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Blantyre Speedway

The last speedway meeting at the Blantyre Greyhound Stadium took place on Sunday 18th October 1981 with a "Grand Challenge" between Glasgow Tigers and Bobby Beaton's Buccaneers. This snapshot shows the action from a drawn Heat 9 with Bobby Beaton leading from Colin Caffrey, Andy Reid and Jim Beaton. Dick Barrie's succinct 51-word match report in the Speedway Star reflected the mood that afternoon when he wrote:-

"Sadly this last ever meeting at Blantyre was affected by overnight frost which seriously lifted the track surface around the first and second turns, rendering racing difficult and with only a small attendance braving the bitter cold, the venue closed in the face of redevelopment to a less than enthralling spectacle."

One unique feature of the Blantyre track was the position of the referee's box, which was not in line with the tapes but positioned a few metres further down the track. I do not recall how the Glasgow promotion got away with this anomaly.

From Speedway Plus

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