Rye House Flat-track

Having attended the "Celebration of Speedway" event, I ventured up the A10 to nearby Rye House to check out UK style Flat-Track for the first time.

Arriving mid way through the meeting I wandered through the empty entrance noting the sign pinned to the wall. Now there wasn't much evidence of pets or cycles, but I can confirm that there was plenty of balls being displayed out on the track.

As far as the racing goes, the heats came thick and fast, with the various classes from mini-bikes through to the ferocious sounding "thunder-bikes". The Pro class riders on the Moto Cross based machines certainly caught the eye, especially the young Aussie speedway rider Tyson Nelson who had a couple of epic races with reigning UK Short Track champion Aidan Collins.

The next date to look out for on the Short-Track UK calendar is Friday May 6th, at the old Oxford speedway track (an interesting choice of venue - could this mean a future return of speedway to Cowley?) An eclectic line up includes US flat track legend David Aldana, Superbike racer Steve Plater and Team GB speedway rider Edward Kennett as well as Tyson Nelson, Aidan Collins and his dad Les (runner up in the 1982 World speedway championship.) Sideburn Magazine are also organising a special night in honour of David Aldana on Thursday 5th May in Oxford.

Short-Track UK
David Aldana night

Celebration of Speedway

Sunday 17th April saw the staging of this years "Celebration of Speedway". In the past this event was held annually at High Beach in Epping Forrest, near to the site where the sport was first staged in the UK in 1928. In recent years the event has moved a few miles up the road to the the Paradise Wildlife Park in Hertfordshire. On the surface this may seem a somewhat surreal venue, but the park is owned by former speedway rider Peter Sampson and is also home to the British speedway museum.

This years event was run in parallel with the "Bikers in Paradise" promotion, and the large crowd basking in glorious sunny weather, were treated to a fantastic array of historic machines to look at, while the faint waft of Castrol R was in the air as an old JAP, Jawa or Weslake was fired up every few minutes.

The Speedway museum is well worth a visit, with an incredible amount of machinery and memorabilia packed into a compact space. The fact that the museum is located in the wildlife park means that it can be a great day out for the whole family.

The Speedway Museum
Paradise Wildlife Park
Classic Speedway Bikes