Events Year By Year

Speedway racing was brought to Barrow in 1972 by promoter Wally Mawdsley along with Peter Oakes, who looked after administration, and a certain Ivan Mauger acting as Racing controller. Home of the 'Happy Faces' was the Holker Street stadium of the towns then Football League outfit Barrow AFC. Fitting a speedway track around the playing area was not possible without major alterations to the pitch and parts of the terracing. Accommodating Speedway in Holker Street resulted in too many compromises which caused a lot of trouble between the board of the football club and the Speedway promotion.

The first meeting, held on the 27th of April, was a World Championship Qualifying Round won by John Harrhy in front of a crowd of 4096. The rest of the fixture list was composed of challenge matches as the promotion had failed in achieving a place in Speedways Second Division. The team consisted of youngsters and a some riders who had not ridden for some time. One rider in particular was destined to have a major impact on the British Second Division/National League over the next 10 years and prove to be a great favourite around Holker Street. Twenty year old Grass-tracker Tom Owen.

After a home draw against Ellesmere Port a defeat was suffered at the hands of Berwick before a victory against fellow non-leaguers Motherwell. The first away match was a long trip to Canterbury which resulted in a 36-42 defeat. Another defeat at home to Birmingham followed before West Ham announced that as their stadium was being demolished they would have to resign from the league. Frantic activity followed and the Barrow promotion managed to secure a deal where Barrow took over the remaining West Ham fixtures plus former West Ham riders Bob Coles and Mike Sampson. The first official meeting of the new set-up took place on the 9th June at Peterborough in a KO Cup 2nd round match which resulted in a heavy defeat 26-52. The strong Peterborough side also won the Barrow leg. The season continued, supported by good crowds, to be fairly average with home wins being the norm along with away defeats. Worth noting that Tom Owens brother, Joe, also started to appear in second halves.

Barrows' geographical isolation could not have helped the promoters search for another heat leader and no one was signed. Indeed some of the 'home' riders were having to make long trips to Barrow. Legend had it that Mike Sampson, Bob Coles and Chris Roynon used to travel up together from the South coast in one car. Quite a distance in 1972 terms for one car, three bikes plus associated tools and leathers !

The Happy Faces finished mid-table and with good crowds had plenty of reasons to be optimistic. A Supporters Club had become established and Workington Comets (and Ian Thomas) had become rivals leading to competitive derby matches.

For the start of the 1973 season Barrow Speedway found itself in the hands of a new promoter. George Graham took over from the previous promotion during the Winter after they had decided that running a Northern track from the South was not on. George Graham, a businessman from Workington, was a director of Workington rugby and had become interested in Speedway there. Team wise Bob Coles had been recalled by his parent track Exeter and therefore new blood had to be found. This came in the shape of ex-Scunthorpe Saint Terry Kelly and Belle Vue training school discovery Sid Sheldrick. A new nickname was also adopted. The Happy Faces became the Barrow Bombers, which reflected Barrows' takeover of the West Ham Bombers fixture in '72.

Barrow started the season with 6 home matches, all of which were won. As in 1972 the vast majority of home matches were won but victory away from home was again to prove very alusive. For many fans the clashes with Workington were the highlight of the season and the first took place on Bank Holiday Monday the 28th of May with the match at Workington being held in the afternoon followed by the return at Holker Street in the evening. Sadly for Bombers fans both were won by the Comets with a 26-52 loss at Derwent Park followed by a 36-42 defeat at home in front of a crowd of 'around 3,000'. Barrovians could take some solace in the fact that both were challenges.

Team changes were limited throughout the season. Local lad Ian Hindle was dropped from reserve early on after a bad run of form to be replaced by Bristolian and future Barrow promoter Chris Roynon. Hindle did not stick around and joined Scunthorpe were he quickly became a heat leader. A packed fixture list saw the league fixtures augmented with challenges, pairs and individuals meetings. Some celebrities of the day were brought in to the individual meetings add to the entertainment. These were comedian Charlie Williams and 'The Golden Shot' presenter Hughie Green.

The season started badly and barrow did not gain their first home win until the sixth attempt when Paul O' Neil was signed. There were problems with the track itself too. having to fit in with Barrow AFC's matches ment that sometimes the pitch corners could not be lifted until raceday and left little time for track preparation. In fact when Barrow hosted Bradford on the 30th of April Bombers heat leader Terry Kelly walked out because of the track.

For the home match against Canterbury a match race series was planned between Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger. Unfortunately Mauger was unable to attend on the day but Peter Collins filled in and helped to entertain a 3,000+ crowd. The first clash of the season against Workington (challenge) at Holker Street resulted in a victory for Barrow and in the return the same day the Bombers got a draw which delighted the Barrow fans. By mid-season results had improved although recent signing Paul O' Neil had returned to New Zealand because of his sick mother.

An International Test Match was held at Holker Street between England and Poland in mid-July which ended in a 61-46 victory for England.

1977 saw the return of Speedway to Barrow-in-Furness after a two and a half season break. A brand new stadium was constructed on the outskirts of town along Park Road. The promoter was Cliff Hindle, Father of ex-Bomber Ian Hindle. Cliff Hindle lived locally and Had his own plant hire business. A competition held in a local newspaper to find a new nickname for the team resulted in the Furness Flyers being born. The Bombers colours of yellow and blue were retained. This nickname and logo is my favourite of them all.

The stadium was very basic with unsurfaced banking around most of the track and a small area of terracing upon which planks were placed for seating along the home straight. No cover for spectators was provided. The track itself was on the small side at 300 yards. The opening meeting was held on the 16th of August with a challenge match against Glasgow. The Flyers consisted of riders 'borrowed' from other teams and included old Bomber Tom Owen who proved virtually unbeatable around Park Road. The meeting was won by the Flyers with a score of 44-34 in front of a good crowd of over 2,000. Further challenge matches were held against team such as Newcastle, Stoke and the old enemy Workington.

Prior to Park Road being opened the Furness Flyers tracked a team in the four team tournament. The team consisted of youngsters and was outclassed. Only 3 legs were raced as no leg was raced at Barrow. The other three teams were Coatbridge, Edinburgh and Newcastle.

Barrow started the season at Workington in a challenge match with a very weak team. Two juniors, David Butt and Andy Heyes, were signed on loan from Belle Vue. Geoff Pusey had been signed from Halifax and another Barrow assett was Andy Reid. Dave Butt was given the no. 1 race jacket but he was far from a heat leader. Barrow went down to a heavy defeat and were on the wrong end of an even bigger defeat when the return leg was raced at Park Road. Ex-Edinburgh man Charlie Monk was soon signed and made his debut for Barrow at home against Mildenhall on the 4th of April but could not stop the Flyers going down to a dismal 20-58 defeat.

The fixture list was unkind to Barrow in their return to league Speedway. By the end of April the Flyers had raced in 8 away meetings, many resulting in heavy defeats. Only on one occasion away from home did the Flyers break the 30 point barrier, at Glasgow. Barrow did put in a reasonable performance in the fours where they finished second in their group, behind Edinburgh but ahead of Glasgow and Berwick. No away wins win recorded but they came close at Workington in the league match where Barrow pushed the Comets to within 2 points in a 38-40 defeat. After this the second half of the season showed improvement; particulary when Chris Bevan was signed from Sheffield.

Home wins were subsequently recorded against Workington, Crayford, Teeside, Scunthorpe, Boston, Berwick and Weymouth. Draws were achieved against Eastbourne and Milton Keynes. Barrow finished bottom of the National League which was very dissapointing. Sadly the Furness Flyers never took to the track again. Crowds were not deemed enough and Barrow were not to be seen in Speedway again for another 6 years.

A Barrow Speedway team took to the track again in 1984, 6 years after the Furness Flyers. Inbetween Park Road had been used for a couple of months by the Berwick Bandits in 1981 in an attempt to keep their league status after losing the use of Shielfield Park. The operation was a disaster and the Bandits packed up and left. Ex-Barrow rider Chris Roynon was the man behind the revival. Much work had to be done to enable the Park Road stadium to host Speedway including rebuilding the safety fence, rewiring the electrics and moving the lamp posts in from the fence.

Eight meetings were run from mid-July to the end of September. The Barrow Blackhawks (yes, another nickname) consisted of old 'Bombers' such as Tom Owen and Craig Pendlebury as well as local lad John Walmsley and ex-Belle Vue rider Eric Broadbelt. The meetings, held under an open license, were aimed at assessing crowd potential with the hope of entering the National League in 1985. With this in mind the future looked promising with crowd levels of around a 1000 and breaking even although the individual meeting lost money. However Chris Roynon decided to go ahead with a National League application and Barrow Speedway folk looked to have an exciting 1985 ahead.

After the optimism of 1984, the 1985 season proved to be an absolute nightmare. The promoter had little if any money to spend on bringing riders to the club and ended up tracking a team of loan riders and youngsters. Ex-Bombers Bob Coles and Terry Kelly were persuaded out of retirement to ride for the Blackhawks. Paul Price was taken on loan from Middlesborough and Kevin Armitage from Scunthorpe. The teams combined average was under the 43 point minimum allowed but the BSPA allowed Barrow to begin their league campaign. The first league match away at Middlesborough resulted in a 58-19 reverse. This was followed by another heavier defeat at Edinburgh 59-19. In addition to this it proved impossible to get the home programme of meetings underway due to wet weather in the Furness area. Indeed the first home meeting, against Exeter, did not take place until the 23rd of April and even then this had to be abandoned after 7 heats due to floodlight failure. Two more away matches, at Eastbourne and Exeter, were lost heavily and Chris Roynon was summoned to appear before the leagues management committee

They suspended Barrow from the league in early May and gave them 14 days to sign riders to bring the squad above the 43 point limit. Ironically at around the same time Scunthorpe folded and put their whole team up for transfer. Chris Roynon did not sign anyone and Barrow were thrown out of the league and the records expunged. Barrow were again without a league Speedway team. A series of open meetings were held using teams made up of junior riders but these matches failed to bring in enough spectators to make ends meet and Park Road closed to Speedway for the last time .

The stadium was subsequently used for Stock Car and greyhound racing. In the early 1990's a planning application was submitted to develop the site for industrial use with the result of the building of a factory. Speedway would seem to be lost from Barrow forever.