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"WSRA
PARTY-TIME"
"Over 270 people attended this year's
annual WSRA Dinner Dance at Coventry and we had everyone from World
Champions to kilted Scotsmen and we even had our official Vicar, the
Reverend Michael Whawell in attendance to say Grace before the meal.
Reverend Michael should probably be
called, "HIGH-REVVING Reverend Michael" as he must be
the only Vicar in the country to own a fire-breathing 500cc Speedway
machine and he frequently fires it up when his neighbours are out
shopping. As Michael said, he should really be driving a Morris Minor
with stained glass church windows, but he has a Speedway bike instead.
Michael also read out the names of WSRA members who, during the past
year, have passed onto the big Speedway pits in the sky and we
remembered them with a short silence.
Our Special Guest of Honour was 2004 World Champion, Jason Crump along
with wife, Mel, and dad, Phil, who was himself a pretty handy rider in
his day and Jason really enjoyed mixing with "The Golden
Oldies". Phil and Jason were amazed to see the great painting by
Peter Billingham of the two Crumps in action together and promptly
bought it before it went up for auction.
As Guest of Honour, Jason's speech was quite special when he paused in
mid-sentence to tell the audience,......."Ove Fundin has just taken
a photograph of ME!" To have your photo in Ove Fundin's
scrapbook is a real honour, even for a fellow World Champion and Jason
was, as they say, 'Gob-Smacked'.
Ove and Jason were seen deep in conversation, discussing the differences
and similarities in their approach to World Championships and despite
the long years between their titles, they still had a lot in
common. Although they are not racing in the same era, they are
still competing on another front as both World Champions have their autobiographies
out at the same time and both were on sale in the foyer
of the Hilton Hotel at Coventry that weekend along with "Wiggy",
the story of the late, great and much-missed, Simon Wigg.
Speedway riders are now spreading their wings into other projects such
as books and even CDs. Hackney's popular Swede, Bengt Jansson had copies
of his new CD on hand, a song called, "The Legend", written by
Cathy Barclay (no relation to George) and sung, fortunately not by
"Banger", but by Country singer, Red Jenkins. Hopefully, the
record will be played around the tracks this season, and Bengt may have
hit on his hands, so if you want a copy, drop me a line c/o the WSRA.
Other World Champions at the dinner were Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger and
Freddie Williams although Briggo was still running flat out as usual and
had to head off early next morning to fly to Poland. A real touch of
Deja Vu. Another champion who ALMOST made it to the dinner was
Frank Bruno. I had met up with Frank at Champneys Health Club in Tring
where he keeps fit and I invited him along to our annual dinner. It
seems that he had attended Speedway once, and that was at Wimbledon and
he said that he would try to come along just as long as we didn't expect
him to ride a Speedway bike. I think if Big Frank sat on a Speedway
bike, the frame would bend in half! Unfortunately, the date of our
dinner did not work out for Frank, but maybe next year?
Terry Stone did his usual excellent job of printing place mats for each
table, with prints of pre-war riders and teams and they made very good
collectors' items. There were no bikes or trophies on display this year,
but the foyer was already full with the book selling plus Vintage
Speedway Magazine, Back Track and George and Linda Barclay selling
badges, etc. for the Speedway Museum Fund which has almost reached its
target, thanks to "The Battling Barclays". Every little helps
so if you haven't already donated, please drop them a line with the odd
Baw Bee. (That is Scottish money, but any nationality will do).
Out-going President, Danny Dunton, who is now getting along on crutches
after his unfortunate motorcycle accident (road, not track), handed the
Chain of Office over to former Exeter star, Jack Geran who will be our,
"El Presidente" for 2006.
At
the annual AGM in the afternoon, there was almost a photo-finish on
votes for President for 2007, the WSRA's 50th year between Len Silver
and Ivan Mauger, with the Kiwi narrowly winning. That now means that
"Sprouts", i.e., Ivan Mauger, will be back in the UK early
next year, as he will be the Guest of Honour at the Scottish WSRA Dinner
in Glasgow in February, then take over as President of the main WSRA
from Jack Geran in March. I guess he will rake up some Air Miles on that
trip.
And so another great nostalgic Speedway weekend passed into the history
books with everyone having had a great time, so better book your ticket
early for NEXT year's dinner as, who knows, perhaps next year Ove will
take YOUR photograph!"
Bertola
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