The Newham Recorder who were famous for their errors when reporting speedway at West Ham, once in the early days of Political Correction, described the Bikes as `Japanese`, because they though they would offend by calling them JAPs! 

As well as an engine, the bike needed a frame to mount it in, and these were as important as the engine it’s self, so a spin off of the people required was the specialist Frame & Engine makers (One of the most famous was Alf Hagon from the 1964 team. He produced the world famous Hagon Japs, which were used for both Speedway and Grass track racing), Bike Tuners etc.

He proved how good his bikes were by holding the Flying Kilometre speed record for many years on a Hagon-Jap. 

An ACU Time Keeper, these were needed to time each race, the fastest rider around the track was known as the `Track Record Holder` At this time the Australian Double World Champion Jack Young was still the holder of the fastest time of 70.6 seconds set back in 1954 at West Ham. 

A Colour / Starting Marshal, this man was responsible for making sure each rider is lined up in his correct grid on the track and did not try to cheat by getting a rolling start (it should be a clutch start, the tapes go up, the clutch is released (Dropped, to give the correct term) and about four seconds later your are entering the first bend at about 60 mph, (remember, no brakes!).   

He was also responsible for the flags used on the tracks. 

The Yellow flag with a black cross signified one lap to go, a Chequered flag signified the end of the race, and Red flag signified that the race was being halted because of an emergency, which was normally a fallen rider who could not be moved off the track due to injury.  The use of the flag was only on the instructions of the referee who would put the Red Track lights on to signify a race had been halted. 

His last duty, again if instructed by the referee to do so, was to put out a Black Flag with a circular disk of the Helmet Colour of a rider the referee had disqualified from the heat for some offence seen.

This would be signified to both him and the crowd by a light showing above the Start/Finish line (The gate) of the colour of the rider concerned.

 The fans would normally show their displeasure of this event by some well aimed BOOING! 

The Announcer, now this man was responsible for telling you who was in the next race, and the result of the race plus time. He also had to keep you updated with any information, and keep the fans occupied if there was a delay in the meeting.

He would also play music at the start of the meeting, normally the current top tunes in the `Hit` Parade, even today certain tunes remind me of the old days of Speedway.  

The Pit Marshall, This man was a cross between a Safety Officer, a Security Officer and Race Organiser. His main job was to check the right rider was going out for the right heat in the right helmet colour and was aware of the right grid he should be in and finally that his bike was ready for his use.

He also was responsible for the security of the pits area to keep out any unwanted elements (but Len Silver and his Hawks still managed to get in!). He would have some assistances; known as `Pusher offers` who would push the bikes to start on their way as no battery start on these machines. 

Mechanics, although some riders did their own work on their bikes, many had their own Mechanics, plus there was a Team Mechanic who used to look after the track spare, a bike used in case a riders machine broke down for any reason. 

Press and Publicity Officer, to keep both the Local and National press aware of what was happening and due to happen. When Dave became Team Manager, Donald Allen replaced him. 

Medical Officer and the St Johns Ambulance Brigade.

The Doctor was there not only for Accidents on the track where he would be summoned by the code `No33 to the Pits`, but also if any fans were taken ill.

The match was not allowed to start if the Track Doctor was not present in the stadium.  The St John had members on the track in the centre green, the pits and the stadium. 

The Track Staff and Tractor/Grader Driver, these were responsible for the track condition during the match. At West Ham these would be dressed in Red Jackets and Hats.

At the start of the meeting, after a maroon was fired they would march out on to the track to a military march such as `Under the Double Eagle` 

The Stadium Electrician, who was responsible for not only the stadium lights, but also the Track Lighting. 

Score Board Operator, not all tracks had a scoreboard, but we did for a while at West Ham. 

The other helpers included Programme Sellers, Turnstile operators even the Hot Dog Sellers.  West Ham was famous for their `Dozen Doggies`, a foot long hot dog! 

 And finally to support the Riders and the Supporters, the Supporters Club Committee! 

Sorry if I missed anybody or any of the various Stadium Staff who did their bit. 

The 2^nd Match of the season saw the first bit of Silverware on the table, when we beat Wimbledon 42-36 in the second leg of the Supporters Challenge Trophy.

We won with aggregate score of 80-76, again another closely fought match against the Dons.

Our Guest for this match was Belle Vue’s Cyril Maidmant.  

The old enemy of Speedway, rain, won match 3 on the 19th against Oxford.

In fact according to the programme notes in the following weeks programme, it had not stopped raining since the previous Sunday! 

The last match (4) in April was on the 26^th when we beat Glasgow ‘Tigers` 43-35, our guest on that night was Coventry Captain Ron Mountfield, scoring 11 out of a possible 12. 

Into May and on the 3^rd match 6 were against Cradley Heath.

Jim Lightfoot also of Coventry was our Guest and we won 48-29. 

On the Saturday the 7^th at Edinburgh, the old enemies clashed, Scotland vs England match which saw two Hammers in opposition.

Ken McKinlay led the Scottish squad to a victory by 63-45, with Norman Hunter riding for England. 

On the subject of Internationals, amongst our junior riders we had an Austrian, who was a naturalised Australian, Joe Wiechibuer and the only known Aboriginal rider Bart Walker. Bart never made the big time but was always trying, most times too hard; he knew every inch of the West Ham safety fence as he had hit most of it at one time or another!

Joe later went on to ride for both Cradley and Reading. 

Another junior who went on to make a team place was Don Smith.

Although new to Speedway, Don was an expert trails rider and was the European Trails Champion. 

Other juniors included Neville Slee of Australia who went on to race at Rye House, Canterbury and Ipswich, Ray Wickett, Mike Stevenitt, and the Curtis Brothers, Brain and Keith who were more successful at Grass Track racing. A lot of riders also took part in Grass track racing which as it suggest is racing Speedway style on a grass track, these were much larger and wider that a Speedway track.

Kent was the `Capital` of Grass track Racing 

Finally `Stoney`, Terry Stone who in his career has ridden for a good few teams, rode in the main team for a few matches. He is still in the sport today. 

Match 6 on the 10^th May; saw Belle Vue ‘Aces` in action.

Our guest for this was the `one that got away`, Terry Betts.

The management at West Ham had tried many times to get this popular Kings Lynn and England rider into Hammers colours with-out success, but at least we got him as a guest. The Aces lost 44-34. 

May 17^th saw the Hawks come calling again, and again they lost!

Match 8 saw another 43-35 victory of the Hammers. 

Taking a break from the Home League Campaign, we will catch up with my speedway travels. 

On Easter Monday we had a little trip south of the River to Plough Lane, home of the Wimbledon Dons, for the 1^st leg of the Supporters Trophy.

Wimbledon is a lovely stadium, although the track is much smaller than West Ham at only 355 yards.

Their Manager is one of the most famous in the Sport, Ronnie Green MBE.

Ron was awarded an MBE of his work with the Auxiliary Fire Service during World War II. 

We led for most of the match, and with one heat to go were two points in the lead. 

The final saw Jimmy Gooch of Oxford, our Guest for Sverre.

Jimmy had raced many times at Wimbledon when it acted as Home for the Wembley Lions when they were unable to use their own track.  The reason for this was because of other sports being held at the Empire Stadium, mainly in 1948, when the Olympic Games were held in London.

Our other Hammer in the heat was Malcolm Simmons, lining up against Olly Nygren and Reg Luckhurst.

The Dons scored a 5-1 against us, which was only fair, as we had spoilt their plans many times in the previous season. 

We managed to spoil it again by winning the 2^nd leg at home and taking the Trophy!  

30^th April saw us back up at Cradley for a League Match. 

Not so many coaches went this time, plus we did not get lost on the way.

Another victory, although not quite as important as the last one!

We won 44-34, but the match was nearly cancelled owing to a lot of rain, not helped by a cloudburst just as we arrived, so another wet journey home. 

At this point I would like to point out that the coach would drop us at Plaistow Station which was about a mile and a half from home, and in the middle of the night, and no buses, so a long walk home, especially early in the season when the nights were cold, and you were still in wet cloths from the rain. 

The streets always seemed quite, but it is something I certainly would not do today!  

On the May 14^th, we were off to Manchester for a match at Belle Vue. 

Boy, we were slaughtered, going down 52-28, the Hammers worst defeat all season.

It was not helped by having a poor guest rider whose team was a local rival.

Let us be polite and not name him, but just say he had more that one problem with his engine.

He failed to finish in two heats, and scored only 4 points in total. 

Talking of engine failure, both Ken Mckinlay (a recognised expert on Engines) and Norman Hunter blew their engines that night, so perhaps it was something in the air. 

Back to Hackney for a British League match which for a change was ridden on a Wednesday night.

We drew against the Hawks, and again Jimmy Gooch, who was in his third decade of racing after riding for the all-conquering Wembley Lions in the 1940’s & 50’s, was our Guest rider. 

Back home and it is World Championship Qualifying Rounds.

West Ham’s round was won by Barry “Briggo” Briggs with a faultless 15 points, Norman Hunter was 2^nd with 12, and in joint 3^rd were Malcolm Simmons and Ken McKinlay with 11 points each.

Ken when on to win the Qualifying round at Wolverhampton also with a clear 15 pt maximum. 

After the match, an unnamed rider, all in black, was seen practicing on the track, he did not need to be named, we all recognised the style and we knew our Sverre was back! 

The end of May saw us in action against Swindon, that man Briggs got another 12 point Maximum, no wonder he was often quoted as saying West Ham track was the best raceway in the world. 

Sverre was back in action; his 8 points gave us a narrow 41-37 victory over the Robins.

We were now sitting in 8^th place in the league. 

Now a slight mystery, which to this day has never been answered, what was Briggo up to at the end of the meeting?  He was seen practicing on an unmarked speedway bike, but what was it?

The rumours were, it was a new model, a new type of engine, new form of fuel injector system, we never did found out!

Barry Briggs was the British Dealer for the JAWA ESO Bikes at his Motorcycle business in Southampton. 

Match 10, and the Falcons from Exeter came looking for revenge in the K /O match after last year, but they never stood a chance against the double barrels of Harrfeldt and Hunter. 

Both riders were on top form with 14 points each and the Hammers stormed home 60-36.

This was not our only 60 points this season; we hit Wolverhampton a few weeks later with 61 points, but saved the big one for Hackney with the biggest win ever over them 63-33 in August. 

Match 11 and it had to happen; a very off-form West Ham meet a very on-form Wimbledon, whose manager by now was another ex-hammer, Vic Gooden.

The result was our first home defeat of the season, 36-42.

Wimbledon’s Trevor Hedge hit a 12-point maximum, Olle Nygren with 11 and our old Hammer, Reg Luckhurst with 10. The best we could do was a 9 from Ken Mckinlay. 

Meeting 12 and we have another home defeat, this time by Halifax, when we go down 37-41. 

The second half of the meeting was the Dave Wills Memorial Trophy, in memory of the fact he was killed one year ago this week.

Despite all three of our heat leaders in the final, Halifax captain, Eric Boocock, won the trophy.

(Eric went on to become England Manager when he retired from racing) 

Meeting 12, last match of June, saw us back to wining, beating Newport Wasps 48-30. 

The match against Poole Pirates showed another victory to the rain. 

Now into July, Meeting 14 against Coventry Bees, and we go down again, 36-42, not helped by Ken McKinlay having to fly back to Australia urgently owing to his wife being taken seriously ill (Kens home was now in Australia). 

The other problem was our second strings all seemed to go off form at once. 

These three home defeats in a row, plus away defeats, plus the poor `against` score at Belle Vue, saw the Hammers plunge to 13^th position in the League.  

Some of the fans were not very happy, and Dave Lanning was left with no doubt of their feelings! 

Back to my travels around speedway, Saturday 18^th June saw us riding at Kings Lynn in Norfolk. 

Now in those days the `Lynn` was very basic, not the Norfolk Arena of today.     Kings Lynn had taken the place of Norwich, which closed at the end of 1964. 

The trip was always exiting because the Supporters Club coach would leave early on a Saturday morning and make its way to Great Yarmouth, the major Norfolk seaside resort.                     

We would have a day at the seaside before leaving about 17-00 hours for the match. 

Yarmouth used to have a Speedway team in the 1950’s called the `Bloaters`. 

The stadium was a track with a corrugated fence around the supporter’s area, in the middle of a Sugar beat field. The pits were open, the referee’s box was a garden shed on stilts, the grandstand was a large wooden lean-to with a Fish & Chips stall on one side and a Sweet stall on the other, I loved it!

Shame we lost 35-43. 

2^nd July saw us head to the west of the country, to the home of Swindon and the great Barry Briggs, plus one of my favourite riders, Mike Broadbanks, the `Red Devil`.

We went down 32-46, hit by a double maximum in the shape of the Swindon Robins duo of Briggs and Broadbanks. 

Now this is the measure of the great man Barry Briggs, seeing the West Ham fans in the tea bar before the match, he helped to carry-over the cups of tea and cakes, now not many can say the World Champion had served them tea! 

When we could afford it during the summer, we would make our way by train on a Sunday from Stratford Station, down to Rye House in Hertfordshire. Rye House was a training track, which had held `open` speedway matches since before World War II.  It sat on the backs of the River Lea, which in that part of the county looked far nicer than the Lea that flowed in to the Thames at Canning Town.

We would often go early, have a picnic on the River Bank, then stroll a few yards from the waterside into the pits area and watch the preparation for the match. Rye House has a special place in my heart; it was my one and only ride on a speedway bike. I coasted through the pits area on Neville Slee’s bike, which was enough; I knew what side of the Safety Fence I preferred! I also got in on the act once at Rye House. While researching for information for this history, I found this old photograph of me presenting Maury Littlechild, the manager of Kings Lynn, with a trophy. 

After forty years I have no idea why and what it was for! 

On the 3^rd July (My Dad must have worked some overtime to be able to afford two matches in two days); a West Ham B team took on the Rye House `Red Devils` in a Challenge match. 

The Hammers team was Reg Trott as captain, with Brian Leonard and Ted Ede from the senior team with juniors Ray Wicket, Terry Stone and Mike Stevinett and our Number 7 was a Rye House Junior who went on the ride for the Romford `Bombers`, Frank Wendon. 

We lost 34-40, the odd scored being cause by a 3-2 victory in Heat 3 and a 3-0 victory in Heat 5 (remember it was a training track, and young riders do fall-off, regularly!). 

Today, Rye House is a Premier league team riding as the Rye House Rockets, with a 2^nd squad in the Conference League called the Sprockets, their promoter, Uncle Len himself, Len Silver. 

12^th July and we are back to action at West Ham, a visit by the USSR for a match against England. 

Norm `the Storm` Hunter scored an 18 pt Maximum for England. England won 71-37, but the result does not do justice to the Russian team, who blasted their way around the outside of the big West Ham track. Heat 15 saw a rare `dead heat`, England Riders, Nigel Boocock (Coventry) and Colin Pratt (Hackney) was both given first place. Malcolm Simmons rode at the reserve position for England and scored four points from his two rides, both in second place to Norman, giving England 5-1 heat victories. As they normally rode as a pair for West Ham each week, they were used to each other’s style of riding. 

Match 17 saw the re-run of the rained off meeting against Poole `Pirates`. We won 43-35, with Sverre getting a 15-point, and Norman getting a 12-point maximum. Still minus Ken, Norman was made captain in respect of his 18 points the previous week. 

Match 18, July 26^th, the Hammers went mad! In a K/O cup match against the Wolverhampton` Wolves` from the Midlands, we piled up 61 points against the Wolves 35, even with James Bond riding for them (not THE 007!)  Norman and Sverre both got 15 pt maximums, Malcolm scored 10, and Captain Ken was back with 9 points. 

The next match saw our old friends from Vargana, Sweden, and like the Wolves of the previous week, these also got mauled.

Norman got another 12 pt maximum, and backed up by 10 each from Ken and Sverre, we won 45-33. The only real opposition was from their captain, our old Hammer, Bjorn Knutsson with 13 pts. 

On the 9^th August, the day after my 13^th Birthday we got a visit from Edinburgh `Monarchs`, they brought with them a secret weapon in the shape of a certain John S Hoskins.  John’s son Ian was the promoter at Edinburgh, but he though if anybody can get one over the Hammers, Johnny could.

He was wrong, this was the first of our run of 50 point plus victories, the Monarchs went down 50-28, and all John got was another Burnt Hat!

(It was always a tradition of setting Johns hat on fire, after removing it first of course. I think the reason for doing this is now lost in time).

This victory was led by another 12 point maximum from Sverre. 

Despite this high score, our second strings were still a bit weak. Dave Lanning was trying hard to get Tony Clark back (I think if Tony had been aloud to stay we could have been champions again this year). 

The London Cup season had begun, Match 21 saw us take on and beat Wimbledon 53-43, despite a very unwell Norman Hunter scoring only four points. 

The next meeting was our other Home London Cup match, and we took sweet revenge on Hackney for their rider letting us down at Belle Vue. 

With every Hammer in full flight, we slaughtered them 62-33; the highest ever score against them, and one of the highest scores ever achieved by the Hammers.

Again our dynamic duo, the two H’s, Hunter and Harrfeldt scored 15 pt maximums each. 

This meeting saw a collection for the St Johns Ambulance Brigade, and with the Hammers fans in such a great mood it must have been one of their best collections ever! 

The Hammers were on song and in the next six home matches we never scored less than 50 points. 

Match 23, 52-26 against Long Eaton 

Match 24 against Newcastle was cancelled owing to rain 

Match 25, 51-27 against Kings Lynn 

Match 26, 54-24 against Sheffield

A second half event at this match saw a special challenge race on old style Dirt Track Bikes, when old leg trailers Phil Bishop and another ex Hammer Benny King, staged a match race. Considering the age of both the Riders and the Bikes, they did well and were only just 10 seconds outside the track Record. 

Match 27, 50-23 against Exeter 

Match 28, 53-25against Wolverhampton 

Match 29, 51-27 against Oxford 

From these matches we saw Norman with 3 Maximums, two 11 pts and a 14 against Oxford.

Four maximums for Sverre, and even Malcolm got in on the act with a maximum against Oxford.

Solid scoring from Captain Ken backed all this up. 

Two away victories at Oxford and Wolverhampton saw the Hammers rocket back up the League, but too late to mount a challenge for the League Title. 

The Hammers ended up in 7^th place out of 18, and as we had been knocked out of the K/O, we set about retaining the London Cup. 

We won by 53-43 at Hackney, and narrowly lost by two points at Wimbledon, the London cup was ours again. 

The last match was on the 11^th October; a British League clash against the Newcastle Diamonds was again another high scoring victory 48-30. It was also another 15 pt maximum for Sverre, and a 12 points for acting captain Norman Hunter as Ken had returned to Australia. 

Norman also had by now won the London Riders Championship at Hackney.        

The LRC was tough match, Colin Pratt of Hackney was expected to win, but it ended as a two-man run off, as both Norman and Wimbledon’s Olle Nygren had scored 13 points. It was nearly a four man run off, Sverre had scored 10 points and was in the lead in his second heat when his engine failed, and Roy Trigg had 10 after failing in his first race, a very unusual thing for Roy at Hackney. Brian Leonard was 3^rd with 12. 

Norman also won the Jack Unstead Memorial Trophy at Exeter, he set the fasted time at West Ham on the 4^th August with 73.0 seconds, and he was West Ham representative at Belle Vue for the British League Riders Final, coming 3^rd. 

On the World Final front, our man Sverre was one of the favourites to win the Title in Sweden at the Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg.  The Final was really decided in heat 9, when Barry Briggs, Sverre, Antoni Woryna and Andrzej Pogorzeski both of Poland clashed. Barry, Sverre and Antoni were unbeaten up to that point, and finishing in this order, they remained unbeaten for their remaining heats and finished 1^st, 2^nd & 3^rd. 

In his final Programme notes, Dave Lanning said that “Of Course, we had tremendous reputations to live up too, and it was almost inevitable that the season would end up as an Anti-climax”. 

For any other team this would have been considered a good year. 

The meeting ended with another spectacular fireworks display, but the season had been cut short by one meeting to allow major alterations to the stadium. 

Our last match should have been the 2^nd Leg of the` Pride of the East End Trophy` on the 18^th October, but instead it was a one-leg match at Hackney. The result was a very fare 39-39 draw, with our Sverre claiming his last maximum of the season.

What was 1967 going to bring, would we still be the `Team to beat`?

 So Nearly Again 

During the closed season, the stadium alterations turned out to be 1/3 of the stadium being demolished and sold off. Gone were the original Pits area, the Scoreboard and the back straight Grandstand. 

Stock Car Racing had also returned, which would play havoc with the speedway track surface. 

There had even been rumours that the whole stadium was being demolished, and speedway had ended, but come the 28^th March, we were back. 

My first problem was that we were now `homeless`. We had stood in the same spot for the last three seasons, up in the lower half of the back straight stand opposite the starting line, which gave a very good view of the whole track. The pits had been re-sited by the 3^rd bend, so we made this our new home. Although we did not have such a good view of the First & Second bend, it was made-up by the activities in the Pits Area. 

Team changes saw Tony Clark back from Oxford, in exchange for Reg Trott, Don Smith was now our Number 7.

Ted Ede had retired to concentrate on his building business. 

Although Speedway riders were professional, only the top guys made any real money out of the sport. Some were lucky and had a family business that let them spend time at Speedway, but to most it was a very expensive `Hobby`. 

A lot of younger riders, who were starting to make a success, had young families to support, in Ted’s case, two young Boys, so work had to come first. 

Although we only saw the riders for a couple of hours a week, there was time and cost travelling to meetings, very often two or more each week, and in the case of top riders, almost every night.

The cost of a vehicle that was strong enough to carry one or more bikes etc, either on the back or towing a trailer was added to by petrol, tax and insurance.

There was the cost of racing which were the Bike (at least one), Spare engine, Fuel, Maintenance, Leathers, Crash helmet, plus racing insurance in case of injury (or worse), again both time and money.

The most expense was an engine, remember these engines are highly tuned and did not last that long.  It was not unheard of a rider blowing two in one nights of racing.

In fact the team blew a total of SIX engines in the first two matches against Wimbledon alone

Some had to pay mechanics, and other hidden extras, not a cheap sport, compare with a football player who only needed a Strip and a pair of Boots, which normally was paid for by the club.  

It is not the only riders who have to spend time on the sport, Ron Dyer, the Supporters Club Secretary, also had to resign over pressure of balancing both Work, Speedway & Home life.  

The first Home match was our local rival from across the Thames, Wimbledon, who was going to contribute to our final downfall this season, although not their fault 

It was the normal opening fixture, the Supporters Club Trophy, and the Dons were determined to win it back from us after last year.

The Dons beat us 35-43, but the big problem was our new pits, it did not seem to like speedway!

We blew four engines, Norman Hunter twice, once while in the lead and Malcolm Simmons and Tony Clark once each. 

It was also possible our new race jackets, that were causing a problem, as in the return leg at Wimbledon two days later, Sverre Harrfeldt blew two engines while in the lead! 

The Dons took the trophy by 86-70. 

There was a reason for our new jackets, Speedway League Racing on the television. 

In today’s world of Sky Sport, it is the quite normal, but in the 1960’s it was unheard of any Speedway on the `BOX`.

Despite the best efforts of Dave and other interested parties it never happened, although the way was paved for the sport to eventually becoming televised. 

Our new Jackets had slightly smaller Hammers and the words WEST HAM on the top and LONDON on the Bottom in white.  

The original West Ham Colours was plain White, but these soon developed in to Red and Blue halves and by the early thirties, White Crossed Hammers were added. There were a couple of spin-off design again in the 1930’s, one was Red and Blue Quarters, the other was two Hammers either side of the race jacket with a racing number in the centre.     

The Hammers came form the original West Ham Council Coat of Arms, which were a Rivet Hammer and Blacksmiths Hammer crossed to represent the Shipbuilding at Canning Town and the Railway Locomotive Building at Stratford. 

Another new scheme was for the riders to wear Football style shirts in West Ham United colours over their leathers; these were not popular with the fans and soon discarded by most of the riders. 

Into April, we had shrugged off our first defeat and were ready to start the season for real with league racing, against Edinburgh and good old Johnny Hoskins as our first opposition, which we saw off quite easierly, 51-27.

Hunter & Harrfeldt the double H had done it with 12-point maximums each, plus Sverre set the fastest time since the sport returned in 1964 with a lap time of 72.8 seconds in heat 6. 

Of to Hackney, and our bikes still play-up, Tony Clarks bike blows twice, Sverre once, plus a rare crash for Sverre, saw us go down 48-30, despite both Ken & Norman getting 10 points each, the Hawks got the Cockney Cup, and like Wimbledon they were to be a part of our downfall at the end of the season. 

Match 3 and the Robins come to town. We won 44-34, despite Malcolm Simmons suffering another engine failure.

The second half saw a Silver Sash match race between World Champion Barry Briggs the holder and Sverre who was our top scorer with 11 pts. In a very close race Barry held on to his sash.

He was to lose it during the season, and then win it back at West Ham 

The previous night we had been at Exeter, and a brilliant 15-point max for Sverre was still not enough to save 5-man West Ham from defeat 36-42. The reason for this was in some heats we only had one rider as Ken & Norman who were travelling down together had broke down on the way and did not arrive until 10-00 pm!  

By now Phil Bishop was acting as Team Manager. 

Our next home match was against the Stars of Kings Lynn.                          

Another Maximum for Sverre and 11 from Ken saw the stars go out to the tune of a 42-36 defeat.

Norman Hunter, who was very sick rode one race, came last and the Track Doctor then withdrew him from the meeting, as he was a danger to himself.

In heat 2 Sverre brought the track record down again to 72.4, edging ever nearer to Jack Young’s fastest ever time. 

Don Smith announced his retirement to concentrate on Trails riding, although he kept his bike and was known to pop up at the odd meetings, just in case he was needed!  

Our new No.7 was Dave Evens, known as Di, who was a friend of Ken McKinlay. 

The previous night, Monday the 17^th, we were up north at Newcastle against the Diamonds, where we lost heavily 24-54. We had lodge a compliant with the ACU Referee because of the condition of the track which we felt was unfit because of the previous night’s Stock Car racing. 

Match 5 on the 25^th April saw us in action against the Coventry Bees. Due to both Ken & Norman being given joint first place in one heat; they both recorded a score of 11.5 pts each, we won 48-30. 

A new part of the programme of events was a second half challenge, the Ilford Recorder 1-lap flying start record attempt.

Each week a West Ham rider would be chosen to attempt this record. This week Tony Clark’s time was 18.2 seconds, just outside the time set up by Norman in the first meeting of 18 seconds `dead`. 

Although the team was doing well, our second strings were giving concerns.

They we not to bad at Home, but were having problems at away tracks. 

Three new juniors were tried out tonight, Doug White (Australia), Peter Mackin and a certain George Barclay. 

Away at Edinburgh, we draw 39-39 and Sverre `Arthrob` Harrfeldt scored a 15 Point maximum. 

This brings us to the subject of Nicknames for the riders.

Now some nicknames made sense, some were a bit obscure, and some were downright strange. 

Because Sverre came from Norway and his Nordic good looks, he was given the nickname Heartthrob, which got shortened `Arthrob`, the missing cockney H’s again. 

Many years ago the Leicester Supporters had given Ken McKinlay the name of `Hurri-Ken` (Hurricane) because of the speed of his riding; he was also called `Super Mac` (Superman).  

Norman Hunter was `Norm the Storm`, in line with Kens name, so far things makes sense.

Norman was also known as `Sailor`, seems he liked the singer Petula Clark who sung the hit song `Sailor`. 

Bjorn Knuttson was the `Bear` the meaning of his name Bjorn in Swedish.

He was also called `Ben Nutty` owing to the difficulty of pronouncing his name. 

George Barclay was `Gentleman George` and Stan Stevens was simply `Stan the Man`. 

Now they start to get strange, Brian Leonard was known as the `Fugitive`, after the TV series of the same name, because he had a habit of getting lost and was always having to be searched for (remember no mobile phones and satellite navigation around then). 

Bart Walker was `Crazy horse`, after the Native American Chief, no PC in those days. 

Tony Clarke was the `Tooth`, because he had lost in front tooth in an accident early in his racing career. 

Reg Trott was the `Phantom Waver `never certain of that one, but logic did not always come into play with Speedway nicknames. 

Don Smith was `Hairstyle` because of his immaculate beetle’s style hair cut. 

The strangest was Malcolm Simmons, he was known as Simmo (makes sense) or the `Dockland Pearl`. Now this takes some explaining. Dockland was because West Ham was in the dock area, but Pearl?

It was because a pearl is normally discovered and has to be nurtured, and West Ham had found him as a junior and he was slowly becoming a 4^th heat leader for us. 

In to May, and we take on Glasgow. They may have arrived as Tigers, but they left as Pussy Cats as we treated them to the same result as their Scottish rivals, Edinburgh, we won 51-27!

Sverre hit another 12, Norman on 10 and some good team riding from Ken, helped Brian Leonard and Malcolm Simmons to join him on 8 points each. 

Another little fact about speedway, Bonus Points, if your heat leader (Red Helmet) can bring home your Second String (Blue Helmet) to produce a 5-1, he did not lose any points, although it does not affect the score, he gets paid the 3 points as well, this was designed to encourage both Team riding and to bring on your Juniors which will become your team leaders in the future (Well that was the theory!). 

Malcolm also set a new flying one-lap time of 17.4 seconds. 

The Hammers were now lying midway in the league. 

The next match was against Newcastle, who had two future World Champions in their team, New Zealand’s Ivan Mauger, and a young Danish rider called Ole Olsen.

Ivan was to become a multi World Champion, and Ole, as well as lifting the World Crown, went on to be Mr Danish Speedway, as both their nations’ team manger and to be responsible each year for the Danish Speedway Grand Prix, as well as preparing tracks for other Grand Prix through out the world. 

The West Ham pits on some nights was like the United Nations, with Norwegians, Danes, Kiwi’s and Aussies (for some reason, the Scandinavian riders seem to pick their English up better from the Australians, and broken English spoke by a Swedish rider with an Australian accent has to be heard to be believed), Scots, English, Welsh, Geordie and broad Cockney, with a bit of the Norfolk and west Midlands thrown in, made one very big international family! 

Another night of engine failures as both West Ham suffered 2 and Newcastle 3. 

Again Sverre got a 12, Ken got 10, Brian got 7, but if not for a failed engine while in the lead he would have been on a 10.

The Hammers won 49-28, note again a dropped point due to only 2 riders finishing one heat. 

Although failing to score, George Barclay had joined the team at No.7, with Barry Crowson replacing him as a junior in the second half’s.

The biggest problem of the night was the failer of the Public Address System, which had to be completely renewed before the next match. It was the same system that had been used since 1928. 

As well as being a famous Speedway venue, there was also Greyhound racing two nights a week at West Ham which was known as the `Goodwood` of Greyhound racing, because of the size of the track which when round the outside of the Speedway track. 

A Bridge/Ramp had to be built to access the new pits so the bikes could get across without damaging the grass of the track; it was also big enough to carry a tractor and the Stock cars. 

A break from team racing saw the World Championship Qualifying round, which was won by Rick France of Coventry, whose `day job` was a motorcycle test rider for BSA in Birmingham. 

Proving that motorcycle sports are dangerous, in heat 8 one of the riders crashed, his bike shot out of control across the centre green colliding with one of our track staff, who ended up being carted off to Hospital, ouch! 

Tuesday 23^rd of May and back to league racing, tonight’s opposition was Cradley heath, but the `Heathens` were no opposition, going down 52-26. 

The two H’s got maximums again, and Captain Ken got 11, with solid backing from the rest of the team. A total of 4 x 5-1 and 6 x 4-2 saw our only loss in heat 8. 

Match 10, the last home match in May saw another victory, this time over the Poole `Pirates` by 44-34. Our wondering Hammer, Stan Stevens had returned. 

We were sitting in 4^th place in the league. 

Before we leave May, it was off to Kings Lynn. The Stars were also having `Second String` problems and they had a novel way of sorting it out. Before the league match, four juniors would race off; the winner got the reserve spot in the team for that night. It had started raining before the match, and the track was becoming slippery. In heat two Tony Clark and John Mills (not the actor!) collided in the wet conditions. The ref decided to blame Tony and declares a re-run of the heat, with Tony disqualified and John injured, it was a two-rider race between Terry Betts and Norman Hunter, given a 3-2 to the Hammers. The proof of the conditions was the race time, which was 13 seconds slower that the track record. By heat six it was all over, the heavens opened and the meeting was abandoned. 

June saw us start our K/O cup campaign.

We had a bye in the first round, so this clash against Glasgow was the second round.

The match was a riot as we slaughtered these poor Tigers by 67-29.  The only riders not to get double points were Tony and Stan, and that was because they were in reserve and only had two rides each!

The score could have been worse as we suffered another three engine failures. 

We must have been a bogy team for the `Tigers` that year, because a few days later we went up to White City, Glasgow, and beat them 32-46 at home. 

It’s the Dons again, and this time the score is a bit closer, match 12 saw us beat them 43-35, with a maximum 12 for Ken.

Our biggest worry is Tony Clark who is only a shadow of his formal self and scoring very little points. Despite this the Hammers now lay 2^nd in the league, just one point behind the leaders, Newport. 

Another high score victory, this time 53-25 against Belle Vue, and another maximum for Sverre saw the Hammers fans talking about a second League Title.

Ken set a new track record with 72.2. Will we see Jacks Track Record go this year? 

Sverre equalled the 1 lap flying start track record. 

Open meetings are spread around the years racing programme as a back up if weather or other things cause a match to be cancelled so you do not get a back pile of matches at the end of the season (well again, that is the theory!). 

Because of the series of high score matches, it was decided to have a West Ham vs the `Rest of London` Match.  Despite `London` being made up of the best of the Dons and the Hawks, we still run out winners by 50-28, with Malcolm Simmons getting the magical 12-point maximum. 

The last match of June was a British League match at Hackney and we lost narrowly 37-41. 

They say Pride goes before a fall, and July saw us sitting top of the League. The fans felt pretty pleased with themselves as we faced the Hawks for our home British League match. 

Heat 1 and it all started to go wrong. A crash in the heat saw Brian Leonard on the deck, and Hackney’s Brian Davis disqualified for putting him there!

Colin Pratt, the Hawks captain, equal Ken’s track record in a 3-2 result. Heat 2 saw a 5-1 to the Hawks, and heat 4 ended up as 5 laps owing to an error with the race flags. The match was closely fought, and with one heat to go, we were one point ahead of the Hawks. In a brilliant piece of team riding by ex-hammer Bengt Jannson, he guarded Colin McKee to keep out Sverre and Malcolm to record a 5-1 for the Hawks, plus set a new record time of 72 seconds dead.  

A protest was lodge by West Ham owing to an incident in heat 13 when the tapes did not go up correctly and the West Ham riders assumed the race would be stopped. But the referee is always right (!) and the heat result stood. 

This 37-40 defeat at Home was going to cost us more than we realised at the time. 

Speedway travels, what with the change in the supporters club, plus we had been to most of the Saturday clubs a few times, we did not go far this year, although we were at the very soggy Kings Lynn match. 

We tended to go off to Hackney if an important match was due, or down to sunny Rye House for a Sunday afternoon trip out. 

West Ham was sitting in 2^nd place in the league, one point behind Newcastle, with matches in hand. 

Back to League action and on the 11^th July Wolverhampton Wolves came to `Castle Custom House` to joist with the Knights of West Ham. `Sir` Sverre with another maximum and the Wolves departed with their tails between their legs, 44-34 to the Hammers. 

A narrow lost at Newport still saw the Hammers back on top of the league. 

Tuesday 18^th July saw Great Britain take on Poland.

The Polish riders loved the big wide West Ham bends and their JAWA bikes just flew around the arena, which reminded them of their own large tracks back home.

GB was poleaxe to the tune 39-69.

But as I had managed to swoop a few West Ham badges for Polish badges, I was happy and by now the old Scarf was starting to get heavy with badges.

Up to Kings Lynn, another victory, home again, Poole, another victory, surely the league title must be ours again. 

The problem was although we were sitting with Newcastle in joint first place in the league; our main league opposition also kept winning, and also producing high scores. 

The Poole match saw a Silver Sash Match Race Challenge again, and this time it was Sweden’s Gunner Malmqvist who held the Sash and Malcolm Simmons was our challenger. (There was a disagreement afterwards as some of the fans felt that Sverre should have challenged for it, but the Rules are quite clear on who is and is not allowed to take up the Challenge).

Simmo took up the challenge and won; he was now the Silver Sash Match race champion (for a while!) 

27^th July at Wimbledon and a bit of Bovver!

The Referee stopped heat 9 and exclude Sverre for what he said was unfair riding whilst we were in a 4-2 position. He claim Sverre had knock Sweden’s Leif Soderburg off. After a long argument the race was re-run with Olle Nygren taking Leif’s place, because it was claimed he was unable to ride (although he came out and rode in his next heat). Olle up to that point had only dropped one Point, and Leif had only scored one. At this point West Ham was eight points clear in the lead.

This now put Tony Clark up against two of the best riders for track craft at Wimbledon, Olle and Trevor Hedge. The result was a 5-1 to Wimbledon, but we were still in the lead.

By heat 12 we were four points in front and the final was Nygren & Hedge for Wimbledon and Hunter & Clarke for West Ham. 

We know what it is like to pray at Wimbledon and this time it was the Dons prayers that got answered. Olle & Trevor got a 5-1 despite Norman trying every thing possible to split them, giving a draw 39-39.

Still 1 point away from home is better than none, we thought. 

In the second half, as Olle Nygren was Wimbledon’s top scorer with 13, he was the challenger for the Silver Sash against Malcolm, but Simmo took no chances, he shot out the gate, and gave Olle no chance to catch him, his first defence was successful. 

1^st August, K/O cup round, against Swindon. We won 51-45 despite 14 Points from Barry Briggs, which was wiped out by Ken & Sverre scoring 14 points each.

We are into the next round of the KO cup.

Poor old Simmo, his first home defence of the Silver Sash and he has to get possibly the best rider to ride the West Ham track, Briggo.

Still at least Malcolm had held it for a week and seen off one challenger.

Barry Briggs went home that night with the Silver Sash to add to his Golden Helmet. 

Tuesday the 8^th, it’s my birthday and another win.

The Tigers from Sheffield felt the full force of the West Ham big guns. The Hammers win 54 –24

Harrfeldt gets 12, Hunter gets 12 and Mckinlay gets 11. 

We are top of the league; we are into the K/O cup semi-final, start making room in the trophy cabinet, the Hammers are in full flight! 

The draw for the K/O cup semi-final is announced, it is Hackney and it is a home draw for us. 

What more could a kid ask for his Birthday? 

Tuesday 15 August, British Final, and the winner is…Rain!

The meeting is re-run on the next Tuesday, Barry Briggs (Swindon) wins it, and Nigel Boocock (Coventry) brings the track record down to 71.2. 

Match 22, London Cup, and the Dons arrive, and depart scoring only 36 against our 62.

We beat Hackney 57-39 in September; we win both away legs, Dons 47-Hammers 50 and Hawks 42-Hammers 54.

It’s a 100% record as we win the London Cup for the third time in three years and it is on for the Triple Crown again, we hope. 

12^th September and the `Dukes` of Halifax go on their way down by 46-32. 

The Television cameras are recording the event as a practice for bringing Speedway to our screens; I say `ours` although we did not own a TV at the time. 

We are still in second place in the league, but our opposition still keep building up the points as well. 

19^th September, we see the Oxford `Cheaters` prowling around, again another 50 plus points and a maximum for Sverre, with West Ham scoring 52 against Oxford 26. 

The first leg of the K/O cup final at Coventry, despite a brilliant 15 maximum from Ken who used to ride for Coventry, we went down 57-39. It all now depends on the 2^nd leg at Home. 

The second leg was on Tuesday the 26^th September and our hopes are high, but it all goes terribly wrong. Heat 2 and Norman’s bike dies on him while in the lead, and we are on the wrong end of a 5-1.

Heat 5, 4 points down and Sverre crash heavily, while challenging for the lead and the race is stopped; Sverre is taken to hospital taking no further part in the match. 

The scores stay almost level and with one heat to go we are in the lead, but losing out on the average over the two legs. The last heat, despite a valiant second place by Tony Clark, he could not overhaul the West Ham Track record holder Nigel Boocock and a 4-2 saw the Hammers win 49-47, but lose on average 88-104. 

Still we have the London Cup and we are second place in the league behind Swindon and Coventry, two old National League teams like us. 

Match 27, vs Newport and still no Sverre.

We beat Newport 60-18, and it showed the effort the Team was putting in to win the League.

We scored a total of 10 5-1heat victories with Norman and Malcolm scoring 15 points each. 

A new team member was No.7 Tyburn Gallows. 

Two more away matches saw us draw at Hackney in the Pride of the East End Trophy, despite being without both Sverre and Malcolm, both injured.

Trevor Hedge (an ex-Hackney Junior) and Eddie Reeves (whose Dad Reg used to ride for West Ham) replaced them. 

Our last away league match was back at Coventry, and we lost 47-31.

Norman got 12 points from a possible 15, but we were minus both Brian Leonard and Tony Clark, both out with ankle injuries. 

It would seem harsh words had passed between the two managements over the K/O cup, but as fans we were not aware of what these were.  Coventry is still one of my favourite teams from the 1960’s. 

The last match of the season was against Long Eaton, which we won 45-33. 

The last Flying Start One Lap Record attempt was by our team manager, Phil Bishop, he did a creditable 20 second dead, but the record was still held by Sverre and Ken with 17.6 seconds each.  

We had done all we could; now it was in the Lap of the Gods, to see if we could get our second title. 

It was not to be and we ended up 3^rd, 1 point behind Coventry who nearly ended up with a Triple Crown, winning both the K/O cup and the Midland Cup, and 2 points behind the League Champions for 1967, Swindon. 

The `if only` came in to play.

If only Sverre had not crashed in the second leg of the K/O final, we may have had another 50 plus point victory, if only we had not lost at home to Hackney in the British League, another two points bring us level with Swindon, if only the Referee had not seem fit to disqualify Sverre at Wimbledon, it could have been a win, and not a draw, that extra league point would have put us above Swindon. 

On the subject of Wimbledon, there was a formal ACU enquiry into the event after the actions of the West Ham management, which were deemed too forceful.

Dave Lanning received a heavy fine from the ACU afterwards. 

We had one `moore` Speedway victory, when Anne Moore, Miss West Ham Speedway won the Miss British League Speedway title at the British League Riders Championship at Belle Vue.

 

We did not realise it at the time, but this was to be West Ham last season of Glory.

 Forty years of Speedway racing. 

When the 1968 season opened, the team, with the exception of Malcolm Simmons, had returned to celebrate 40 years of Speedway in Great Britain. 

No, that is not a very small rider in the team, it is the West Ham Team Mascot, Trevor Rushbrook, son of the Supporters club Chairman.

Many groups have a Mascot and speedway is no exception. Back in 1936, West Ham mascot was Ian Hoskins son of Johnny, complete with his own bike. 

The first match on 2^nd April was our normal opener, the Supporters Trophy against the Dons. 

We won 48-29, the odd score being caused by both Reg Luckhurst and Alan Cowland falling in the same heat giving us a 5-0. 

Alan was another rider I liked, called the `White Ghost` because of his white leathers; he went on to be one of the main riders at Exeter. 

In the programme notes, Dave Lanning said that he felt the team sprit had never been stronger, but there were some strange rumours about Malcolm Simmons and why he seemed to disappear from Speedway for a while. 

Another unsung heroin of the team was Dave’s Wife, Leona. She did a lot of work behind the scenes, and no less a publication than the Speedway Start & News, had named her the `First Lady of Speedway` during the closed season. 

The match had something else I will never forget, snow on the centre green! It is the only time at a British Speedway match I had seen snow, in fact there was a rumour that a photo had been taken and would be used to produce Christmas cards for the Supporters Club, although I do not remember it actually happening. 

The only other time I had seen snow at Speedway was in Holland in 1976 when I ventured out in a very cold March for my only continental speedway match at the 2-day World Ice Speedway Championship Final at Assen in Holland. Now if you think normal speedway is dangerous, just try it on ice, both the front and back wheels of the bikes have spikes in them, plus the bikes are of a slightly different design, more like the old Dirt Track bikes with turned down handles and a low centre of gravity. The barriers are made of straw and the edge of the track has a blue line on it (well, you would not see a white one!). 

The West Ham match had not been the first match of the season. 

On the 28^th of February we all went of to High Beech in Essex, the legendary home of British Speedway for the 40^th Anniversary meeting.  The meeting had a parade of many old time riders and bikes, plus a few display riding events on these old bikes. My mum had something else to remember the match for, she tripped over a low fence in the forest and although seeming just knocked up a bit from her fall, she woke up the next day with a slip disc in her back and spent the next month flat on her back lying on one of the doors from the house, as a normal bed was too soft.

Again, what a price to pay for supporting Speedway!  

Back to the racing (Sorry Mum, could not miss the pun!), the team seemed to have settled down after the winter as we took on the Belle Vue Aces.

Another victory and another odd score, we got a 5-0, after Belle Vue’s Norman Nevitt was excluded for knocking off his own teammate, Tom Owen. Ken got a maximum, but slightly worrying was the fact the Aces scored two 5-1`s against us in heat 7&8. 

Our first away match was the 2^nd half of the Supporters Trophy, although we lost 33-44 to the Dons we won on Average 81-73, so the first trophy of the season. 

Our next match was a K/O cup match against Hackney and I missed it, I was too ill to go, ILL, I must have been DYING to miss a match, especially against Hackney!

Despite me being missing, the lads still just managed to knock the Hawks out of the K/O cup by 55-52. 

As I had said before, Speedway engines are highly tuned, and can fail at the most inopportune moments. A Speedway bike is quite a simple mechanical object, which means that you were able to change an engine in mid-match, but you had to go some to beat the West Ham record.

Sverre Harrfeldt and his Mechanic, Brain Lokes, could change an engine in Four Minutes flat, now that takes some doing. 

Although local rivals, both West Ham and Hackney fans would regularly go to watch each other’s team, although they would rarely admit to it, “O` we only went to watch them lose” was the normally reply if asked. 

The rivalry was mainly friendly and as I have mention before both Dave Lanning and Len Silver had been given nicknames by the opposition. As Dave’s `proper job` was reporting Show Business news, he attended many events, and at one he meet Hilda Baker. As the Hawks fans had given him the name `Cynthia`, he posed with Hilda and presented the framed photo to the Hackney Supporters clubs for their raffle. 

Our old enemy, rain won our next match against Oxford. 

Edinburgh had moved stadiums, so our next match was against the now `Coatbridge` Monarchs.

Their manager was Tommy Hughes, but still promoted by Johnny Hoskins. We won 43-35, but I was still not 100% so we did not stay for the second half, therefore I missed an historic moment. 

As a special treat for the second half, the Youth Motorcycle Sport Association, based in Kent, which was a schoolboy-racing club, did a display. Mostly grass track, it had two groups, one under 12 and one for the under 15 years of age, so West Ham let them try their luck at Speedway on their smaller bikes.  The following weeks programme was praising two of these youngsters, Dave Jessup and Barry Thomas. They were both to end up riding for England, as well as West Ham, Dave at Eastbourne, Wembley & Reading and Barry was to captain Hackney for nine years. They also both became London Rider Champions, Barry twice,1973 & 74 and Dave in 1975. 

The Father of Speedway, Johnny Hoskins held the fans in high regard, and it was mutual, everybody felt they `knew` John. He had been a Manager at West Ham, and I had met the great man on a few occasions.

When the idea of a Second Division in the sport was discussed for the 1968 season, Johns name was linked with a brand new club at Canterbury in Kent. 

This was one of three local clubs to join this new venture, the others were Crayford in Kent, and Rayleigh in Essex, although there had been racing on and off at Rayleigh over the years. 

At the Coatbridge match, John was spotted walking around the Pits area by some Hammers fans, and a good old cockney voice rung out, Oi, Oskins, what this about you `Aving a new team?

John stopped to explain in his usual way, remember he had been a showman for many years and was used to addressing a crowd that he had plans for this team and they were all fantastic!

It was suggested to him that as West Ham now had a good selection of junior riders it might be a good idea to build his team up from them and some of the Hackney juniors.  This had a two tier effect, firstly it meant well trained youngsters who were used to racing with each other, and secondly, would mean that fans of both West Ham and Hackney would go and watch the racing at Canterbury, especially as most home matches would be on a Saturday. 

As it turned out most of the Hackney juniors went to Rayleigh, so any matches between these two teams were nearly a 2^nd Division clash of Hammers vs Hawks. 

As a showman in Australia, he had invented a new attraction for the county shows in 1923, motor bike racing.  The first ever-recorded meeting was at West Maitland at the ‘1923 Electric Light Carnival’.

A rough oval track would be marked out on the grass and the locals would be invited to race their bikes around the track, this racing would quickly destroy the grass creating a `Dirt Track`, giving a name to this new `Sport`, DIRT TRACK RACING.  To make their bikes quicker, the locals would remove everything possible such as lights etc to make the bikes lighter and therefore faster.

A prize would be given for the winner of these races. Some of the lads soon realised that they were pretty good at it and could make money from it, so begun to follow these shows around the country.

They would have bikes made purposely for the racing to save them from having to keep stripping them down, plus would tune the engines up to gain extra speed, this in turn meant better racing which encourage more to watch, the professional Speedway Rider was born. 

It was an Englishman who brought the sport officially to this Country.

The Ilford Motor cycle club chairman, Jack Hill-Bailey, had seen the racing out in Australia and felt it could work in England. 

He had tried various places to lay a track; these included the new stadium being built at Custom House in East London and Parsloes Park in Dagenham using the trotting track there. In the end, a track was placed behind the Kings Head Pub in Epping Forest at High Beech in Essex. 

February 1928 saw ‘Dirt Track Racing’ for the first time in England. 

Other parts of the country claim to have held the first racing with Manchester having a very good claim for a meeting in 1927; but the problem is none of these previous events were recognised by the Auto-Cycle Union of Great Britain (The ACU) as formal Dirt Track racing. 

There were Australian Riders at the first meeting, and slowly as the news of the sports success filtered back to Australia more arrived 

John H in fact did not arrive in the country until 1930; 2 years after the sport had first been launched, but what an arrival, and nearly 40 years later he was still making plans and running teams, what a man!

The Canterbury team looked like a `mini` West Ham through 1968, with the following all appearing at one time or another for the Crusaders.

Barry Crowson

Tyburn Gallows

John Hibben (who’s `day job`, was a motorcycle patrol office for the Metropolitan Police. He was born in Plaistow).

Graham Miles

Martyn Piddock.

Neville Slee

Frankie Wenden 

Even the race jacket had a West Ham ring to it, instead of crossed Hammers on red and Blue, it was crossed Swords on Blue. They opened on the 18^th of May, they were managed by Johns other son Lionel. In their first year managed to win the 2^nd Division K/O Cup. 

Back to the Hammers again, and away at Kings Lynn we won 38-40. 

At home our next challenge was Coventry, and we wanted revenge for the `Bees` knocking us out of the K/O Cup final. We won 46-32 and another 2 British League points. 

Match No.6 on the 7^th May and we just scrapped home 39-38 against Cradley Heath, caused a by a 2-3 result when Tony Clarks engine failed and Chris Julian fell off, Brain Leonard came home second behind Ken Wakefield.  Three 1-5 gave us a bit of a fright.  West Ham show business contacts showed when our special guest for the match was the Australian Singer, Frank Ifield. 

The next match, our guest was Mr Piano, Joe Henderson (no, he was not riding for us!), but the Poole `Pirates` were out of tune and lost 45-33. 

George Barclay who was now a full team member scored his first race victory in this match, but he had two others `biting at his heels` for a team place, Barry Crowson and Tyburn Gallows who were both gaining experience with Canterbury. 

We tried out four new `juniors` in the 2^nd half of the match, Chris Yeatman, Bob Newman, Mike Holmes and Freddy Sweet. 

Match 8 was on Saturday the 18^th May, the reason for that was the Long Eaton `Archers` had become the Leicester `Lions`, and they rode on a Tuesday night. Both Ken Mckinlay and Norman Hunter rode for Leicester when they used to be the `Hunters` in the early 1960’s. We disposed of the Lions 50-28 with a 12-point maximum for Sverre and 11 for Norman. 

Our next match was an even higher score, 53 –25 against Wolverhampton, another midland team like Leicester. Both Sverre and Norman got maximums and Ken got 11.  

It was a very wet evening with some heats nearly 8 seconds outside the track record, the old programme I have is in a poor condition due to getting wet. 

A break in league racing saw the World Championship Qualifying Round. 

Norman Hunter won it with a 15pt maximum, 2^nd with 13 was West Ham track record holder Nigel Boocock and 3rd with 11 was the young New Zealand ace, Ivan Mauger who was to go on to win the World Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden that year. 

Our next meeting and Ivan, yet to be a six times World Champion, was back along with the yet to be three times World Champion, Denmark’s Ole Olsen and the Newcastle Diamonds. Ivan’s 15pt maximum was still not enough to answer the Hammers 44-34.

 

In a bad crash, Goog Allen hit the pits gate on the third bend and brought down a large section of the safety fence trapping George Barclay by the neck. George had laid down his bike to avoid Goog. George was lucky, if it had not been for the actions of Norman Hunter and Tony Clarke who by an act of pure strength had managed to lift the safety fence up, he could have been very seriously injured.

 

We are now lying second in the league behind, dare I say it, Hackney!

 

Catching up with our away matches, we went back to Glasgow White City beating them again 41-31, with Norman getting 12 and Ken and Sverre 11 each, but sadly we went down 44-64 at Belle Vue, which ended our K/O cup campaign despite 13 for Sverre and 12 from Norman.

 

Back home and for a change we beat Hackney at home. Sverre got a 12-point maximum, but the Hawks gave us a bit of a fright with 1-5 against Ken & Norman in heat 12, by Bengt “Banger` Jansson and Hackney captain Colin Pratt.  We only just won 41-37.

 

The match highlights were on ITV World of Sport at the weekend with Dave Lanning acting as commentator, and was seemingly a major success.

 

Our next meeting against Wimbledon saw a Maximum for Ken and 11 each for Norman and Sverre. Norman was now riding as our number one; Sverre was 2nd heat leader and Ken although still captain was riding as our no.3. The Dons were plagued with Engine failures and falls, plus their new No.7, the young Australian Garry Middleton managed to get him self excluded in heat 8 for some very dodgy riding, but despite all of this they only went down by eight points, 43-35. Garry was making a name for himself and it was not the right type, he was nicknamed ‘Cassius’ after the World Boxing Champion Cassius Clay, because of the scraps he would get into. Later he was to become a star at Hackney, the funny thing about him, he was a nice guy off the track.

 

Our two young `Stars` Dave Jessup and Barry Thomas were getting better and now 16 officially old enough to ride in a speedway match.

 

We are still second behind Hackney, with the poor old Dons who were having a bad season, lying last but one at the bottom of the League.

 

The following Saturday was a World League Match, Great Britain vs Russia, and again Norman was top scorer with a 12-point maximum. He also brought the track record down to 70.8. The score was 52-26 to GB and they went on to win the World League. World League lasted just one season and was not a success. In the second half, Martin Ashby won the World League (West Ham) plaque.

 

Back to British League racing, we beat Kings Lynn 48-30; Sverre scored 12, Norman11& Ken 10.

 

Because of George Barclay’s injury, Barry Crowson had taken his place in the team.

This meant he was riding for both West Ham in Division I and Canterbury in Division II, but we had first call on him, much to Johnny Hoskins displeasure!

 

Despite our winning ways, we still cannot knock those Hawks of their top perch.

 

Away to Oxford we lose 32-46. Another new member joins the team. Martyn Piddock who was a junior is promoted to a team place because of injuries to George Barclay & Tyburn Gallows.

 

Tyburn had nearly killed himself riding for Canterbury at Middlesborough, when after he catapulted off his bike during a race; he flew over the greyhound track and landed in the crowds!

 

Match 17 on the 9^th July in heat one, Norman Hunter collided with Halifax rider Denis Garvos and ended up being carted of to Hospital.

Despite this we beat Halifax 43-35, and in heat two, Severe equals Norman’s track record, now just 0.2 seconds outside Jack Young’s Record Time.

Ken scored 11, Sverre 10, and Tony and nine plus a fall.

 

Match 18 was affected by rain, but this time it was although it was abandoned after heat 7 the result stood, West Ham 24 – Sheffield 18.

 

We are now in joint first place in the league, what do we have to do to shift those Hawks?

 

Next match, Newport and with a Maximum for Ken & Sverre, plus a 10 from Norman we beat the `Wasps` 50-28. Now we ARE top of the league.

 

Can it last? No, away to Coventry and we lose 42-36, and go back in second place, behind the Hawks again!

 

30^th July, and it is the 40^th Anniversary meeting, the first meeting having been on the 28^th July 1928 (See Appendix 2).

 

Dirt Track Speedways Ltd ran the meeting with the match being officially open by the Mayor of West Ham Alderman Jack Jones MP. The first meeting was for the West Ham Invitation Handicap, which was won by Australian Paddy Dean, with America’s Sprouts Elder coming second, so the international flavour was at West Ham from day one. The West Ham track was described as bumpy.

 

For us, there was no better team to have for the 40^th Anniversary than Wimbledon; sadly they spelt the fun by drawing with us 39-39, although proving the close and exciting racing there had been at West Ham over the years.

A maximum for Ken, but the improving Tony Clarke had two engine failures.

 

The second half was split between a Junior and Senior Anniversary Trophy. Don Smith Motorcycles sponsored the junior event. Although Don no longer rode for West Ham, he did a lot behind the scenes and allowed the team to use his workshop; he was also a regular in the West Ham Pits.  The junior trophy not only had Hammers, it had riders from Canterbury `Crusaders`, Crayford `Highwaymen` and Rayleigh `Rockets`. The winner was Tony Clarke, with Sverre Harrfeldt winning the senior event.

 

August was a very busy month both Home and Away.

 

3^rd August away to Belle Vue, lose 34-44.

 

5^th August away to Newcastle, lose 29-49, Norman blows two motors, one in heat 1 and one in heat 7, and takes no further part in the meeting.

 

6^th August, the Nordic-British Final, (also known as the European Semi-final) of the World Championship, the winner was to be 1968 World Champion, Ivan Mauger, with a 15-pt maximum.

This meeting shows how the speedway world was expanding; it used to be British Final, then straight into the World Final, now there is this and the European Final to go through.

Nigel Boocock was second, and Norway’s Reidar Eide was third, both with 13 points.

A very off form Barry Briggs only just qualified as 1^st reserve, with Norman as 2nd reserve.

 

8^th August, we are away to Sheffield, losing 37-41, although Ken scores a maximum.

 

9^th August away to Leicester lose 37-41.

 

12^th August and some of the Hammers are in action in Holland, for the Dutch ‘Best Pairs’ Golden Helmet.

Sverre is riding for Norway, paired with Odd Fossengen, Norman for England paired with Roy Trigg, and Stan Stevens is a non-riding reserve.

Out of the eight teams, Norway were forth and England seventh.

 

At Home on the 13th against Hackney, we win 59-49 in the London Cup.

16 for Sverre, 16 Norman, 11 for Stan, the trip to Holland must have done them good!

 

14^th August Poole, we lose 37-41, again very close score but no league points and we start to slip down the league slightly.

 

15^th August at Wimbledon, we only just lose 52-56 in a London Cup match after leading nearly the entire match.

 

19^th August at Exeter, were we got beat 29-49; I think the lads need a rest.

 

20^th August at home, Wimbledon, our second London Cup Match.

 

We beat them 60-48, 16 for Ken, 14 for Norman and 12 for Sverre plus an engine failure.

 

23^rd August away at Hackney where we lose 31-47, but as it was only a challenge match, it did not affect our league results.

 

We are now lying 2^nd in the League, but then suddenly it all goes terribly wrong!

 

25^th August, Sverre is in the European Final in Wroclaw, Poland. In heat 12 Sverre crashes and is seriously injured, there was even a report he had been killed.

 

He had been advised by the Norwegian Government not to ride as a part of a political protest against Russia because there were Russian riders in the final. Sport and Politics should never be allowed to meet, and Sverre rode in the match.

 

Tuesday 27^th a match against Glasgow, the full facts of Sverre was announced. He was still alive, but in a very serious condition in the spinal unit of the University Hospital, Wroclaw, Poland.

 

But there was worse to come for the Hammers.

 

In a freak accident in heat five, Ken and Stan collided and are both taken to hospital, the report was that Ken was also seriously injured with a fractured skull.

Add to all of this a very off form Norman, saw us lose 36-42.

For the Tigers, Jimmy McMillan scored a maximum 12.

For the Hammers, Tony got 9, Brian got 8 plus a fall and George got 8 from 5 rides.

 

Our last August match was on the 30^th were we got a draw against Newport, 39-39 at Newport, with a much-depleted team.

 

Once a Hammer, always a Hammer, with all of this, one of the first people to offer help was Len Silver, who offered one of his juniors to act as reserve to shore up the team. He also offered us no less that his own Captain, Colin Pratt, to act as a guest rider for the team when available.

(Remember we were challenging his team for the League Title)

 

Our next match was against Sheffield, we had our old friend Terry Betts as Guest, both he and Norman scored 12 points, backed by an 8 from Tony saw a 48-29 victory, but despite this we slip to 3^rd place in the league.

 

Match 26 against Swindon, we lose 37-40, Norman gets a 15-point maximum, and true to his word, Len loans us Colin Pratt who scored 11. Our No’s 5-6 & 7 are now George Barclay, Barry Crowson & Martyn Piddock, they try hard, but with engine failures and falls, between them they only score 1 point.

 

Our League hopes had gone, but you could expect no less, losing 2 out of your 3 heat leaders to injuries in less that a week.

 

Sat 21^st September, off to Wembley for the World Cup final. Great Britain is the favourite nation to win it, which they do, adding the World Cup to the World League title for 1968.  Norman is 1^st reserve, but although only getting one ride, he wins his heat. Great Britain for Speedway purpose included Australia and New Zealand, so technically should ride as British Commonwealth.

 

Ivan back’s up his solo World title with a 12 pt maximum, and the final score was GB 40, Sweden 30, Poland 19 and Czechoslovakia 7.

 

The final home league match on the 24^th September saw Captain Ken’s return, riding against Doctors advice; he scored 11 points as we beat Oxford 41-37.

Norman scores another maximum 12.

 

Our final Home match was a Challenge, Hammers vs Former Hammers, and what a line up.

 

The Hammers were, in riding order, Norman, Stan, Brian, George, Ken, Tony and Barry, with Phil Bishop as team manager.

 

The Former Hammers (year of riding) were, Bengt Jannson (64), Reg Trott (65), Reg Luckhurst (64), Peter Murray (a junior who was now with Canterbury), Jack Biggs (50’s) & Bob Dugard (64). Alf Hagon from the 1964 team should have rode but had to pullout at the last moment, so Martyn Piddock became a former Hammer for the night. Their team manager was Don Smith (66).

 

The score was 55-23 to the Hammers, but the Former Hammers were plagued with falls and engine failures all night.

 

Some good news, Sverre was improving and had been transferred back to Norway and was in a hospital in his hometown of Oslo.

 

Our last British League match was at Cradley Heath, were again we only just lost, 38-40.

 

The final match was away at the Hackney, another draw in the East End Trophy, 39-39.

 

This was not the last match of the year.

 

The Speedway season started in February with a meeting to celebrate the 40^th Anniversary of the sport, and the last match of the season on the 26^th October was also a celebration of 40 years.

 

So for one night only, Hackney reverted to their old name of Hackney Wick, where the `Wolves` raced against the Lea Bridge `Saints`, whose skipper was Ken McKinlay. Racing the original 9 heat formula, the Saints won 39-14.

The second half saw some old timers in action in a solo event, called the ‘Veterans Invitation Challenge Cup’. The programme notes summed it up, “Heats will be run as two laps to preserve both Men & Machine, but the final will be four laps and prayers will be said in the pits before hand!

Bill Watson of the New Cross `Rangers` won the final. 

 

Despite all our problems, it was an `O so near` season, and apart from being knocked out in the K/O cup at an early stage, we nearly won the league, and we nearly retained the London Cup for a fourth year in a row.

 

Must mention Hackney, because for them it was also `so near`. They ended up in joint First position in the league with Coventry, but lost out on point’s differences.

 

We lost through back luck, not bad riding.

We were plague with engine problems and injuries most of the season, and to lose two of your heat leaders at the most important time of the season, no club could survive.

 

All we needed was a bit of luck, just that extra heat win would have seen as winning about 10 of our away matches, perhaps 1969 would be the year.

 

What we did not realise as winter closed in was this was our last year of glory, and our luck would turn even worse for the next three season.

 

All Change as the Glory fades.

 

Season 1969, it was all change, the bad news, No Harrfeldt and No Hunter!

 

The double H partnership had gone, and the team will sure miss them.

 

Sverre although starting to recover from his serious injuries looked as though he never would race again.

 

In Norman’s case, he wanted to go. There were all sorts of rumours and to this day it does not make sense why he wanted to leave, as he was becoming the `Star` attraction in the West Ham team.

 

In Dave Lanning’s programme notes for the first match he said,” There were irretrievable differences between Norm and the West Ham Management”.

We were never told the truth, but the most believed rumour was as Sverre had gone and Ken was starting to fade, Norman wanted the Captain position, the No.1 team spot and a lot more money, but the Directors would not agree.

 

Norman was told he must ride for West Ham, so Norman threatened to retire from the Sport, but because England could not afford to lose one of their top riders, the Speedway Rider Control Committee changed their minds and reallocated him to Wolverhampton.

 

In the place of the double H’s, Wimbledon’s `Var Olle`, Olle Nygren was sent to West Ham.

 

Our first match had been away to Wimbledon for a Metropolitan Gold Cup match; Ken McKinlay was stuck on route returning from Australia, so not one of last years heat leaders were in the team. We managed to draw 39-39, but the omens were not good for the season.

 

It was all change for me as well; I started the season as a School Boy and ended it as a Working Man!

 

I had stopped on at School for the extra year to get some School Certificates (in those days, CSE, Certificates of Secondary Education), as I wanted an Electrical Apprenticeship with the London Electricity Board, so Speedway went on to the `back-burner`.

 

Thankfully I got both the Certificates and the Apprenticeship. I am now an Electrical Inspector with one of the largest ALMO’s in the country.

 

The problem was we also had another local team to watch now, ROMFORD.                                     

The 1968 Second Division had been a success, and in 1969 it rose from ten teams to sixteen. One of the new Teams was Rochester in Kent. Although they rode their first two away matches as the Rochester `Bombers`, a last minute problem meant they had no Home Track. To `cut a long story short`, they transferred Lock, Stock, and Track spare to Romford.

 

Because of the large amount of studying, I only went to West Ham and the odd match at both Hackney and Romford, so no Speedway travels this year.

 

The first match of the season was on Easter Monday, 7^th April against our fellow Tuesday night team, the Leicester Lions.  It had to happen, heat one, England International and Leicester captain Ray Wilson blasted around the track in the fastest ever time of 70.2 seconds. Jack Young’s 15-year-old track record had finally been beaten.  Ray went down in history as his time was never equalled or beat, as the fastest man around the 415yd West Ham track. 

 

West Ham won 41-37, with Olle Nygren getting 11 and Tony Clarke fast becoming our 3rd heat leader with 11.

The `Flying Ray` got 9, his Australian team mate John Boulger score 12.

 

The rest of the team were Ken McKinlay (Captain)

Brian Leonard

Stan Stevens

George Barclay

Barry Crowson

 

Friday night and we are off to Hackney for a Metropolitan Gold Cup Match. The MGC replaced the early season trophies, which we usually raced separately against both clubs.  We lost 32-46, with our only double figures from Tony with 11.

 

Back home for match two and our MGC match against Hackney. We won 46-32, a reverse of the score at Hackney. Ken got 10, plus Olle and Tony got 12 from five rides. Colin Pratt scored 14.

 

Martyn Piddock, Dave Jessup, Mike Holmes, Freddy Sweet and a young Australian Les Leisk in the second half races joined our juniors Barry and George.

 

Tony Clarke was given a new nick-name, he was no longer the `tooth`, he was now `Whirlwind`

 

We had a new member the management team, Dave was still Manager of West Ham Speedway Ltd, Phil was still Team manager, but Australia’s Peter White as the Administration Officer joined us.

Peter also acted as Team manager for the Australian team in this country.

 

Match 3 was our MGC match against Wimbledon, where we beat the Dons 44-34. Ken scored 11; Tony & Olle scored 10 each.

 

Wimbledon’s New Zealand legend, twice World Champion Ronnie Moore had returned from self exile in New Zealand and went straight back to Wimbledon as their captain, disposing Olle Nygren.

 

Olle had been transferred to West Ham to bolster up our depleted ranks.

 

Dave Lanning was now manager of one of the other new second division teams, Eastbourne (hence the need for Peter White). One of his star riders was Dave Jessup; he was also trying to poach some of the Hammers juniors from Canterbury.  The biggest row was who held the Contracts for Martyn Piddock and Graham Miles, Johnny said he held them, Dave said he did and wanted them for Eastbourne.

 

I seem to remember Johnny won, he was not known as the `Old Warhorse` for nothing!

 

Because I was not able to give 100% to following the Hammers, I have to rely on Programme notes, plus notes made by my late father in some of the programmes to remind me of some long forgotten items, so thanks Dad.

 

The Hammers went off to Cradley Heath on the 20^th April, were they only just lost 38-40. Both Ken and Olle got 12 points.

Tony Clarke was now riding as out No.3 heat leader.

 

Our juniors (Second Strings) were Martyn, Barry & George (for personal reasons we were short of Stan at Cradley, but too short notice meant we were unable to get another rider), but despite the best efforts of the lads, they only scored 3 between them. This was to be our trouble all season, weak support for our Heat Leaders.

 

Match four and good news, firstly we had won the first ever Metropolitan Gold Cup, so there was at least one Trophy in the Cabinet this year, and second, it was announced that Sverre would return in May.

(The truth is Sverre would not return this season).

 

Halifax visited us that night and we got a 39-39 draw. We had lead for most of the match, but a 1-5 and 2 x 2-4 in the last 3 heats nearly saw us lose.  Another problem for this season, we would start off well, but drained off onwards the end of the match. We lost Brian Leonard with a broken Collarbone, plus again poor showing from the second strings, made us a three-man team with no back-up, and even Ken seemed to be dropping off form, scoring only 8 points. Tony scored 13, and Olle 10 plus a fall.

 

Our next home match saw the return of Malcolm Simmons, now riding for the Kings Lynn `Stars` as their No.1.

 

Another home draw, but as this was the K/O cup we needed a win. Ken got 13, but nobody else reached double figures.

 

Things are looking bad, Stan may have to retire for Personal reason, and George is so disappointed in his form he is also considering retiring.

 

13^th May, we beat Newport `Wasps` 43-35, but Tony has a bad crash when in heat 7 his handlebars snapped in mid-race.

 

The management is now admitting that there is very little chance of Sverre coming back and they are looking for a new Heat leader and a new Second String. West Ham had their eyes on either a Swedish, Czechoslovakian or German rider as `Heat leader`, but no names were given, only rumours.

 

The problem was we had some very good young riders, but they need time to developed, we had relied on the old guard of the `65` team for too long.

Although they were doing well at both Canterbury and Eastbourne in the Second Division, Division One was a different world and our weakness was showing.

 

The problem was not helped when Ken had a crash while riding at Halifax at the weekend and we had to use a `Guest Rider`, although ex-Hammer Reg Luckhurst was a good replacement.

 

16^th May at Hackney and we have a new second string, Brian Davis. We draw at Hackney gaining a vital British League point, Olle got 15, Ken was back with 11 and Tony with 9, Brain D backed them up with another 9.

 

20^th May, my Dads birthday, and it is a World Championship round, so the team gets a rest.

Norman Hunter returns and to prove the point of how much he is missed, he got a 15-point maximum.

Ken gets 12 and a sudden return of form saw Stan also getting 12, Tony got 11.

 

George Barclay announces his retirement from Speedway; he later re-appeared for Kings Lynn’s second division team where he promptly broke his leg!

 

The fans are not happy and let Dave Lanning know, but his reply in the programme notes the following week was “It is still good racing”, problem is we are used to both Good racing and Good results.

 

Next match vs Newcastle, and some solid scoring from the team saw a 43-35 victory.

Tony 10, Ken 9, Brian D 9, Olle 8 & Stan 7, perhaps things are getting better.

 

Up to Kings Lynn for the KO cup replay and it is another draw, which means we need a 3^rd leg decider back at Custom House. Olle gets a 15-point maximum, Ken gets 12, Tony with 7, but again the reaming four only get 5 between them.

 

Into June and the `Hawks` fly in, and out again as Hackney lose 41-37. The racing at West Ham is close, and up to heat 9 we were losing. Tony got a 15-point maximum; Olle got 12 plus an engine failure while in the lead. Ken got 8, but the remaining team seems to be completely out of it, only getting 6 between them.

 

Meanwhile down in Division Two, Romford was doing pretty well, so on the 5th we went of to watch them take on Canterbury. Martyn Piddock scored 6 for Canterbury, who lost to the Bombers 35-43.

Riding for Romford was three ex West Ham juniors, Brian Foote, Frank Wendon and Chris Yeatman.

 

Meeting No.10, and there is a new trophy to be raced for. Based on the World Championship formula, it is a solo event called the Southern Riders Championship. This is a qualifying round which Ronnie Moore wins with a maximum. Malcolm Simmons ties for second place with Ken on 13 points.

Tony Clarke got 9, but his engine failed in the last race.

 

Sverre’s name was in the programme as there was a rumour he was to return, but it was still a no-show.

 

Because there were needs for a 3rd tie in the K/O cup, our next meeting was a double-header, and we lost both! The first was a league match against Oxford, which we lost 38-40, the second match was the K/O cup and we lost that 36-42.

 

Our problems pile up, we are well down in the League, we have just been knocked out of the K/O cup at home, and now Olle Nygren is out with a knee injury which had become poisoned. Brian Leonard has returned, but is only a shadow of his former self. Brian Davis after a good start has gone completely off form, and is not showing the expected scores as our No.4. Barry Crowson is struggling, even in reserve. The team is now more of a two-man affair, Ken and Tony.

 

14^th June, away to Coatbridge, we lose 33-45; Brian Davis was supposed to have broken down on the way, which was the reason he did not ride. We found out late he had been released from the team, but no reason was given to the fans.

 

19^th June at Romford, for a four-team tournament match based on the World Cup formula, Canterbury won with 29; Romford was 2^nd with 24, Rayleigh with 23 and Crayford with 19.

 

Our next match we lose 37-42 to the Poole Pirates. Dave Lanning goes on the defensive in the programme following more complaints by the fans. He said, “Do we want to see the team win or do we want to see Scintillating Speedway?”

Dave, I am afraid the fans want good WINS, not good WORDS.

 

28^th June, we are at Coventry and there are two new names in the Team, Bent Norgaeerd of Denmark and John Langfiled of Australia. Despite these new faces, we still lose 30-48.

 

1^st July, at home to Wolverhampton, Dave Lanning’s notes are very bright and tell of theses two wonderful riders who have joined the team. He also said, “We are not going to see this club struggle; we will never allow its prestige to sink to a level of mediocrity” Problem is, John scores 1, Bent scores 3, Tony Clarke is the only rider into double figures as he scores 10 from 5 riders, Ken only get 6, Stan & Barry get 5 each, as we LOSE 29-49. We are in serious trouble, and to rub it in, Storming Norman Hunter scores a maximum for Wolverhampton.

 

So what are we not going to do then Dave if you are not going to let the team struggle?

 

3^rd July, went off to Romford again, to see George Barclay riding for the Kings Lynn Starlets, but he had manage to break his leg the previous week which put him out for the rest of the season.

He would in later years come back to the sport and ride for Sunderland along with his son, Terry.

The `Bombers` won 43-35.

 

Even our usually successful trip to Glasgow sees us go down 26-52.

 

We were only losing our matches by a few points, now we are getting well beat and are in the bottom half of the league, and we see no hope.

 

Match 14 and we are forced to lose Brian Leonard because of these two new riders. Brian’s form seemed to be down, and the magical pairing of Harrfeldt and Leonard was just a distant memory, but I think on the whole the crowds would have preferred to keep him, rather than the unknown Norgaard.

 

Even Dave Lanning seems to be losing faith, in his programme notes in bold letters he said, “IT CANNOT GET ANY WORSE”. He admits that at the Wolverhampton match we only had two bikes in operational condition and the team had to share them.

He is still trying to another heat leader from Sweden, but no name so far.

 

We get a good win against Exeter 47-31, Tony gets 13, and Colin Pratt guest for an injured again Ken McKinley gets 12, Stan 8, Bent 6, Barry 5 and John 4.

 

Normally by now the League tables are displayed in the programme, but because of the poor showing of the team they are strangely missing!

 

The Team should be renamed the `Hospital Squad`,

Sverre is out, with no sign of a return.

Olle is out, also with no sign of returning.

Plus four of our juniors,

Ken Coleman broken Collarbone

Graham Miles broken Wrist

Garry Hay, broken Leg and Knee (Gary never rode any more this season, but went back home to Australia to recuperate).

Finally we have Dave Jessup with neck injury.

 

Bent is now nicknamed `Benny the Kid`.

 

15^th July vs Swindon, we only just win 40-38; the best scorer for the Hammers is the returned Ken Mckinlay with 10, for the Robins, Barry Briggs with 14.

 

22^nd July and I am a school kid no more, I have left School and have a nice long break before entering the Working World in September as an Apprentice Electrician. This Speedway mad 10 year old is now a 16 year old about to become a working man, and to be honest, Speedway is no longer the magical world it was, but instead just something you did on a Tuesday evening.

 

Tonight’s match was against Glasgow and we get a draw. Ken got 13, Tony and Barry 9 each, but very little else from the rest of the team.

 

Our next match was rained off, so as there had been no away matches since last Tuesday, the team got a break.

 

1^st August and we are off to Hackney for a London Cup Match. We narrowly lose 37-40, the odd score caused by both Tony and Barry falling off in the same heat! Ken got a Maximum. Riding, as our No.7 was Dave Jessup.

 

The big meeting of the season was the British Final. Briggo won with a normally brilliant 15 Points.

Ken was joint 4^th with Ivan Mauger (who was to win the World Final again this year) with 11 points.

The famous singer Anita Harris was the Guest of Honour.

 

Start of the London Cup season and we beat Hackney 48-30. A maximum for Tony, Ken gets 11, John Langfield (who is now showing an improved form) 10, and 7 each for Barry and Martyn. Bent got two engine failures in two heats and withdrew from the meeting.

 

Another Aussie Junior arrives, Cec Platt, who came via two seasons in America.

 

Next match is again rained off, and the matches are starting to back-up.

 

Martyn is nicknamed the `flying Tangerine` because of his orange neck scarf he wears.

 

My last visit to Romford for the season was for Romford vs Young Czechoslovakian team, but the Bomber lost 35-43.

 

The problems with our injuries to the team is certainly starting to tell, since April we have had a total of 17 riders representing the Hammers, and that does not include the use of guests on eleven occasions, in order of their point scoring they were,

Olle Nygren,

Tony Clark,

Ken McKinlay,

Stan Stevens,

John Langfield,

Ken Coleman,

Dave Jessup,

Barry Crowson,

Bent Noregaard

George Barclay,

Tony Childs,

Brian Davis,

Brian Leonard,

Martyn Piddock,

Graham Miles,

Cec Platt.

 

At Halifax we lose 18-62, the worst ever defeat of a West Ham team.

 

The only mention in the programme was to say “Less said about the Halifax match, the better,” Olle Nygren was in Sweden, Ken was ill. Seem like it was a case of No Olle, No Ken, and No Hope.

 

We take on and lose against Belle Vue in our next home match, only by 38-40, but that is no good, in one heat we had to put Barry and Martyn up against World Champion Ivan Mauger, not a fair `fight`.

 

With all the bad weather we had an August Bank Holiday Monday double-header.

We win both, 40-38 against Coatbridge and 41-37 against Kings Lynn, although the only riders to get double figures were 10 from Ken against Coatbridge, and a maximum for Tony against Kings Lynn.

 

Match 23, 9^th September and my first match as a workingman. So used to leaving school at 3-45 and a 15 minute walk home, it was a rush to get back from Camden Town after not finishing until 17-00, welcome to the working world, my son!

 

In the programme notes Dave Lanning is complaining about poor referees, seem he is trying to lay the blame for our poor showing at everybody else’s door step but his own, making more than a few enemies in the process.

We lose 32-46 against the Coventry Bees, and their management certainly do not like our Dave.

Martyn score his first heat win for us, but John Langfield is getting worse instead of better, he gets 1 point in his first heat, Engine failure in his 2^nd, Excluded for breaking the tapes in his 3^rd, and failed to take part in his 4^th for reason unknown!

 

Despite all our problems, both Ken and Tony were named as a part of the British Lions touring team for Australia and New Zealand during the winter.

 

Dave Lanning now admitted that Sverre was not going to return this season.

 

We lost against Wimbledon on the 16^th September. It was a close 38-40, but no Hammers reached double figures, with our two British Lions Ken and Tony getting 9 each.

 

Match 25, we beat Sheffield 41-37, and Dave Lanning is still upbeat in his programme notes; I think he is the only one at West Ham who is!

 

Sverre is back, but sadly only as a spectator.

 

Our last home league match is against Cradley Heath and one of our best scores recently as we beat them 44-34. Tony gets 10, John Langfield continuing yo-yo performance saw him get 7. The good news was Martyn got 7 from three rides. Ken was completely off form again getting only 3.

 

Bent Noregaard had disappeared back to Denmark, never to be seen again for the Hammers.

 

The last match of the season and even the programme was half-hearted, not the usually full of facts and figures plus Photographs, that we had been used to over the years.

 

Against our old rivals Wimbledon we went down 33-45 in the London Cup.

 

Dave Lanning admits in the programme notes that John Langfield with his Orange and Black leathers, had in fact only been riding Speedway for two years, despite us being told he was a Heat Leader class rider from Australia. He was kept on our books for the 1970 season as he was regarded as a` good team man`, but he never returned to West Ham. He also admitted that Bent Noregaard, was unable to cope with the big, slick, West Ham track In fact there was very few riders that were not mildly complained about, he said that Ken had seen his worst season, he even had a moan about Stan who had actually improved his racing figure this season.

 

Our last Match was away at Hackney, where a West Ham `team` in name only lost 33-45 in the `Pride of the East End Trophy`. Ken & John had already gone off to Australia so Ray Wilson, our track record holder rode as a Guest Scoring 8. The rest of the team were Olle, Tony, Stan, Barry and Martyn, with Hackney Junior Malcolm Brown making up the team.

 

There was not much` pride` in the East End Speedway this year, West Ham were in 18^th position out of 19, and 19^th were………..Hackney!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                     

On the other hand, Romford ended up 3^rd in the league, with equal points to the runner-up team.

 

As the team were introduced at the start of the last home meeting, the fans were strangely muted, but when Kens name was read out, a voice from the stands shouted `Mr Letdown`, and the fans cheered, what a difference four years can make.

I think it was not fare to blame Ken, we know he was the Captain, but he could not help luck being against us, and his injury had not helped.

 

He was still a track expert both at riding and track conditions.

He was still a mechanic wizard.

He was still Scotland’s Captain.

He was still in much demand from other clubs.

 

Ken had in fact first ridden at West Ham representing Scotland back in 1952.

He had ridden against Jack Young (who at the time was holding the Golden Helmet), Malcolm Craven & Wally Green, West Ham’s three heat leaders (plus Howdy Byford!).

 

In the same match a junior called Len Silver was riding, who had been given the nickname `Quick` Silver by the fans.

 

Our youngsters were not helped by the fact they were riding for a team that was use to success and because of our problems with injuries, had to ride in the hardest of all Speedway Leagues in the World.

They were not getting a chance to improve, even riding in Division II. If we could have rested them in Division II, we could have built up a squad of youngsters to replace our older riders, but that was not to be. The truth was we had relied too much on Ken, Norman and Sverre, and losing 66% of these riders was too much for any team to take, plus we were resting on our 1965 laurels.

 

In an ugly incident by the grandstand at the end of the match, Dave Lanning was surrounded by fans and told that as far as they were concerned the reason for all our ills lay at the feet of the West Ham Management, and as he was the Manager and the public face of this Management, he was to blame.

 

The fans made it clear, unless there was a major improvement next season, either he left or the fans would boycott the meetings and go elsewhere. He knew it was not an idle threat; Hackney was just the other side of the borough, less than five miles away, and Romford although Division II, was also just a bus ride away

 

Winter arrived, with studying for my first City and Guild Examination, plus workload (electricians get very busy in winter, long dark cold nights means more faults developing), meant that the last thing on my mind was the Hammers problems.

 

The 1969 season had finally ended, the worst season in the history for West Ham, but at least we won the Metropolitan Gold Cup, the last trophy West Ham would ever win.

 

We all thought it could not get worse, but sadly in 1970, it did, and we were to be dealt the most savage blow of all.

Lokeren

 

West Ham returned for the 1970 season with a few changes, including a new captain. Ken McKinlay had enough of West Ham, what with the problems and the fact some of the fans had turned on him at the last match of 1969, he had gone back to Coventry.

 

John Langfield who had not been the star we were told he was, had decided to stay home in Australia.

 

Dave Lanning had upset Stan Stevens and he was transferred away.

 

Phil Bishop remains as Team Manager.

 

The good news was Sverre had returned and the Harrfeldt/Leonard partnership was to be renewed.

 

Sverre had been made Captain, but was not a shadow of his former self, and considering the seriousness of the accident it was no wonder.

 

The other new face was a young Australian who had rode for Kings Lynn last season. Peter Bradshaw.

 

The first match was on Easter Monday, 30^th March, against Leicester. The first sign that things were not good was the new programme, instead of the normal high quality one we were used to; this had a poor quality feel and had just a photocopy of a rider in action on it, and he was not even wearing a Hammers jacket! We beat them Leicester 44-34, Tony Clarke got a maximum 12-points, Olle Nygren got 10, and Martyn Piddock in reserve got 8 from 3 rides, a good start.

 

Antonin (Toni) Kasper from Czechoslovakia was our other new Hammer, but he had failed to arrive.

 

Our first away match had been away at Leicester, were we had gone down by 30-48.

Olle scored 11 despite recently coming out of Hospital after a knee operation, and Tony scored 9.

 

Our second away match was at Wimbledon in the Metropolitan Gold Cup. As there was still no Toni, we had Bert` Haggis` Harkins as a guest. He only managed 3 pts. Tony had crashed in his second heat and was injured, although he carried on, he was not able to do much in the match and we lost 29-48. Olle had got 10 and Martyn got 8. It was a shame about Tony, in his first heat he beat Ronnie Moore in to second place and not many can claim to have done that at Wimbledon!

 

Into April, home meeting number two saw the second leg of our MGC match with Wimbledon.  Bruce Cribb of Poole was acting as guest for the still missing Kasper; we were starting to wonder if he was ever going to arrive. Bruce only scored 4; Olle only scored 4 as he was still having trouble with his knee. We are again a two-man team, this time it is Tony and Martyn. Tony was the only Hammer in double figures with 10. Martyn now in the main body of the team scored 7. Sverre is out of it, only scoring 2, as we lost 29-49 at home, now not looking so good.

 

Friday 10^th April and away at Hackney, MGC meeting, we lost 29-49, we most certainly will not be retaining the trophy this season.  Still no Kasper, does this man exist? Olly gets 13 from 5 rides; Martyn gets 7, the remaining five riders score 9 between them.

 

Match 3, Home, MGC against Hackney, we lose 36-41 and by heat two we were 1-10 down!

Tony gets 12-points from 5 including one engine failure, Olle gets 12 from 5. Martyn acting as a solid second strings gets 8. Toni Kasper finally arrives, and scores only 2. Sverre who is the Captain in name only, manages to score two points.

 

A rumour had gone around that the Hackney match had in fact been cancelled and West Ham had been withdrawn from the league, although not true, even Dave Lanning in his programme notes the following week said that who ever it was who spread the story may have been a prophet, and it could have been due to the teams poor showing.

These sorts of words do not give the fans much hope and the crowds were certainly starting to drop off.

 

So far the team had ridden six matches, and lost five, so what does our manager Dave Lanning do?   He sends a stiff letter off to the Division One Management Committee re our strength!

 

If we just look at the team, we have Tony Clark, scoring well, we have Olle Nygren scoring well and we have what should be our third heat leader, Antonin Kasper, who is supposed to be one of the top Czechoslovakia riders but who cannot seem to score more than 2 points per match.

 

Our second strings are Brain Leonard who is riding as our No.4, but with his experience riding at West Ham for the last five seasons, should be a good third heat leader by now, although seems to have gone complexly off form.

Peter Bradshaw who should be doing better, but cannot seem to get used to the big track (as an Aussie he should be used to large tracks). We have Sverre who is also completely out of form and looks as though he should not even be riding as he is so exhausted after each heat, and finally Martyn Piddock who is only our reserve and is a 2^nd Division rider, but seems to be supporting the team as more of a third heat leader. In the second half’s we have both Barry Crowson and Dave Jessup, who are going well in Division Two, but just cannot seem able to make the jump to Division One.

 

On paper a solid team, and hardly the fault of the Management Committee.

 

Meeting number four is the Speedway Star sponsored Knock-Out Cup and we took on Belle Vue.

No Brian Leonard, so Barry Crowson takes his place. But no amount of tactical substitutes can stop us going down 29-49. Olle was our top score in the Belle Vue match and he challenge World Champion Ivan Mauger for the Golden Helmet Match Race Championship, but he lost.

 

We are out of the Cup, we have lost the MGC, we are lying last in the league and it’s not even the end of April, what else can go wrong?

 

Somebody must have known something because another rumour was put round that there was a Power cut and the match was cancelled.

 

The fans are up in arms at the poor showing, to quote the programme notes, “There had been many complaints both verbal and in writing about the state of Hammersville”.

 

After the match Dave Lanning does the gentlemanly thing, he resigns with immediate effect. 

 

The hunt is on for a new manager, but who would want to take on such a challenge?

There was rumour that Tommy Price would be returning and running the team jointly with Phil, and Sverre would act as a non-riding captain.

 

The next meeting was the World Championship Qualifying Round, so no need for a manager, although there is a whisper of a famous name from the old days of Speedway, so Tommy Price is a good bet.

Ivan Mauger wins the event with a clear 15-point maximum, now if we ask Belle Vue very nicely, would they swoop him for Toni Kasper?

 

Home Match No.6 and our new manger is ………Gordon Parkins.

Gordon had been out of the sport for six years since Norwich, who he managed, closed in 1964.

 

We take on and lose against Coventry 37-41, despite 13 from Tony, 12 from Olle, also Peter Bradshaw gets in to double figures for the first time with 10, he is slowly getting use to the track.

 

We find out the reason Brian was missing for the Belle Vue match was because he had retired.

 

A new name joins the team as a second String, Alan Sage, who manages to get injured after two matches.

 

It would seem we are after a Swedish Youngster nobody had heard of, Trister Lusqvits.

 

Now Lanning has gone, Gordon is trying to get Stan “the Man” Stevens back.

Although Stan is not a high scorer, he is a very good team man and does encourage the rest of the lads.

 

Match 7, we draw against Wimbledon 39-39; well at least we did not lose.

Our new Rider arrives, it was no wonder he was unknown, his real name is Christer Lofqvist!

He scores 7 points, two of which were heat wins.

Bad News, Sverre crashes and breaks his arm.

 

Match 8, Stan is back, and in form, he and Tony get 11 points each.

We have our first win for ages, beating Newport 42-36.

Christer gets 6, but in heat 5 he was in first place when his engine failed.

 

Is our luck slowly starting to improve?

 

We see in the second half our young Australian Garry Hay has returned.

 

Match 9, Sverre is in Hospital having a pin put in his arm so he can hopefully race again.  Poor old Tony he is completely off form with a fall in heat 5, plus getting excluded for breaking the tapes, definitely not his night. Despite all of this, some solid scoring from the team saw us beat Exeter by 41-36 (another odd score due to Phil Woodcock (Exeter) getting an engine failure in Heat 5 as well).

 

Exeter is the team at the bottom of the league, shame we are only one above them!

 

Back to bad luck, we lose 23-55 at Coventry and Toni Kasper breaks his collarbone.

 

We finally get an away win, poetic justice; it’s at Hackney 40-38. Olle gets 10 points.

 

Into June, another loss, this time at home to Swindon, 37-41. Peter gets 10 points. Olly, Christer and Martyn get 8 each; with that sort of scoring we should have won. With one heat to go it was 36 all, but in heat 13, Christer fell, giving Barry Briggs and Barry Duke a 1-5 against us.

 

Off to Kings Lynn on the 6^th of June, and it is D-day, D for Disaster, as we lose 22-52, our top scorers, Olly and Peter, 5 each!

 

June 9^th, break from league racing at West Ham as we host the British Final of the World Speedway Championship. That man Mauger wins, Ronnie Moore is second, and the third flying Kiwi, Briggo is 5^th. England’s Arnold Haley and Roy Trigg are joint third.

 

As I had been studying hard for my first City and Guilds Examinations for work, I had not had time for much Speedway, but by the 13^th June, I had sat the exams and could do no more, so it was time for an away match. The team had been doing so bad even some home matches at times were not worth the bother, but this one was different, it was at the Empire Stadium, Wembley, yes the Lions had returned! 

But this was a different Wembley, so use to World Finals and International Matches were the stadium was packed out, but tonight it was nearly empty.

 

Wembley could claim multiple World Champions in their team; their Manager was Freddie Williams, who had won the World Championship twice for Wales in the 1950’s and their Captain was Ove Fundin, five-times World Speedway Champion. They were a multinational squad, Reidar Eide (Norway), Wayne Briggs (New Zealand), Bert Harkins & Brian Collins (Scotland), and ex Hammer Dave Jessup (England) was now also riding for Wembley. Their final two riders were Tim Bungay and Des Lukehurst (England).

We lost 31-47, but Christer seemed to like the track as he got a 15-point Maximum.

 

Garry Hay is now in the team.

 

It is not a good year for many teams and by mid-June this meant we were 13^th in the league, despite our poor showing.

 

Back home vs Oxford, and a rare win, 40-38. Olle gets 12, but everybody else was in single figures.  Alan has returned from his injury, Christer is riding against Doctors advice, and now there are rumours Olle may retire to concentrate on his business.

 

The match reports are starting to sound like a cracked record, they keep on repeating, Rider A has returned from Injury, Rider B has been injured, will we ever brake this cycle of problems and bad luck?

 

In the programme notes for the 23^rd June, Gordon Parkins states we are trying to sign Swedish rider Leif Enecronna.

Meanwhile we carry-on on the best we can and manage to beat Hackney 42-36. Olle gets 10, Tony gets 9 and Gary gets 5 from two rides in the reserve spot. The quality of the racing is not so good, with the heat times being at best four seconds outside the track record.

 

Match 14, it now seem Leif is not going to arrive, instead we are after another Czechoslovakian rider, although there does not seem much hope, and if anything like the quality of Toni Kasper, is it worth it?

The rumoured retirement of Olle was unfounded, and he scores 11 for us in our victory against Glasgow, 41-37.

 

Now both Peter and Martyn form goes off, this would have tragic consequences that nobody would have foreseen.

 

Even the weather is against us, it is the end of June but the night is cold and wet.

 

7^th July, it is International time, a test match between Great Britain and Sweden.

The British lions win 62-46. Tony gets 3 for GB, and Olly gets 9 and Christer 2 for Sweden.

 

10^th July saw the Hammers at Hackney for a London Cup match, were we lost 22-56.

 

I was not able to get to the match owing to work commitments, I wish I had, it was the last time I would have seen some of the lads.

 

Because of the poor form being shown, after the Hackney match, some of the team went of to Holland for a mini-tour to give them some experience of continental racing.

 

July 14^th was a lovely summer’s day.

 

On the previous day, I had returned to my works depot after nearly six months at the firms training centre at Camden Town, so feeling more of a worker and less of a student, everything seemed well.

I was nearer home, so not so much of a struggle to get home for the match, plus we were due to take on Wembley at home for the first time in 22 years.

 

I was walking down Whitechapel road, just outside the famous Hospital, when a newspaper vendor barked out, as they did in those days, the news headlines for London; he shouted `LOCAL SPEED ACES KILLED` and waved a paper at me.

 

My blood run cold, as the photo on the paper showed a speedway rider in a West Ham race jacket!

 

I grabbed the paper and read the terrible news, once I got my sense back, I though must ring home, but Mum already knew.

 

She had heard about it on the radio and had rung Mrs Hancock, whose son Ernie as well as being the Rye House manager; was also Speedway correspondent for Reuters, the International News Agency.

 

While on the phone, the international operator had interrupted the call, asked for which of the callers was a Mrs Hancock, and asked the other caller to put down the phone as she had an urgent phone call from the Dutch Police.

 

I later found out this was to confirm the death of some of the riders who had survived the original crash, but had died in Hospital later.

 

We went to West Ham that evening, not for a match, but to be with other grieving fans and to find out more news.

 

Both the Union Flag and the Crossed Hammers flag flew low that night.

 

There was a lot of tears as the facts were confirmed, Four Riders plus the Manager killed, three seriously injured, plus the team mechanic, Roy Sullivan. It would seem a petrol tanker had crashed in to the Mini-bus carrying the team and the bus had split in to two halves.

 

There were all sorts of rumours running wild, but until the next home match, we would not know the full terrifying truth.

 

We gathered at West Ham on the 21^st July for a match against Wolverhampton.

 

The Last post was played and I think the fans sung `Abide with Me`

 

Both Teams were black armbands.

 

Phil Bishop our Manager had been killed.

 

Martyn Piddock and Peter Bradshaw had been killed.

 

Gary Everett of Wimbledon had been killed.

 

Malcolm Carmichael a novice rider from Australia who had just come over to ride in England had been killed.

 

Colin Pratt of Hackney and Stan Stevens had both been seriously injured, along with Mechanic Roy Sullivan. Colin would never ride again.

 

Garry Hay had been injured.

 

The Dutch driver of the mini-bus had also been killed.

 

The crash at the time was the second worse sporting disaster only to the Manchester Air crash in Germany, where many members of the local football club were killed.

 

The programme notes tried hard to keep the spirits up, but it also expressed the sheer shock of it all.

 

We beat Wolverhampton that night, although I do not think anybodies heart was in the racing.

 

By some miracle Garry Hay managed to ride that night, with Tony Lomas and Barry Duke as guests for the now late Martyn Piddock and Peter Bradshaw.

Both Olle and Christer scored 11, and Toni Kasper had his best night to date, scoring 8, including two heat wins.

 

Sverre Harrfeldt becomes our team manager, and books his place in History as the first Scandinavian rider ever to take charge of a British Team.

 

Our next home match was against Newcastle `Diamonds` on the 28^th July, which was the 42^nd anniversary of the opening of Speedway at West Ham. It had been wet all day, but the referee had inspected the track and said that it was rideable, despite all the sawdust put down to soak up the water.

The 1^st heat was 2 seconds outside the track record, but by heat 7 it was 7 seconds. The Newcastle team asked for the referee to re-inspect the track as they felt it was unsafe. This he did, but said the track was safe. Still Newcastle refused to ride and the match was abandoned, although the referee formally reported the actions of the Newcastle team. The following enquiry showed the West Ham team and 50% of the Diamonds were prepared to race, but because the match was formally abandoned by the ref, it had to be re-run.

 

Next match was the Southern Riders Championship, which was won by Gary Middleton with a 15-point maximum. Tony was 2^nd with 14, Olle 3^rd with 13 and Christer 4^th with 12 points.

 

With the battle scared Hammers, most promoters were happy to allow their riders as guest, but warned `Hands Off` when ever we mention them being transferred!

 

August the 11^th and we take on Belle Vue who had slaughtered us at Hyde Road at the weekend.

Because of the nature of the emergency we had riders popping in and out of the team, so we did not have `steady` team for the rest of the season, although the majority of the team settled down.

Belle Vue made it a double beating us 35-43. Olle got 12 from 5 riders. Tony got 8, our guest got 1, not worth him bothering. Both Christer and Toni were trying to hard, too hard, with both managing to get excluded in one of their heats.

 

The next match was the second attempt at racing against Wembley. More bad news, Barry Crowson had broken his leg riding at Wolverhampton, where we lost 31-46. The match saw the meeting of two Wembley greats, Freddie Williams as Manager and the ACU Inspector of Tracks, who was conducting an enquiry in to the Newcastle match, a certain Bill Kitchen, the Captain of the all conquering Lions for many seasons during the 1950’s. The Match got cancelled after heat 4 when a cloud burst ruined the match, with the heat times being 11 seconds outside the track record.

 

Match 22 vs Hackney in the London Cup. We lose 33-45, no Christer, he in racing in Sweden. Toni K scores 12 points from 6 rides but nobody else gets double figures. Our `guest` score 0!

 

In the second half, a familiar name, Dave Piddock, younger brother of the late Martyn, tries out. Dave rides for Canterbury.

 

 

Wimbledon was our next opposition on Bank Holiday Monday, 31^st August. We just cannot win a thing; although the West Ham team was receiving a lot of praise for the way they were riding and we were getting some very close results away in the League. We lost this London Cup match 32-46; our top scorer was Olle with 9 points.

 

Back to Wimbledon and a big shock for them (and us!), we beat them 42-35. This is the first home defeat for them in three years (in fact for the last three seasons they had won both the K/O cup and the London Cup, and were used to winning) The Hammers two guests were Brian Collins (Wembley) and Laurie Etheridge (Hackney). In the following week’s programme notes, Gordon Parkins said, “They rode as thought their very existence depended on it”.

 

Back home to Sheffield and we lose again, 37-41, Olle gets 9 and our top scorer.

 

We have lost 11 out of the last 12; the one win seemed to be the fluke result at Wimbledon.

 

The truth is simple, it is the` If Only` again, If Only our `Guest` had ridden like Brian and Laurie at Wimbledon and we had just won the odd extra heat or two, these `only just` loses would have been victories.

 

We are now firmly in the bottom on the League.

 

The next match saw the weather win, so Kings Lynn were cancelled.

 

The next match is the Big One. The Speedway Control board via the Speedway Riders Benevolent fund had organised a week of Collections around all of the tracks for families of the riders killed and this concluded on Sunday 20th September with a special match at West Ham, the Lokeren Memorial Trophy. The Good and the Great of Speedway all wanted to be at this event, the pits area looked like a Who’s Who of Speedway, an Autograph Hunters paradise. Ivan Mauger, World Champion, won the Trophy; Christer was second by just one point.

 

Even our Sverre had a go, sharing his rides with Ken McKinlay.

 

The next match was a double-header to catch up with the various cancelled meetings.

On the 22^nd of September we took on both Poole & Newcastle and beat them both.

 

Our victory was to do with our `new` No.7, Sverre who got a 5/6 and a 6/6.

He was back on song and back as Captain.

 

Because Sverre was back riding, we had a `new` Team Manager, the ex-Hammer Howdy Byford.

 

The first heat of the Poole match both Olle and our `guest, the `Poker-dot Kid` from Belle Vue, Chris Pussey, suffered engine failer, so a 0-5 to the pirates. We fought back and end up winner 47-30.     

Tony got 11; Christer got 11 and Olle after his engine failure got three straight wins for 9 points.

 

The second match saw us heavily out match the Diamonds as they went down 51-27. A Maximum 12 points for Christer, with solid scoring from the rest of the Team. Chris Pussey was again unlucky, blowing a second engine in the match, but still managing 7 points.

 

It must be something about Cradley Heath and rain! Our next match against them was so wet the programme is un-readable! So from the next match programme, I see we won 55-23, and Christer got another maximum ride.

 

The Hammers have now seemingly got it right as we register yet another home win, this time against Halifax `Dukes`. We won 41-37, Olle gets 14 from 5 rides, Christer gets 11 from 4 rides and Sverre gets 5 from 2 rides.

Poor old Tony, two engine failures in a row, then a first place, and then a last place!

 

In the last 6 matches, 5 win’s and an `only just` loss by 4 points against Sheffield.

 

The previous Sunday, October the 4^th, Olle (a Swedish rider) became a German Champion!

He won the German open Grass Track event in Kempton, Germany.

 

Christer was riding in Sweden in the Swedish Championship and doing well until he `crossed swords`, with `the Fox`, Ove Fundin, seems he did something wrong and ended up in the safety fence!

Ove went on to win the meeting and Christer was 4^th.

 

It was a busy week for nearly all the top Swedish riders in Britain, as they were called back for a test series in their homeland with their national squad.

 

It is 3^rd time lucky as we finally take on the Wembley Lions. Like March, they came in like Lions, but went out like Lambs, as we won 47-31.

In the team were two ex-Hammers, Dave Jessup and Brian Leonard. Brian who despite retiring earlier in the season, could not keep away from the sport so had returned to ride for Wembley. There was never any real reason given for Brian’s retirement and no reason given for why he had returned for Wembley and not West Ham. Dave Jessup’s contract was held by Eastbourne. He had just suddenly disappeared from West Ham after an injury, only to return riding for Wembley.

Both Olle and Christer got 11 points each.

 

Gary Hay had returned to Australia; so Barry Crowson took his place in the team, now fully recover from his injury, scoring 7 points.

 

Dave Piddock was due to ride in the reserve spot for West Ham, but had managed to break his collarbone the previous week at Canterbury.

 

The final match and we beat Kings Lynn 48-30. We have now had seven wins and one draw (an away match at Sheffield) in a straight row, but too late to escape the bottom of the league. We were six points behind the nearest team. The scorers in the last match were Christer with 11, Tony Clarke with 10, Olle with 9, John Louis (as a guest) with 8, Alan Jay (guest) with 6, Sverre 4 from 3 rides including one heat win, and finally Antonin (Toni) Kasper 0!

 

Toni had in fact got an average of 4.37 points per match, hardly heat leader status.

 

Despite losing Peter Bradshaw, he still by the end of the season had the forth-highest average points per match, showing what a marked improvement he had been making.

 

Martyn also had a reasonable average, and the `What If` kicks in, what if they had not gone on the fatal trip to Holland to improve their speedway experience, two possible World Champions in the making?

 

Christer Lofqvist was Hammer of the Year and Tony Clarke was runner-up.

 

The last programme notes were understandably sober, as Gordon Parkins thanked everybody for their efforts, and a special round of thanks to the supporters who stuck with the Hammers through the bad, and sometime unbelievably bad, and the good times. He also assured us that there will be Speedway at West Ham in 1971 and the team would return. The truth was, not all would return and behind the scenes there was serious unrest, with problems the normal fan was not aware of.

 

As a finally note for this season, I will go back to Phil Bishop.

My lasting memory of this great rider and ambassador for the sport was him sitting on the pit wall at West Ham, discussing the right gearing for the West Ham track, with the Russian skipper Igor Plechanov. Neither could speak the others language, but through the international sign language of Speedway, we ALL understood what was the right gear to use!

Phil had been one of the greatest stars of the sport as a rider and in his younger days even ended up on a cigarette card produced by Players cigarettes.