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"The SRA,...The modern rider's Speedway Riders' Association as opposed
to
the VETERAN or WORLD Speedway Riders' Association, have taken a leaf out of
our book and held their 2006 Awards Night at the Coventry Hilton, the usual
venue of our annual Dinner Dance each March.
The SRA has been around for a long time, even when most of us were riding,
but thanks to Glasgow's Aussie skipper, Shane Parker, more riders are
joining and enjoying the benefits. Last year was the first SRA Awards Night and it was held on a small scale
in the bar at Coventry Stadium but Shane, who is a riding member of our WSRA, came to our dinner in March and got the idea of trying to raise the
profile of the modern SRA and have a formal evening with dinner and
presentations and this he succeeded in doing.
Around 200 riders, ex-riders, promoters, journalists, referees, etc turned up
and everyone voted the evening a great success. Our WSRA even had our own
table, with Secretary Vic White and Committee members, Terry Stone, Pete
Saunders and myself plus former Coventry Bee, Colin Meredith all helping top
make it the oldest table in the room, although our wives did not agree!
Colin reckoned that he was the youngest on our table, so we promptly fitted
him with a baby's bib to prove the point.
Another "Golden Oldie" at the dinner was Australian veteran, Neil
Street who
very deservedly picked up the "Outstanding Contribution to Speedway"
Award
for his help with young riders over the years. Neil has been around
Speedway for a long time, and what he doesn't know about the sport, is not
worth knowing. He was the instigator of the change to 4-valve engines when
he and Phil Crump unveiled the "Streetie 4-Valve Jawa" and, despite
being
near the end of his racing career, Neil could still outrun many of the
younger riders on their 2-valve Jawas. I well remember being able to catch
Streetie going into the corners, but as soon as he got his wheels in line,
the torque of the 4-valve motor would pull him back into the lead,.....very frustrating!
The teenage riders such as Josh Auty, Tai Woffinden, Lewis Bridger, Sam
Martin and Craig Branney all won awards and it will be interesting to see
how far they can go in their Speedway careers and if they will stay around
long enough to join the WSRA in years to come!
The event was sponsored by SKY Television and had a large screen at the back
of the stage showing action from various Grand Prix, League and World Team
Cup matches whilst Nigel Pearson and Sophie Blake took care of the
presentations. It was very professionally done, with Sophie, in true Oscars
style, opening the envelope and saying......."And the winner
is,........"
Unfortunately, Eastbourne, Coventry and Poole had been rained off and the
fixture was put on the same night as the Awards Dinner, so the riders from
those teams were missing. Let's hope that next year, the BSPA will include
that date in their fixture list for 2007 and make sure that there are no
meetings that day.
It was a very successful event and one that will attract an even bigger
crowd next year and perhaps even a SECOND WSRA table. It was good to see our
"Golden Oldies" Association giving Shane and the modern riders some
ideas
about running their Awards Night but they have done it so well that we may
have to pinch some of THEIR ideas!
Our annual Dinner Dance in March 2007 is sure to be a great success,
especially as our guests include the great World Champions, Ivan Mauger,
Ronnie Moore, Ove Fundin & Barry Briggs when Ivan will be enlisted as the
first President of the WORLD Speedway Riders Association. Another first for
"Sprouts"...........See You There! "
Copy Bert Harkins |