~ IN MY VIEW ~

IT’S MORE THAN ALL WIGHT! By John Riddle
When my editor told me SKY TV were beaming in speedway to the Canary Islands and could I write something in my next column I must admit I had to take two steps backwards. Speedway?

Well I had reported on athletics, boxing, cricket - yes the ABC of sport right through to Yachting (have yet to find one beginning with Z) but never speedway. However I was aware that a fellow photographer, Graham Platten was the official photographer for the Redcar Bears, a Premier League side, and I contacted him. When I say fellow photographer I should explain - we both have cameras! Graham is a professional and I am the proverbial point and shoot merchant. However my newspaper has published more than 1,000 of my pics - so I must be doing something right.

So off we go to the Redcar Bears clash with the Isle of Wight Islanders not knowing what to expect. Oh yes I had visited the Bears excellent website www.redcarspeedway.co.uk and read the comments from the Sky TV speedway pundits but we didn’t really know what to expect. But Graham had smoothed the way! My first surprise was the number of spectators and a full car park must mean that speedway is alive and well in Redcar.

As we wandered around the pits taking photographs from every conceivable angle you formed the impression that this is a friendly sport and the people running the Redcar Bears are really nice people. Everyone was willing to stand and chat, explain about the different coloured helmets and anything else that Lorna (my partner) and I asked. Really friendly folk but I would expect nothing else from the people of Teesside.

We took in the first 12 races and I snapped some wonderful pictures of mud and fencing before adjusting to the speed of the bikes. These guys were pushing out four laps of the track in just over 50 seconds with no breaks. Now either they are very brave or completely mad.

I think I will opt for the former as there are some big guys out there and I am told when things sometimes become a little heated an impromptu boxing match may be additional entertainment for the speedway fans. But we saw none of that just friendly competition. Of course speedway is very much an international sport and at the Redcar track we watched Matt Tresarrieu from France who was fit again after a recent match with the Comets. Matt hails from Bordeaux and says he likes his holiday with sun, sex and sea in that order - he will love Tenerife!

Chris Holder from the Islanders who is one of the exciting talents from Australia and the captain of the Isle of Wight team Krzystzof Stojanowski also played their part and trying saying Stojanowski that when you have had a couple of bacardis or two.

But I was here to watch a world champion in Gary Havelock who lifted the ultimate prize in 1992 and has now come full circle and returned to the north east to champion the Bears. He has lost none of his competitive spirt and that has to be good for the Bears. His team mate Tomas Suchanek hails from the Czech republic and still has a home there no doubt commuting to Prague via the excellent links via Easyjet from the airport up the road which I understand we don‘t mention by name. (I have included a reference to the airline in the hope they will subsidise my next trip abroad, but I won‘t stop shaving as I wait). Easyjet can be found at www.easyjet.com.

Another member of the Bears team who impressed me was Daniel James Giffard who’s ambition is to become world champion. He has been around the Conference and Premier league tracks several times and hails from Eastbourne. What impressed me about this quiet young man was it was less than three years ago that he had a horrific crash riding for Stoke against Kings Lynn when he broke both ankles. He recovered and was soon back on his bike again. Brave lad who has respect for anybody who climbs on to a speedway bike. I echo those comments.

So there we were in the middle of a track with the Bears battling it out with the Islanders and taking some terrific photographs for the newspaper in the Tenerife. It was a great night and I would like to thank Graham Platten, the management and promoters, the sponsors and of course the two teams for making us really welcome at the home of Redcar Bears. Oh my story doesn’t end there - oh no!

We will be back to take in several more meetings - not as photographers but as spectators. What a wonderful sport you have!
 

John Riddle is the sports editor for an English Language newspaper published in Tenerife in the Canary Islands - called simply The Paper. You can read it on line at www.thepaper.net

Although he says he is an amateur photographer his picture of “Lavender fields” was included in the widely acclaimed 2004 Northern Echo calendar for June and in more recent times he was the April winner of the Cruise Magazine photograph of the month Award, with his image “Cruise to Alaska”.

His first experience of speedway was the match between The Bears and Isle of Wight Islanders which he reported for his newspaper in Tenerife. The Bears abroad - now that’s a thought!

John will be back in Tenerife before Christmas but not before he has visited Marbella, Jersey, Italy, Scotland, Rhodes and Norway - this guy gets around! But he has stated that he will be back in Redcar for another speedway meeting very soon.

Sports Editor - The Paper - Tenerife