The Marine Gardens

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

On 26 October Leith Athletic defeated Dumbarton by six clear goals . In spite of the result the game was by no means one sided. There was, however, no suggestion of luck about the Athletic’s victory. In the first half they had some difficult passages in defence but they managed to keep their goal reasonably well shielded. Dumbarton, on the other hand, suffered from faulty positioning by their defenders, who frequently left opponents unmarked within easy scoring distance. The latitude allowed to them was turned to profitable account by the home forwards whose shooting was very good. Dumbarton held their own in the outfield but both in attacking and defence they failed near goal. Leith led at the interval by two goals and in the second half raised the total to six. The attendance was under 1000.

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

However the public support wasn’t there. At the next match, against Stenhousemuir, the attendance was only 500. Thereafter it continued to dwindle for the rest of the season.

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

On 4 June the weather interfered with the meeting at the Marine Gardens Speedway when a team of riders from West Ham Speedway, London, were to have appeared. The track was so wet that Mr. Fraser, the manager, after a consultation with the SACU Steward, had no option but to cancel the meeting.

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

A crowd of about 17,000 were brought to their feet with excitement on 25 June in the final of the Scottish Speedway Championship at the Marine Gardens Speedway, by the daring riding of Bluey Wilkinson, of the West Ham track london, who won the championship and the Scottish Gold Gauntlet outright in the record time of 1 min 20 and three fifth secs, the fastest time ever put up on this track.

Wilkinson, Arthur Atkinson, Tommy Croombs and Tiger Stevenson rode brilliantly in the final. Gaining a narrow lead at the first bend, Wilkinson kept ahead until the finish. The Gold Gauntlet was handed over by Wilkinson’s mother, who is at present on holiday in this country.

The eliminating process was by means of points. 3 points for a win, two for a second and one for a third, each competitor taking part in four races on the league system, in which they met all the other riders in turn. The four men with the most points then met in the final for the major prizes.

In the first race Arthur Atkinson gave the crowd a great display of racing when lowering the track record by two and two fifth seconds to 1 min 20 and four fifth secs.

T. Croombs next served up the thrills in heat two when he just gained the lead over Eric Chitty, the Canadian champion, almost on the finishing line.

Drew McQueen, the only Scottish entrant, crashed and suffered severe bruising and he was unable to take part in any further races.

During the meeting the track record was broken no fewer than eight times.

Other riders who took part were Phil Bishop, Colin Watson, Charlie Spinks, Alan Butler, Bob Lovell, Tommy Price, Dick Geary and Steve Langton.

Owing to some delay in travelling Jimmy Gibb (Canada), Morian Hansen (Denmark) and Cordy Milne (America) were unable to take part in any of the championship heats but when they arrived half way through the meeting, they staged a match race. Milne and Hansen raced neck and neck for the four laps, cornering together in brilliant style. Milne crossed the finishing line only inches ahead of Hansen.

A midget car race was also staged in which four cars took part. The drivers were Walter Mackereth (Capt. of Coventry Car Speedway), Les White (Coventry), Spike Rhiando (America and Capt. of Lee Bridge Car Speedway) and Stan Mills. Mackereth took an early lead and continued in front for the four laps to finish in 1 min. 22 and two fifth secs, faster time than many of the cycles put up. This time also beat the four laps clutch start record.

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

The following week spectators at the Marine Gardens Speedway enjoyed a thrilling team race between a team of Dominion riders and the Edinburgh side, which resulted in a draw at 27 points each.

Edinburgh started well in the first heat, Oliver Hart gaining points for first place and Alan Butler, his partner being third. The Dominion riders then took matters in hand and in the next three heats gained a good lead over Edinburgh, the points at this stage being Dominions 16 points, Edinburgh 8.

In spite of this substantial lead the Edinburgh riders fought back gamely and in heat five Ernie Price put Edinburgh in the running again. Edinburgh continued to reduce the leeway and in heat eight were only two points behind.

The final heat was the most exciting of the team events. Roy Dook immediately went into the lead and looked like holding it but he ran wide at one bend and allowed Jack Gordon to slip into the lead and win, amidst great excitement, to enable Edinburgh to draw level at 27 points each.

A great improvement was noticed in the riding of the reserves when Leo Lungo gained a narrow victory over Stanley Gargan.

The captain’s race was the high light of the day. For four laps Steven Langton and Oliver Hart rode side by side, both superb in their cornering and perfect in their control over their machines. Langton, who had the inside berth, gained the decision by a decidedly narrow margin. A section of the crowd disagreed with the judge’s verdict in this race. in the Silver Gauntlet race it was something of a surprise to see Langton defeated in his heat by Jack Hyland, after his great display against Hart, who had already qualified for the final. Opposed by three visitors, Hart made a valiant attempt to gain a lead in the final but Roy Dook held on in front to win a well deserved race.

[rathbone]

A full year before the outbreak of the Second World War, preparations had begun. A demonstration of air raid precautions work was given at the Marine Gardens on the night of September 14, together with a display by the units manning the anti-aircraft guns.

[rathbone]

Edinburgh fielded the same side as did so well against the Dominion team against Bristol on 6 August and though they were defeated by two points ,26-28, they emerged from the engagement with a good deal of credit.

The spectators were roused to a pitch of excitement by the close finishes in many of the races and vocal encouragement to the local riders was more marked than on previous occasions. Edinburgh were never on the lead but were never more than four points behind and in no fewer than five of the nine heats the opposing teams equally shared the six points at stake.

Probably the most exciting finish of the afternoon concerned that in which Harold Jackson (Edinburgh) put in an amazingly fast finish to beat Harry Shepherd and Ray Duggan on the post after the two last named appeared to have the race in safe keeping.

The captain’s match race between Oliver Hart (Edinburgh) and Harry Shepherd (Bristol) was an exciting affair, the two riders racing side by side for three laps before Hart drew slightly ahead to win by a narrow margin while in the reserves race Stanley Gargan was never really seriously threatened.

The trophy event for the Scottish Gold Helmet was once again won by a visitor, Roy Dook getting away to a flying start to beat Oliver Hart in the final.

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

[rathbone]

The Edinburgh team secured a well merited victory over Crystal Palace on 6 June when they defeated the visitors by a margin of seven points, the final score being Edinburgh 30, Crystal Palace 23.

The local riders never seemed in danger of defeat and led the way consistently to win comfortably.

Oliver Hart, the Edinburgh captain rode extremely well and was one of the two riders of the evening to record maximum points, the other being Laurie Packer, also of Edinburgh. Les Trim, the visiting captain had the unusual experience of going pointless for his team.

In heat five what appeared to be a bad accident occurred when Jack Hancock of Edinburgh collided with a Crystal Palace rider. He was carried off but after receiving attention from the ambulance men was able to resume.

Oliver Hart returned a good win over Les Trim in the captain’s match race over two laps, the Edinburgh skipper jumping into the lead at the first bend and increasing his advantage.

The Scottish Silver Torch event created something of a surprise. In the first instance the defeat of Laurie Packer in the fourth heat was unexpected and the line up in the final saw Jack Gordon, Gruff Garland, who captains Glasgow, Oliver Hart and Elwood Stilwell in position. Here Gordon got away to a flying start and despite some adventurous cornering by Hart, the former scored a fine win in the fast time of 1 min 22 and three fifth secs.

[rathbone]

The Belle Vue team from Manchester scored a close win by 27 points to 26 over Edinburgh on 13 June. First class racing was witnessed throughout the evening and credit had to be given to Oliver Hart and his team mates for their splendid show against a team that had such a fine reputation as Belle Vue.

Up to the fifth heat Belle Vue led by only two points and they increased this by one after heat six, but thereafter the Edinburgh team rose splendidly to take the lead.

The early heats were fought out at a furious pace, the finishes being mainly of a close order. Fairly good times were recorded. Ernie Price of Belle Vue on one occasion being within one fifth of a second of the track record of 1 min 20 secs.

In heat eight, in which Edinburgh took the lead, Laurie Packer came in first, followed by Frank Varey.

Excitement was intense at the final heat. Edinburgh were leading by one point, but the race proved to be comparatively unexciting as Price led all the way and the issue was never in doubt. Jack Gordon finished second, but Cockburn added the necessary point for the visitors by taking third place.

What at first appeared to be an unfortunate mishap ended in comedy in the captain’s match race when Varey had a spill at the end of the first lap. He was, however, unhurt and after dragging his machine off the track he jumped on the back of Oliver Hart’s machine as that rider came round again after passing the tape.

Joe Crowther won the Search for Talent event after a close race with Leo Lungo.

Laurie Packer, Frank Varey, Oliver Hart and Ernie Price met in the final heat for the Scottish Gold Helmet. Packer shot ahead at the start but was overtaken at the first corner by Hart who was in turn overtaken by Price. Then Varey raced to the front and held his lead to the finish.

[rathbone]

A well deserved victory over their Glasgow rivals was scored by the Edinburgh speedway team on 20 June.

The visitors started off well, gaining full points in the first heat, although Edinburgh were unlucky to lose Hart, their captain, whose machine failed. Brilliant riding was shown by Packer who gained maximum points for his side as well as Jack Gordon who also gained full points. Glasgow’s captain Gruff Garland was the most successful of the visitors scoring six points. The match finished with the final score Edinburgh 32 points Glasgow 22 points.

In the match team race Packer and Hart had a great duel. Only great skill and splendid riding by Hart prevented him from colliding with Packer when the latter refused to be passed on the bends. Packer won this race in the fastest time of the evening, his time being 1 minute 21 and four fifth seconds.

The opening heats of the Scottish Silver Gauntlet produced some very exciting incidents. Packer continued his run of victories in the first heat, when he won easily from Norrie Isbister. In heat two Woodroffe looked like winning when his machine cut out and gave Crowther an easy victory. Crowther in this race prevented what might have been a serious accident. Jack Hancock came off at the stand bend with Crowther close on his heels. A crash seemed inevitable but Crowther, with a magnificent effort, lifted his machine right round to avoid the fallen rider.

Glasgow and Edinburgh were evenly represented in the final, the lineup reading Garland and Crowther (Glasgow) and Packer and Hart (Edinburgh). Packer was favoured to crown his evening’s run of successes but Hart’s characteristically fine start won him the lead and he held on to this to win his first trophy since he started riding for Edinburgh.

[rathbone]