July 5 Tigers 46 Poole 32 (British League)
Poole have had a run of injuries, and Tigers take the opportunity to run up their largest win for quite a few weeks. Bill Andrew is the only visitor put up a strong challenge, lowering Jim McMillan’s colours twice in the process. However Berg has his measure twice in the closing races. Berg suffers a tape exclusion in what was surely his easiest race of the meeting against the Bungay/Fossengen pairing.
Josefsson and Andersson are competent if not particularly impressive, while Whaley, buoyed by an opening race win, has his highest score of the season.
Tigers Scorers
J McMillan 10, Berg 9, Josefsson 7, Dent 6, Andersson 6, Whaley 5, W Templeton 3:
Poole Scorers
Andrew 13, Mudge 6, Smith 5, Cribb 4, Bungay 3, Fossengen 1, Laessing 0:
July 6 Cradley Heath 53 Tigers 24 (British League)
A good night for former Tigers, with Coombes taking a maximum and Julians and Jansson having good nights too. Jansson certainly proves a point, with local correspondent Peter Morrish describing the Josefsson/Andersson pairing as “unbelievably bad”. – why don’t you say it as it is! Berg has an unfortunate time with two exclusions, the first being decidedly harsh. Dent continues his recent good form, with two heat wins in his score of nine.
Tigers Scorers
Dent 9, J McMillan 7, W Templeton 3, Josefsson 3, Berg 2, Berg 2, Whaley 1, Andersson 0
Cradley Heath Scorers
Coombes 12, Julians 9, Trigg 8, Andrews 8, Jansson 6, Wakefield 5, Wrathall 5:
July 10 Tigers 49 Wolverhampton 29 (British League)
The last meeting before the traditional Glasgow Fair break, sees Tigers in rampant form. Jim Airey gives Tigers fans a taste of what might have been, scoring fourteen points and only losing out to Jim McMillan in his last outing. With Holmquist and Jarman missing the other Wolves offer him little back up.
McMillan and Berg lose to Airey, while Josefsson and Andersson again score solidly rather than spectacularly. Whaley beats his opposite number Burt in both their meetings but is despondent at his lack of progress this season and announces his retirement shortly after this meeting, selling his equipment to Berwick’s Lex Milloy.
Tigers Scorers
Berg 11, J McMillan 10, W Templeton 8, Josefsson 7, Dent 6, Andersson 5, Whaley 2:
Wolverhampton Scorers
Airey 14, Bond 8, Handley 5, Vandenberg 2, Burt 0, White 0:
July 19 Wolverhampton 45 Tigers 33 (British League)
Berg and Dent get the Tigers off to a good start with a 4-2 on the fine Fair Friday evening – obviously it’s not being held in Glasgow! In the next heat, Jim McMillan tries a blast around the outside on the first bend but drifts out wide and falls back but Templeton takes second place and the scores are tied. Now comes trouble! Josefsson and Andersson are out, and are never on the pace. Reporter Morrish, never one of their greatest fans writes “had the visitors possessed even a moderate third pairing, the result would have been much closer” Team manager MacFarlane shares this view and pulls both out of their last two rides.
Bill McMillan, who replaces Brian Whaley who is reported to have retired following a string of disappointing meetings, comfortably takes care of his opposite number Timms in their two races. Willie Templeton caps a good night with a win in heat eight and his score of six is one of his better scores in England.
The second half features a “British Sidecar League” meeting. It’s really not that interesting, with passing at a premium. It never caught on, and may well have been one of the few attempts to introduce this form of racing in the UK.
Up at Coatbridge, Belle Vue’s Maidment and Sjosten are delayed en route and are unlikely to arrive before ten o’clock. A scratch meeting is arranged between two teams from the riders who have arrived.
Tigers Scorers
Berg 12, J McMillan 7, W Templeton 6, Dent 4, B McMillan 2, Josefsson 2, Andersson 0:
Wolverhampton Scorers
Vandenberg 15, Airey 12, Bond 10, Handley 4, Jarman 4, Timms 0, White 0:
Jim McMillan is among the qualifiers from the British final at Wimbledon. This means that Tigers will have two riders in the Nordic British final to be held at West Ham next month.
July 25 Wimbledon 49 Tigers 29 (British League)
Having been on a week’s holiday touring the tracks, I roll up to Wimbledon tonight having been at Wolverhampton, Halifax, Newcastle, Leicester and Poole. Halifax in the late sixties was not a great place to spend a Sunday, boy was it a long day!
Tigers are up against it from the start and are twenty points down after heat eight but with Berg and Jim McMillan getting the hang of the Plough Lane circuit, they manage to beat the Dons heatleaders in the closing heats, ensuring that no Don has managed a maximum. Andersson again has a “howler”. This is now his third consecutive away meeting in which he has failed to score.
The second half features an imaginative “Best of Three Challenge” between The Bulldogs (Hedge and Luckhurst), The Vikings (Nygren and Berg) and The Scots (McMillan and McKinlay), won by The Scots with eight points from their two rides.
Tigers Scorers
J McMillan 11, Berg 11, Josefsson 4, Dent 2, B McMillan 1, W Templeton 0, Andersson 0:
Wimbledon Scorers
Luckhurst 10, Nygren 11, Hedge 10, Cowland 6, Middleton 5, Tebby 4, Dugard 3:
July 26 Tigers 44 Belle Vue 34 (British League)
Tonight’s meeting is delayed following a strike by some of the track staff. However the promotion don’t give in and recruit replacements. I was one of the “scabs”! Working as a pusher doesn’t give you a great view of the meeting, although I do remember Neil McFarlane telling us to get the bikes out quickly as Sjosten was having bike problems and could get excluded under the two minute rule.
Russ Dent falls and sprains his ankle. He gets it strapped up and gingerly tries it out in the pits, but it is quickly obvious he can’t ride again tonight. Oyvind Berg scored a maximum and Bo Josefsson seemed less than bothered about joining the group to give him the traditional “bumps”. Maybe he didn’t understand what was happening, or maybe he had made up his mind that he was going home and wasn’t going to come back. Brian Whaley is stunned at the number of supporters in both Glasgow and Berwick who have urged him to keep riding. He takes this to heart and, having sold all his equipment to Lex Milloy, has now ordered new equipment from Barry Briggs.
Tigers Scorers
Berg 12, J McMillan 10, W Templeton 6, Josefsson 5, Andersson 4, B McMillan 5, Dent 2:
Belle Vue Scorers
Roper 10, Sjosten 8, Pusey 7, Maidment 4, Levai 4, Powell 1, Broadbelt 0:
Lightning strikes twice at Coatbridge as only Ray Wilson makes it to Cliftonhill. Jim McMillan and Oyvind Berg who were there to watch the meeting are hurriedly pressed into service on borrowed gear.