You never know with the coming expansion of the Speedway Grand Prix series you might see Chris Harris roaring around Tel Aviv.

Speedway turns me on and has done since the seventies. Chris Bomber Harris is the local West Country hero. He has worn the Trelawny Tigers and Exeter Falcons race jackets in his early days. He has just put British Speedway on the map. Well Done Bomber. You're the best.

nice piece donna but i promise you if you come down to kigsland high road in hackney you will see the same things happening. speedway reflecting the minutiae of life, surely that's worth a showing at the tate modern

I didn't think that speedway still existed. I used to be a huge fan, I even got to see Ivan Mauger's gold plated Jawa in the 70's, you're not that old (of course, I was only 8 or 9 then). Nice to know that there are still people who like travelling around a dirt oval sideways. Cheers.

... there's nothing quite like it. Four nuns following each other the wrong way round a roundabout on mopeds, or, at it's best, one of the most exciting sports in the world ... you decide. Well, Donna, I've been waiting a long time to see some dirt track action on this web site and I think it's about time we had a regular author penning some content - I hope you're up for it. To cut a long story short, my dad watched dirt track racing in the late 20's when it first came over from Oz, and I've been hooked since we first went in the mid-60's and then got serious in 1972 when Peter Collins made it through to his first British Final. Natch, I'man Aces fan, but lived in Reading for 10 years in the 80'sand early 90's so caught a lot of action there. Sincemy dad passed away in '98 I've only been to Rye House a couple of times, and have never been to a GP at Cardiff. Could Chris Harris be the man to but British Speedway back on the map - well, he's certainly got guts and gives it his all, so I reckon he will go far.

enjoyed reading it, but i thought all the walls were taken up by poster of a certain c. ronaldo

I’m so pleased to see some positive comments to my article. Speedway fans are among the most loyal in sport - I feel really guilty that I know so little about today’s riders. The more I think about it, the more all those names come back from the days I used to report on speedway (yes, I really did). Does anyone remember Johnny Hoskins, the amiable old Aussie who brought the sport to the UK? I remember visiting his house in Herne Bay and also Barry Briggs’s mansion in Hampshire, with its amazing trophy room, which must have contained 1000 pieces of silverware. Barry also had a mini speedway track in his back garden where his young sons would zoom around on mini bikes. I feel another article coming on!

Good to see Chris harris getting in some papers at last and bringing speedway forward a bit.

Hi Donna, A late comment I know, but I have just read your report and wanted to thank you for two things: 1. Taking the trouble to file any kind of report on the Speedway British GP. Most of the media does not bother (to their shame the BBC barely acknowledge the existence of the sport). 2. The undoubted enthusiasm of the report. It really comes across and is music to the ears of a beleaguered speedway fan! I would urge you to go and visit your nearest track and renew your acquaintance with speedway. I am sorry, but don't expect Chris Harris to be riding though. If life was fair he would be riding in every speedway meeting in the country. A lovely man and a brilliant rider! Regards, Richard

Thank you for your kind comments, Richard. I am definitely going to start going to Belle Vue again - apart from anything, my seven-year-old grandson is really keen to see what it's all about. Sadly the Aces don't seem to be the force they were when I last went to see them (I won't say how many years ago!) But I can't wait to get high on methanol again!

Good piece on Bomber, and what a night it was back in June. I can't even begin to tell you what the atmosphere was like. 50,000 people screaming for Chris and I think half of us had air horns. The eruption of joy as Chris cut back inside Greg on the last bend was out of this world. Speedway is quite simply the best sport in the world. If you haven't seen the race you can check it out on youtube. Todays riders are every bit the heroes some of you remember from days gone by. The schedule for the top riders makes you tired just reading it. Most top riders race in Britain, Poland and Sweden every week and the GP riders have to fit in trips to other countries around Europe as well. It's not unusual to have 5 meetings in 3 different countries almost every week of the season. I don't know your rules on links to other websites but hopefully you'll allow me to direct people to more speedway. www.british-speedway.co.uk Check out your nearest track. From Edinburgh/Glasgow in the North to Poole/Eastbourne i