Golden Fortnight
At last, Scotland break their duck!
There are times when nothing goes right for you and that no doubt summed up the first ever
Scotland versus England test held at Rayleigh Stadium on 30th May1949, which resulted in a whopping 88- 32
win for the Auld Enemy. The second test held at Northwood, Middlesex shortly thereafter was only marginally better
at 78-42!! The huge margin in both these tests was attributed to the English riders all having the benefit of a low gearing
by fitting a larger back cog. Danny McGrain was the only Scot to employ this technological advance! Unsurprisingly, he top
scored in both meetings. However there were quite a few more of these black days, most of which couldn’t be explained
away, as Scotland had still to win an international when 1969 dawned. August of that year was to witness a dramatic transformation
in fortunes! The program writer for the NACSA international held at Hampden in Glasgow was unable to list the full English
team in the “pen portrait” section. It was known that guys like Derek Garnett, Vic Hinchcliffe and John Watchman
would not be coming north and worse was to follow with a late call off from Kevin Greenhalgh, so late in fact that team manager,
Brian Moston, was forced to put his own name into the number four spot in the line up. He would, however, only be required
to race once, as reserves Dave Wilson and Josh Gleave would each take two of his rides.
Scot
Eng
Scot Eng
Heat
1: Noble(S), Watling(E),Bailey(E), Low(S)
3
3 3 3
Heat
2: Pinkerton(S), Wilson(E), Whiting(E), Daly(S)
3
3 6 6
Heat
3: Baxter(S), Smith(E), Tait(S), Johnston(E)
4
2 10 8
Heat
4: Pinkerton(S), Watling(E), Daly(S), Bailey(E)
4
2 14 10
Heat
5: Gleave(E), Baxter(S), Tait(S) fell, Whiting(E) exc 2 3 16 13
Heat
6: Murphy(S), Wilson(E), Low(S), Johnson(E) 4 2 20 14
Heat
7: Watling(E), Archibald(S), Pinkerton(S), Gleave(E) 3 3 23 18
Heat
8: Noble(S), Johnson(E),Smith(E), Low(S) fell
3
3
26 21
Heat
9: Wilson(E), Tait(S), Whiting(E), Archibald(S)
2
4
28 25
Heat
10: Noble(S), Murphy(S), Moston(E), Gleave(E) 5 1
33 26
Heat
11: Pinkerton(S), Johnson(E), Daly(S), Smith(E) 4 2
37 28
Heat
12: Tait(S), Watling(E), Baxter(S), Bailey(E) exc 4 2
41 30
Heat
13: Wilson(E), Noble(S), Low(S), Whiting(E) fell 3 3 44 33
Heat
14: Baxter(S), Gleave(E),Smith(E), Archibald(S) 3 3 47 36
Heat
15: Wilson(E), Daly(S), Murphy(E), Bailey(E)
3
3
50 39
Heat
16: Pinkerton(S), Johnson(E), Whiting(E), Noble(S)fell 3
3
53 42
Heat
17: Low(S), Bailey(E), Gleave(E), Baxter(S) fell 3 3
56 45
Heat
18: Tait(S), Smith(S), Watling(E), Daly(S) 3 3 59 48
48
