MCN Days, Speedway Nights
Andrew Edwards was the speedway man for Motor Cycle News for 23 years, from 1973 until he retired in 1996.
He describes that period as the Golden Age for both the sport and the paper, when stadiums were full of fans, there was racing all year round somewhere in the world and he was out there watching the action, getting the stories with star interviews and filling pages with excitement. He was damned good at a job he loved and it showed in all he wrote.
Travel and accommodation, however, weren’t always as comfortable as he might have expected. Like seeing his local Cradley Heath team lose to Wolverhampton on Friday, then beat Swindon on Saturday followed by a drive to Gatwick in an aged VW Beetle to catch a flight to Poland and on to the world championship final at Wroclaw. But the coach broke down on the 100-mile journey and, when he arrived four hours late, the gates were locked as the meeting had started – much shouting was involved to finally get in! He also learned why speedway in Poland was called the Black Sport, with a track of black shale that was thrown high and into the onlooking crowd to blacken their faces.
He met and made friends with top riders from all over the world, travelling the globe to bring back stories and interviews. The sport was huge in those days, with the World Championship at Wembley Stadium attracting a crowd up to 85,000. One of Andrew’s favourite venues was Gothenburg in Sweden, and he still loves Scandinavia and its clean and uncrowded towns with friendly people.
A little-known story was his support for a Honda-powered bike that would have been an affordable alternative to the specialist machinery the aces rode – it was a joint operation by Eric Boocock and Mick Grant with Honda support. At a match where all the riders were Honda mounted and things were looking good, Andrew realised that a very senior Honda UK man was in the pits and nobody, riders or officials, was bothering to speak to him. Andrew’s comment: “I knew from then on it was doomed.”
It’s 310 pages of personal experience as a mad keen kid at Cradley Heath and as a respected authority with a global experience to look back on and savour. At
£10 from Amazon, it’s very good value; you’ll enjoy it and keep it as a reference to dip into when you want a reminder of great days. Recommended.
MCN Days, Speedway Nights
by Andrew Edwards Grosvenor House Publishing ISBN 978-1-83975-634-4