POOLE Speedway's club historian GORDON DAY looks back at the first meeting at Wimborne Road 70 years ago.

SPEEDWAY came to Poole for the first time on April 26, 1948, and judging by the number of enthusiastic fans who shouted themselves hoarse, it was obvious it had come to stay.

The crowds had started gathering outside the stadium during the afternoon and by 6pm, a crowd of about 6,000 had assembled to witness the opening ceremony before Poole took to the track against Yarmouth in a Daily Mail National Trophy qualifying match.

At a time when Poole Town rarely played in front of 1,000 fans and petrol rationing kept public and private transport to a minimum, to say speedway had caught the local imagination was something of an understatement.

It was even reported in the local press that in Bournemouth there were longer queues for buses to Poole than had been seen for many years.

And so on this fine spring night, the mayor of Poole, Cllr S F Langridge and his wife, the mayoress, accompanied by the town’s sheriff and the mace bearers, officially opened the track. All wore their robes of office which lent a vivid colour to the occasion.

In his speech, the mayor complimented the club on performing miracles to prepare the stadium in such a short space of time. It was resplendent and the track looked in perfect condition. Even the football pitch had been cut, much to the envy of the local team, who had been complaining about the length of the grass for most of the season.

With the ceremonies over, all was ready for the first race. But the enthusiasm of those present was soon lost in the tragic events of the next few minutes.

The riders came to the tapes for heat one, Charlie Hayden and Alf Elliott lining up for Poole and Reg Craven and Paddy Hammond for Yarmouth. As the tapes rose, Hammond's engine failed, leaving him stranded while the other three riders raced to the first turn, with Hayden and Craven tussling for the lead.

Craven cut across from the outside, trying to grab the advantage of the inside line but, as he did so, his bike slowed, leaving Hayden little time to avoid a collision. The bikes touched and both riders were thrown to the track in front of Elliott who did a great job to lay his bike down and avoid the fallen duo.

Elliott was soon on his feet but Hayden and Craven stayed down on the track, where they were attended to by St John Ambulance members before being stretchered to the pits, with Craven taken to Poole’s Cornelia Hospital.

Hayden was concussed and took no further part in the meeting, while Craven had sustained serious head injuries which included a badly fractured skull. Sadly, he never regained consciousness and passed away eight days later.

Back in the pits, both sides agreed the show must go on as the full extent of the injuries suffered by Craven remained unknown. The opening race was re-run with Sid Hazzard coming in for Hayden and Bluey Thorpe replacing Craven. Hammond led from start to finish but Hazzard chased hard for all four laps, pushing his rival to clock 83.6 seconds, which proved the fastest time of the night.

Although Hazzard could claim to be the first Pirates rider to score points at Wimborne Road, the honour of being the first Poole racer to win a heat at Wimborne Road went to Alan Chambers, who sped home in heat two, the Yarmouth boys filling the minor places in another shared heat.

Poole took the lead in the next with a 4-2 but Yarmouth’s Sid Hipperson fell and was so badly shaken that he took no further part in the match, leaving the visitors with a six-man team. The Pirates went further ahead with their first 5-1 in heat four, thanks to the efforts of Hazzard and Sid Clark. Then they turned up the heat further with a string of 5-1s to lead 39-15 at the halfway mark.

Yarmouth tried to halt the Pirates charge with a couple of shared races but a 5-0 and three more 5-1s underlined Poole’s superiority and it wasn’t until heat 17 that the visitors managed their only heat advantage, when Hammond and Bill Carruthers raced home for a 4-2 win.

Poole ran out 74-32 winners, Joe Bowkis the star of the show with 15 points from six starts. He nearly ended with an 18-point maximum but had it snatched from his grasp when a primary chain came adrift while he led the final race.

Other Pirates to catch the eye were Chambers, who was paid for 17 points from six races, and the reserve pairing of Hazzard and Clark, who only dropped one point to the opposition.

It had been a great start for Poole Speedway but one overshadowed by the tragic outcome of the heat one crash.

RIDERS' SCORES AND HEAT DETAILS

Poole 74: Joe Bowkis 15, Alan Chambers 15, Sid Hazzard 12, Sid Clark 10, Alf Elliott 8, Fred Pawson 8, George Butler 6, Charlie Hayden 0.

Yarmouth 32: Paddy Hammond 12, Roy Duke 7, Bill Carruthers 5, Bert Rawlinson 4, Bluey Thorpe 3, Dave Williams 1, Sid Hipperson 0, Reg Craven 0.

HT 1: Hammond, Hazzard, Elliott, Williams, 83.6 (3-3)

HT 2: Chambers, Duke, Rawlinson, Pawson, 86.0 (6-6)

HT 3: Elliott, Carruthers, Butler, Hipperson (f), 90.0 (10-8)

HT 4: Hazzard, Clark, Thorpe, Williams, 87.2 (15-9)

HT 5: Chambers, Duke, Butler, Thorpe, 88.6 (19-11)

HT 6: Pawson, Clark, Carruthers, Rawlinson, 88.0 (24-12)

HT 7: Bowkis, Chambers, Hammond, Williams, 87.0 (29-13)

HT 8: Bowkis, Hazzard, Duke, Hammond, 87.6 (34-14)

HT 9: Clark, Chambers, Williams, Carruthers, 88.0 (39-15)

HT 10: Pawson, Duke, Elliott, Thorpe, 87.8 (43-17)

HT 11: Bowkis, Rawlinson, Thorpe, Butler, 88.0 (46-20)

HT 12: Hammond, Chambers, Elliott, Rawlinson, 87.8 (49-23)

HT 13: Bowkis, Pawson, Williams (f), 107.0 (54-23)

HT 14: Clark, Hazzard, Thorpe, Williams, 86.4 (59-24)

HT 15: Hazzard, Butler, Rawlinson, 94.0 (64-25)

HT 16: Bowkis, Elliott, Carruthers, Duke, 89.4 (69-26)

HT 17: Hammond, Butler, Carruthers, Pawson, 87.8 (71-30)

HT 18: Chambers, Hammond, Bowkis (ef), Duke (ef), 88.6 (74-32)