Everything that happened this year made me realise how much I talked to my Dad, he was my best friend and losing him has been the biggest change in my life since meeting my wife and the arrival of my children. We had a family holiday planned just a few days after Dad's funeral, despite wanting to crawl into a hole, we decided to carry on with the holidays, mainly for the kids. It was on this holiday I read a book written in 2020 by a 100-year-old Nazi Holocaust survivor. The book was called 'The Happiest Man on Earth' and the author's name is Eddie Jaku. The book is horrifying, inspiring and eye-opening, it gave me context for my reflection on life and the beliefs I have, what I use my time for and why.

I love Speedway and my passion for the sport is as strong as it's ever been, I love talking about it but I don't always get the opportunity, especially living in an area with no tracks now. It is kind of peculiar how things happen, my passion for the sport was reignited when going with my Dad in the spring of 2021, losing him just further pushed me to the sport I grew up with. I should point out that my renewed interest in Speedway has coincided with my declining interest in Football. The introduction of VAR, ever-increasing ticket prices, football authorities in the top leagues total disregard for clubs financial woes in the lower divisions at the hand of scrupulous owners. I know Speedway isn't in a great place at the moment, but I know when my daughter posses for a picture with Chris Harris, he's earned his money and is a hero worth saluting.

 I decided it's time to start a blog, get the thoughts rattling in my brain out of into the world. Will you enjoy reading or listening to what I have to say? Who knows, I hope you do enjoy it, I hope you agree with some things I say, and disagree with others. I hope you'll join me on this ride, I truly believe this sport is the best motorsport in the world, we just need to show the world why.

Don't walk infront of me, I might not follow, dont walk behind me, I mihght not lead, just walk beside me, and be my friend. Eddie Jaku, Halucaost Survivor.

The Woman Behind the Man

Throughout my story I haven't mentioned my mum much. Behind every man is a good woman, this is certainly true of my mum. She would often go with Dad to watch the Speedway, her favourite rider was Halifax and England's Kenny Carter. In truth I don't remember mum watching Speedway at all, she was distraught when she found out the awful news that Kenny shot dead his wife Pamela before killing himself in 1986. Kenny's death didn't just end my mum' interest, and I'm sure looking back that this was a pivotal moment in the general decline of the sport in the U.K. Her interest in the sport quickly dwindled. By the time I was old enough, she didn't follow Speedway in any capacity, despite the families' continued link to the sport. 

We would often spend lots of time on the road away from home, my mum pretty much had a meltdown when Martin and I started racing, but she was always supportive. Mum's health was slowly declining, and in August 2020, amid the pandemic, she was admitted to the hospital with an unknown infection in her legs. The overbearing restrictions on medical facilities meant we couldn't visit her, which was very difficult for Dad. In January 2021, she was rushed to the intensive care unit at our local hospital, the day after, she passed away. As you would expect, our family was devastated, and it was just as Boris brought in substantial restrictions to prevent households mixing. Dad, like myself, was an introverted soul, his wife was his world, and she was now gone, after 37 years of marriage. 

A new life

Not long after mum's death, we started to talk about Speedway again, it looked like we would finally see the sport return after the enforced hiatus. It was time to start building some more memories with my Dad and help him get through the most challenging time I'd ever known for him, and myself in truth. 

We made the journey up to Leicester for their league match against Edingburgh, despite a positive forecast the weather turned against us and we watched the speedway track turn into a good venue for jet skiing. Bank Holiday Monday we finally got back to watching some Speedway, we travelled together with my father-in-law Roger to Manchester for my first visit to the National Speedway Stadium. Despite the heavy covid restrictions we got tickets on the third and fourth bend for the afternoon encounter and watched a terrific encounter between the Aces and visitors Peterborough, ending in a 45-45 draw. It was like old times, flask in hand, programs filled in, trying to predict the reserve changes and tactical rides, the Speedway was back, and we were loving it. We made the return trip back to London via the East of England Area and watched Belle Vue get revenge on the Panthers with a late surge to claim all the points. We then made the journey south the see Kent King's and Glasgow do battle, the Tigers were in control throughout but it was still a lot of fun! Family friend David Wolff offered to take Dad to a match at Ipswich for the visit of Peterborough, I managed to join them when I had business not far away from Foxhall. We were finally enjoying our Speedway again.

We had our rain-off tickets from Leicester earlier in the year so we planned to go back to Beaumont Park for Redcar's Championship match. Leicester are a strong side and they overpaid Redcar from the off, the Bears did make an effort but in the end, the Lions won convincingly. I noticed Dad was unusually tired, he had been telling me he was struggling to sleep and not eating much, we talked regularly but I put it down to stress after the bereavement. He was sitting down between every race which, was a little unusual and he was nodding of intermittently all the way back to London which, was very out of character.

The week after our trip to Leicester my sister who was still living with him called an ambulance as his persistent tiredness and overwhelming fatigue was not improving, he was taken to the hospital to be checked over. He wasn't very well and restrictions enforced due to the pandemic made visiting tough, I managed to get into the hospital to see him 3 days after he was admitted but in truth, I barely got 2 words out of him in 2 hours. That night I rode up to King's Lynn to watch them get well and truly beaten at home to Peterborough. I left the stadium and realised there was an empty space in my heart, I enjoyed the racing, but it just wasn't the same. 

The next day we got bad news, Dad had a massive seizure and was transferred to ICU, he was put into an induced coma to get things under control. Blood tests revealed there was a possibility of cancer, those fears were confirmed the week after when the hospital found he had pancreatic cancer. The tumour had already spread to his lungs, spleen, liver and this was coupled with severe abnormal activity present in his brain. 

He didn't even know he had cancer, just four days before he was admitted he was swimming at the local gym. On 10th July 2021, Barrie passed away from Pancreatic Cancer and Heart Disease at 76 years old. Exactly six months to the day after we said our goodbyes to mum at her funeral service, I found myself doing the same thing for my Dad. I can tell without any doubt in my mind, reading the eulogy I wrote for my Dad was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. So it was, 57 years after his first match at Wimbledon, Dad has seen his last speedway match. The sport lost one of its most emphatic fans, and we lost our Dad, the strength and core of the family taken away just as the pandemic was starting to wain.

Peter Oakes at Speedway Star published a story on Dad in the September 11th 2021 edition, a fitting tribute to the man who decided over 4 decades of his life to all things Speedway. 

I was devastated, I couldn't function properly. It was a week later, I would stare at the screen for what felt like an eternity trying to do some work but everything was covered in mist. I needed to get out of the house, I turned to my wife Eloise and said something truly bizarre; 'Fancy going to Sheffield tonight for the Speedway?'. Instead of saying something a normal person would say like, what? are you insane!! she said; 'yeah ok'. Just like that, we chucked the kids in the car and made the 3 1/2 -hour drive to Owleton for the visit of Peterborough. 

My eldest daughter Evie had been to Speedway before, but not for a few years so it would be interesting to see what she thought. She loved it, she filled in the entire program and was following what was going on, the Panthers won the match and Chris Harris put in a true Bomber performance, we even saw Chris and Panthers number 3, Michael Palm Toft, in KFC across the road after the racing. It was only after I got to Sheffield I found out the match was on T.V. that night! Never mind, watching on T.V. can never replicate the smell and sound of the live event. 

Evie loved it so much she kept asking me when I was going again so I could take her. I realised the fundamental reason she enjoyed it so much was because she filled in a program and followed what was going on. It wasn't just riders randomly racing four laps! There was jeopardy for her, and she cared who would finish where! Eventually, I managed to take her and my youngest Katie to Peterborough for their league match with Wolverhampton, and we watched some of the best Speedway I'd seen in years. The racing was intense, the score close and unpredictable, there was controversy, the crowd was massive and the atmosphere was fantastic. It was a spectacle, and she loved every minute of it! Not surprisingly, she decided her favourite rider was Chris Harris after his stunning performances and Bomber kindly posed for a picture with her after the match.

She would come with me for another 2 visits to the East of England arena, including the spectacular season finale where the Panthers clinched a well-deserved premiership title over the Aces, I would then take the whole family to Wolverhampton for one of my favourite annual meetings, the Olympique.

Of course, my kids are still very young, and this could be a faze, but let's hope the family legacy started in 1964 won't just finish with me and will live on with her for many years to come. 

It was inevitable really, that my brother and I's curiosity would take us one step further than our Dad and have a go at Speedway. The first time I ever rode a speedway bike was at King's Lynn under instruction from Peter Boast, but I didn't take racing really seriously until the mid-2000s. I bought a bike with my brother on eBay and we built a workshop in the garden to store all the tools, riding kit, bikes etc. It was sheer coincidence we met a chap called Matt who told us about a little training circuit that just re-opened called Lydd, based near Romney Marsh in Kent. My brother and I decided to check it out, we drove down and joined 4 other riders for some weekly tuition with track curator Malcolm Smith. 

Slowly but surely the other riders dropped out, by the end of 2006 Martin and I had the track to ourselves every week. There wasn't even a safety fence at the time, it's with great pride that I tell people Malcolm credits the circuit's continued operation in the early stages to us turning up every week without fail. From Lydd, we joined clubs such as Southern Track Riders, Dragons and would regularly compete in individual competitions held at tracks like Sittingbourne (Old Gun Site) and Scunthorpe. Later, I would make appearances in second halves regularly, turning out for Lakeside, Stoke, Rye House and Sittingbourne.

It was 2012 when I finally completed my ambition of racing the East of England Showground, pulling on the Thundercats bib and riding the sweeping circuit will always be one of my fondest speedway memories. It was around the same time Martin and I started working with Russell Paines Ride'n'Slide, touring the country with Russell's artic filled with speedway bikes and riding gear for people to have a spin at their favourite venues. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the sport but in 2013 I decided it was time to call it a day. My partner and I found out we would be parents in 2014. Speedway is a massive financial commitment and it takes up a lot more time than most realise, even when riding in the minnows. Through the amateur speedway circuits, I made many great friends in Speedway. I do pop out for a spin down at Lydd now and again, but truth be told I'm happy watching these days, fewer bruises to nurture!

Time to have a breather

In truth, getting into Speedway so intimately was one of the factors that eventually wained my interest in the sport for a few years. You often hear people talking about the politics within Speedway, I won't go into specifics, but it did start to lose my faith in the sport's direction. I've never been one for Drama; when I'm watching Speedway, I will turn up, read my programme, watch the racing and get out of there straight after the final race. I was the same when racing, people in Speedway constantly have petty squabbles which, are generally about ridiculous things, but I managed to stay well out of all that! I would turn up, ride my bike, then go home, save the soap opera for BBC one at 8 pm. I'm naturally quite a shy person, so the social element to Speedway has never worried me too much, I would stop for the occasional drink on some of the longer excursions, but that was it. My involvement with the sport all but stopped in 2014 once I'd packed up racing shortly after my first daughter was born. At this time, my work scheduled in the facilities management trade prevented me from attending much Speedway and family commitments. 

My Dad was still hungry as ever to consume and watch as much Speedway as possible throughout my lifetime. Speedway and Football have always been the most powerful bond and common ground between my Dad, brother and myself. Dad retired from work in the early 2010s, but unfortunately and somewhat cruelly, health issues limited his ability to travel to watch live Speedway. By 2017 he could only get to matches when somebody was available to take him. Being a reserved man, he wouldn't ask often. He was too polite and didn't want to intrude! In late 2019 when I finally started to get some free time back, I got chatting with Dad, and we talked about doing every track in the country as we did many years ago! I'm sure I don't need to explain what happened in early 2020. My Dad managed to attend the Ben Fund Bonanza at Scunthorpe and came down to Lydd to watch me in the Veterans Championship; otherwise, 2020 was a total write-off!

In 1987, Barrie took his firstborn son, an energetic two-year-old named Simon, for his first taste of Speedway at Waterden Road. Hackney Wick Stadium hosted the recently renamed Hackney Kestrels, changing from the famous Hawks name in 1984. The Kestrels took on Cradley Heath in the League Cup, and the Kestrels had a new youngster in his debut season riding at number two that night. You might have heard of him; he went on to win the British championship three times and won the world championship in 2000, the infamous Mark Loram. It won't shock you to learn I don't remember much about this match; however, Dad told me the stories.

It was a comfortable win for the Kestrels; despite some stern resistance from the Heathens heat leaders Erik Gundersen and Simon Cross, the visitors sorely missed Jan Pedersen who's guest replacement John Jorgensen could only muster 2 points from 4 outings. Kestrels had a more evenly balanced side compared to the top-heavy Heathens. Simon Wigg, Andy Galvin, and Allan Johansen scored 10 points each, adding to the 13 the rest of the team scored. They had enough in the tank to cover through rider replacement for the absent Roland Danno.

Barrie was 19 when he was first introduced to the sport, 23 years later, I was introduced to the sport whilst I was still in nappies. It was inevitable that my brother and I would grow up obsessed with the sport our Dad loved before us. 

My first independent memories of Speedway are from the early nineties; I have a vague recollection of being very wary of the tree's around Ipswich, watching for Witches who might descend on me and steal me away! I also remember going over to Rye House one Sunday afternoon in the heat to see the Rockets take on the Long Eaton Invaders. Aside from these, the earliest specific speedway memory I recall is from 1994, when Poole Pirates won the league at our local track, Arena-Essex. I'm not sure why, but I've always clearly remembered watching Craig Boyce, Lars Gunnestad, Jason Crump, and Steve Schofield, amongst others, celebrate from the balcony with 'we are the champions' blaring over the P.A. system has always stuck with me. I've always had a soft spot for the Pirates, and this may be why, although it's more likely the nine-year-old me just loved a team called the pirates. 

The area I grew up in was nice, but the school wasn't outstanding, and the behaviour of the local kids reflected this. The kids, in turn, weren't being appropriately disciplined at home which, was making teachers jobs that much more challenging. Growing up around Speedway made me different to the other kids at school. Whilst they were all planning their weekend nights at the pub or messing around on street corners, I'd set off with Dad and my younger brother Martin to watch Arena-Essex, Rye House, Eastbourne or somewhere further afield if it was out of school term time. We would try to visit every track in the country during the season. Some of my fondest memories are of our Northern tours, going to Hull Wednesday night, Sheffield Thursday, Edinburgh Friday, Berwick Saturday, Glasgow Sunday, then on to Belle Vue or Wolverhampton on the way back to London. Spectating Speedway became our way of life. Travelling 300 miles in one day to watch Swindon or Poole seemed normal to me, a familiarity I'm sure many other speedway fans share. 

3 Tracks to Call Home  

There are 3 tracks in this country that stand out from all the others for me, these are the tracks I call my home on the shale. 

We've always lived on the North East side of London, our local tracks have always been Rye House and Arena-Essex. I did love Rye House but I had many jobs requiring me to work Saturday nights and Sundays, this prevented me from attending a lot of the time. I wasn't as keen on Arena Essex, mainly because we were so far away from the action on the grass banks. I always found it strange how many experienced top speedway riders could come to Arena-Essex and struggle to ride the place, after I started riding I understood the problem! The bends were very tight relative to the length of the strength, in particular, it would catch out the Pols who learnt their trade on the bigger sweeping circuits on the continent. I joined the club's track staff in 2007, it made sense as I would often frequent the circuit, the draw of top-flight Speedway along with proximity always gave the hammers an edge over any other track. When my younger brother and I took up Speedway we would often travel to Lakeside to drop off engines and pick up spares from our supplier Tommy Nicholls at RTN Racing (Father of 7 times British Champion, Scott), you supplied the spares for the Hammers at the time. In the early 2010s, Lakeside would often host practice days with Gentleman George Barclay and Hammers promoter, Jon Cook. My brother and I would both turn out for the young hammers in 2012 alongside British Champion Adam Ellis and National league rider Jack Kingston. Later we would regularly work with Russell Paine of Ride'N'Slide speedway experience days, although this was at various tracks, not just at Purfleet. It was never my favourite track but it was the track I spent so much time there I couldn't help but love the place. So many key memories I'll never forget, the knock out cup final in 2009 against Coventry, The Rico memorial meeting 2012, the final meeting at home to Glasgow in 2018. I took both my kids to their first speedway meetings to Lakeside, not that they'll remember, similar to my two-year-old self! I was devastated when they closed and so emotional on that last night, I finally understood how Dad felt when Wimbledon closed. 

In the late 1990's I started to really enjoy watching Speedway at the East of England Showground, the noise as the riders rushed past was great, the view was fantastic from the top of the grandstand and the standard of racing rarely disappointed. My love of the Showground meant I had an affinity for Panthers, by the time Peterborough won the Elite League title in 1999 I was a fully-fledged fan of the Panthers. I've never followed Peterborough specifically and when I go to watch Speedway, I will generally choose a match that looks interesting over watching Peterborough just because it's the Panthers, like my Dad before me with the Dons. As a kid, it was always my dream to ride the Alwalton circuit and It was probably my proudest moment on a speedway bike when I turned out for the Peterborough Thundercats in 2012. I got my chance after I first rode for the Thundercats at my local track Lakeside scoring 5, the manager was impressed so I got the nod to ride again and finally rode at the East of England Showground. 

The third track I'm going to talk about is different in many ways from the first two, largely because many fans will have never heard of it. I'm talking about the home of the Romney Falcons, Lydd Speedway. Situated on the South Coast not too far from Dover, Lydd is a practice track on a private farm and has never been recognised by the speedway authorities. For you to understand my affinity with this quaint little circuit, I need to delve into my time riding Speedway. 

It was March 1964. Barrie Pearce, a nineteen-year-old living in Plumstead at the time, was at home with his mum and two older brothers. Ken and John decided to go down to Plough Lane to watch the Wimbledon Dons in the Friday Easter Cup Speedway fixture. Barrie's mum didn't want him moping around the house all day while his brothers were out, so she convinced him to go with them to watch the Speedway.
Wimbledon was at home to the Coventry Bees in the Easter Challenge Cup. The Dons battled valiantly, but the Bees, lead by Nigel Boocok and an outstanding maximum from Ron Mountford, beat the Dons 44-40. The match went to a last heat decider, but Ken McKinley and Ron Mountford scored a 5-1 over Roy Trigg and Sverre Harrfeldt to secure victory.  The match was tense; the smell was exhilarating, the racing was exciting, Barrie was hooked. He went back the following week to see Wimbledon take on and comfortably despatch the Belle Vue aces 49-35. He ventured to West Ham the next day to see the Don take on the Hammers in a challenge. West Ham won comfortably despite the 14 point haul from Dons number 5 Olle Nygren. The Hammers number 1, Bjorn Knutsson, went through the card unbeaten in the 46-38 victory. The seed had been sewn, the scene set: little did they know it, but Barrie's family had put wheels in motion on an obsession with Speedway which would stay with him for the rest of his life.

It wasn't long until he began to travel further afield than London for his fix. His first trip outside the Captial was to Coventry, where Bees took on Wimbledon in the National League. It was a terrific encounter, the Dons trailed by 6 points after ten races, but two successive 5-1's for the Londoners took them into the lead, and a 3-3 in heat 13 set up the last heat decider with Dons leading by 2. Coventry hit back with a 4-2 in heat 14, Nigel Boocock won the race, but Gote Nordin got the better of Bees reserve Les Owen to secure a draw. Speaking to Barrie in later years, he said he did have a soft spot for Wimbledon, although his love of the sport was more neutral and would much prefer a cracking match than an emphatic Dons victory; that said, he would, of course, be cheering if Wimbledon won! By the end of 1964, he had attended 46 matches, including the World Championship Series at West Ham. The tally mainly consisted of the London tracks, Hackney, West Ham, Wimbledon and Rye House. Aside from his trip to Coventry, he did travel to Swindon for the World Championship Qualifier.

He probably didn't realise it at the time, but he had come into the sport just as reform was taking place. The old top flight known as the National League, and the Provincial League would make way for an all new British League contest between 18 teams. Despite regular high finishes in the laeague top flight stalwalts Norwich had made their final appearance after 13 consecutive seasons in the top flight and 22 total years in the speedway league, before and after the second world war. The Firs Stadium would be used for a few training sessions in 1965 but was sold for housing development and closed it's doors forever.  Middlesborough also closed its doors after four years at the wrong end of the second division table and the team moved to Halifax, although Speedway would continue through challenge matches and league racing would return to Cleveland bike in  1968.

Speedway had become something far more critical to my Dad than a simple hobby. Describing it as an obsession doesn't to it justice either. When you speak to someone who doesn't follow Football about a particular match, league or outcome, you'll often hear the phrase 'it's just a game'. I can understand why you might think that the sport in its purity might be a game, but it means something far more profound to the ardent fan. In the same way, a person walking in the street might be a stranger to you; that person is someone else's Dad, Brother, Sister or Mother. If they were to disappear tomorrow, it wouldn't mean anything to you per se, but to the people that know them, it's devastating. 600'000 people die every year in the U.K.; it's a general static but doesn't mean anything on its own. If you then think about every person in that year had a family who went through emotional anguish and pain associated with it, suddenly that statistic means something more. Our emotional connection to people, places, and moments makes them unique; Dad's emotional connection to Speedway was life-changing. To the casual observer, it was just a sport; to him, it was life.