1970 Going Solo
All quiet on the home front
The winter seemed pretty quiet for Tigers fans. Their heat leader trio were all confirmed as wanting to return to Hampden and similarly it would have been a shock had Willie Templeton or Bobby Beaton decided to move on. There was some doubt over whether Belle Vue would, once again, agree to loan Mike Hiftle back to us, but as they had numerous promising young riders, there was a fair degree of optimism on this front. Russ Dent was reported as having retired but with Bill McMillan and Brian Whaley reported to be heading back to Britain, this wasn’t a major concern.
Robin Amundson had failed his National Service medical and there was speculation that he may be on his way to the UK. Jimmy Gavros, the younger brother of Halifax’s Dennis, was reported to be coming over too. More than likely he would have headed to Halifax, but sadly he was killed in a track crash in Australia.
….but not at Coatbridge!
If things were quiet at Hampden, the same could not be said of Coatbridge! Eide was locked in negotiations with promoter Hoskins, although this was to become part of the Norwegian’s annual pre season game of hardball. Hunter, who had never really settled at Coatbridge, was mulling over a transfer with Newcastle or “a smooth track like Sheffield” being mentioned. Hughson was emigrating to Rhodesia and left on a rather sour note saying his bike was never the same after loaning it out in nearly every race at Wimbledon, on a night when Eide and Hunter weren’t prepared to loan their machines.
The Taylors had applied for a Second Division licence for Newtongrange and this had upset Hoskins, who stated “I still see Monarchs as a going concern next year. I still see a support large enough to pay our way, but not large enough to disregard any possible threat from Newtongrange.” Hoskins was also looking for a Second Division track in Central Scotland and made an application to the local council to stage racing at Dam Park in Ayr – presumably this wasn’t seen as being a threat to Coatbridge’s well being! The application was unsuccessful. The stadium was still being used for athletics events and the noise impact on Ayr General Hospital, which was barely 100 yards away was no doubt another factor in the refusal.
All of this proved to be quite irrelevant, when the bombshell news broke! A consortium headed by former Tigers promoter Trevor Redmond had bought the Coatbridge licence in order to reopen Wembley. The Monarchs were no more! Eide, Harkins, Briggs and Collins were all Wembley bound. Hunter got his wish to move to Newcastle, which had been taken over by Allied Promotions who had installed Hoskins as their general manager. Doug Templeton and Al Brady would join Tigers, who would now be Scotland’s only speedway team.
The Program
This year’s program had a photo on the cover, which in many ways was very similar to the 1967 cover. Apart from that, it was very much as before, with Supporters Club President still toiling manfully to fill an entire page each week, although the highly successful sponsored walk, which funded the purchase of red and white leathers for the team, and a Supporters V Team football match, played before a huge crowd, were topics of some interest.
Out of the Shadows
The close season saw extra lighting being installed on the third and fourth bends. The track was lit by the football floodlights, but the west enclosure roof meant that the track out near the fence on the third and fourth bends was in shadow. Jim McMillan, in particular, had used this as a favoured passing place as visitors were often a bit bemused by the “darkness” and slowed momentarily allowing Jim a passing opportunity.
Be Careful What You Wish For!
Tigers started the season with three solid home wins and two even heftier away defeats. Les Whaley wrote in the program for the home meeting with Swindon “Another home win, another away defeat. The pattern the same as last time and one that we must change” Well we did – we only drew at home to the Robins! To be fair we carried all the bad luck. Oyvind Berg had bike troubles which restricted his score to three, while Arnold Haley, guesting for Charlie Monk, away on international duty for Australia, never really got going and managed a paltry five. This was to be the only league point that we surrendered all season.
The Problem of the Number Seven Slot
Alistair Brady and Bobby Beaton started the season in the reserve berths but it was to a season of contrasting fortunes for the pair. While Beaton forged ahead and doubled his average, Brady never really came to terms with the Hampden circuit. After six meetings, four of which were pointless, he was released to Berwick. Bill McMillan had returned to Scotland and made his return at Newcastle, never one of his favourite tracks. While he was scoreless there, he did emerge unscathed and lined up for the next home meeting, coincidentally also against the Diamonds. Unfortunately, he didn’t fare so well in this meeting! He clipped the home straight fence – possibly his footrest caught on the gap in the fence at the starting gate – and he cart wheeled down the track. His bike, the track spare, fared even worse as it cleared the fence and ended up in the enclosure. Les Whaley would write that it “took quite a knock but will soon be available”. Bill would be out for two months with a fractured knee bone.
As luck would have it Pete Baldock had finally arrived. Les Whaley had high expectations of him but reckoned he may need a few weeks to settle in. Baldock’s debut was pretty memorable. He was obviously quite hyped up for his initial ride! He knocked Les McGillivray off on the first bend and with the red lights now on mowed down his partner Willie Templeton. He failed to score in his next ride and that was the end of his night. Other than two points at Swindon, he failed to score in any of his five meetings before he too was released to Berwick.
Once again the Tigers had the problem of filling the number seven slot. Brian Murray was next to be given a run, and, while he was never far off the pace, he, too, found points hard to come by. He had a run of seven league outings before Bill McMillan returned. This time he had an injury free run and was able to regain his form and give the team some lower end stability. At last the problem number seven slot had been filled!
Fundin Again Disappoints in Glasgow
Ove Fundin had proved a big disappointment to Tigers fans during our time at the White City. He finally made it to the track to ride in the Northern Riders Championship qualifying round in the summer of 1967. He arrived late and was obviously flustered but put in a pretty mediocre performance, trailling in behind Brian Whaley and Nils Ringstrom, neither of whom were in particularly good form. He had been selected as part of the Sweden squad to race Great Britain in the opening test of the 1970 series. The line-ups were really stunning and it could be argued that this meeting was more star-studded than the Nordic British Final held in 1971, and generally regarded as the most prestigious meeting ever held in Scotland.
Great Britain – Barry Briggs; Nigel Boocock; Ivan Mauger; Jim McMillan; Ronnie Moore and Eric Boocock
Sweden – Ove Fundin; Bernie Persson; Anders Michanek; Olle Nygren; Soren Sjosten and Hasse Holmquist.
Fundin again disappointed the Glasgow public and after trailling in last in a couple of races was replaced in the remainder. Briggo had travel problems, which caused his flight to be delayed. He was met at Glasgow airport by Bert Harkins and actually changed in the car en route to the stadium in time to take his last three programme rides.
Some vintage film of this meeting can be viewed at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayHIuEnY3EE
Home and Away
Other than the draw with Swindon in mid April, Tigers were to prove pretty well untouchable at Hampden. With the exception of Leicester who lost 41-37, all other victories were by at least a ten point margin in what was a most satisfying home season.
Away from home featured a number of “might have beens” with the problem that the tail-enders rarely managed to find their form on the same night. However at Newport our tail certainly wagged when the Templetons and Bobby Beaton weighed in with a staggering twenty points – no surprise that we won that night! At Oxford and Leicester we scored 35 and 37 on nights when the Templetons totalled two and zero respectively – two possible wins that got away! At Swindon we were so close, going down 40-38 with Willie Templeton and Bobby Beaton managing just one point from five starts between them. – if only!.
As it was Tigers finished eighth in the British League, our highest league placing, also achieved in 1966
Late Season Injuries
Tigers had again enjoyed an injury free season at Hampden…or so it seemed with only a couple of weeks remaining. Then Oyvind Berg broke his collarbone at the northern Riders Final at Sheffield in late September. At the beginning of October Jim McMillan was selected to ride for Britain in the tests against Sweden. Unfortunately he sustained a badly broken leg when his bike seized and the close following Bengt Jansson couldn’t avoid him. As it turned out neither rider had to alter their plans for riding in the winter, although Jim did delay his departure to Australia for a couple of weeks.
The League Season at a Glance:
Home Defeats: None
Home Draws: Swindon 39-39:
Away Wins: Newport 41-37:
League Position: Eighth, with 37 points from 36 meetings
We are off to the Sun
Alex Hughson had settled in Rhodesia and saw the potential for running speedway at three centres there, Salisbury, Gwelo and Bulawayo. He signed up a troupe of riders to ride in a short season. They were largely Scottish based – Oyvind Berg, Bobby Beaton, Bill McMillan and Jimmy Gallagher. Charlie Monk and Jim McMillan were both off to Australia to ride on opposite sides in the Australia v Britain test series. Despite this mass defection to the southern hemisphere, there was still plenty of action in the west of Scotland during the winter, with a training school being held at Coatbridge. John Wilson and young Jim Beaton were the star pupils from this winter venture.