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Post by crossedhammers on Jun 4, 2009 9:08:49 GMT
The Laurels was for many years an event equivalent to the London Riders Championship. Sadly its reputation became a little tarnished when revived in Wimbledon's Conference League era from 2002-2005. I'm trying to find a winners list but it's difficult. The only winner I'm fairly certain of is 1939 when Wilbur Lamoreaux (USA) was the champion - or is that just a hazy recollection on my part? The Laurels was introduced at Plough Lane by promoter Ronnie Greene in the late 1930s.
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Post by Administrator on Jun 4, 2009 16:04:47 GMT
A REPLY MADE ON THE BRITISH SPEEDWAY FORUM REQUESTING WINNERS DETAILS:
Robbie B Today, 01:56 PM Post #2 Group: Members Posts: 243 Joined: 7-May 03 From: UK OK Member No.: 929
The full list of Laurels winners are (riders in BOLD were Wimbledon riders at the time of winning the title)
1939 Wilbur Lamoreaux 1946 Tomy Price & Bob Wells (I don't know why there was joint winners, before I was born. Someone on the BSF might know) 1947 Vic Duggan 1948 Jack Parker 1949 - 1950 not held 1951 Aub Lawson 1952 Ronnie Moore 1953 Jack Young 1954 Ron How 1955 Ronnie Moore 1956 Ronnie Moore 1957 Per Olaf Soederman 1958 not held 1959 Ken McKinlay 1960 Ronnie Moore 1961 Barry Briggs 1962 Ove Fundin 1963 Barry Briggs 1964 Bjorn Knutsson 1965 Barry Briggs 1966 Nigel Boocock 1967 Ray Wilson 1968 Barry Briggs 1969 Trevor Hedge 1970 Ray Wilson 1971 Ole Olsen 1972 Ole Olsen 1973 Ole Olsen 1974 Dave Jessup 1975 Tommy Jansson 1976 Martin Ashby 1977 Colin Richardson 1978 John Davis 1979 Bruce Penhall 1980 Larry Ross 1981 John Davis 1982 Malcolmm Simmons 1983 Hans Nielsen 1984 not held 1985 Neil Middleditch 1986 Nigel Sparshott 1987 Dave Mullett 1988 Steve Schofield 1989 Todd Wiltshire 1990 not held 1991 Hans Nielsen 1992 - 2002 not held 2003 Wayne Barrett 2004 not held (rained off two times) 2005 Mark Burrows
I witnessed some great Laurels meeting in the past.
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Post by Administrator on Jun 4, 2009 16:29:41 GMT
The reason there were "two winners' in 1946 is because the event was a pairs meeting. These are the scorers as given on the respected Speedway Researcher website:
Saturday 20th July 1946 Wimbledon Stadium, London The Laurels Best Pairs WIMBLEDON:: Norman Parker 3 3 3 2 2= 13 Charlie Dugard 1 1 N 0 0 =2 Total 15 WIMBLEDON:: Lloyd Goffe 2 2 2 2’ 2= 10 Cyril Brine 0 1’ 1’ 3 1’=6 Total 16 WEMBLEY:: Tommy Price 3 3 3 3 3 15 Bob Wells 1 1 1 1 0= 4 Total 19 WIMBLEDON:: George Saunders 2 2 2 1 2 =9 Archie Windmill 0 0 N 0 1’ 1= 1 Total 10 WEST HAM:: Malcolm Craven 2 3 2 3 2= 12 Buck Whitby 0 1= 1 Total 13 NEW CROSS/WIMBLEDON:: Frank Lawrence 0 0 0 1 0= 1 Oliver Hart 3 2 3 3 3= 14 Total 15 Reserves at meeting::: Harry Saunders (res) 0 1 Peter Robinson (res) N 0 George Bason (res) N 0
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Post by mrsgustix on Jun 4, 2009 20:51:29 GMT
Are you sure that the John Davis successes in The Laurels happened when he was not a Wimbledon rider?
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Post by tungate on Jun 4, 2009 22:23:57 GMT
The 1947 Stenners gives the 1946 Laurels as a Best Pairs Event. 20 June 1946. Price & Wells 19, Goffe & Brine 15, N Parker & Dugard 15.It says the Laurels was the first Televised Speedway Meeting. It also states George Bason broke his left leg & Charlie Dugard escaped unhurt when they collided
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Post by tungate on Jun 4, 2009 22:38:08 GMT
1961 shown as B. Briggs from P. Craven in the Speedway Digest 1962
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Post by tungate on Jun 5, 2009 21:16:26 GMT
1946 being a Best Pairs event reminds me that a number of such open meetings took place in those days. Best Pairs meetings seem to be a thing of the past nowadays. Probably because team-riding is also a thing of the past. Most riders idea of team riding seems to be "all the blokes on the same bike" and riders of the Norman Parker standard do not exist today.
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Post by mrsgustix on Jun 6, 2009 7:29:24 GMT
1946 being a Best Pairs event reminds me that a number of such open meetings took place in those days. Best Pairs meetings seem to be a thing of the past nowadays. Probably because team-riding is also a thing of the past. Most riders idea of team riding seems to be "all the blokes on the same bike" and riders of the Norman Parker standard do not exist today. How very true. Best Pairs meetings were a great and exciting feature when I first went to speedway in the early 1960s.
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Post by tungate on Jun 6, 2009 12:10:42 GMT
The different Leagues used to run Best Pairs Events at times but the pairs are nowadays made up of the top two scorers, and they haven't ridden for the team concerned in some cases. This is not my idea of best pairs. A pair should at least have some experience of riding together to stand a chance of doing the job properly
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Post by tungate on Jun 6, 2009 16:58:16 GMT
1953 - Young (WH) 15, Biggs (Hgy) 14, Waterman (Hgy) 12, Bradley (Bristol) 11 Mardon (Wim) 9, Crutcher (Wem), French (Wem) & Hunt (Brum) 8 each, Lloyd (Harringay), Lawson (W H) & F Williams (Wem) 7 each, Sharples (B V) 4, Rigg (Brad) & R Moore (Wim) 3 each, P Moore (Wim) 2, Briggs (Wim) 0 (Acknowledgement to Stenners for scorers)
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