Post by coombes on Apr 2, 2018 9:25:55 GMT 1
Coming up to fiftieth anniversary of our last, and most traumatic, season at our beloved White City
New promoter Les Whaley was fairly relaxed about Charlie Monk getting his requested transfer , saying that an appropriate replacement would be allocated – some hope! He was obviously unaware of the problems of enticing any riders north of the border, never mind top class heatleaders. Jim Airey, who was locked in a bitter dispute with Wolves, was allocated as a replacement for Monk. On hearing of the proposal, he suddenly decided that Monmore Green was not such a bad place after all! I have always felt that the next move was highly cynical. Wally Mawdsley, the Exeter promoter, was on the Management Committee. He surely knew that Malmquist, like the previous year, would be working on a contract with the Swedish government until mid June and consequently would be unable to ride in Britain until then. With time pressing on, Whaley took matters into his own hands and secured the services of Lars Jansson, the younger brother of World number two and former Monarch, Bengt - a promising rider, but hardly a ready made replacement for a rider who had finished second in the British League averages the previous year. With Oyvind Berg replacing Maury Mattingley our team was woefully understrength as the table of averages, pu lished in the Speedway Star, shows - and that assumed Jansson would achieve Malmquists average of over 8.
Thank God for Jim McMillan's meteoric rise. If not for that we would have sunk without trace.
Cradley 49.44
Belle Vue 49.06
Swindon 48.17
Coventry 48.04
Newport 48.00
West Ham 47.93
Wolves 47.84
Sheffield 47.83
Wimbledon 47.57
Halifax 47.30
Exeter 47.16
Hackney 47.05
Newcastle 47.04
Coatbridge 46.78
Poole 46.27
Leicester 46.15
K Lynn 46.11
Oxford 45.92
Glasgow 41.81
New promoter Les Whaley was fairly relaxed about Charlie Monk getting his requested transfer , saying that an appropriate replacement would be allocated – some hope! He was obviously unaware of the problems of enticing any riders north of the border, never mind top class heatleaders. Jim Airey, who was locked in a bitter dispute with Wolves, was allocated as a replacement for Monk. On hearing of the proposal, he suddenly decided that Monmore Green was not such a bad place after all! I have always felt that the next move was highly cynical. Wally Mawdsley, the Exeter promoter, was on the Management Committee. He surely knew that Malmquist, like the previous year, would be working on a contract with the Swedish government until mid June and consequently would be unable to ride in Britain until then. With time pressing on, Whaley took matters into his own hands and secured the services of Lars Jansson, the younger brother of World number two and former Monarch, Bengt - a promising rider, but hardly a ready made replacement for a rider who had finished second in the British League averages the previous year. With Oyvind Berg replacing Maury Mattingley our team was woefully understrength as the table of averages, pu lished in the Speedway Star, shows - and that assumed Jansson would achieve Malmquists average of over 8.
Thank God for Jim McMillan's meteoric rise. If not for that we would have sunk without trace.
Cradley 49.44
Belle Vue 49.06
Swindon 48.17
Coventry 48.04
Newport 48.00
West Ham 47.93
Wolves 47.84
Sheffield 47.83
Wimbledon 47.57
Halifax 47.30
Exeter 47.16
Hackney 47.05
Newcastle 47.04
Coatbridge 46.78
Poole 46.27
Leicester 46.15
K Lynn 46.11
Oxford 45.92
Glasgow 41.81