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Post by Administrator on Sept 12, 2015 21:39:36 GMT
ISSUE 69 (JULY - AUGUST 2015) OUT NOW! If you haven't already got your copy of issue 69, here's a glimpse of what you can expect to find. To order this issue or subscribe for as little as £22 a year (UK), phone Susie on 01708 734 502 or visit www.retro-speedway.com LANCE KING INTERVIEW When Lance King suffered a neck injury in the same race that ended the career – and almost the life – of his friend and former team-mate, and then had another fortunate escape in Australia a few months later, he knew it was time to quit speedway. The Californian reveals to Rob Peasley the background to all the major moments and decisions that saw him move British League clubs (Cradley Heath, Bradford, King's Lynn) and go so close to fulfilling his World Championship dream. PLACES & FACES with MARTIN ROGERS In the first of his series of stopping off points across the landscape of British speedway, our new columnist begins his long tour not too far from his Essex roots, in East Anglia, at Boston, Peterborough and Norwich . . . BRYAN SEERY INTERVIEW Bryan Seery managed the BSPA office for four years during the sport's last golden era. Tony McDonald went to rural Kent for a rare interview with the sport's first leading statistician and the man behind one of the most popular, important and enduring columns to feature in Speedway Star. LOU SANSOM INTERVIEW Lou Sansom almost ever joined Workington, where he became a legend, and the woman he met my chance in a pub knew nothing about him or speedway. Andrew Skeels reveals how a fateful meeting changed both their lives. KING'S LYNN: 50 MEMORABLE MOMENTS As the Norfolk venue celebrates its 50th season of speedway, we look back at how one of the greatest racetracks in the world evolved from little acorns in a near-deserted field and produced all-time Stars favourites such as Terry Betts, Malcolm Simmons, Ian Turner, Michael Lee and Henka Gustafssson. STEVE BASTABLE INTERVIEW Stevie Bastable had his fair share of clubs in a good career that spanned 15 seasons. The 1981 British Champion began and ended his career with Stoke and in between he had spells with five other teams: Cradley Heath, Birmingham, Swindon, Coventry and Bradford. But as Backtrack discovered, 'Stevie B' would happily have spent all his racing days in the green-and-white of the Heathens, where his father Harry had ridden in the 50s and 60s. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO . . . GEOFF CABLE? Martin Neal tracked down once promising Hackney junior Geoff Cable, who also had loan spells with Rye House and Crayford, but who now teaches photography and numbers calendars for some of the world’s most famous classic car marques and being the official snapper on the X Factor Live tour among his high profile commissions. ON TWO MINUTES WITH . . . JOHN ROBSON We catch up with former Sunderland and Teesside rider John Robson, who spent eight seasons in the 70s racing for two North-East clubs. OPENING TIMES - Bristol, 1977 Bristol was all too briefly one of the best supported venues of the sport's last golden era. We recall that eventful first night in 1977 when a huge crowd packed Eastville Stadium and interview former Bulldogs No.1 Phil Crump and Peter Thorogood, who had the unenviable task of preparing the much-maligned racing surface. STEEN MASTRUP INTERVIEW Steen Mastrup knows he was not among the most dynamic Danes to grace the BL scene but as Vitek Formanek reports, he still has fond memories of his time in England with Swindon and Leicester. PETR VANDIREK INTERVIEW The 1989 Czech champion Petr Vandirek tells VITEK FORMANEK about his acrimonious exit from Red Star Prague and why he loved Exeter. WHAT'S IN A NAME? Doug Nicolson, known as 'Nicky' during his announcing days at Glasgow’s Blantyre tracks, looks at riders' nicknames and asks: What's in a name?' AUSSIE LEGENDS John Chaplin reviews Peter White’s latest book, 100 More Aussie Legends Of the Speedways, featuring former British-based riders Steve Regeling, Troy Butler, Mick McKeon, Dave Mills and Glenn Doyle.
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Post by Administrator on Sept 19, 2018 15:34:44 GMT
ISSUE 88 September-October 2018 of Backtrack is out now and includes the following:
RONNIE MOORE – HUMBLE HERO MARTIN ROGERS leads the tributes to one of the greatest, a track giant always spoken about in reverential terms by his peers and supporters alike. The double World Champion and Wimbledon legend passed away in his native Christchurch, New Zealand on August 18, 2018, aged 85. Martin writes: "Statistics can be twisted and turned to prove or disprove anything, armchair pundits can believe whatever they want, but if you take the word of Ivan Mauger and Briggo, who won 10 individual world titles between them, there was nobody like Ronnie."
BOB DUGARD – MISTER EASTBOURNE Bobby Dugard, the man who kept Eastbourne Eagles flying higher and longer than anyone, died, aged 76, on August 5, 2018. Former Eastbourne co-promoter and team manager RUSSELL LANNING pays tribute to his old mentor and inspiration and looks back on four meetings that encapsulate his memories of Bob. Readers also express their views on the irreplaceable Arlington legend.
Russ writes: "Underneath that hard-as-nails exterior was the softest, most gentle generous guy who was happiest sitting in the background watching ‘his’ team take the plaudits. His passion to create successful sides also gelled with his love of producing a track surface that the majority of the current British circuit curators could only dream about. He knew every inch of every track he worked on."
THAT WAS THE YEAR: 1981 Looking back on another momentous year with ANDREW SKEELS, who recalls the sudden decline in England's fortunes and the rise of the Danes, dominant Bruce Penhall in the last Wembley final, first championships for Cradley Heath and Middlesbrough, and the closure of Hull . . .
REG LUCKHURST – Exclusive interview PHIL CHARD talks to a seasoned performer with Wimbledon, West Ham and Canterbury who was a hit on and off track. Reg reflects on his successful time as a recording artist, signing tunes such as Your Cheatin' Heart and In The Misty Moonlight.
Reg says: “They promoted it on Housewives’ Choice (a popular BBC radio record request programme), Radio Luxembourg and Radio London and Colin asked: ‘Is there any other way you can promote it?’
“I said: ‘if you take a record to every speedway track in the country and say I’ll sign the disc for everyone who buys it at the speedway track, that’ll do for a start', and it did go down well.
“We sold 11,000 records in a week. Decca couldn’t believe it. They hadn’t heard of anyone like me making a record for the first time selling 11,000 that fast before.
“We got 6d a record (37 pence today) and the Decca sales director said: ‘Would you like to record another one?’" 'Lucky' also talks about building his own speedway practice track in his native Kent, shares his thoughts on the racing careers of his sons Jamie and Jeremy, and why he regretted managing Canterbury.
CREWE: 50 Memorable Moments Speedway ran at Crewe for only eight seasons, from 1969 to 1976, but as ROB PEASLEY recalls, Kings were crowned league and cup double winners and featured second tier stars including Geoff Curtis, record-breaking Barry Meeks, Phil Crump, John Jackson, Dave Morton, Garry Flood, Jack Millen
TONY LOMAS – Exclusive interview (Part 2) After earning international acclaim with his local club Coventry and winning the BL title with Exeter, Tony Lomas lost enthusiasm for the sport and ended up walking out on Leicester. But as he explains in the second and final part of his candid interview with TONY McDONALD, a spell back in the second tier with Stoke rekindled the flame before safety concerns convinced him to retire.
Tony also explains the 'secrets' of his lightning gating technique, the effect the death of former team-mate Kevin Holden had on the Lomas family, how and why the Midland Riders' Championship was "fixed".
Tony says: "I went to one or two of the other riders and told them: 'It's a death-trap and I'm not going to ride but if you choose to do so, it's up to you'. They said: 'Oh yeah, we'll back you up' but, of course, as it got closer to the start of the meeting, they were all putting their leathers on.
"I had my leathers on too but then I thought, 'do I bloody well need this?'. I said to Kevin Ellery, my mechanic – he was a bricklayer from Rugby and in the close season I worked for him as a hod carrier: 'Go and get my bikes, we're going home'.
"My leathers were down around my knees when Ron Wilson came rushing into the dressing room and said: 'What the hell are you doing?' I replied: 'I'm getting changed and then going home – I'm finished'.
"I was just about to drive out of the car park when I met Ivan (Mauger), who was just arriving – Exeter were on second in the meeting. I told him what had happened and that I'd had enough, and he said: 'If you feel like that, it's probably the best thing to do, otherwise you could hurt yourself'."
Here come the . . . CZECHS In the last of the series, MARTIN ROGERS looks back at the impact of the bouncing Czechs who invariably delivered high thrills and spills, if not always best results. Featured riders include Antonin Kasper, Jiri Stancl, Vaclav and Jan Verner, Zdenek Kudrna, Ales Dryml and Milan Spinka.
Readers also remember their favourite Czechs, with mentions for Emil Sova and the touring team that rocked Romford.
BEST & WORST DOUG NICOLSON trawled the record books for biggest wins and losses in the British League and National League years (1970-90) and figured out that Happiness Wasn't Always 40-38.
THE WRITE STUFF – JOHN CHAPLIN TONY McDONALD talks to the prolific author, former magazine editor and publisher and, at 84, still a weekly columnist who made it his mission to preserve speedway's history.
Defending himself over his controversial Ivan Mauger book, John says: "I sent a complete disk of the narrative of that book to Ivan well in advance of publication, so he had ample time to object to anything I had written. He didn’t. And I respected him even more for that.
"Incidentally, I have had a good relationship with the Mauger family for many years and still do. And I regret not a single word that appears in that book and there has never been any adverse criticism of the content. There is far more positive comment favourable to Ivan than there is negative. It is a book I am intensely proud of."
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO . . . STUART ULPH MARTIN NEAL catches up with the former Sheffield and Doncaster prospect whose short-lived racing career was effectively ended by a crash.
Stuart says: “I once rode at Belle Vue in a bloody thunderstorm! It was tanking it down and by the time you’d got 100 yards out of the gate you couldn’t see where you were going and you had to take your goggles off. We didn’t worry about that, though – we weren’t bothered about getting our fancy leathers dirty!
“You were all mates back then. If your bike broke down, before the two minutes were up there was somebody out there saying: ‘Here, take my bike’. I used to carry spare sprockets and if anyone wanted to borrow one, I used to lend them it. Now they hardly even talk to each other."
To order this single issue or subscribe for £22 a year in UK, please visit www.retro-speedway.com
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