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Bradford Speedway |
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Odsal Stadium |
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Odsal Stadium, Odsal Top, Rooley Avenue, Bradford, West Yorkshire. Odsal staged speedway 1945-1997 off and on. |
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The Bradford team of 1962 used Greenfield Stadium not their usual home Odsal. It was the only season Greenfield was used for league racing. Bradford had 6 nicknames over the years: Boomerangs, Tudors, Panthers, Northern, Barons and Dukes, it must be some kind of record? |
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Oliver Hart Odsal 1949 Bulletin Bradford Internationals in the 1980s Bradford Badges |
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The Fantastic Odsal Stadium |
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Photo Courtesy of Richard Nicholson |
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A spectacular crash, riders unknown |
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Update: Bryan Tungate says: The photo of the 3 rider crash was, as you say, Odsal, Bradford. I have got that picture in an old scrap-book with some crayon colouring red on the race jacket. |
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The riders are Wal Morton, captain of Glasgow Tigers, doing a "head-stand", Vic Pitcher, Odsal reserve, sitting by the fence, and nearest camera Albert "Aussie" Rosenfeld who was a second string member of the Odsal side. |
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It looks as if Wal & Vic had crashed and Aussie laid his bike down. |
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Looking through the records on Speedway Researcher I can only find one race where the 3 riders were all involved. This was on 10 June 1946 - Odsal Stadium Whitsun Trophy - Heat One. The eventual result of the race was a win for Alec Statham with Wal in second place, Albert third and Vic at the back. |
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A few weeks later, on July 6, Albert again crashed at Odsal. This time he received fatal injuries. |
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Oliver Hart, my uncle Georgie's favourite rider. I was too young to see Oliver ride but I know he was a spectacular rider to watch. |
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Oliver seen here with Kid Curtis, was one of the last of the leg trailers, he was really spectacular to watch. Both riders were trailing their legs. If you can tell me which of the pair is Oliver please email me John |
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Courtesy John Hunter via Dave Rowland |
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Fred Pallett says: Hello John, I refer to the photo of Oliver Hart. Hart rode only for Wimbledon (1946) and Bradford Odsal (1947-52). His race jacket shows no evidence of the Wimbledon star but one can just make out the Odsal white star and boomerang within a white circle. Also, when riding for Wimbledon, his bike was fitted with the flat handlebars that were still in common use immediately after WW2. Therefore, my conclusion is that the photo shows him riding for Bradford during the period 1947-52 |
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| Memories of Odsal | ||
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Larry Ramsden says: Hi John,
Just chanced on your web post. A few memories
came back to me. I recall as thirteen year old
Saturday nights at Odsal walking up Manchester Road taking in
the all the shop windows (the bus fair was too expensive for
a school boy).
Alec
Statham was the team captain of the Boomerangs. My favourite
was without a doubt the leg trailer Oliver Hart who was
partnered at that time by Ernie
Price. My school mate knew Ron Johnson (Belle Vue) from the
time when he lived in Manchester during the war years. You
mention Ausie Rosenfeld a great
team member whom I recall sadly lost his life at Odsal. We
used to go as a gang to Odsal on Tuesday nights when we were
admitted for free watching the junior novice hopefuls and the
never was' competing for a Saturday night place on the track.
Johnie Hoskins ran the whole show at that time and never ran
out of ideas for publicity.
The bikes were
all J.A.P. engined in those days and the smell of Dope
(Methanol) hung in the air on the pits bend . Great times
remembered still. The bug must have bitten a bit deeper
because I managed to serve as a Signals dispatch rider in my
Army time . Watching the mile long track at Ruleben was a bit
different to the Odsal Stadium quarter miler
Thanks for posting the photos I really enjoyed them. Stay safe . Larry Ramsden. |
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| John says: Thank you Larry. Yes I remember the smell which wasn't caused by Methanol, by the way! It was the engine oil (Castrol R 40) used by high performance machinery. Sniff! | ||
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
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| Oliver Burr's Photos | ||
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| Oliver Burr says: I found these 3 pictures while going through my Dad’s stuff after he died. Can you shed any light on the location? This would be between 1946 and 1950 as close as we can tell. Thanks for any help you can give. | ||
| John says: I think this is the Shay Stadium Halifax as the track is big, around a Rugby Football pitch and the higher ground around the track was a feature of the Shay, you could stand there and watch the racing without paying. I have never been there, so I may be wrong, so tell me is it the Shay or elsewhere John | ||
| Steve Baker says: The mystery track picture is not of the Shay, it's Odsal in the late forties. The picture is taken from what we now consider the first bend but in those days it was actually the fourth bend. So the stand we see was then on the home straight, which is now the back straight! The opening to the pits can be seen to the right of the stand just entering the bend. | ||
| Oliver Burr says: Hi John, I think Steve Baker is right, Odsal in Bradford. I see buildings in the background that are the same in Dad’s shots and others on your website and others I looked at. Plus the fact it was the town his RAF mate lived in. Many thanks for solving this mystery for us. | ||
| John says: Yes Oliver, Steve is usually right! | ||
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| Bradford Badges | ||
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| 1946 | 1973 | 1974 |
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| 1975 | 1975 | 1975 |
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| 1985 | 1985 | |
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| 1985 | 1985 | 1985 |
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| 1985 | 1987 | 1988 |
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| 1988 | ||
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| 1989 | 1989 | 1990 |
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| 1990 | 1990 | 1991 |
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| 1991 | 1991 | |
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| 1992 | 1992 | 1992 |
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| 1992 | 1994 | 1995 |
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| 1996 | 1996 | 1997 |
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| 1997 | 1997 | 1997 |
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| Odsal closed it's doors, no more badges after 1997 | ||
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Odsal
1947 From The Air |
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| Bruce Booth With The Two Arthurs | ||
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
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Max Grosskreutz At Odsal 1947 & 1948 |
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
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| Eddie Rigg | ||
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
| Eddie rode in Australia 1951. He was in the race with the White Ghost Aussie Ken Le Breton when Ken crashed and lost his life. No-one is blaming Eddie or the other two riders. Ken's crash was simply an accident | ||
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The following Odsal Bulletin booklet was sent to me by Les Brewer, thank you Les for helping me add another piece to the old time speedway jigsaw puzzle. |
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The Text from the bulletin follows on the 3 pages shown below: |
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I believe the receipts relate to the membership cards. Five pounds was more than a weeks wages where I come from in 1949. |
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| Odsal 1949 | ||
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
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| Odsal Crash | ||
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| Courtesy of Graham Gleave | ||
| A 3 rider pile up during Odsal v Belle Vue on 14th May 1951. Oliver Hart fell and Belle Vue's Louis Lawson & George Smith laid their bikes down to avoid hitting the Bradford rider | ||
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John Bush's Photo Collection |
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John's father Arthur Bush rode for Odsal in the 1950's. The items that follow in this section were sent to me by John Bush and unless any of the photo's are captioned with a different named subject then they are of John's father Arthur Bush, Bradford's number 1 rider. |
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Courtesy of John Bush |
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| Courtesy of John Bush | ||
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John Bush's scans continue below: - |
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Australia v
England |
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_01_1973%20Prog%20Cover%20(v%20Scunthorpe,%2023-05-73).jpg)
_02_1991%20Prog%20Cover%20(v%20Berwick,%2024-08-91).jpg)
_03_1997%20(Final%20Season)%20Prog%20Cover%20(v%20Ipswich,%2012-07-97).jpg)
