New book - Shifting Shale - available in Cardiff

This is my follow up book to 'Showered in Shale' - it's similar but different!

Shifting Shale: 2006 A Race Odyssey

Paperback 354 pages 143 Black & white thumbnail photographs £20.00

"It's a dafter, funnier, darker and deeper 'must have' companion to 'Showered In Shale' BILLY JENKINS

Like the modern-day gladiators of motorcycle speedway, author, observer and minutia obsessive Jeff Scott goes round in circles, Shifting Shale - just like his fearless heroes.

Only the shale he is shifting is not the pinky gloopy stuff which adorns the tracks in the rundown stadiums of broken dreams but his masterwork Showered in Shale – a 320,000 word analysis of what once was “Britain's second largest watched sport” (after football).
He sets off again around all the tracks in the country to 'press the flesh', meet his public and most importantly, sell some books.

So, not only is this another unique speedway observational book - but a book that will appeal to anyone who has promoted their own work. Scott sets up his stall in the shadows of these mostly decaying yet hugely attractive full-of-triumph-and-tragedy corrugated arenas to sell his wares. His only weapons are charm, humour and unsold volumes.

And it is mostly from this table-side vista a freshly askew insight into the joys of watching four riders race four laps on an uncertain surface on a methanol guzzling 500cc two wheeled monster with no brakes. It’s a spectacle that defies logic insomuch as firstly, four riders try to squeeze into the first bend when there is only space for one and secondly, to turn each corner, the rider actually accelerates and steers to the right. Although he's turning left …

Which, in effect, is the power of this new book - built as a blog, but now read as a book. Reading Jeff Scott, there are no brakes. To stop, you have to throttle off and put your foot down. But the buzz is so captivating, it is a very hard thing to do.

And when he leaves his tableware to the elements and wanders into the pits, the bar, car park, centre green or up to the referee's box, once more, you are actually there.

Elsewhere, he enjoys being a guest of Sky Sports at the prestigious Speedway Riders Association end of year bash, a day astride an actual speedway bike at Sittingbourne Speedway, comparing sales figures with legendary former riders, hobnobbing with riders on the Isle of Wight ferry and even spending the night sleeping with two speedway riders at the Norfolk Arena ...




With his books Showered in Shale, When Eagles Dared and Shale Britannia, Jeff Scott’s appreciation and wonder of this dangerous sport and his ability to describe and narrate the minutiae and entirety of the Speedway experience deservedly won him plaudits far beyond the specialist media.


Order information

Shifting Shale, by Jeff Scott (£20, softback), is available at track shops,
the website www.methanolpress.com or send £24 cheque to cover P&P made
payable to “J.Scott” at Methanol Press, 2 Tidy Street, Brighton BN1 4EL.

Sparkling interviews with Jeff Crump and the Leigh/Lee’s

11th June

Even an Elite League encounter between two of the current top teams can’t be introduced without some prior reference to the GP series or the Cardiff Grand Prix on any Sky broadcast. Jonathan notes with rapier like acuity, “it’s looking good for Cardiff for the overall GP” which I translate to mean no one has yet boringly and predictably run away with things since there are now so many meaningless rounds that it’s really too early to declare anyone a winner just yet. Kelvin grimaces at the camera in a rough approximation of a smile and comes over all happy clappy too, “yes, it’s looking fantastic!” Things must be desperate when KT’s opening bit of hyperbole of the evening has to be so grandiose (and unbelievable) – this will devalue all the future mentions of “triffic” that will undoubtedly litter the remainder of the night when he talks about something innocuous but in need of exaggeration during the Poole versus Swindon clash from Wimborne Road. Luckily Jonathan soon reassures us, “it’s a big match tonight!” and since Poole are featured this season that means that Edward Kennett will appear. The dynamic duo have a cliché for every occasion and so it is with Edward, “we quite literally have seen this kid become a man”. Exactly how Jonathan has seen this I think it’s best we draw a veil over in the interests of privacy!

If there’s one thing they like to talk about on Sky then it’s the state of the track as though this is somehow informative or relevant for the viewers, when the majority of the tracks in this country in the Elite League are slick 99% of the time. On the fifth day of a cricket test match wear and tear might be a key factor but for speedway this is platitudinous. More importantly, the casual viewer that these programmes allegedly so regularly attract (you know, the ones that mysteriously can’t be quantified with exact viewing figures or never turn up at any speedway track round the country to watch live) surely can’t be thrilled by this arcane technical insight? When they race F1 or the Moto GP discussions of the racing surface are minimal to non-existent, yet each week we learn about it in such glorious detail it’s as though they’ve just discovered a cure for cancer. Luckily David Norris is the colour commentator tonight so, at least, he does cover the boring with some wit and élan. When he discovers a slightly rougher surface on his track walk wearing the headphones that make him look like an air traffic controller, “they’re thinking of planting carrots or spuds down by the start line – that’s a real issue for me”. It’s quite an evening for vegetables since he allegedly often likes to eat a large quantity of onions before his commentary duties. At the mention of an “issue” Kelvin’s ears prick up and he can’t help himself and has to immediately have one of his own in order to reinforce his expert status, “my issue is the slick inside line!” This sort of fatuousness allows David’s wit to shine out even further and he (apparently breaking the terms of the standard Sky contract) provides some insight when he replies to Kelvin, “people who’re your age and mine who don’t want to come to the party can pop round the inside”.

Probably with the editor screaming in her headphones to get the suddenly flagging cliché count back on track, Sarra says to a barely interested Lee Richardson, “it could be the most important meeting of the season”. Despite knowing they say this absolutely every week, for a quiet life Lee just plays along with some polite platitudes – at least I think that’s it, although we’ve yet to hear his conversation develop beyond that whenever he’s interviewed. Surrounded by the smell of onions, Tony Millard glances into his book of ready drafted inanities and his eye lights upon, “a speedway hotbed of [insert geographic area]” or “[insert club name] a real hot bed of speedway” - for this trip to Poole he chooses, “the speedway hotbed of the South!” Before the first race starts Floppy returns to his favoured ‘rough’ track theme, “it really is drastic down there” but then Leigh Adams decides to enliven proceedings with an uncharacteristic error, “he didn’t touch the tapes he destroyed them”. Desperately trying to think on the spot, Jonathan’s anxiety that this might prevent the Holy Grail of Sky broadcasts – the fabled ‘last heat decider’ – causes him to say something banal (“the tapes were held for that little bit longer than usual”) until inspiration hits and he enquires of Kelv, “too long?” Short of being made to work with children or animals, Jonathan is clearly already trying Kelv’s limitless patience, “well not too long – Swist rolled” Greenie isn’t going to let the matter drop without wringing the last ounce of stupidity from the situation, “could Leigh Adams argue that the guy next to him felt the same”. Even if we kindly ignore that mind reading is tremendously difficult so we don’t know what the “guy” [does this rider have a name?] next door did or didn’t think, the rule book doesn’t cover letting riders who have broken the tapes back into the race based on the tapes being held too long or because of the similarity of the thoughts of the competing riders. Kelvin can barely contain his exasperation, “the ARGUMENT is that Leigh Adams is UNAWARE” but Jonathan refuses to take the hint and drop the matter, “no – I meant even the guy to the right” he asserts nonsensically. Kelv scowls grumpily at the camera and uses his exasperated talking to morons and children voice, “no – I think Crump was pretty stationary!” I’m really not sure how this is supposed to entertain the viewers, except unintentionally? In fact, throughout the broadcast we’re treated to some classic mistakes-cum-malapropisms by the commentary team. Tony Millard really excels when he calls Jason Crump “Jason Dodd” (the ex-Southampton footballer) and rechristens his Danish teammate “Barney” Pedersen. Floppy breaks off from his next course of onions to casually remark on “Petra” Swist who, I assume, has previously had some canine role on Blue Peter?

Whatever the inanity of this piffle, the new mantra is that the fact that Leigh Adams broke the tapes somehow is seen as an indication of a sign of his severe “nerves”, apparently brought on by the sheer magnificence and enormity of this encounter between Poole and Swindon. The structural logic of the composition of the 2007 Elite League ensures that these two teams will meet at least four times in this competition, possibly more if they progress to the play offs. Tony Millard is in no doubt about the heightened significance of this encounter, “this really is a top match – Chelsea versus Manchester United I think you’d call it”. Perhaps, Tony is more subtle and critical than I’d imagined since many disgruntled fans of other less fortunate clubs often (unfairly) claim that Matt Fordski at Poole routinely buys success by a combination of paying inflated wages and signing an extensive roster of riders that he doesn’t fully utilise but, thereby, prevents other teams from using against the Pirates. Without Leigh Adams to best, Jason Crump wins the rerun of the first heat but its elsewhere on the circuit that fascinates Tony, “a real battle in second place – that’s what it’s all about!” Floppy briefly casts aside his onion, but retains a food theme as he tries to capture the ‘Worst Pun of the Season’ trophy, “I know he’s got a new name – Swist roll – he’s getting on in years but he still rides with passion, he’s a clever customer”.

Back in the interview booth, Jason boredly bats off the initial talk of the supposed enormity of this encounter with a joking reference to the underperformance of his previous club Belle Vue, “obviously it’s a top of the table clash – been a fair while since I was involved in that for a while”. Kelvin bangs on about “nerves” and Jase seizes the chance to pretend for his sponsors and the fans that this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill, routine encounter that is almost meaningless in the welter of fixtures and travel endured by many of the in demand superstar riders, “I think it shows how much the Elite League means to us all!” It’s a sign of his professionalism that he can say this with a straight face in a tone of voice that appears suitably serious. Anxious to bring his own expertise and insight to bear Jonathan says, “Jeff (!!), bit of an up and down year – how would you sum it up so far?” Kelvin’s glare at the camera as the word “Jeff” [since I can’t think offhand of any riders by that name in British speedway, so it’s nice to know Jonathan is reading the blog and thinking about me] leaves Jonathan’s lips is a picture since managing to get the name of the present world champion completely wrong – particularly wonderful given how much he rants on about the GP series every single week – takes a special skill to carry off. Fortunately, reference to varying performances temporary winds Jase up into a momentary whinge about how Tiger Woods and Michael Schumacher don’t win every time before he catches himself in time and affects the modest caveat “not that I’m saying I’m like them”. Jase departs to glower in the pits and Jonathan says what sounds like, “that’s what I like about him – he wears his arm on his sleeve and tells you how it is!”

Heat 2 gives Tony Millard another chance to demonstrate his delightful ignorance of the rules and regulations of the sport that he’s covered as a so-called ‘authority figure’ for so many years. “The tapes are held again by referee Chris Gay” he complains as though this were illegal having clearly failed to listen to Kelvin earlier (who surprised us by getting the rules right rather than invent his own) who had correctly explained to the viewers that since “no riders should be moving at the tapes” Chris Gay is clearly a referee who waits until the riders are still before he releases the tapes. Watching the replay, David Norris says, “bosh – if I was the ref, I’d put all four back and Troy Batchelor owes me a fiver”. Inevitably Troy wins the rerun race, despite his earlier transgression, and has already used the fiver to invest in a new interview word – “awesome”. He chose this cos Kelvin had already previously bought the exclusive broadcast rights “triffic” and “fantastic”. When Sarra claims, “it’s all about team spirit” Troy proudly blasts out a few mentions of the new word, “it’s awesome, Jason’s awesome, everyone’s awesome!”

Something that isn’t so awesome is Tony Millard’s confidence in his own lack of knowledge and understanding of the sport that he covers for Sky. “The referee is stopping that. He will probably now award that to Swindon. We’ll have to hear from Chris Gay…the ref has the power to award this, so I’m sure Chris Gay will be thinking hard about this!” Having listened to this dog’s dinner of inaccurate supposition, we then hear from the referee in question on his decision regarding heat 4, “yeh, um, I don’t actually have the discretion to award that race because they weren’t on the last lap and, er, because the rider who came off wasn’t at the back and it wasn’t a 5-1! And, so, I have to rerun that race with the exclusion of the rider in blue [Batchelor].” Mister Millard skilfully covers his comprehensive gaffe, “a brilliant explanation from the ref” and Floppy also makes light of the incident, “those youngsters bounce a bit better than the rest of us!” While we’ve been treated to this waffle, elsewhere the Swindon team manager Alun ‘Rosco’ Rossiter has got on the phone to the referee to share his own particular brand of the milk of human kindness with the match official. This being a live Sky speedway broadcast, the mission to explain and transport us behind the scenes only works selectively so, almost inevitably, the camera often cuts away just prior to the crucial incident, ditto the endless replays unless the camera misses it completely (for example, the recent dispute between Gollub and Pedersen at a GP remained mysterious and unexplained to the armchair audience). Or, in this case, focus on blather means the producer misses the opportunity to enlighten the armchair audience by cutting immediately to some key exchange in the pits or on the pits phone. Consequently, we don’t join the Gay/Rosco at the outset but soon pick up the thread that Alun apparently uses the same rulebook as Mister Millard. We arrive just as Chris explains the situation in the moderate and calming tones of a school biology teacher who’s discovered an unruly pupil has deliberately poisoned the class guinea pigs during the lesson, “I know things haven’t gone your way so far, but I don’t have the discretion to award it”. Rosco changes his initial plea into appeal for refereeing consistency, “I don’t believe you can’t award it. Well, you referees need to get it together – when one ref does it on one lap and another does it on the third” Politeness rules but as he stomps away from the pits phone, Alun exasperatedly shouts out to persons unseen in the pits, “he says he can’t award it!”

Rosco is then immediately door stepped by Sarra for an off-the-cuff interview in which she soon (re) establishes Rosco thought it could be awarded, should be awarded and often would be awarded. Jonathan ‘Jason’ Green is bamboozled by the uncertainty of it all, “[a] very strange one in many ways…I’m sure a lot of people are diving for the rulebook”. [Do they own such a thing at Sky?] Now that the education strand of these programmes has been abandoned and Kelvin has been forcibly removed from his shed, perhaps the rulebook could become standard issue for all those with access to any Sky speedway microphone? Like schoolboys always failing to clean behind their ears with their flannel, it appears some detention for extra lessons is required for many of the team. If in doubt, switch the subject to the first thing that comes into your head is a motto that Jason Green lives his broadcast life by. So rather than discuss the track again, he turns to Doctor Tatum whose previous falls and injuries suddenly grants him sufficient status to offer expert medical insight, “how badly will he have hurt that shoulder?” Quick as a flash Kelv retorts, “well, I’m not sure – but certainly he hit the ground really hard and he’ll be feeling second hand!” In the absence of an answer, JG makes an incomprehensible joke before we luckily go to the commercial break, “it’s a case of Batchelor marrying a fence that one!”

Once we’ve all been aurally assaulted by the GP advert and various other commercials for inferior products that would struggle to gain interest from even the most lobotomised of the armchair audience, Jason Green revives a very, very favourite theme, “this is a very, very important match up”. Kelvin hasn’t played ball all night so far and consequently strays further off message and worryingly close to a comment that hints of vague honesty, “the meeting really hasn’t got going – it’s been stop-start”. Desperately trying to take discussions back to Planet Bland, Jonathan plays his metaphorical joker, “all the heats are important but this one could be very important!” The subject of importance has also fatally gripped Sarra in the pits and she knowingly informs Lee Richardson, “those starts are so important aren’t they?” Temporarily thrown off the scent by this insight, Lee replies, “blah blah blah the starts are so important!” Because he rides well all night, Sarra again soon has Lee trapped in the pits for another interview and this time she tries to blind him with statistical insight, “that’s your thousand and first point for Swindon”. Totally underwhelmed and far from amazed or excited, Lee decides to bluff a reply, “I didn’t know that myself” before he reveals that Jim [Rosco] has apparently fixed it for him to get his deepest, truest wish, “a year of league racing at the top level and no GP!”

After his first heat tapes exclusion, Leigh Adams wins his next three outings and, each time, shows no reaction whatsoever as he crosses the line. Floppy remarks, “we saw how much it meant to him earlier”. Leigh is a delight to listen to whenever interviewed – mostly for his slightly grouchy and put upon honesty and, unless he also has an invisible six foot white rabbit with him called Harvey, his continual references to himself in the third person plural, “we turned back underneath him and we got the run!” Leigh knows who was at fault for the exclusion, “Jason was rolling a bit” and is also happy to explore a theme he will explore again with greater vehemence as the night unfolds, “to be honest, the track’s not ideal!” When Kelvin suggests, “you need to help Charlie Gjedde get going” Leigh evades the question, “well, ah ha, that’s fun and games…” Leigh is interviewed so often at this meeting that they might have to start a frequent interviewer scheme to reward him for his efforts. When he says, “shame about Saturday – we didn’t get the win”, Jonathan quickly hails him as speedway’s first ever philosopher, “interesting words from Leigh Adams”.

Later, trying a variation on a familiar theme, Jonathan bigs up the meeting with, “the intensity out there is huge!” Kelvin suddenly sees himself as the reincarnation of the ‘Galloping Gourmet’ Graham Kerr and so decides to indulge himself in a cooking metaphor, “it’s really beginning to bubble away nicely”. Earlier in the meeting the cameras had lingered in the pits and caught sight of Ginger I and Ginger II (Neil ‘Middlo’ Middleditch and Jason Crump) deep in jovial and animated conversation while they gaze as one out towards the action on the track. This sight of a watchful ‘Middlo’ causes Tony Millard to rhetorically expand his responsibilities, “Poole team manager, England team manager, Britain team manger dare I say”. Interviewed by J&K about the forthcoming “World Team Cup – exclusively shown on Sky”, Middlo states, “we go in [it] to win not to be second – I’ve got to I’m the manager…of course I go in to win – I do every year”. Sadly ambition hasn’t recently translated into results but you have to admire Middlo’s passion for his country. Shortly afterwards and totally unbelievably, we’re treated to an advert for the forthcoming GP that actually has style and the hint of some élan as well as a genuine hip-hop type ‘street’ feel that wouldn’t be out of place as an MTV video. Someone must have sacked the previous creative team and accidentally commissioned some people with an original idea! It’s so shocking I don’t know quite what to say? If this continues, before we know it, John Postlethwaite will have abandoned his ambitions to revolutionise Elite League speedway and discarded his trademark Arthur Daley London geezer raincoat!

Whereas French deconstructionist philosopher Jacques Derrida cleverly used the various meanings of word ‘difference’ in his language theories [it sounds the same when said aloud but means two completely contrary things when written - to differ or to defer - one describes the temporal and the other the spatial], Tony Millard uses the word “Leigh/Lee” to achieve similar effects. It sounds the same when said but means two contrary things when written – Leigh means professional, world class, tenacious but slightly falls short on the big occasion whereas Lee means well meaning, flatters to deceive and, arguably typifies the decline of contemporary British speedway in one well chosen example. Sadly Tony’s excitement at the sight of these Leigh/Lee’s runs away with his descriptive accuracy, “two riders whirring like a pair almost like two cyclists on a tandem”. This is so post-modern that I half suspect he’s using Jonathan’s cast off scripts, particularly as the Leigh/Lee’s actually ride together in parallel rather than consecutively. Back in the pits the definition of “important” has changed again for Sarra, “great team riding is so important”.

The first lap of heat 13 - where Leigh skilfully passes Jason - is, arguably, a race that easily lives up to the relentless jingoism and hyperbole that traditionally greets even the most pedestrian of races at any televised Sky meeting. Because the careworn language used for even dull races is so exaggerated and inflated to cartoon like proportions, tonight everyone struggles to find appropriate words adequate to describe its brilliance. Tony Millard initially claims, “that was the ride of the season round that bend” until the producer or editor screams in his ear to remind that ONLY Grand Prix races are allowed to be claimed to be so superlative. Sensibly Tony immediately issues a caveat (“perhaps the ride of the season in the Elite League”) just in case viewers decide not to watch the rest of the over hyped and the sometimes boring GP series. Jonathan settles for, “fantastic race of speedway – it just doesn’t get much better than that!” Kelv trills it’s, “just sensational!” However, Leigh is in no mood for congratulation describing the win on a poor track as, “so hard, you’re trying to catch one metre of dirt off the corner – it’s crap really”. Jason reveals the reality of the event – it’s a bread and butter, another-day-at-the-office nature of the fixture and speaks as though he’s performing at the circus, “we’re racing in a league match – we’re not going to do anything stupid and, hopefully, the crowd enjoyed it!”

With only two races to go Jonathan has his mind on the denouement of the fixture, “we could even have a race off for the bonus point” while Tony has his mind elsewhere, “Kennett is tough, Kennett is hard”. Sarra is in no doubt as to the thrill this fixture has given her, “I’ve enjoyed tonight”. Kelvin gets excited by the spectacle of the coin toss, “you could see Neil Middleditch was a sigh of relief [sic] when he won the coin toss there” and Jonathan echoes the glee, “yeh-huh!” before he praises Kelv’s clairvoyance, “well, as you called it – it’s exactly as you expected it to be”. During the coin toss interview, Middlo bemoaned the bad luck of the withdrawal of Troy Batchelor from the meeting, “you’ve got to take advantage of someone’s disadvantage” but, in typical speedway fashion, made light of his injuries, “possible internal bleeding – so nothing too serious on Troy”. Despite his foreboding and caveat about the impact of mid-match injuries, the Poole ‘Big Top Two’ of Crump-Pedersen win the last heat 4-2 to snatch a draw for the home team. It prompts Tony Millard to start a weird campaign to ban fireworks when the speedway action hasn’t justified it, “what a way to finish a meeting – fireworks justified here” and, though he doesn’t mention it, for once the commentators weekly hyperbole about the televised Elite League encounter shown is also justified. Speedway savant Jason Green looks ahead to a trip to the Isle of Wight the next night, “I think it’s going to be interesting too!”

A close contest and a last heat decider has made Jonathan giddily thrilled. He’d reduce the Elite League to just these two teams if he could, “what a season we’ve got ahead with these two teams firing like this!” Kelvin is overwhelmed too in his usual catatonic fashion, “yeh, it’s taken my breath away!”

11th June Poole v Swindon (Elite League) 45-45

Attack of the Table Smasher

11th June

When I arrive early at Monmore Green Stadium, the Dave Rattenberry track shop stall is already erected and almost completely stocked, despite the fact that there are nearly four hours before the tapes rise. As usual, Dave is there along with John Rich - who I immediately apologise to since he’s regrettably been cropped out of one of the photos in my new book ‘Shale Britannia’ that he might otherwise have appeared in. They have a young helper with them today in the form of Kayleigh Jones who tells me, “well, Freddie Lindgren mainly – that’s the only reason I’m here”. John protests, “you’re bloody Wolves”. She’s only been coming along since June 2006 but already has an impressive number of photos that feature Freddie and herself that she proudly shows me. Kayleigh loves the “buzz of the bikes, the speed and the dangerousness” but, most of all, Freddie! Though later she admits, “I’m trying to get up the gear to ride myself”. Apart from lingering round the pits to engage Freddie in conversation or have another photo taken with him, she “helps Rat”. Rat and John appear to treat her with the affection and care of a surrogate daughter, “helps the fat man, aye” says Rat. Dave has already studied my book at Mildenhall, “it’s a good book – it’s unusual” whereas it’s new to John and he’s still leafing through it, “it’s a bit dull isn’t it? Bill isn’t in there either”. At that point a man called Tony - whom I recognise from a similar performance last season - interrupts us in our discussions. His role seems to berate Dave every time I come here for some promised item of merchandise that he expects to be in stock and already awaiting his arrival. “Have you got my mugs?” he demands only to learn from Rat, “Tony – I can promise you – you will get your mugs off me!”

A tall blonde haired man stands by my book display to study the merchandise and I soon learn he’s Paul Harvey who’s “spanning for Magnus Karlsson not Peter Karlsson”. He has his “own business – a removal business – so I’m fortunate cos I can have the time off to do this”. He lives in Hull and it sounds as though enough speedway riders to form a team live in the nearby vicinity. “Opposite my house lives Emil Kramer, the Pickering family are next door, down the road is Emiliano Sanchez, further down the road is Joel Parsons – round the back of him to the East of where I live is Lee Dicken and the Norton’s – Danny and Kai – live in that area too and, of course, Magnus lives at my house when he’s here too! It’s a right little collection of us all in one area – we all beg, borrow and steal off each other.” Paul got into speedway “when I was small” – a significant admission given that he’s now around 2 metres tall – “I was 11, I think, when I first went, I’m 44 no 45 now and it was the Rayleigh Rockets”. Like many people in the speedway community, he feels that the issue of safety needs to be urgently addressed. “There’s got to be some safety done somewhere, it should be compulsory to have air fences. Why do they still have to attach wooden fence boards to metal fence posts beats me? Sod’s Law is a rider never goes between them but hits the post. We come to see racing not accidents. There’s been so many bad accidents this year – Stuart Robson and Garry Stead, he lives over the back from me. It’s come as a real shock, normally he just walks down my garden path and shouts ‘get the kettle on!’ It’s hit me really hard that he won’t walk again – he has a baby daughter too – a strange name I can’t remember – four months old. He has a son from a previous partner, Lewis, who’s five. He’s devastated, he says, ‘life’s over for me’ but I say, ‘life’s just starting again for you’. They know what they do – they know – but forget the risks. Once they’re injured they’re all too easily forgotten it seems though! There’s Carlos Villar – the first time I saw him I thought “that’s a matter of time – there’s the Polish kiddie Cegielski, his girlfriend used to spanner for him and Lawrence Hare, of course. I can’t think of any more off hand but there’s plenty of them whose lives have been changed by speedway- yeh, there’s still some mentions* but mostly they’re just forgotten about!”

After a few moments lost in his own thoughts he changes the subject, “you should chat to some of the riders for your books – they have so many stories. That Emiliano Sanchez has some hilarious ones about when he first came to this country. He came over in a car with just a bike and one telephone number of someone he didn’t know – an Aussie, I forget his name. He could hardly speak English and they stopped him at customs when he arrived and searched everything. The sniffer dog ate his sandwiches too! You should hear him tell them, he’s got some stories but, then, so does everyone. My first job in speedway was on the away side of the pits at Hull. Ian Thomas used to say ‘stand there with a hose for an hour and wait until it’s up to your knees’. When the away riders used to arrive they didn’t know what to think. He used to try all sorts to gain an advantage.”

My giant poster advertising my photo book has attracted quite a crowd of onlookers keen to identify the exact whereabouts of each photograph. Dave Rattenberry points to one picture and says, “I know most of these but I dunno where that one is – is it Sittingbourne?” My hilarity quickly gives the game away that it’s his own track shop on the Isle of Wight, “Jesus, I never knew it was mine!” Rat attempts to say it was before his time there but soon learns otherwise, “oh no – it was when I was there!” My delight is short lived when I incorrectly claim that another featured photo that mystifies Rat is Buxton, luckily I soon correct myself (it’s actually Sittingbourne). One lady who effortlessly identifies each image correctly is Wendy Jedrzejakski - “it’s said Jed-RA-Jedski although everyone says Jedi on a jet ski”. She’s so good I’m tempted to ask her to move along but instead try to fox her with more recondite pictures from the book. She studies the cover of the book and says loudly, “I could have been on there – I’ve still got my ‘Miss Long Eaton’ sash, well ‘Miss Fina Invader’ it says really”.

For a track where the fans are so passionate and knowledgeable, I’ve rarely done that well with my book sales trips at Monmore Green and tonight is no exception. Away in the pits there’s some drama when SCB Official Margaret Vardy rules that tonight’s visitors Reading can’t replace the absent Sam Simota with their number 8 rider Phil Morris (as they intended) because he has a higher average than the absent Simota. Instead the Bulldogs have been forced to bring in Ben Barker to ride at reserve. This isn’t good news for their prospects of competitive performance, particularly given that Matej Zagar is already missing from the team and for whom they’ll have to use rider replacement. I think about leaving my display to buy a programme but Bill assures me, “don’t worry they won’t run out, it’s only Redin!” Over the tannoy we learn that “Wolves legend Don Goodman is in the crowd tonight”. He was a well-travelled footballer and one that I know well, since he played for Sunderland. He’s very strongly associated with the area, partly because of his million pound transfer to Wolves and his fighting performances for his various clubs. A glance at his career statistics shows that he scored more goals for West Brom and Sunderland than Wolves but then he played more games for the Baggies. Later I see a man with impressive dreadlocks who escorts and carefully supervises his son in the gents loos in the plush Monmore Green grandstand – I assume it’s Don but don’t ask in case I’m mistaken, particularly since it’s not quite the place or the time.

Tonight is an important night for Chris van Straaten since he has organised a collection for the ‘Promise Dreams’ children’s charity** that is close to his heart at this meeting. The Wolverhampton based charity “raise funds to make dreams come true for terminally and seriously ill children, no matter what their dream might be”. Later I see a smiling CVS stagger past with three collection buckets towards his speedway office. He answers, “they’re heavy too!” when I ask, “have you got enough buckets, Chris?” Later we learn over the tannoy system “well done, you’ve raised over £700”.

Also in the crowd tonight is radio Five Live’s sports reporter, Phil Mackie, who’s come along to the Monmore Green stadium to try to soak up the atmosphere of a ‘typical speedway meeting’ as well as grab some vox pop interviews with riders, staff and fans for an item on the Simon Mayo programme that will look at summer sports you might like to consider visiting. When I listen to the programme they say the crowd was 1,900 people, though with the presence of building works on the main grandstand terraces, it didn’t seem quite as crowded as it normally is here to my untutored eyes. The meeting itself was a long way from exciting as the Bulldogs get up and go – with the exception of Greg Hancock - had apparently gone absent without leave, thereby effectively undermining the meeting from a closeness or entertainment point of view. Plus, there is the unique not found elsewhere factor on race night at Wolverhampton - the almost continuous aural accompaniment throughout of the thoughts and comments of Ian ‘Porky’ Jones who appears to perform under the impression that we’ve all come along to hear/see him rather than the speedway. I’m sure you could get used to him over time but, I’d like to think, that someone kindly tipped Phil Mackie the wink that such a presentational quirk isn’t at all ‘typical’ or the norm within speedway generally.

Kindly and observant security man, Ian Price, who came up and said to me, “your table has been broken - I was just coming up towards it and I watched him jump on it”, interrupted my enjoyment of the meeting. Though not expensive, it’s pretty important to have something to display books on when I travel to speedway tracks to sell my books. Luckily, after I’d confirmed the wrecked nature of my table, Ian was able to take me to elsewhere in the stadium to chat with the young man who’d so thoughtlessly behaved and poorly treated my property. I found when I was younger that adults who reacted calmly when I’d transgressed got their message across much more effectively. Ian stood silently by when I spoke with the youngster in question. He was with his granddad, though this man appeared to have abdicated any supervisory responsibilities in favour of just sitting on his chair for the night. The young man (with green iced lolly in hand) was tearful and decided the best approach was to have his granddad repeat a totally false and barely believable story, flatly contradicted by the reality of events seen by Ian. The story was that he’d been “chased by bullies and when trying to get away the table had been accidentally broken”. It would be something that would elicit sympathy if true but, though totally unconvinced, I decided to suggest that if he was bullied anywhere in future then he should always try to confide in a nearby adult, whether or not he actually knew them. There was a mumbled “sorry” and I think I honestly expected his granddad to waddle over from his seat and come to inspect the damage himself or, as I believe most people would in this situation, offer some form of restitution. Instead he steadfastly took the view, “he was being chased by bullies and he’s said sorry - what more do you want?” Better brought up children or grandchildren would be fortunate to enjoy the company of supervising adults with greater levels of social responsibility and some understanding of the concept of leadership by example. Unfortunately, this young man appears to have been rewarded with refreshments for lying and treated insouciantly for deliberately damaging the property of others. It’s a sad reflection on the values of his adult carer at the speedway and doesn’t bode well for his future development. I definitely blame the parents and the grandparents.

When I return to my table, John Rich is already in the process of finding strips of wood to temporarily bind and fix the table back together for the night (“I remembered I had a Phillips screwdriver in the car”). Security man Ian also then gets involved and, after a few minutes of impressive craftsmanship, they have restored the table to something approaching its former glory so I can use it again tonight. “It’s better than it was now!” says John before he adds, “and you missed the chance to take a photograph”. John and Ian brush off my protestations of gratitude, while Graham (who also helps Rat on race night at Wolverhampton) remains amazed that no offer of help or compensation was made to rectify the damage. Interestingly when the meeting finishes, granddad lollops by while studiously ignoring me, though I do pointedly call out “goodbye” and “remember what I said about bullies” to his grandson Pinocchio.

With the result of the meeting already beyond all doubt, the Wolves team manager, Peter Adams, chooses to reward David Howe for his four ride paid maximum with a deserved place in the nominated heat 15 alongside Freddie Lindgren. The Reading partnership of Hancock-McGowan then choose that race to finally show some concerted determination and the race effectively ends as a contest when they gated and rode Lindgren hard to the fence, thereby causing him to stutter to retirement. David Howe chased manfully but McGowan eventually blunted his challenge on the second bend of the last lap with a blocking manoeuvre that led Howe to shut off. The difficulties of satisfying your fans, even when you win easily, was typified by the presumption and reaction of the man next to me, “[Howe is] bloody hopeless in heat 15 – it’s the sort of freaking decision that’ll cost us the bonus point and, possibly, a freaking place in the play offs!”

11th June – Wolverhampton v Reading (ELA) 54-39

*Ironically the Speedway Star a fortnight later (June 23 2007) included a hard-hitting and provocative article from Lawrence Hare that is required reading for all interested in considering safety standards within speedway.

There is also a sponsored two-day, 165 mile sponsored bike ride for Krzysztof Cegielski organised by Poole Pirates fans Robert Hawkins and Rob Green. Log on to pmya/bikeride.com or send cheques payable to ‘Cegielski Bike Ride Fund’ to PMYA, Cegielski Bike Ride, Salterns Marina, Lilliput, Dorset BH14 8JR.

Steve Johnson will join the same bile rode to raise funds for Garry Stead send cheques payable to ‘Garry Stead Bike Ride’ to Yorkshire Bank, 14 High Street, Alfreton, Derbyshire DE55 7BB.

** To contact Promise Dreams call 01902 378595 or email info@promisedreams.co.uk

Embodiment of the Ethos

10th June

It’s already a warm day when I arrive at Sittingbourne though it’s still only mid-morning. One of the first people to greet me is Chelsea Lee-Amies who tells me rather proudly that she “got here at half eight with my dad to help with the track”. Her father Stuart (aka ‘Rat’) is one of many people who rush purposefully about to ensure that all the last minute tasks that need to get completed get completed before the tapes rise on this afternoon’s Conference League clash between the Sittingbourne Crusaders and the Buxton Hitmen. Arguably these two clubs most embody the ethos that originally led to the creation of the Conference League itself – namely a desire to ensure young riders can get the match action they require to hone and develop their riding skills as part of an apprenticeship, where winning remains an option but isn’t the obligatory be and end all of the equation. Whenever you visit them, both clubs have a very homely atmosphere along with a make do and mend attitude that places the greatest emphasis on safe enjoyment for the riders as much as cut throat success or instant results. If this Conference League fixture were to be symbolically transplanted to the world of Spanish football, today would represent the clash between Barcelona versus Real Madrid in the imaginations of the participants and fans in attendance in this part of Kent.

In fact, Sittingbourne don’t win that often at home (let alone away) so any club that visits invariably expects the chance of a comfortable win or, if they adopt similar team building policies like Buxton, this represents the best chance the visiting club will have of an away win all season. Consequently, pretty much all opponents arrive charged up and keen to compete in this flat part of Kent. The whole place has been built on the willingness of volunteers to commit their time and energy to the club. This morning is no exception as some scamper around or, in the case of Graham Arnold (dressed in his trademark green boiler suit that makes him look like a pilot or paramedic), politely issue requests to others in a laconic fashion while he matter of factly gets on with filling the adapted transit van that serves as the bowser from a well apparently located by the rider changing rooms. It’s a well that’s usually covered by wooden planks that have been temporarily cast aside for ease of access to thereby create a hole that would fascinate any curious child and horrify anyone with a proclivity to worry about Health & Safety regulations. However, the children in proximity are either distracted by the games they’re playing among themselves, pretending to be speedway riders on their push bikes and executing a series of skids and wheelies or else they’re crowded round my display table. They’re ignoring my new photo book since Chelsea is showing the curious gaggle of her friends my first book Showered in Shale, “look I’m in it [leafs excitedly through the pages], I have a copy at home and it’s signed and everything!”

I’ve set my table up just by the slope that would allow disabled people to just about squeeze into the portacabin that serves as the tea bar and refreshment room that overlooks the finish line which, at Sittingbourne, is staggered some yards ahead of the starting gate. Some people stop to buy a book and others just want to chat. One man gives me a potted history cum lecture on the history and brilliance of the now defunct and often lamented Cradley Heath speedway club as well as an unasked for geography lesson on the technical definition of the whereabouts of the Black Country. I know that rivalries throughout the Midlands are complicated, deep-seated and often bitter but I had, rather stupidly, always considered West Bromwich if not Wolverhampton as part of this unique country-within-a-country location. In fact, I’m told in no uncertain terms that neither are within the boundaries of the two square miles that constitutes the Black Country with Tipton somewhere on the periphery of its ideological border in an area apparently famous for “chain and nail making and foundries”. Fortunately conversation soon moves onto the bile and hatred that allegedly characterises the typical Wolverhampton speedway club supporter – strangely, as a counterpoint, I’ve often been told that many people had an abiding memory of unfriendliness and implied menace at variance with the often held popular view of the iniquity of Cradley’s demise doesn’t mention – brought on by the enviable success of its local rival. “As a club we produced more world champions – Bruce Penhall, Eric Gundersen, Jan O Pedersen, Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock – and won more trophies than any other club. Cradley were always in the Inter-League KO Cup every year, oh and I forgot that Schwartz and Penhall won the World Best Pairs!” It’s a managerial truism that lions are always led by donkeys but in the case of Cradley, the perils of planning permission (according to this man) are compounded by the alleged ideology of geographic purity of the chief campaigner in charge of the quest for its resurrection. “Bob King or Andrews or someint, I’m not quite sure – whatever he’s called – he’s holding it back cos he wants it to definitely be in Dudley Wood and that ain’t gone happen whereas it might elsewhere if only he’d listen!” I mentally thank my lucky stars that I don’t have any part to play in this campaign since I’ve too quickly got inadvertently embroiled in passionate debate some might see as bald men fighting over a comb territory.

Luckily Lakeside’s Adrian Kearney strolls by and I can instead talk about the impact of the changes that there has been at the club since Stuart Douglas took over from Ronnie Russell and the experienced Jon Cook also joined the club. “It’s refreshing to have someone who will listen and try new things. With Ronnie – love him to bits – he was old school so he just used to open the gates and expect people to turn up. Whereas now we’re trying all sorts and trying to get people to notice how things have changed.”

Sat on the chairs behind me are some members of the Moss family – Buxton co-promoter Jayne, her mother in law, Janet, whose husband set up the club and Jayne’s baby son Kieran who is now nine months old. He’s already a veteran of many speedway meetings and is clearly a happy, smiley baby who is content to thoroughly gum his plastic key ring. Also scampering about the vicinity is her elder son Josh who has shot up and is a bottle of pop in energy terms as well as knowledge about speedway along with being club mascot and a hugely enthusiastic fan of the club. As ever he wears his Buxton Hitmen tabard proudly. Baby Kieran chooses to break the minute’s silence that is observed during the rider parade to pipe up with a few cute gurgles. Jayne notes that she always enjoys her visits to Buxton and that both clubs continue to exist on a financial shoestring held together by devotion and dedication. She’s mystified by the spate of severe accidents that have afflicted the sport this season, “there’s been so many crashes this year everywhere – lots of different tracks and riders so you can’t say it’s for any one reason!”

Before the meeting can get underway there is a further delay for what announcer Steve Ribbons mysteriously calls a “paperwork problem”. This requires the first of his relatively frequent pits interventions by the SCB Official for this fixture, Chris Gay. When the racing gets underway - because of the intensive watering of the track there has been - there are no eddies of shale dust thrown up by riders as they pass our position during the first race but instead there is a slight splattering of gloopy shale. Jayne remarks that she believes that one of the conditions of being able to stage speedway at Sittingbourne is “not having any dust – I recall one farmer is zealous about it – though it’s hard to keep the dust down at any track, never mind on a hot day like today”. Kieran’s grandmother Janet agrees that dust and speedway go together like gin and tonic, “you get dust everywhere!”

During the delay we learnt from Steve Ribbons over the tannoy that Ken Burnett has won the raffle and my attendance is mentioned, though mysteriously for reasons I can’t explain I’m described as a “bon viveur” which – for some reason - reminds me of the advert for Listerine that features Clifford the Dragon with the bad breath. Once the racing has started at 12.25pm, Sittingbourne immediately concede a 5-1 to the James-Roberts partnership in a race won very impressively in some style by Jack Roberts. The swift arrival of the next heat has Buxton reserve Lewis Dalloway endure a frustrating start to his afternoon. First of all he fails to get his bike to start - despite some vigorous pushing of it by his mechanic in the reverse direction around the fourth bend - and is excluded under the two-minute time allowance for his troubles. He’s then pushed out again in an optimistic attempt to join the rerun off a handicap of 15 metres but still finds himself excluded once more when his bike again fails to start. Sittingbourne’s Luke Goody also endures an engine failure in this race but is already so close to the line that he is able to gain a point for third place.

Heat 3 has the Crusaders claw back some of their deficit with a heat advantage and features a win for Mark Baseby that is described as “fast or what?” by Steve Ribbons whose announcements are so brief I begin to wonder if he charges by the word. Another heat advantage in the next race restores the scores to parity at 12 each when Sittingbourne’s Danny Warwick wins comfortably. I’ve been in a long conversation with a well-spoken man (“I would buy one of your books but haven’t brought any money”) and Danny’s win inevitably brings up the topic of his distinctive white man with dreadlocks hairstyle. Admittedly I playfully gild the lily with my claim that Danny is, in reality, as bald as a coot – it’s a claim that’s soon rejected but incredulity still seizes the man at the fashion news this unique tonsorial arrangement might involve artificial help in the form of hair extensions, “you don’t mean they clip on, do they?” The next week he makes a point of coming over to tell me “I asked Danny about his hair afterwards and he said they’re real!” (before he tells me, “I might buy one of your books later in the season but haven’t got any money today”). It’s the kind of remark that Christine Keeler rhetorically answered so famously during the Profumo scandal, “well he would say that, wouldn’t he?”

The lead briefly see-saws until Heat 8 when, given his imperious form up until this point, I would have expected Jack Roberts to win convincingly. It was a good theory but sadly, though he shot away from the tapes, Jack then hammered spectacularly into the safety fence at the apex of the first bend. In fact he bounced off the fence and somehow performed an acrobatic manoeuvre with his bike that saw him somehow somersault over it before he swiftly leapt to his feet to try to clear the track of his equipment. Chris Gay stops the race in the interests of safety and Roberts is excluded, despite his much-appreciated efforts to clear the track before the arrival of the remaining three riders on their next lap. With a drawn rerun, the next race provides a real test of referee Chris Gay’s observational abilities and knowledge of the rulebook since it requires him to be almost able to simultaneously watch incidents on two different sections of the track at once. Though Mark Baseby led comfortably, the real action of the race was an intense two lap battle between Jonathan Bethall and Andre Cross that eventually led the Buxton rider to come to grief and fall but not get excluded for his troubles. This was because race leader Mark Baseby received this honour since he had fallen unchallenged seconds beforehand on a different section of the track. To my mind, referee Chris Gay made the right decision though a split second either way would have altered his final judgement. After the meeting Chris takes the time to puff thoughtfully on a thin cigar carefully and outline his thinking to keenly knowledgeable speedway fan Arnie Gibbons who’d questioned this by helpfully outlined every possibly scenario and ramification of the sequence of events that led to the stoppage of the race. Intuitively the decision made felt right to me at the time, though it was only listening to Arnie’s encyclopaedic outline of the permutations that I realised how complex the rules are and how much had to be instantaneously weighed up by the referee on this occasion.

The referee also had cause to visit the pits a couple more times during the afternoon. Speedway is a dangerous adrenalin based sport where feelings often run high and things are said or done in the heat of the moment that more sober reflection might have avoided. Also, younger people are involved so there can be an element of the nightclub confrontation about exchanges of opinion (“what are you looking at”). One such incident reportedly had Aaron Baseby brush Jack Roberts that resulted in an exchange of mutual staring followed with a threatening offer from Jack. A shake of the hands soon calmed the situation. Later, Sittingbourne team manager Chris Hunt drew the referee’s attention to a confrontation between Scott James and a member of pits staff – a situation resolved with a word in the shell like of those involved and with both team managers.

By the start of heat 12, Buxton have again edged into the lead after Jack Roberts resumed his normal service to defeat the Crusaders most impressive rider of the afternoon, Danny Warwick. Though the possibility of a Sittingbourne fight back arguably floundered on the last bend of the third lap when Andre Cross fell unexpectedly and lost position when placed second. The home fans groaned and a man on the centre green - that I took to be Sittingbourne team manager Chris Hunt - threw his arms into the air in a disgruntled and exasperated fashion. Salt was comprehensively rubbed into this wound when Buxton secured a 5-1 in the race that took the score to 33-39 with only three heats to go.

Not that all hope had been extinguished and the flame started to flicker once more with a third win on the day for Danny Warwick and a heat advantage. From the commentary box, after the race Steve Ribbons was keen to ask some rhetorical questions over the tannoy, “you must ask yourself – does that give us a sporting chance?” In the absence of any crowd response, Steve waits a minute or so before he replies to his own question (is this one of the sign’s of madness?), “the ansa is yes!” It’s a hope of a fight back that turns out to be misplaced when plumes of exhaust smoke belch from Luke Goody’s bike prior to the start of the race, only for him to then be excluded for touching the tapes. He’s replaced by Aaron Baseby, though surprisingly because he rears at the gate it’s his more experienced brother Mark who finds himself placed fourth before a stunning burst of speed has him overtake the whole field ahead of him before he’s barely reached the middle of the back straight. The Buxton riders pack in behind him for a drawn heat and thereby leave Sittingbourne requiring a last heat 5-1 to draw the meeting. Sadly this possibility ends when Mark Baseby quickly falls, though we’re still treated to the spectacle of a forceful pass by Jack Roberts on Danny Warwick (on the last bend of the penultimate lap) to definitively secure the race points, although the overall result was already a foregone conclusion. Buxton mascot and vocal cheerleader all afternoon, Josh Moss is amazed and delightedly pipes up, “Buxton won away – for once!!”

Afterwards I catch up briefly with referee Chris Gay when we’re joined by a man with wet hair who interrupts to quietly say, “I just wanted to tell you that these are the best showers in the league – they’re warm, clean and powerful and also to say that you’re the best referee in the country – honestly! – the lads in the changing room were talking about you and the way you handled things today. It was lovely that you came down and consulted in the pits with us. It makes all the difference – thank you!” I’m still not exactly sure who this polite and sincere gentleman is? Later the invariably modest Chris says, “you must think I plan these” since it’s the second time I’ve had a post meeting chat with Chris that has been interrupted by riders who wish to congratulate him (the last time was a Plymouth) on his diplomacy and skills as an SCB Official. “Young riders don't want to lose face in front of each other and as referee I can give all an opportunity to move on without losing face”.


Before he leaves for his van this rider turns to me and says, “yours is the best speedway book ever – honestly! My mum has read every single page and, even though you gave me a right going over, I still think it’s the best. As a matter of interest, how many has it sold?” Jonathan Bethell (for it is he) looks disappointed when he hears the actual figure and consoles me, “well it should have sold more!” I’m not sure that I can imagine any other sport where the referee is so sincerely thanked by the participants – it’s the kind of thing that makes you proud to follow speedway and reflects so creditably on the young men and volunteers that go to make Buxton and Conference League speedway so special!

June 10th Sittingbourne v Buxton (Conference League) 42-48

A Night of Flying Haggis and Fire Starters

9th June

Having worked in Harlow, it’s always an embarrassment not to be able to find a short cut through the town to the toll bridge by the sewage works that leads to the speedway stadium in Hoddesdon. This time I even managed to go past the rather posh Harlow greyhound stadium, the football club and golf club before realising I’d gone the long way and then eventually found myself as practically the first to arrive in the hot, dusty car park outside. Inside Andy Griggs was already setting out his stall for the evening and when, a short while later, he was joined by Doug Boxall - for all the world it looked as though they were restaging the photograph of this trackshop that appears in my book. Not long afterwards, Edward Kennett would arrive and ask, “am I in it?” Though I’ve taken many photos of this rising star of the shale – mostly at the Bonanza – operator error, the shakes and poor light has dramatically hampered the end results. Andy delights in the situation and tells Edward a number of times during the evening, “I’m in it and you’re not!”

As ever at Hoddesdon, the behind the scenes activity is frenetic on race night and with the track shop right by the speedway office I get to see first hand how hard Hazel Silver and her staff work to ensure everything runs smoothly. Len buzzes enigmatically about before the gates open but he’s soon away down to the pits to conduct the speedway end of the race night performance. Before he heads off, Hazel looks at Len and says, “we have a collection for Garry….” “Stead” adds Len as though part of a speedway mind reading double act before he continues, “Tai will help with that”. The horrendous news that Garry will be confined to a wheelchair as a result of his crash at Somerset has shocked the sport generally in a week when news has circulated that two European riders have been killed when riding in Continental Europe league meetings. Everyone knows the dangers of speedway and bikes without brakes - but the level of carnage there has already been this season has provoked many people to wonder about the actual cause, along with some talk of the need for (unspecified) safety improvements.

When the jovial Rye House and Peterborough speedway track announcer Craig Saul arrives he lets me know that the Rockers unofficial speedway forum have thought up an innovative way to raise funds for the also badly injured 30 year old Sunderland born Rye House ‘veteran’ rider, Stuart Robson. Namely they have sponsored Craig for every time he can work the words “fire starter” and “flying haggis” into his comments during the night. On the surface, these don’t sound the most propitious words to casually drop into any speedway conversation until you remember that Craig, as a part of his race night spiel, has a pet name for every speedway rider who ventures through the Hoddesdon pits gate. Luckily tonight’s visitors the Glasgow Tigers feature Shane ‘fire starter’ Parker and David ‘flying haggis’ McAllan. “Even Len is in on it and promises to get in a few mentions during the rider parade” smirks Craig before he heads off to the referee’s box with his trademark banana and comprehensive notes (plus my book) in hand. Craig is being unduly modest since although the Glasgow nicknames are the invention of others, he has deserved reputation for ingenuity and creativity when it comes to the invention of rider nicknames, which then subsequently become the moniker that stays with a rider throughout their careers. You only have to think of Flyin’ Ryan Sullivan, Jan “The Hammer” Andersen, “Speedways Most Wanted” or “The Total package” (Hans Andersen) and “The Thunder Down Under” (Jason Crump). Though I have to say that this always calls to mind farting or Rod Stewart’s ex-wife Rachel Hunter who described her orgasms as something along these lines in respect of the tremors it caused in her pants.

Craig is deservedly known as one of the country’s foremost announcers and, if truth be told, there was need for some aural entertainment on a night when not so many of the Glasgow riders put up anything like a real fight against a Rockets team supremely confident on their own track. As usual at Hoddesdon, Len Silver leads out the track staff and riders in mock military marching on parade fashion to the sound of ‘Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines’ before he treats us to some slightly idiosyncratic introductions in true Master of Ceremonies fashion. Naturally, we’re introduced to each rider in turn, “Robert – I can’t pronounce it – SEA-ACK. Is that it? You know who I mean”. All this happens before Len reprises his thoughts on the recent performances by the club, particularly the cup meeting at Birmingham during the week, where Rye House ended the night with only three fit riders (out of the six they started with) and hopeful appeals to the referee to call a halt the meeting fell on deaf ears. It was a defeat that still rankles with Len days later, “on Wednesday – when we raced at Birmingham – we raced on a track that was a disgrace!”

The racing is soon underway and the Rockets open with a 5-1 that effectively ends the meeting as a contest before it has hardly even really started. If I were a Tigers fan – and there weren’t many in evidence on this leg of their mini-Southern tour – I’d be irked by the lack of fight shown by the experienced George Stancl. The race is won by “they call him the English German - Robbie Kessler” (now in Hertfordshire as a replacement for Ray Morton having started his season at Stoke before going via Workington to now end up at Hoddesdon) who forms an exciting and dominant partnership with “Mr Big Stuff” himself, the diminutive Chris Neath.

Confirming the evidence of our own eyes, Craig mentions, “the tractor is on the track already”. It’s the first of many track grades on a warm night when the heat of the atmosphere makes control of the dust difficult, even on a track normally not known for the thickness of the shale that covers its surface. It gives me the time to catch up with uber-fan Arnie Gibbons who is nearly half way through composing his exciting sounding manuscript on the ‘History of Reading Speedway 1968 Onwards’. As a long time fan of the Racers I’d be interested in his book anyway, but from how Arnie describes his thorough but eclectic approach to research (so that he can properly place each year in its own local social and historical context) it sounds like it will fascinate many fans, even those who feel they want to learn nothing about the club. I wish it had already been written so that I could read it now. Arnie hovers by my table and when I occasionally sell a copy of my book he repeatedly makes my favourite (well-worn) joke to every customer, “it would be rarer to have an unsigned copy!” Perhaps my sales would have been helped if I’d chosen a different night to attend since tonight Andy Griggs finally had stock of the Rye House history book (that I’d seen elsewhere) on sale at Hoddesdon. The pent up demand is such and allied with the enthusiasm for all things Rockets among the fans in this neck of the woods meant that he’d sold all 30 copies he had before the tapes had even risen. Blimey is all I can enviously say.

With frequent breaks in the proceeding we’re kept well entertained by Craig but also treated to some virtuoso riding of the dusty but regularly graded Hoddesdon track by the home riders. They repeatedly and ruthlessly exploit their home knowledge of the circuit on those occasions that they haven’t already established their dominance by the first corner. Heat 3 sees the return of “the ‘Tommy Gun’ Tommy Allen – back three days after that knee ligament injury” though he can only finish third behind second placed Shane Parker. As ever, if any Tigers rider is to shine, it will invariably be Shane but, though he is the highest points scorer for the visitors on the night, even he looks slightly out of sorts. To my mind, the most impressive Glasgow rider of the night is - rather surprisingly given he couldn’t catch a cold last season - Lee Dicken. That said, Robert Ksiezak and Trent Leverington also ride with verve and some determination that ultimately isn’t quite reflected in their final points totals.

The next race features “the Boxmeister Steve Boxall” but the race ends before it has started, “heat 4 didn’t quite get off the ground as Adam Roynon was guilty of tape touching or, rather, tape demolition.” Luke Bowen then replaces him in the rerun of the race. He’s a rider who apparently is involved in his own unique ‘elbowing’ fund raising scheme, if judged by the aggression he shows towards the ‘flying haggis’ as they enter the first bend in the re-rerun. It’s an approach that relegates McAllan to last place but allows Sea-ack to escape for second. The series of harsh manoeuvres is continued next time out by Tommy Allen who super aggressively rides George Stancl wide for a really close inspection of the links of the first corner wire safety and thereby maroons him there in flurry of dust. It knocks out any remaining nascent desire Stancl might have had for this contest and, with ostentatious glances down as his engine, he pootles slowly round to the fourth bend before he retires without even completing a lap. Arnie notes matter of factly, “that’s one thing the Elite League does – it gives you a lot more ‘rigour’ on the first bend! - to put it politely”.

The Neath-Kessler partnership fires in another 5-1 to take the score to 25-11 after six heats, “they’ve already shown what they can do in heat one – their message is quite simple, ‘if you want more of that, you can have more of that’!” The Tigers then throw their dice and send out Shane Parker in black and white but the race is stopped after Luke Bowen hammers into the first bend safety fence and comprehensively demolishes it. He appears less than happy with Trent Leverington but, in fact, gets a reprieve from the SCB official that greatly surprises me. It’s a decision that Craig diplomatically describes as “a very tight entry to that first bend – the referee has ordered a rerun with all four back”. We’re then treated to another extensive trade grade session and a painstaking repair of the fence that I’m sure is completely unconnected with Luke Bowen having to get himself and his equipment back together for the rerun of the heat. Craig kindly promotes my book with a description that includes the phrase, “shows the sport in a light it’s rarely seen in”. I chat with a bloke by my display table who has come along as a tribute to his recently deceased Rye House supporting father. It has been an emotional experience for him - memories of his dad and going to speedway with his late father have come flooding back, “when the first race started I was nearly in tears – my dad loved speedway!” Though Luke Bowen takes to the track in the rerun, the real excitement is provided by Steve Boxall who aggressively steams past Trent Leverington on the second bend before he closely tracks Shane Parker for the next couple of laps. The experienced Aussie uses his guile and accumulated years of track craft to remain in front but, after another blocking manoeuvre on the penultimate corner, has no answer to a magnificent blast round the outside for victory perpetrated by the determined Rocket. Because of the use of the tactical ride option, it is still the first Tigers heat win of the night.

Back at my table, Arnie is worried that crowds at Reading remain poor though he’s of the opinion that the promotion haven’t helped themselves with the monumental stupidity of sometimes running Smallmead fixtures either side of a weekend, often resulting in a choice of watching the racing on a Friday and/or on a Monday. “Even ignoring the impact of Sky, people simply choose to go to whatever meeting looks the best one and ignore the other. For Reading versus Lakeside I counted the crowd – I’ve often counted Conference League crowds, that’s not difficult to do – and there was only 752 there.” I query the exactitude of this figure but, even if you allow a significant margin for error, these aren’t the type of attendances that will keep the club bank manager happy or puff up Mr Postlethwaite’s fragile ego.

Speedway justifiably enjoys a reputation as a genuine family sport and, whenever I visit Hoddesdon, I’m particularly struck by the truth of that statement. The terrace outside the bar (close by to my table and the track shop) is thronged every time I’m here with younger families absorbed in the racing or their own conversations, while their kids run around happily near by. There is also always a real mix of generations throughout the stadium and high proportion of children enjoy themselves by playing in the sand of the dog track that circles the speedway track here, oblivious to the threat of what my dad would call “dogs muck”. Unlike many of other stadiums in the country, the children can easily access it to play on it and, since it’s uncovered, it also gets doused in healthy quantities of flying shale (though I believe that this isn’t so good for the delicate feet of the dogs). Tonight we’re all getting showered in a thin film of dust and the Tigers riders feel more shale than most as, on the whole, they trail their Rockets counterparts. However, they do enjoy a mini revival that starts in heat 10 when the talismanic Shane Parker rides skilfully to pass Robbie Kessler and then pressures Chris Neath without quite managing to get past him. This is the signal for successive 4-2’s for the visitors teed up by wins for Lee Dicken and Shane. Naturally, Craig takes the opportunity to mention incendiary activities as often as possible. Normal service is soon resumed when, in heat 13, Stancl finishes third and the ‘flying haggis’ finishes last behind the fast gating Neath-Boxall partnership, “the Tigers were picking up a bit of steam but the Rockets soon squashed that!” Craig notes triumphantly.

Glasgow gate well in the next heat but the race has to be rerun after Tommy Allen smashes into the perpetually collapsing first bend fence. I felt he was fortunate not to be excluded something that Craig’s neutral and diplomatic announcement obliquely confirmed, “with Tommy Allen running out of room, we can tell you it will be rerun with all four riders”. There is another delay for fence repairs, though after it has been restored to its former glory, we’re treated to a fascinating duel that has Luke Bowen repeatedly try to find a route past Trent Leverington for third place position. Luke uses the entire track to probe and harry but never quite passes his opponent until he makes one final desperate burst for the finish line only to lose out by a tyre tread width. With the Rockets already twenty points ahead this level of effort isn’t required and has the unfortunate consequence that he crashes and careens into the (first bend!) safety fence during the so-called warm down. Craig notes soto voce, “Luke Bowen giving 120% - better make it 130%, you know what you get every time he takes to the track!” The meeting closes with an almost four lap exhibition of confident team riding from the Neath-Boxall combination, who both end up with paid fourteen points on the night. “A triffic race to sign off tonight’s Premier League racing – entertaining for all the right reasons: pride, passion and determination!”

The news of the Garry Stead collection is excellent and Len Silver sounds genuinely delighted at the generosity of his fans, “I can tell you it’s a record collection for us - £2600 – a wonderful, wonderful gesture, thank you!” Afterwards I learn from Craig that the sponsored use of the words ‘fire starter’ and ‘flying haggis’ has also raised £320 from the members of the Rye House unofficial forum for the injured Stuart Robson. Since we all watch a sport with a strong statistical emphasis, it’s really no surprise that Craig can immediately tell me that he used “32 fire starters and 10 flying haggis’s – which was good when you think neither of them rode well tonight!”

9th June Rye House v Glasgow (Premier League) 57-35

Limerick Competition Winner and other entries

After mature consideration by the judges, the winning entry was submitted by Chris MacDonald. I'd like to thank everyone who entered and I apologise for taking so long to announce Chris as the winner and to publish the other entertaining entries.

Limerick Competition Winner:

There was a Team Manager called Lynch,
Who thought winning the League was a cinch,
But in the last race,
His riders lacked pace
And he missed the Cup by an inch.

Chris MacDonald



Limerick Competition Entries:



There's an Eagle named Niki P.
Who's as hard as hard can be
Fuelled with sixth sense, he'll ride out to the fence
and squeeze out Greg, Hans....or Scotty.

Dick Ward


A speedway team called Reading
Became 'Bulldogs' by way of a wedding
BSI was the groom who whistled the tune
And soon 'Racers' kelvars were a'shredding.

Dick Ward

A young man from Lynn named Lee
who by all accounts could never pee
he said it was the yanks
that gave him problems in his pants
that cost him his liberty

Guy Keeley


An old Kiwi rider called Briggs,
Didn’t drink beer, wine or smoke cigs,
‘It will damage my health,
Not to mention my wealth,
I’d rather eat Syrup of Figs.’

Chris MacDonald


A young lady rider called Jude,
Thought her team mates incredibly rude,
‘I can deal with the swearing,
Because I’m past caring
But I’m NOT going to ride in the nude!’

Chris MacDonald


A top referee called Steele,
Ran matches with fairness and zeal,
But on the question of Guests,
He considered them pests
And excluded them at the turn of a wheel.

Chris MacDonald


There was a young rider called Jack,
Who rode all the time at the back,
It’s a great shame,
‘Cos he’s not to blame,
But he’ll still end up getting the sack.

Chris MacDonald


There is an Eagle named Nicki
Who has been described as tricky
Now he's rarely passed
And seldom comes last
So no one dares take the Micky!

Sid Shine


The Kings Lynne hero Topinka
Would give it his all on the clincker.
He'd go at great speed
At Berwick on Tweed
And Glasgow thro' to Treblinka.

Nigel Moores

A crazy young fellow from Poole
Beat the Pirates one day on his mule.
He fed it on grass
To rich for an ass,
Coz no one was checking the fuel.

Nigel Moores

Only the finest can ride the Grand Prix
And at the Millenium we certainly shall six.
Great riders with flare
Great skill and great dare
Like Scott Nicholls the Coventry Bix!

Nigel Moores

My blood runs blue & gold
On speedway I am sold
From the shale in my hair
To the smell of methanol in the air
There are no brakes on this passion for my sport

Margaret Sutherland

There was a promoter called Cook
who had a dissatisfied look.
So he did decide
to move to Lakeside,
and with him a rider he took.

Gill Yates

Another Review of Shale Britannia

Brian Owen, Argus, 13th June 2007


Speedway author and Eastbourne Eagles fan Jeff Scott has not just gone on a different racing line with his latest book. He has perfomed a publishing equivalent of turning his bike around and doing four laps in a clockwise direction.

Brighton-based Scott has followed up two in-depth looks at British, and Eastbourne, speedway with a light and easy pictorial companion, Shale Britannia. Featuring 245 colour photos, Shale Britannia (£15, Methanol Press) captures the ambiance, from the humorous to the humdrum, of the nation’s speedway tracks.

Scott drives the length and breadth of the country watching an array of meetings and reckons the book is “more of the family photo album than the sports media’s managed icons”. And it’s true. You don’t see many icons at places like Buxton, Rye House or Scunthorpe. But you see some real sights and some genuine enthusiasts.

Like the Fen Tigers supporter in full tiger outfit at Mildenhall. Or the Berwick enthusiasts carrying a full-size cardboard cut out of their favourite rider. They are two of the outstanding shots in the book.

As with many photo collections, what takes your fancy is a matter of personal taste. I think we might all agree the electricity pylons at Sittingbourne get a bit more exposure than they deserve. But there is plenty for the speedway fan to enjoy here and lots to smile at.

Scott’s two previous offerings have been hugely popular around speedway. This one, which is edited by Rachel Adams, could well get to the same chequered flag - just going the other way around.

The search for Tyre Heaven continues

7th June

Though I only called at late notice, Wayne Russell (son of Terry) was kind enough to let me launch my new book of photographs – Shale Britannia - at Blunsdon. “We’re only too pleased to have you – you’re welcome anytime,” he tells me inside the speedway office just inside the entrance gates of the stadium. Wayne toes the party line here and so plays down the Robins chances of Elite League success, “it’s too early to say anything” so we revert to that hardy perennial of British conversation – the weather. It’s still warm and apparently “the forecast is to be fine”. Swindon have reputedly attracted big crowds to Blunsdon all season and I hope that they’ll all be keen to purchase a copy of my book, though the visit of Wolverhampton is unlikely to prove as popular as the “top of the table clash” with Coventry last week.

When I arrived Nick Barber and his sister Bev had already unloaded their navy blue transit van and were on the way back to the track shop they run as one of the outposts of their empire at Blunsdon. The actual location of the shop appears to be a moveable feast dependent on the weather and the time of year. Today it is a line of tables set out under the lee of the roof of the main grandstand with a view towards the first bend/start gate, while handily placed for the snack bar. I excitedly show them my book of photographs and they spend some time leafing through it. It’s quickly clear that the speedway community is so tightly close knit that many people are instantly and obviously well known to each other by name or, at least, by sight. Bev kindly thinks, “it’s great. They’re really interesting shots – very unusual - people will have a quick look, find bits but go back to it again and again!” Her brother Nick worries that the market might not be flooded with photographic books for a very good reason, “how many have you done then? Hopefully no more than 500!” News that the print number figure is higher and that I hope to sell the book to people outside speedway has him pull an expression that expresses a concern for my sanity. Lucy Aubrey – the Robins loyalist who runs the track shop (“she’s worked here for years”) along with her boyfriend Lee – is surprised to spot herself in the background of one photograph, “when the track shop was inside there” she says pointing a few yards further down the concourse.

All night the book attracts gasps of recognition, confident assertions of which track is pictured or disappointment from some browsers that they’re not pictured inside. Swindon Press Officer, consummate speedway statistician and prolific speedway author (his latest co-authored book on the history of Oxford Speedway presently finds the Cheetahs fans with time on their hands to read it) Rob Bamford notes dryly, “it’s a behind-the-scenes-look-at-speedway that I don’t imagine every promoter in the country is exactly going to be overjoyed with - particularly as, sometimes, it doesn’t portray their business in the most glamorous light! You’ve even got some pictures of some toilets.” Still they do say the camera never lies.

I’ve hardly set up my stall before the amiable and hard working volunteer member of the track curatorial staff here, Graham ‘Blunsdon Blog’ Cooke, drops by to become the first person to buy a copy of the book. We chat about recent meetings, my blog on the televised encounter with Coventry here (“I had tears of laughter in my eyes when I read it – I’ve pinned a copy up in our hut for the others”) and the present state of the Blunsdon track. Even more significantly for the Robins prospects of championship success this season, the camaraderie and team spirit that exists among the dedicated track staff applies to members of the speedway team too, “Leigh Adams gave Andrew Moore a real masterclass in the pits and on the track – identifying faults, passing on tips and ideas on how to put it right. Gating isn’t his strongest suit so hopefully this will help him improve that. We rigged up a temporary start line on the back straight and Leigh has given him a lot to think about. We’ve all really taken to Andrew for his all out effort and honest effort.” Though not all the team share universal love for each other if the article about the “altercation” between Seb Ulamek and Charlie Gjedde in tonight’s edition of the Swindon Advertiser is to be believed. The riding order of the team has been changed so they no longer have to ride regularly together but ‘Rosco’ dismisses idle talk about the incident as, “heat of the moment stuff”.

At that point, tonight’s SCB Official Christina Turnbull wanders over on the way to the referee’s box high up in the main grandstand. The always polite and well-informed Graham appears to know her well but, afterwards, says, “who was that?” Given the strength of her Scots accent (still retained despite her missionary work in the South), Nick slightly unnecessarily tells us “she’s Glaswegian” He then ponders the alleged internecine antipathy that exists between the Scottish speedway clubs, “there’s only one club to support in Scotland – Glasgow – people always talk about the rivalry but I reckon it’s the Edinburgh lot who highlight this the most.” Stupidly I say, “you can always support Berwick as your Scottish team rather than choose between them” before Nick immediately reminds me, “well you could - if it wasn’t in England!”

Having tried to vaguely help at the track with the Blunsdon curatorial team a few times this year, I confidently thought that I was now on nodding terms with Alun ‘Rosco’ Rossiter. Though he’d conspicuously ignored me half an hour earlier, as the red anoraked Alun came down the steep grandstand steps that lead down from the toilets with club co-owner Gary Patchett (I only know this because he has his name emblazoned on his white shirt), I accosted him by my table display and proudly said, “it’s my new book!” With a mystified look on his face, he says “oh? Right!” in a non-plussed manner before he very politely lingers for a moment though his mind was no doubt buzzing with tactics, stratagems and cunning plans to best the opposition during the night ahead. I imagine promoters everywhere have to regularly cope with totally bonkers people who feel they can stop the man in question to share with them the full vacuity of their opinions at great length with added copious boring detail. Alun looked briefly at the book as though distractedly inspecting some badly completed child’s homework poisoned by radiation. Luckily Rosco’s eye is caught by the giveaway postcard held in his hand which features the cover image (piles of tyres) I have used for my forthcoming ‘Shifting Shale’ book, so this instantly gave us something more to talk about since I asked, “where do all the used tyres go?” Alun double checks I’m not some weirdo environmentalist before he answers warily, “we dispose of them properly!” When I ask, “where?” he seeks to retain his authority and couple it with an air of mystery, “dunno!” He’s already started to walk away when I wonder aloud, “is it tyre heaven?” without reply.

One of the pleasures of selling my books at speedway meetings is the sheer variety of people that you meet. I chatted to keen motor sports enthusiast Graham Ramsey who’d only started coming along to speedway recently after noticing the sport on Sky and liked what he saw. He liked how “competitive” it was, the “ability to see everything” and the “courtesy – the very first time I went someone showed me how to score”. Apart from Swindon, he’s been to Poole (“more structure, much more to it”) and Reading (“despite being dilapidated still friendly – it has quirky charm”). Many people wander past without stopping to even look at the books never mind agonise over a purchase. Rob Bamford has returned and kindly points out, “there is the legend that is ‘The Don’ [Don Rogers] with daughter Lucy and grandson Josh!” With a few minutes still to go before the tapes rise, Rob doesn’t hold out high hopes of a closely fought meeting against Wolverhampton, “this is as close as they’ll be all night”. Another visitor to the stand is Malcolm – the man who’d won a copy of my book When Eagles Dared for correctly and rather cleverly answering every question posed in the Blunsdon Blog Christmas quiz. He modestly plays down what must be his encyclopaedic knowledge of all things speedway (“everyone could have read things up or looked on google”).


Freshly qualified as the wild card for the Cardiff Grand Prix by way of the British Final (and apparently on a mission to repeatedly say when interviewed on the telly, “a year ago I couldn’t have imagined this” – widely seen in the pits as an oblique reference to his admiration inducing signing on fee and guaranteed match payments), David Howe comprehensively burst through the tapes to a loud ironic cheer from the always keenly competitive Blunsdon faithful. Though schadenfreude quickly turned to disbelief when it was announced “all four back as there’s a fault in the box”. The incredulity increased further still in the rerun when Leigh Adams found himself relegated to fourth place for two laps before he just about managed to struggle past (pollen victim) David Howe. After they’d both gated well, up front there was a duel between Peter ‘PK’ Karlsson and Charlie Gjedde before the Wolves man secured a comfortable win. Any thought of stern resistance from Wolves soon ended with a 5-1 for the Robins reserves in the next race. It was such an easy win that it caused Lucy to remark, “their reserves can’t be that good as Andrew Moore looks like a world beater – not that I’m criticising him or his efforts but he has one good one and one bad meeting usually”. The dose of 5-1 medicine is repeated for the visiting patient in the fourth heat, though this race is effectively ended as a contest when Lee Richardson wins the battle of wits with Freddie Lindgren by aggressively riding him towards the fence on the apex of the first bend. Sensibly, Lindgren shuts off and Richardson departs to win with impressive speed that’s not really reflected in the final race time.

Between races I take the chance to catch up with the Barber family. Bev wasn’t impressed by the lack of interest and attentiveness shown by Jonathan Green when Sky recently televised the meeting at a rain soaked Birmingham, “when he’s not on air he spent most of the time texting and not watching the meeting – he had no interest at all. It’s just a job to him!” I soon gather her brother Nick isn’t a big fan of the newly opened Speedway Museum – which I must confess I’m looking forward to visiting - and professes to be scandalised by the cost of entry to the Wildlife Park (“£12 to get in for an adult – you won’t get much change out of £50 if you take a family”) and the fact that when you get inside many of the historic programmes on display are “only photocopies”. As a keen collector of speedway memorabilia he’s recently noticed a sudden flood on eBay of rare historic programmes, “I stopped bidding for a Walthamstow 1934 one – they only rode one season pre-war, they were known as the Wolves then – when it reached £210. It went for £250 in the end – the seller lived in Broxbourne”.

The chance of any kind of further token resistance from Wolverhampton looked unlikely with the rider replacement in operation for Billy Hamill (“Virus! Freak off! He just doesn’t want to ride speedway here – he should be on a seven day ban really but they won’t”) and becomes impossible with the withdrawal from the meeting of David Howe before heat 5 starts. At the trackshop Lucy is amazed at this news, “he’s withdrawn due to hay fever! Is he a speedway rider or what?” When I say it’s a shame because he’s gating so well at the moment, she retorts, “yeh brilliantly, shame it’s through the tapes”. Weirdly the revised combination of Karlsson-Lawson secure a surprise heat advantage though the race itself is notable for a dramatic fall for Mads Korneliussen - who is thrown from his bike like a rag doll on the fourth bend when his bike comes to an unexpected halt. Nick receives a text from his brother at Ipswich to say that Simon Stead has crashed badly (“his bike hit the stock car fence”) at Foxhall Heath, “they’re all trying to keep up – the young riders – that’s the trouble”. On the subject of young riders, Lewis Bridger stops long enough at my stall for me to show him the two photos of him that appear in my book.

The crowd cheer loudly when Lee Richardson overtakes Freddie Lindgren on the last lap to win the race, “he’s the new hero round here this year – he’s been invincible round here the last month or so, now he hasn’t got the crap of the GP to distract him. He’ll never need to work again – nice for him but trouble for British speedway as anyone from this country who shows any talent everyone praises them before they’ve done anything and they soon lose ambition”. Someone who shows ambition tonight but doesn’t enjoy much luck is Mads Korneliussen who repeats his dramatic fall again in heat 9 – this time on the last bend of the last lap when placed third, albeit he’s slightly less rag dollish in his departure from his equipment this time. He remains prostrate on the track for a considerable time and over the tannoy we’re told in the manner of the solemn tone usually reserved for redundancies or bereavements, “our thoughts are with Mads – he appears to be talking to his team mates who are with him”. Things could have been much worse but for the superb reflexes of the closely following Matthew Wethers, whom afterwards referee Christina Turnbull singles out for deserved praise for “his quick thinking”. The time is then passed with an interview with Steve ‘Johno’ Johnson who doesn’t mention the £8,000 he’s reputedly owed but does revisit the thoughtless manner in which the news of the immediate closure of Oxford speedway was related to him before he adds, “I need to get back out on the track”. Shortly afterwards we learn, Mads is, “battered and bruised – nothing broken according to the track doctor but he has officially withdrawn from the meeting”.

Also withdrawn, albeit totally unofficially, from the meeting are the Wolverhampton team who between them only win three race advantages all night – one of these in heat 11 when PK rides in a black and white helmet colour. I’m impressed by the often subtle attention to detail shown by the promotion at Swindon - this is illustrated before the tapes rise for this particular race when the start line girl on gate 2 parades about with a black and white umbrella rather than a green one. Magnus Karlsson shines in heat 10 when he rides to a hard earnt nil points after he drifts wide on the penultimate lap and thereby allows the ‘never-say-die’ battling Andrew Moore past.

The Robins take full advantage of having Tomasz Chrzanowski at reserve all night and he scores a paid five-ride maximum. I enjoyed his pass of Lindgren (on the fourth bend of the first lap in heat 12) who he made appear static to the point of stationary before he shot off to win by around 40 yards. The penultimate race of the night featured Freddie Lindgren as a tactical substitute in a black and white helmet colour off 15-metre handicap and, consequently, he indulged in battle royale for third place with his teammate Magnus Karlsson. Arguably this was one of the most entertaining tussles and illustrates that – contrary to visual evidence on the night - the Wolves riders really do actually race for each point when the fancy takes them. Afterwards I overhear Rob Bamford say to a friend, “not very good tonight was it John? The track wasn’t that great and the opposition were worse!”

7th June Swindon v Wolverhampton (ELB) 57-36

Second Excellent Review of Shale Britannia

Wolverhampton Express & Star
11th June 2007 reviewer: Tim Hamblin

“Hymn of praise to track stalwarts”

If speedway is a religion, it’s one thought to be attracting an ever dwindling congregation to some frankly shabby places of worship.

But “Shale Britannia”, the latest book from author Jeff Scott, is a tribute to the unsung fans who still pay weekly homage to their heroes.

Scott’s “Showered In Shale”, an odyssey to tracks throughout Britain, was the well-received testament in words to the characters in the sport’s background.

“Shale Britannia” is its pictorial equivalent, a book of pictures arranged chronologically to represent the progress of a typical meeting from fans gathering on terraces throughout the country, through preparations in the pits, to on-track action and its aftermath.

It’s both a hymn to the (largely) blue collar speedway community and a lament that its stolid, unfashionable virtues of loyalty, dedication and dry humour so often fail to touch a chord in Britain 2007.

While speedway in the West Midlands is on the up, with long-established and successful circuits at Wolverhampton and Coventry joined resoundingly this year by the relaunch of Birmingham and gradually rising hopes for the return
of Cradley Heath, elsewhere the picture is not so bright.
Oxford recently withdrew from the top-flight Elite League due to financial difficulties while other tracks have to deal with increasing complaints about noise.

More than one image in this book illustrates the way in which speedway circuits increasingly are becoming old-fashioned sporting islands, stubbornly trying to resist an ever encroaching tide of new-build houses.

The genial Scott, who will be selling and signing copies of his works at tonight’s Wolves-Reading match at Monmore, is a notably prolix writer but has reined himself in here to such an extent that, track names apart, the book does not even contain captions. It shouldn’t work, yet it does, the
reader’s mind immediately cleared to concentrate wholly on the 245 pictures within and tease out their messages.

There’s humour here – only at a speedway circuit, with its ever-present air of danger, could an advertising sign such as “Dave Death Motorcycles” not seem incongruous – yet the most startling image arrives unheralded with stunning impact.

Taken from a track terrace it shows a medical team tending to a fallen competitor as a second rider holds aloft an intravenous drip bottle. The injured victim is wholly obscured by the safety fence and so becomes a kind of speedway everyman, standing for all the riders who continue to risk their lives daily in the name of entertainment.

“Shale Britannia” – even the title is determinedly retro – is a handsomely produced sub-A5 volume. Buy a copy, slip it in your pocket on the way to a speedway match and take time out perusing it between heats to comprehend a little better what sport and community is all about.

First Review of Shale Britannia

Almost as soon as the book had rolled off the presses, those folks at the great speedwayplus website once again showed they had their fingers on the pulse of all things speedway by immediately reviewing it.

to read the review or bathe in the full glory of this site click here

“Remember - a last heat decider guaranteed”

4th June

Sky present speedway programmes never known to stint on the use of hyperbole. For the staging of the British Final at Wolverhampton, they really excelled themselves with the introductory strap line (intoned over action images of speedway riders), “tonight will be the biggest night ever for one of these!” Once we arrive at Monmore Green, it’s only a matter of seconds before Jonathan regales us with the latest information on the parking situation, “people are still trying to get into the car park”. They’ve apparently been drawn there to see the “crème de la crème”. We’ve no real chance to marvel at the last example of Jonathan’s foreign language abilities before he claims, “of course, it’s bigger than any other night of British speedway!” Surely, the ‘biggest night’ is whatever meeting Sky televise that week or the play off finals? I’m genuinely confused by too many “big nights”. Kelvin keeps the “triffic” count to low levels throughout the night (perhaps he’s unintentionally revealing what he really feels about the quality of the entertainment offered?), almost as though he has been rationed. Nonetheless, old habits die hard so he can’t help but note that to win the championship is a “triffic achievement for any rider”.

Jonathan is beside himself with anticipation and marvels at the “very strong, strong field this year” – though this claim is somewhat contradicted by the fact that Jonathan daringly forecasts Scott “I’m the reigning champion and I want to keep the trophy at my house” Nicholls to win while Kelvin daringly tips Chris ‘Bomber’ Harris. Neither will be any keener to win given the additional incentive of the chance to win a “wild card place” for the Cardiff Grand Prix. The programme this week is ideal for J&K since they can bang on relentlessly about the GP’s without any need to find tenuous excuses and they can also look forward to the Sky Holy Grail of a guaranteed “last heat decider” as, structurally, the competition will inevitably produce such an outcome on the night. The excitement of it all is so much for Jonathan that he claims the lucky rider will get the “chance to race in front of 50,000 at Cardiff!” and later, to prove that his statement is no accident of mathematics or witless enthusiasm, he’ll again repeat this as though it is a proven fact, “what an experience – 50,000 screaming fans!” We all know that the Cardiff GP is the showpiece event of the British speedway year - if judged by the numbers of fans who attend and the sheer quality of the surroundings provided by the Millenium Stadium (but, not usually, the quality of the racing on a one-off track). However, a quick glance at the official FIM attendance figures – and how refreshing it is to have a speedway event in this country publish its figures (!) – reveals the following information:

2001 32,000
2002 42,000
2003 40,000
2004 35,251
2005 40,000
2006 40,000

If we leave aside any suspicions about the peculiar exactitude of these figures (except 2004), it appears that attendances at the event have declined since 2002 and that the fans there scream so loud that they create the impression that 50,000 are present.

In the commentary box tonight Nigel Pearson has Mark Loram as company. Widely respected as one of the speedway ‘nice guys’ - throughout the night, in my opinion, Mark is the highlight of the whole broadcast with his straightforward, slightly reticent style. It’s very noticeable that he doesn’t indulge in hype or exaggeration but is consistently informative with his matter of fact exactness. He knows all the riders well – their riding styles, proclivities, career details, foibles – and communicates with empathy and occasional verve in his lilting regional accent. It has to be said that the success of his commentating partnership with Nigel Pearson is down to the latter’s skill as a broadcaster since he gives Mark his head with the space to comment slightly languidly and so, thereby, lets the words and the insight flow. Nigel still has to big the thing up repeatedly but he tempers his usual enthusiastic style. Nonetheless, he is at pains to inform us of the shock news, “it is very important to win your national championship” though earlier he had confided on air, “the British championship lost some of the appeal over the years – back with a vengeance tonight”. While on the BSPA website, Nigel noted that the British championship had in fact been completely in the doldrums over recent years until the welcome quirk of the ‘wild card’ variable available this year gave the tired format a much needed shot in the arm and thereby completely re-energised the thing. According to Nigel, many riders in the pits verge here tonight on a state of ecstasy – definitely so if judged by his descriptions of Havvy, “I know he’s delighted to be here tonight” and also of David Howe who, “said how delighted he was to be here”. The language used to discuss the exact mechanics of how the ‘wild card’ will be awarded is complicated by the fact that Scott and Bomber already ride full time in the GP series. Nigel solves this with a neat sounding phrase, “it will be awarded to the highest placed rider apart from Scott and Bomber” though he also then advises that Tai Woffinden is “obviously too young to be in Cardiff”. Clearly ‘if you commit the crime you can do the time’ doesn’t apply to speedway when it comes to riding in the GP since you need to be seventeen (the Lewis Bridger fiasco comes to mind when BSI announced his entry only to rescind it with egg on their corporate face when they learnt the rules) and, bizarrely, own a driving licence. So, the exact description of the nuances of qualification should be, “it will be awarded to the highest placed ride