Post by PLUSTAR on Jun 5, 2010 17:12:13 GMT 1
« on: December 25, 2009, 12:52:32 PM »
QUESTIONS FROM JIM NEIL
Q ONE OF MY GREATEST MEMORIES OF YOUR CAREER WAS WHEN YOU RACED AT THE GREAT HYDE ROAD TRACK IN TH BLRC IN OCTOBER 1971 AND AMONGST A THRONG AF FABULOUS RIDERS YOU WERE PLACED 3RD WHAT WAS YOUR RECOLLECTIONS OF THAT NIGHT
JM For me that was one of my highlights but I remember there was an astonishing amount of
Glasgow fans there that night and they drowned out all the rest of the supporters there.
Q HYDE ROAD WAS UNDOUDTEDLY MY FAVOURITE EVER TRACK AS A
SPECTATOR. WHAT WAS YOURS AS A RIDER
JM I always rated the Hyde Road track it was big and fast and a pretty fair track to race on.
Q WHAT WAS THE HIGHEST EVER AVERAGETHAT YOU ATTAINED, I AM PRETTY
CERTAIN THAT I REMEMBER YOU GETTING TO AN ASTONISHING 10.5 AT ONE
POINT IN THE EARLY SEVENTIES .IT HAS TO BE REMEMBERED THAT
WAS AT A TIME WHEN THE LEAGUE HAD A GOOD FEW FANTASTIC RIDERS
WHOM YOU WOULD HAVE HAD TO COMPETE
JM I am pretty sure I had a 10.26 average but as you say there were some real good riders
about in those days.
Q AROUND ABOUT THE TIME,I THINK YOU BROKE YOUR LEG WHILST RIDING IN
SWEDEN.HOW BADLY DID THAT INJURY AFFECT YOU AND HOW QUICKLY DID
YOU MANAGE TO RECOVER
JM I broke it 04/10/70 and was racing again at the end of November in Australia.
Q WHEN YOU MOVED AWAY FROM GLASGOW TO HULL, DO YOU THINK THAT THE
TIME WAS PROBABLY RIGHT FOR YOU TO GO ON TO PASTURES NEW.
JM Yes I needed a new challenge to get me motivated again.
Q HOW MUCH WAS A INFLUENCE WERE YOUR UNCLES IN YOUR SPEEDWAY
EDUCATION.
JM They both helped me a great deal specially when I was starting up and having watched
them both at grasstrack and speedway you can learn a lot just by watching.
Q AS I SAID EARLIER ,IN 70S HAD MORE THAN ITS FAIR SHARE OF GREAT RIDERS ,
WHO WOULD YOU RATE AT THE TOP OF THE TREE AT THAT PARTICULAR TIME
JM Ivan Mauger,Barry Briggs,Ove Fundin and of course Charlie.
Q YOU TRAVELLED TO OZ WITH THE LIONS . DO YOU HAVE ANY TALES TO TELL
ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE.
JM I would need a whole page just to tell you some of them. It was a tremendous experience
just to be there Most of the tracks were huge and you went a lot faster than you do in this
country, but the riders who were there helped me gain a lot of track knowledge and also
how to look after my engines better.
QUESTIONS BY LEX
Q YOU RACED FOR GLASGOW AT HAMPDEN AND BLANTYRE WHICH TRACK WAS
THE BEST
JM Well for me it had to be Hampden it was big and fast and I think I still hold the track record
there where as Blantyre was a small trick track and you had a lot of home track advantage.
Q WHICH PROMOTER DID YOU GET ON WITH THE BEST.
JM Trevor Redmond was a great help to me in giving advice on what to do on the track in the
white city days.
Q WHAT WOULD YOU PREFER IN TO-DAYS SPEEDWAY RACING-MANAGING
JM I would like to be able to still race.
Q DO YOU THINK ALL TRACKS SHOULD BE FITTED WITH AIR-FENCES
JM Undoubtably they are a tremendous safety feature.
Q ARE THE BIKES FASTER TODAY THEN WHEN YOU RACED
JM The bikes are totally different than in my day they are faster to the first corner but the top
speed is probably the same.
Q DO YOU THINK SCOTLAND WILL EVER HAVE A TEAM AGAIN/ OR WILL WE JUST
HAVE TO SUPPORT GB TEAM WITHOUT ANY SCOTTISH RIDERS IN IT.
JM Well that is a question who knows in speedway we might yet get a crop of riders who can
go to the top but until then we must support team GB.
QUESTION BY BTL
Q AS A UP A COMING RESERVE IN 1967 HOW DID YOU FEEL TO STEP INTO CHARLIE
MONK SHOES.
JM when I first started to watch speedway at Glasgow in the sixties Charlie was one of my big
Hero’s but I got to know him a little when I worked in the pits on brother Bills and willies
bikes but when I started to race it was a daunting task to partner him in the early days.
QUESTIONS BY DJW
Q THE NL PAIRS FINAL IN 1983, HOW SICK WERE YOU AFTER THE FINAL ,WHEN IT
LOOKED YOUD WON IT FOR GLASGOW.
JM It was totally a devastating blow to have an engine failure at that stage in the final.
Q ANY TRUTH IN THE RUMOUR THAT IT WAS CHARLIE MCKINNAS BIKE YOU
RACED IN THE FINAL
JM No I was on my own bike.
Q WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST ACHIVEMENT , FINISHING THIRD IN THE BLRC OR
MAKINGTHE WORLD FINAL AS RESERVE.
JM They were both big highlights in my career for different reasons Just to get to a world
final is a hard task with all the rounds you have to go through then there is the big day
and you are racing in front of the biggest crowd you have ever seen it was quite
frightening to start with but once you get a race you forget about the crowd. The BLRC is
different as you work towards it all season and it goes on your average so you have all
the best riders there from all over so that is not easy either.
QUESTIONS BY HERBIE
Q YOU WERE A REGULAR GB TOURER TO AUSTRALIA FOR A NUMBER OF
SEASONS ,WHAT WERE THE PLUSES IN GOING DOWN UNDER EVER WINTER
,WERE THERE ANY MINUSES.
JM The tips to Australia were great it meant you raced all year round and when you came
back in March you had a head start on most riders as they had not ridden all winter, I can
not think of any minuses.
Q YOU WENT FROM A 4POINTER AT THE END OF 1967 TO A NO 1 HEAT LEADER
WITH A 8 POINT AVERAGE FROM THE VERY START OF THE FOLLOWIN SEASON,
WAS THER ANYTHING YOU COULD PUT YOUR FINGER ON WHICH HELPED PLAIN
SUCH DRAMATIC LEAP IN YOU FORTUNES AT THE TIME.
JM Yes I bought a brand new ESO bike from Briggo, I had a shot of Brian Whalley’s at
Swindon on the last meeting of the year before and I realised that this was what I was
looking for so I ordered it there and then from Briggo.
QUESTIONS BY COOMBEES
Q WHAT DO REMEMBER ABOUT COWENBEATH TRAINING SCHOOL
JM It was quite a big track not that wide but it was great just to get some training done in the
winter as there was nowhere else to go.
Q GIVE US A RUNDOWN ON ALL THE TIGER TRACKS ,WHICH WERE EASY TO RIDE AND WHICH WAS YOUR FAVOURITE
JM I started at white city which had the longest straights in the league the first bend was egg
shaped and tight and the other was a big sweeping bend as every body will remember
Charlie Monk sweeping round the outside of many a rider but it was a good track to ride.
Hampden was a bigger faster track but I enjoyed racing there.
Coatbridge was banked at both corners a bit smaller but nevertheless a good track to
race on
Blantyre was a small trick track but it did give the home riders a tremendous home
advantage.
Q SIMILARLY WITH THE TIGERS PROMOTERS HOW DID THEIR APPROACH DIFFER
AND WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE
JM Trevor Redmond was good in helping me on the track but Ian Hoskins was probably the
best at promoting the sport.
Q WHEN YOU CAME BACK TO TIGERS AT BLANTYRE , WERE YOU ALREADY A
BERWICK ASSET.
JM No and I am not sure why the tigers did not want me the following year?
Q I ALWAYS ENJOY GOING TO THE COUNTY GROUND AT EXETER BUT AS A RIDER
WHAT DID YOU THINK OFF IT.
JM It was a daunting place to go to at the start but once you knew how to ride it I used to love
going there.
Q WAS CHARLIE MONK AS GRUFF WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM AS HESEEMED TO
BE WITH SUPPORTERS -PARTICULAR IN THE EARLY YEARS.
JM As a mechanic in the pits in the early days I was one of the few people to be able to get his
autograph you had to ask when he was not doing anything else. But as I got to know him
better when I was racing he was really a great friend to get on with.
Q WHO WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TEAM-PARTNER AND WHY
JM George Hunter we just seemed to have an understanding if I went one way George would
go the other and it worked both ways so we always knew where to look for each other.
Q WHAT WAS THE BEST AWAY TRACK FOR YOU
JM I liked most tracks Sheffield and Halifax were good but probably my favourite was Hyde
Road
Q DO YOU WISH YOU HADN’T GONE TO AUSTRALIA IN 70-71 AFTER BREAKING YOUR
LEG IN SWEDEN
JM I sometime think I should not have gone but I think the warm weather helped the healing
process.
Q YOUR METEORIC RISE TO NO 1 IN 1968 IS PART OF TIGERS FOLK LORE - WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE IT TO.
JM I think it helped that my brother bill and my uncles Willie and Dougie raced both on the
grass and on the speedway I think you soak up a lot of what goes on in racing and you
have that knowledge in your head so when I started I had already got the racing
knowledge in me.
IN CLOSING CAN I THANK YOU FOR THE EFFORT YOU PUT IN FOR THE STRIPES
HOME OR AWAY ,YOU NEVER GAVE UP .
QUESTIONS BY GRASSCUTTER
Q YOU HAVE A BIG JOB IN SPEEDWAY NOW ARE YOU ENJOYING IT
JM Yes being a member of the FIM in the track racing commission and also on the
International technical panel It really is a great honour to be there and I really enjoy still
travelling to a lot of different countries to watch speedway, Ice racing and long track to
check that the technical people are doing there jobs properly.
Q YOU RACED WITH A LOAD OF CLUBS WHICH CLUB HAD THE BEST TRACK
SURFACE
JM Wolverhampton and Hyde Road.
Q YOU RACED AROUND THE WORLD FOR SCOTLAND HOW DID YOU ENJOY RIDING
WITH GEORGE HUNTER
JM George and I really had a great understanding when we raced and it was a pleasure to
ride with him for Scotland on so many occasions.
QUESTIONS FROM MERV JANKE FAN CLUB
Q YOU HAD A SPELL AS TEAM-MANAGER AT GLASGOW , DID YOU ENJOY THAT
JM Yes it was really good but sometimes a bit frustrating.
Q WHAT WOULD YOUR ALL TIME SEVEN FROM HEAVEN
JM Ivan Mauger, Briggo, Ander Michanek, Ove Fundin, Charlie Monk, Ole Olson and Bruce
Penhall.
Q DURING YOUR ERA YOU CAME UP AGAINST MOST OF SPEEDWAYS BEST EVER
RIDERS , WHO DO YOU THINK WAS THE GREATEST OFF THEM ALL
JM It changed over the years as riders came and went But Ivan for his gating and Briggo for
his overtaking are a couple of good ones.
Q WHAT WAS THE WORST INJURY IN YOUR CAREER
JM Breaking my ankle while touring Sweden with the British team in 1970 after scoring 15
points the meeting before which was the first time Britain had won a test match in
Sweden.
Q WERE THOSE AUSSIES WINTER TOURS OF THE 70 S AS ENJOYABLE AS THEY
LOOKED ON PC’S OLD TIME CINE FILM
JM Yes they were probably better than it looked.
Q WHO WAS THE BEST PROMOTER YOU RACED FOR
JM Probably Ian Hoskins was the best at promoting speedway
Q YOU MANAGED A COUPLE OFF RIDES AS RESERVE AT THE 1972 WORLD FINAL,
WHAT WAS THE WEMBLY WORLD FINAL EXPERIENCE LIKE.
JM It really was an experience I will never forget it is the biggest crowd you have ever raced
in front of and the atmosphere is electric
Q YOUR FIRST EXPERIENCE OF THE SECOND TIER CAME ABOUT WHEN YOU
RETURNED TO THE TIGERS FOR THE 1983 SEASON, DID YOU ENJOY YOUR
YEAR AT CRAIGHEAD PARK.
JM Yes it was a bit of a challenge as I was going to some tracks that I had never raced on
before so it was really good for me.
Q DO YOU REMEMBER MUCH ABOUT THAT 1983 NL PAIRS FINAL AT HYDE ROAD ,
WHEN YOU HAD THE WINNING LINE IN SIGHT ONLY FOR YOUR BIKE TO PACK IN
STEVIE LAWSON HAS SAID HE WAS ALREADY CELEBRATING AS THOUGHT IT
WAS IN THE BAG.
JM Yes sometimes speedway can do that to you after doing all the hard work for the electric
box to pack up in sight of the line is a devasting blow.
Q CAN YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME YOU GAVE SPEEDWAY A GO AND HOW IT
CAME ABOUT.
JM Yes I was at my uncle Dougies (Templeton) at the new year and I was sitting on his bike in
the workshop and he said right lets get you up to Cowdenbeath and see if you can do it for real and that is how I started.