Doug Nicolson continues his look at Open Licences  by reviewing the 70s and 80s.

 

Newtongrange 1970

Newtongrange, a small mining village about fifteen miles south of Edinburgh, had previously seen track action in the early 50s when it had been used as a training track.

Berwick’s Taylor family along with Walter Elliott opened the track on an open licence in 1970. A good crowd turned out for the first meeting in late May but markedly less came along the following week. Despite a varied and attractive fixture list, crowd levels continued to dwindle, and it was no real surprise when, after a drawn meeting with Kings Lynn in the middle of July, the promotion announced neither of the remaining fixtures, including the prestigious Commonwealth Individual, would be run and that the track was closing. Perhaps the only surprise was that so many meetings were run to really poor crowds before the plug was pulled. Simply, the track was too far from Edinburgh and had very little public transport in mid evening. Car ownership wasn’t nearly as widespread as it is today, and only a limited number of former Monarchs fans were able to travel out of town.

 

Plymouth 1970

Plymouth had had a chequered history but made a fist of their first season in the newly formed second division in 1968 but things changed markedly over the winter of 1968/9 with promoters Mawdsley and Lansdale selling out to local businessman Fred Osborn with Cake, Woodcock, Bass and George, the stars of the team moving on. The untried team struggled badly, finishing second bottom in a sixteen team league but despite this there was some optimism that riders like Bob Coles and Colin Sanders would have benefitted hugely from their initial season and would lead the Devils to better times. Osborn certainly thought so as he paid to have the tarmac ripped up and a traditional base restored, not a cheap task. However his search for a top rider to bring his team up to strength proved fruitless and on the eve of the season a deal was brokered that saw Peterborough take over their league place. The Devils managed to run about ten open licence meetings, but with crowds falling their midseason closure was inevitable. The last meeting was held on July 17, with Mac Woolford winning the Bromley Bowl individual.  Speedway never returned to Pennycross Stadium.

 

Scunthorpe 1971

The Saints opened at Quibell Park using a running track which was separated from the spectators by a cycling track. Their promoters Vic White and Ivor Brown brought riders from Long Eaton, their other track. They ran over a dozen meetings in a season which ran from early May to the middle of September, including a home and away meetings against Boston in the Lincolnshire Derby Trophy, with John Louis guesting for them at New Hammond Beck Road. Geoff Bouchard, Phil Whitaker, Pete Wrathall and Roger Mills, all Long Eaton riders, formed the core of their team, with the unattached Garth Coleman and Stuart Jay filling the remaining slots. Their debut season had been a success and they were admitted into BL2 for 1972 but that’s when their troubles started. Understandably the loanees stayed with their parent track, although Wrathall moved on to Sunderland but neither Jay nor Coleman continued racing, leaving the Saints having to find a completely new team. After a traumatic time they finished bottom of the league by a large margin and initially things didn’t look any better at the start of 1973. However after half a dozen large defeats the promotion signed Ken McKinlay, Ian Hindle and Dingle Brown which helped the team climb off the cellar position and gain some respectability.  

 

That was quick – league membership

Wally Mawdsley and Pete Lansdale decided to open Rochester in 1969, but, although the newly formed Bombers raced in a few away meetings, they never raced at home after they ran into planning approval red tape when the county council, quite unusually, overruled the local council’s approval. While an appeal was duly made, it was going to take time and initial contingency plans would have seen the team either revert to Weymouth or race at Exeter. The Bombers management quickly did a deal with Romford FC to move into their Brooklands ground and more importantly gained the necessary approvals. A track was laid in double quick time as they awaited the crucial appeal.

While the Bombers managed three storied years at Brooklands, local residents action eventually scuppered their time there.  It was hoped that the West Ham’s closed Custom House stadium could provide temporary relief for the 1972 season, but that too fell apart when the demolition date was brought forward and they looked like being homeless again in mid season.

Meantime Ivan Mauger and partner Peter Oakes had opened Barrow at the football club’s Holker Street stadium. The team’s unusual nickname of “Happy Faces” allowed them to incorporate their sponsors Duckhams label in their racejacket design at a time before this was permitted by the authorities. While only two of their riders had previous league experience of any note – Newcastle’s Mike Watkin coming out of a year’s retirement to captain the side and Bobby Campbell joining from Berwick after having lost his team place there - they had signed some promising young riders (Tom Owen, Ian Hindle and Geoff Lyons who had ridden in Belle Vue second halfs in 1971 and Glasgow juniors Allan Mackie and John Wilson). a dozen meetings which included a World Championship Qualifying Round and a challenge against fellow non leaguers Motherwell.

They were doing well and were well prepared to take over the Bombers fixtures.  Mike Sampson and Bobby Coles came north with the second division licence and Keith Evans and Chris Roynon were subsequently added to beef up the team which went on to finish in a very respectable mid table slot in their debut year in BL2.

 

That was quick – over and out

Motherwell’s Milton Street Stadium, previously the home to the Lanarkshire Eagles in the 1950s, had been demolished in the 1960s and was just a vast open space with little or no spectator comforts, when the Kennedy family bought it to stage trotting events and subsequently Hot Rod stockcars. They branched out, staging a long track event in early January 1972, which may well have been instrumental in persuading the BSPA that they would be fit and able to stage speedway racing at the venue – wrongly as it would turn out – with an open licence being secured ahead of the 1972 season.

The Eagles intended to supplement two guest heatleaders, booked from second division tracks, with riders of their own. Tom Blackwood, Alex Nichol, George Wells and Frank Skinner were all tempted out of retirement while Harry McLean and was their bright young hope. There was a widespread feeling that these guys would be well out of their depth.. and they were!

The speedway track was laid inside the stock car track. There were now four ovals. The outer was the sand and shingle trotting track; the next was a derelict circuit, apparently to be developed for moto cross racing; then the tarmac stock car track, inside which the smallish speedway track was sited. It was a fair distance from the limited and low rise terracing from which you could barely see any of the track due to the board fence. After a couple of false starts Teesside came to Motherwell in mid June on an unseasonally drab night which drew a fairly sparse crowd. The track was soft and the racing poor but the major problem was that no one could see the racing from the terracing and by heat two most of the crowd had clambered over the trotting and “motocross” tracks and were gathered on the stockcar track. Even then viewing was really pretty poor. There was no chance this was ever going to work. The complete lack of viewing facilities was staggering. The Kennedys must have spent a fair bit on laying the track and then got practically no return on their investment – a complete loss. They were either badly advised or ignored any advice given to them. Certainly, one of the shortest lived tracks in speedway’s history.

Ashington fared marginally better, running two meetings, a challenge meeting against Birmingham and an individual event before promoter Geoff Penniket pulled the plug. Like their Scottish counterparts they had problems with their track, so much so that after the first meeting, Berwick refused to come for their scheduled challenge meeting the following week. The individual went ahead with many riders reluctant to race although Phil Crump made light of the conditions on his way to a 15 point maximum.

It does beg the question over whether track inspections of new tracks were rigorous enough in these times.

 

Long wait is over

Rye House seems to have been quite content in its role as a training track which ran Sunday afternoon meetings, something it had done since 1934 with, perhaps strangely, a two year break in 1967 and 1968. Perhaps it would have continued at this level had Rayleigh not closed at the end of 1973. A few alternative sites came to nought and the Rockets did a deal to move to Hoddesdon, bringing BL2 league status

with them.

 

When Irish eyes are smiling

There was some activity in Ireland, with a meeting taking place in Belfast’s Dunmore Stadium in 1968, featuring Scottish riders and some locals and the action moved south to Dublin in 1970 when half a dozen meetings were staged. Swindon juniors, Rye House, Workington, Sheffield juniors provided the opposition. The following year saw a more eclectic approach with scratch sides augmented by a few English riders being the order of the day, with Dublin Tigers taking on various select sides – North East, Yorkshire, Young Colonials and Nomads. The Tigers managed to find time to travel to Lisburn to race the local Leprechauns. Other than Ivan Mauger’s Select racing Cradley at Ballymena in 1982, there has been no further speedway of any note in the Emerald Isle.

 

Barrow – a different venue

The Bombers time at Holker Street had seen continuous problems with the track overlapping the football pitch. There was only ever going to be one winner here and it ultimately led to the demise of the speedway. However, a few years later the sport returned but at a new purpose built venue at Park Road. While it wasn’t ready until mid August, they ran no less than eight challenge meetings. Sadly guest Grahame Dawson sustained severe head injuries which ended his career. The team, now known as Flyers, gained a place in the NL in 1978, signing Charlie Monk to lead them, but their time in league racing was shortlived as they folded at the end of the season. Homeless Berwick staged a couple of NL meetings there in 1981 but the crowds were poor, and they tried sharing Glasgow’s Blantyre before giving up the struggle for that season.

Barrow – another attempt

Another series of challenge meetings starting in August 1984 convinced the BSPA to give Barrow a place in the NL for 1985. However, with Birmingham, Eastbourne, Exeter, Poole and Wimbledon all joining the lower division, riders were in scarce supply, and few were prepared to travel to Cumbria for a team place. They were dealt an unfortunate hand by the weather gods, with three of their opening meetings being rained off and the second leg of their KO Cup tie with Exeter managing to get to heat 7, enough to confirm their elimination from the competition.  After a handful of heavy defeats, notably when they failed to break the 20 point barrier at both Middlesbrough and Edinburgh, the Blackhawks were suspended until they brought their team up above the minimum required team strength. Unfortunately they couldn’t and, while about a dozen junior meetings were staged, that was the last that Barrow ever saw of speedway.

 

Birmingham

Speedway in Birmingham always had a chequered history but it looked like it had come to an end when owners Ladbrokes sold the stadium for redevelopment at the end of 1983. However the Wheels Project at Bordesley Green offered the chance for the sport to continue. Described as a community based initiative to encourage locals to take part in various wheeled activities. The facilities were decidedly spartan but the track seemed well designed though it was subject to extensive use by stock cars. A few open licence meetings were run in the autumn of 1984 – a four team event and a couple of challenges against Oxford and Cradley – and these were enough to persuade the BSPA to admit them to the National League in 1985. While the Brummies managed a couple of seasons, the lack of amenities and poor access deterred crowds and they failed to reopen for 1987, and it would be a further 20 years before the sport returned to the city.

 

Workington

Workington went into a downward spiral in the late 70s, falling from the glory days of the mid 70s to scraping to field a competitive team in the early 80s when they finished bottom of the league with just two wins in 1980. Derwent Park closed its doors at the end of 1981 but in 1985 there was a season of a dozen junior meeting. However there was no racing the following year and, while beleaguered Glasgow decamped there in 1987, that didn’t end well for the Tigers who were expelled from the league.