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MIDGET CARS v SPEEDWAY RIDERS
By John Hyam
IT was a unique challenge match and it took place over 50 years ago at Glasgow's Ashfield Speedway.
At the time, while the 'Giants' were doing their stuff in the National Speedway League's second division, the promotion was also trying to pioneer midget car racing.
Naturally, there was some keen rivalry between the bikers and the car men. And while the car men could never be tempted on to two wheels, some of the speedway riders fancied their chances on four wheels.
There's no disputing the cars were 'pretty lethal.' They were owned by a giant of a man, 17-stone Dave Hughes, who had trouble squeezing into his car. But while he had weight problems he could still use craft to win races.
The cars, built by one-handed pre-war driver Harry Skirrow, who had pioneered them at Belle Vue, Coventry and Lea Bridge in the late 1930s, were four-wheel drive with transmission brakes. The engines were JAP twin-996cc, commonly known as 8/80, with a power output of over 80bhp. They were of the type used just before the outbreak of war in September 1939 by the late Eric Fernihaugh in an unsuccessful; motorcycle world speed record attempt.
In 1953, Eric Liddell, a Scottish-based speedway rider, had also built himself a good reputation in midget cars, but the rest of the Ashfield speedway team were untried on four wheels. But Liddell put together a squad with Cyril Cooper, Johnny Green, Doug Templeton and Australian rider Ron Phillips in his side to race against the midget drivers. NIven MacReadie was the reserve.
The midget team, labelled as Stepps Stadium, was led by Hughes and included Mark Black, Tommy Forster, Jimmy Reid, George Ellis.
The epic clash too place on Tueday, October 15, 1953, Races were two-a-side, with the familiar 3-2-1-0 points scoring for finishing places. Races were four laps clutch start.
The match opened with a drawn heat, Hughes leading home Liddell and Cooper. In the next heat Green and Phillips shocked the car men at their own game with a 5-1 from third placed Glasgow bus driver Forster.
A 4-2 from Liddell, when he split Hughes and Ellis, kept the speedway men ahead 10-8 after three heats. Then in a rerun heat four, Black and Forster took a 5-1 over Cooper after Green went out with engine failure,
And so the midget men 13-11 ahead kept a a slender lead in the match with their drivers taking first place in the heats up to eight, when Templeton won and Green was third in a 4-2 result.
Going into heat nine, the car men led 25-23, but then Liddell and reserve MacReadie took a 4-2 from Reid, and the scores were tied 27-27. In heat 10, Hughes and Ellis with a 4-2 over Templeton put the speedway riders back in front. And after two drawn heats, the midget drivers led 37-35 going into the penultimate race heat 13.
In this, a 4-2 by MacReadie and Phillips over Hughes broke a sequence of midget drivers as heat winners. And it made the score 39-39 with two races left.
Interest and excitement was at fever pitch. In heat 14 Templeton and Phillips grabbed a 4-2 from Ellis to give the speedway riders a 43-41 advantage going into the last race.
Liddell and Phillips lined up for the speedway riders while the Stepps' midget drivers put out the formidable Hughes-Forster duo. Liddell swept into the lead with Hughes challenging all the way. Forster nosed past Phillips but the speedway rider outwitted him on the last lap and went after Hughes. And that's how it finished, a 4-2 win for the speedway riders and a 47-43 match victory.
SPEEDWAY RIDERS 47: Doug Templeton 13, Eric Liddell 12, Niven MacReadie 9, Ron Phillips 6, Cyril Cooper 4, Johnny Green 3.
STEPPS MIDGETS: Dave Hughes 16, Tommy Forster 10, George Ellis 8, Jimmy Reid 5, Mark Black 4.
© John Hyam 2004