February Obituaries
Garry Hay
Garry joined West Ham in June 1970, making his debut at King’s Lynn on June 8, scoring 1 paid 2 from the reserve berth. He got his first heat win in the meeting against Glasgow at Custom House at the end of the month in what would prove to be the Hammers last home meeting before the terrible Lokeren tragedy, which claimed the lives of five of the party. He survived and despite suffering haed and facial injuries didn’t miss any Hammers fixtures. He was showing some good form towards the end of the season with 8 paid 11 in the home meeting against Newcastle shortly before he returned home for the winter. Sadly, he was involved in a crash in December at Liverpool, sustaining spinal injuries that confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. However he maintained an interest in the sport, being a member of the Australian Speedway Riders Association and attended their reunions.
He passed away in early January at his home in the Philippines
Rick France
Rick got his first rides at Coventry in 1958 and saw Provincial League action with Middlesbrough (1961), Leicester (1962) and Wolverhampton (1963) before getting rides as one of the Bees reserves in 1964. He became a regular in 1965 riding in nearly all their meetings and achieving an average of over 6.00 and scored the first ever maximum in the newly formed British League in the Bees opening meeting against Cradley.
He continued his progress, qualifying for the 1967 World Final at Wembley where he scored five points to finish twelfth, but started to have shoulder problems the following year which blunted his scoring, often dislocating it during meetings and using some unusual ways of putting it back. I can remember him riding for the Bees at Coatbridge with some home made strapping over his leathers. It certainly worked as he led the Bees to a vital away win in the year they pipped Hackney for the BL title on racepoints difference.
Teammate Ron Mountford was his partner both on and off the track, with the pair running a garage in the Black Country.
After Mountford retired, he subsequently moved to Sheffield in 1973 and had two years at Halifax, retiring at the end of 1975 with a creditable 8.03 average.
He passed away last month at the age of 85.
Graham Drury
Dent Oliver spotted Graham at a Belle Vue practice session and signed him up for Rochdale Hornets, the Aces Second Division side. He quickly established himself in the team and averaged close to 6.00 in his first season in the sport in 1971. He moved with the Hornets to Ellesmere Port the following year and had three years with the Gunners before joining Crewe in 1975 where he was their top scorer. He went up to the BL, joining Hull in 1976, becoming their number one in the following year. Unusually, he spent the 1980 season riding in Germany for Brokstedt but returned to ride for Hull in 1981, their last year at The Boulevard. He subsequently rode for Oxford and Long Eaton, being part of the Invaders title winning side in 1984 before retiring at the end of the following season, having ridden for 25 years, though he was far from finished with the sport .He served numerous teams, including Stoke, Mildenhall, Workington and Birmingham in a management capacity – team manager/ promoter and was a member of the BSPA Management Committee
He passed away at the age of 71.
Create Your Own Website With Webador