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Post by Administrator on Jan 24, 2009 12:50:48 GMT
Opened May 19 1928. End of 1933 the team moved to New Cross. Open meetings staged until 1938. Entered Division Two April 1939. Closed June 1939. Open meetings 1940. Track closed late 1940. Address: Crystal Palace Exhibition Grounds, Sydenham, London, SE26.
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Post by thebaldeagle1932 on Jan 24, 2009 19:17:17 GMT
Are there any records available of the 1940s wartime meetings? What riders were available for them and were any affected by air raids?
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Post by Administrator on Jan 27, 2009 10:01:03 GMT
HARRY Shepherd was the Crystal Palace, New Cross and Bristol rider who in 1933 was involved in designing and building the sport’s first tapes starting gate. Seemingly, off-track he was also something of an inventor and designed one of the first tea-making machines. Basically, it was an electric kettle with a teapot and alarm clock a attachments. When the water transfered from the kettle to the teapot, the alarm went off. Apparently, the alarm was so loud that neighbours either side of the Shepherds’ home often complained about the noise.
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Post by Administrator on Jan 30, 2009 22:01:56 GMT
CRYSTAL PALACE:::::::
1927 path racing Start by John Hyam
Fred Mockford and Cecil Smith were the first to stage any form of circuit racing at Crystal Palace when they introduced path racing in 1927. The first meeting was on May 21 and featured 10 races over a course of loose surface straights and tarred bends, mainly in an area near to the present Crystal Park Maze. It provided some spectacular racing for an estimated 10,000 crowd who paid a shilling each (5p in modern currency) with riders racing in 175cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc solo races and also races for sidecars. The day’s main event was the Crystal Palace Grand Prix in which one of the riders was Bill Bragg from nearby Brixton. Bragg later became a speedway rider and is credited with making a valuable contribuition to the development of the first JAP speedway bike engines. In the race he had a series of hair-raiding escapades including narrowly missing an oak tree, just avoiding a group of interested spectators and almost running into one of the park lakes. But at the finish, Bragg was still on his bike and finished third behind L Bellamy and G Hole. The race attracted 15 starters, considerably better than the main sidecar event which saw just three outfits in action. As a speedway rider, Bragg was in the Stamford Bridge side which won the initial Southern League championship in 1929. His team mates included Gus Kuhn, Wal Phillips and Arthur Warwick. For subsequent Crystal Palace path racing meetings, Mockford and Smith, by then promoting as London Motor Sports Ltd, introduced improvements to the track and to spectator safety. But any further development of the sport faded as Australian-style dirt track racing arrived at High Beech in February 1928. After its initial spectacular debut at High Beech, Mockford and Smith moved to introduce that form of racing on an oval track inside the site of the Palace’s old FA Cup Final football stadium. Other path racers who became better known in other forms of motorcycle racing included Harold Daniel from nearby Forest Hill, who became a leading Isle of Man TT and road racing star. Other familiar starters were Gus Kuhn, Triss Sharp, Joe Francis, Ted Pink, Ed Cornwell and Norman Cottee. Despite the arrival of speedway at Crystal Palace in 1928, path racing took place until the start of 1934 and was generally well supported.
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Post by Administrator on Jan 30, 2009 22:09:49 GMT
The 1939 National League short-lived Division Two team:
After the 1933 move to New Cross by the team, league speedway racing returned when Crystal Palace opened in National League Division Two in April 1939 but dropped out midway through the season. Team: Keith Harvey, Bob Lovell, Les Gregory, Ron Clarke, Ernie Pawson, Jeff Lloyd, Archie Windmill, Lloyd Goffe, George Gower, Mick Mitchell, Les Trim, Vic Weir, Jack Bibby, George Dykes, Charlie Appleby, Eddie Barker. The experienced Harvey had previously been with Stamford Bridge, Wimbledon, West Ham and Birmingham. When the Palace closed, he rode for Norwich in the few months leading to the start of World War Two in September. Appleby and Barker were Canadians. Appleby served with the RCAF during world war two and rode for Birmingham in 1946 but died in a track accident at Newcastle in October that year. Barker joined Palace after two seasons at West Ham but rode only in one second-half at the Palace before the track closed in June. A former all-in wrestler, Barker returned to Britain in this sport in 1946 and 1947. After the war, Goffe and Windmill were prominent members of the 1946 Wimbledon team.
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Post by thebaldeagle1932 on Jan 30, 2009 22:26:29 GMT
In 1947, there was an unsuccessful bid to stage speedway at Selhurst Park - the home of Crystal Palace football club. The speedway team was accepted for Division Three but subsequent protests by local residents about noise scuppered the project.
Then in 1948 and 1950 Croydon Speedways Ltd tried to get permission to stage speedway at the old track but each time local residents protests to the council about noise levels caused these applications to also fall through.
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Post by tungate on Jan 31, 2009 1:26:36 GMT
The Palace 1939 season came to an end after they rode At Norwich on a Saturday night when the promotion of Crystal Palace "pulled the plug"
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Post by Administrator on Jan 31, 2009 11:39:37 GMT
TWO war time speedway meetings took place at Crystal Palace in 1940, the last time racing took place there.
On Easter Sunday, March 25, Arthur Atkinson (West Ham) won the Holiday Cup, heading Colin Watson (West Ham) and Keith Harvey (Norwich) in a top scorers final. The known points scorers (each had three qualifying rides) were: Harvey 9, Phil Bishop (West Ham) 7, Watson 7, Atkinson 6, Wally Lloyd (Harringay) 6. Other starters were Harold 'Tiger' Stevenson (West Ham) and Arch Windmill (Hackney). In heat two, Harvey set the meeting's fastest time and a new track record of 79.8 seconds.
In the programme notes, spectators were advised: "In the event of an air raid warning, all visitors living within five minutes walk are advised to go home." They were also told that air raid shelters were provided "under the centre steps."
On May 13, another Holiday Cup meeting was held. This was over 12 heats with two semi-finals and a final. The qualifying scorers were: Phil 'Tiger' Hart (Hackney) 9, Archie Windmill (Hackney) 8, Bill Longley (New Cross) 7, Ron Johnson (New Cross) 6, Mick Mitchell (Crystal Palace) 5, Charlie Page (Hackney) 5, Fred 'Friar' Tuck 5, Ken Brett (West Ham) 4, George Craig (Bristol) 4, Ron Howes (West Ham) 3, Bob Hall 2, George Gower (Crystal Palace) 2, Vic Weir (Norwich) 2, Les Trim (Crystal Palace) 1, Alex Gray (Wimbledon) 1, Keith Harvey (Norwich) 0. FINAL: Hart, Windmill, Tuck, Johnson (no finish).
Programme changes were Langley (not Longley) for Charlie Appleby (Crystal Palace), Page replaced Wally Lloyd (Harringay), Gower replaced Jeff Lloyd (Newcastle).
The 'South London Press' (May 15 1940) reported that New Cross and Australia star Ron Johnson was leading the final by five yards when he ground to a halt with a puncture. This let Phil 'Tiger' Hart clear to win by two lengths from Arch Windmill. An early posting lists Fred 'Friar' Tuck as the other finalist - it would be interesting to know if he finished the race".
There remains one major query on the qualifying scorers which were not given in the South London Press. It concerns Bill Longley who on a scribbled list of scorers is actually given as LANGLEY. Indications are that it could not have been Longley as West Ham were staging a meeting at the same time and Longley was racing there. One possibility is that as Phil Hart was at Crystal Palace, it have been his pal the Australian rider Steve Langton? Who knows? More importantly - will we ever know?
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Post by tungate on Feb 1, 2009 2:01:29 GMT
Also Vic Weir was never associated with Norwich Stars as far as I have been able to trace
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Post by mrsgustix on Feb 1, 2009 12:15:19 GMT
This is a 1948 comment on the start of speedway at Crystal Palace in 1928. It is from the New Cross programme on Wednesday 19 May 1948. The meeting was an indivudual event to mark 21 years of speedway. I am certain that woman rider Fay Taylour was a guest of honour at the meeting. This is what the comment said:
"Our first intimation that there was a sport called "dirt track" racing came from some articles written by a lionel Wills, from Australia. At first we were not very much interested, but a little later Wills returned to the country and was introduced to us. "He informed us that an Australian syndicate was coming to this country to inaugurate the sport, and so he fired us with his own enthusiasm that we decided to have a go ourselves, and we entered into a suitable arrangement with Sir Henry Buckland, of the Crystal Palace, for the laying of a track on the old football cup final ground."
This quote is the start of a five-page article on the first 21 years of speedway, with a bias towards Crystal Palace/New Cross. Neither of the New Cross promoters, Cecil Smith or Fred Mockford, are mentioned in the article, but this comment can be attributed to them.
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Post by Administrator on Feb 1, 2009 18:08:10 GMT
Also Vic Weir was never associated with Norwich Stars as far as I have been able to trace You are correct. I took a look on the Speedway Researcher and Vic Weir was a leading points scorer in 1939 for Crystal Palace until their closure. I believe he died on active service during World War Two.
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Post by mrsgustix on Feb 8, 2009 8:18:23 GMT
In 1930, the Crystal Palace Speedway Supporters Club had a reported 20,000 members.
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