HAVVY’S CORNER

TUESDAY 19th SEPTEMBER 2006
OH no not them again! I know that's what most Bears supporters will have been thinking after King's Lynn decided to choose us as their play-off opponents. And, I must admit, I wasn't to enthralled with the idea myself to start with. We suffered our biggest defeat of the season at the Norfolk Arena earlier this season and then had a bitterly disappointing home defeat by the Stars more recently. That home defeat was made even worse by the realisation that King's Lynn would almost certainly choose us when the Premier League championship chase entered its knockout stage.

But right now I can't wait to get out on the track and gain revenge! And, you know what? We CAN do it! Okay, so King's Lynn have established themselves as the best team in the league this season - but we're no slouches either. Unfortunately I didn't have the best of meetings on either occasion we raced against the Stars but, if everyone rides to their ability, we can get our revenge. I'm not pretending it's going to be easy but if we all pull together and you all get behind us, it's not beyond us.

On the subject of lending your support, don't forget it's the Premier League Riders' Championship at Sheffield on Sunday. I'll be representing the Bears, of course, and it would be fantastic to have your support. You've been brilliant all season - please keep it up!
 

THURSDAY 6th JULY 2006
IT was fantastic to get our first point away from home last weekend - but let me first say that I feel bad about my own performance. I only scored five (paid six) and I know I let the boys down. I couldn’t get my bike started to begin with so, while everyone else was on the parade, I was frantically working in the pits. Then when the meeting got underway I just couldn’t get out of the start and, because of the conditions, you couldn’t see a thing when you were behind. We tried every set-up known to mankind but it didn’t get any better - but I suppose everyone has a bad day at the office every now and then.

Prior to that my last meeting away from home was when I rode in Russia for the MegaLada team against Lukoil in a town called Oktyabrsky - and what a fantastic experience that was. They are the two best teams in Russia so it was a big match and there was a very vociferous crowd of around 10,000 there to watch. I’ve ridden in Poland and the people can be very demanding, but in Russia they were fantastic. When I arrived I had a brand new bike waiting for me and four club mechanics!

It wasn’t as wild as I’d heard although some of the guys were trying to fence each other! Fortunately the track was wide and smooth so you could change lines if someone was heading for you. I scored 15 points from six rides and they want me to do two more matches for them in August and I’d love to do it.

All the best


GARY
 

TUESDAY 27th JUNE 2006
I’VE been to some far-off places during my career – and by the time you read these notes I’ll have just completed another some amazing adventure. That is because on Wednesday I was due to make my debut for the MegaLada team in Russia. I’m obviously writing these notes before setting off – but I was certainly expecting an experience like no other!

The track is in the Samara region, which I discovered after looking on the internet in not far from Kazakhstan! That means I had to fly out from Manchester to Frankfurt on Tuesday, and then take another plane for the rest of the journey. I was due to arrive at around 5am – 1am our time – on the morning of the meeting. It is much to far to send a bike by road so the club have bought me a frame and I took an engine and bits with me on the plane to put together when I got there. I was due back at Manchester at midday today and, because my bikes were prepared before I went to Russia, everything was ready for me tonight.

Before I went, I had an interesting conversation with Tomasz Piszcz, the Polish rider who rides for Workington. It is well documented that the Poles have a reputation for being a bit mad and full of passion - but Tomasz told me that he wouldn’t ride out there because it was too wild for him!

It was all a bit daunting and I can’t pretend I didn’t wonder what I’d let myself in for, but I’ve always been adventurous and things like this are there to be experienced! I’ll let you know how it went next week.

All the best


GARY
 

THURSDAY 13th JUNE 2006
DID YOU enjoy last week’s win over Edinburgh? I certainly did! Without a doubt, that was our best performance yet and I was delighted with the way it clicked together. Edinburgh are no mugs, so to win so convincingly against them was a great achievement. That early run of 5-1s really put us on our way and set us up for victory. I told the lads after the first couple of races that the important things was to keep the pressure on. When that happens the opposition’s heads go down. Their spirit begins to wane as they realise the match is getting beyond them already.

Well we did keep the pressure up and their heads did go down and we were able to cruise through the second half of the meeting. One of the things which really pleased me was how well Mat Tresarrieu went. He was using an engine borrowed from Sean Wilson and it really made a difference. If your own bike is under-power there’s a tendency to over-ride but, when you’ve got the power, you don’t have to worry about it. When you make the gate and you’re at the front you can ride wherever you like - you’ve got the whole track and you can take whichever line you want. Mat’s clearly got a lot of ability and it was great to see the best of it.

Like Edinburgh, Glasgow also ran us close the first time they were here, so hopefully tonight we’ll have another performance like last week’s. Make some noise.

All the best


GARY
 

THURSDAY 8th JUNE 2006
DID you watch the Grand Prix on television last weekend? If you did, then you might well have seen me interviewed in Scott Nicholls’ pit by Sky TV. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m helping Scott throughout the Grand Prix season and hopefully we’ll soon have something to celebrate because he certainly deserves it. Scott had an incredibly busy schedule in the week leading up to the Grand Prix, with meetings in this country and in Europe too.

I wondered before the meeting how that would affect him and, although he didn’t make it past the semi-finals, he did very well to get there. He’s such a gritty, determined and exciting rider and he showed on Saturday that he’s got talent by the bucketload. According to the organisers, the crowd for Saturday’s meeting was the biggest for a speedway meeting in Britain for 25 years - now that’s got to be good news.

I’ve always maintained that speedway is an incredibly exciting sport to watch and the Millennium Stadium is an awesome venue to stage speedway, so let’s hope that the crowds continue to grow there.

With our own track here at South Tees Motorsports Park opening this year along with the one in Plymouth and the possibility of more speedway venues opening in the near future, the next few years could be a very exciting time for the sport.
Keep making some noise.

All the best


GARY
 

THURSDAY 1ST JUNE 2006
If you’ve been anywhere near the pits over the last few weeks you’ll have seen my old mate Sean Wilson helping us out. Sean and I have been mates since we rode grass track together when we were nine or ten. We rode in the same England team, went on tour to Australia together and at Bradford we rode at one and two so we were not just team-mates but partners too.

Sean retired from racing last year and set up an engine tuning business. He’d been doing his own engines for five or six years and was doing a good job. When my engine tuner, Steve Langdon, had to go back to Australia, he seized the opportunity to make a go of it. He spent a lot of time learning what he didn’t already know and invested in the best equipment.

He started doing my engines and I’m delighted with the result. He did Richard Juul’s engine when he was here and he’s helping Dan Giffard now too.

He loves coming to Redcar because everyone is so friendly and he’s a great presence to have in the pits. He’s so enthusiastic and happy top be involved - a lot of teams would pay to have someone like him around! He’s like me in that he’s been there and done it, so he’s a great guy to have around.

All the best


GARY
 

THURSDAY 20th APRIL 2006
WASN’T it wonderful last week at our opening meeting? I knew there had been a lot of interest in speedway coming back to Teesside but I couldn’t believe the size of the crowd - it was phenomenal. Chris van Straaten told me there was one fan there who had travelled all the way from Bristol. He has been to every opening night in the last 40 years – and he said ours was the best! There were one or two little hiccups, but that is to be expected.

It was disappointing not to win last week, but every other track has had a six-week advantage over us and the guys aren’t match fit yet. It’s the same as in football – you can train all you like, but the only way you are going to be fully match fit is by riding in matches. Tonight’s meeting is the first of four in as many days, so by Sunday we should be there or thereabouts.

Another factor to take into account is that Tomas and Chris haven’t ever seen the places they are riding at this year. I said to Chris at Sheffield: “Forget everything you have every learned about riding a speedway bike – you need a totally different technique here.” He soon knew what I meant!

So I am encouraged by what I have seen so far. The fans were fabulous last week and what we want now is for you all to keep coming. Bring your airhorn, your rattle or whatever you can lay your hands on and make some noise!

All the best


GARY


THURSDAY 13th APRIL 2006
Hello everyone and welcome. It’s great to be here for Redcar Bears’ opening night – I’m sure we’re all in for a fantastic night. Hopefully you will enjoy yourselves and come again. After all these years it’s wonderful to be back riding in Teesside again. I always said I would never drop into the Premier League but, when the opportunity arose to ride in my local area again, it was too good to turn down.

Every since it was announced that speedway would be coming back to Teesside there has been a real buzz about it. People have been stopping me in the street and telling me how much they are looking forward to it. I’ve not been this excited about my speedway for a long time.

It’s a new team, a new track and a new stadium so it’s hard to say how we will do. We’ve got a very busy first few weeks but we will certainly all be trying our best. I was able to have a blast round the track at last week’s press and practice day – and that banking on the third and fourth bends is awesome! I think we’re going to be in for a treat.

I’m delighted to be back ‘home’ and I am grateful to Chris van Straaten and Gareth Rogers for giving me this opportunity – but I think an even bigger debt of thanks is due to Glyn Taylor who has given blood, sweat and tears building the track. He’s worked amazingly long hours and has worked to such a tight deadline that it’s nothing short of a miracle that we are all here tonight watching a speedway meeting.

All the best


GARY