Miscellaneous

Mike took a party of riders to Rimini, Italy in 1966. If you have any details of this trip, please let me know
Update: George Winstanley says: This is an interesting one. Mike Parker took a few Newcastle riders to Rimini, to introduce the sport to Italy, in the summer of '66 when they came back they put shows on at different stadiums. the "cavalcade of thrills" included scrambles, midget cars and the ring of fire. I can remember vividly my dad (Jack Winstanley) practicing in our front yard (a farm) with the midget cars, and building a ramp for the ring of fire. He had just finished trying out the ramp, and was chatting to his mates about it, when I decided to have a go. I peddled my pushbike as fast as I could go, and just about managed to topple over the end of it, into a heap. oh, how brave we are when we are young

Courtesy of George Winstanley
This is daredevil Jack Winstanley who appears to be risking the Ring Of Fire with bare hands at Newcastle in 1966.

Early 1960's race jackets. George thinks the no 5 jacket was his dad's Jack Winstanley.

2 Australian sidecar units came over to the UK and here we see them at Brough Park during the 1960's. They are 1000cc Vincent's with chairs on the other side hence the opposite direction they are racing in. Can anyone advise anything about this? John

I remember being there that night but I don't know the names race times etc. 3 names suggested are Harry Denton, Len Bowes and Brian O'shea.

Update: I think the sidecars are Len Bowes & Harry Denton. They appeared at Norwich during that tour. Olle Nygren wanted to have a go in the chair at the Firs but the Meeting Controllers flatly refused to let him try it. Harry Denton later rode both Speedway and Sidecars at Kings Lynn. Bryan Tungate.

Hi John. Bryan Tungate is right. I can confirm that the rider on the outside is Harry Denton and the other rider is Len Bowes. The picture was taken at Newcastle in 1963, Brian O'Shea did not travel to the UK with Harry until 1965. Regards Joanne Denton

Hi John, Could one of the two Aussie outfits be Harold Hill who my late father raced against in 1963 at Brough park? My father Alan Hartshorn and his passenger Billy Brough who raced all types of sidecar racing (i.e scramble, grasstrack, sandracing) were north east scramble champions in 1963,1964 and 1965.The bike a 650cc triumph which ran on methanol was put together in three nights. They had three races against the Australians and won two out of the three. Regards Graeme (Photo of Alan and Billy at Brough Park is shown below)

The rider in the helmet is Brian O'Shea who rode in the UK with my dad in 1965. The man in the cap crouching on the left hand side is Aussie solo Rider Neville Slee who was riding in the UK at the time and passengered for Brian on some occasions. I don't know at which track it was taken and have no idea who all the other people are. Maybe someone can identify them for me. I presume they not Aussies.

Cheers Jo

So can anyone help Jo? email here

Update: Rider taking helmet off in background is Roy Trigg and Alex Ford team manager of Hackney Track is Rye House: (from Bob Andrews). The rider second from Right could be Malcolm Simmons and far right is John Mills (from Terry Stone)

Another of Jo's Photo's she knows who these are.

Hi John

This one is Harry and the swinger is Roy Trigg taken in 1963 at Rye House. Roy told me he chose to ride with Harry rather than Len Bowes because dad was the "old guy" and Roy believed he would take it steadier than Len. He was wrong of course! Dad did a wheel stand and nearly tossed Roy off. He hung on for grim death and it scared the living daylights out of him. Roy was later banned from swinging for Dad because it was considered too dangerous. The photo is from Roy's private album.

Cheers Jo

New Zealander Smokey Stratton was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, a free spirit forever looking for new challenges and new horizons. He left his homeland to race on the grass, dirt and concrete tracks in Australia at the age of nineteen in 1923, the following year he travelled to the USA to try his luck on the American tracks and returned to Australia later the same year. At this stage of his career he had a pair of Indians, one a 350cc and the other a 990cc. He survived an horrific crash at the Hamilton Speedway in Newcastle NSW, promoted incidentally by our old friend Johnny Hoskins. He recovered and resumed his career setting track records at a number of venues in Australia with the odd visit home to race in NZ. In 1926 it was back to the States to ride as a member of the official Indian Works team, with several meetings on the incredible board tracks at Altoona, Rockingham and Fresno. After that he returned to Australia but when Johnny Hoskins travelled to the UK in 1928 Smokey was a fellow passenger as the flood of Aussie riders began to make their way to Britain. He switched to Dirt Track Douglas bikes when he rode in the UK and in 1931 was a partner in the company that built the Sheffield Speedway at Owlerton. During his time in Britain he continued to look for new challenges and made several trips to the Continent to race. He made a brief visit to New Zealand in 1933 but it appears he never actually rode on a New Zealand speedway at any time in his career. In 1938 he was appointed Manager at Newcastle Speedway but was tragically killed in a car crash at Cockermouth when returning from a league match at Workington.

Read about Gordon the winner of the first race at Brough Park in 1929. The book is on sale now £9.99 +£2.00 p&p send me an email if you want a copy John

Newcastle v Scunthorpe 2008. After 36 hours of rainfall this is what was left behind, maybe ripping the surface was the wrong thing to do but no-one can complain about the meeting being called off.