For the past few years I have been working with a statistician called Hugh Vass to build a complete record of British League riders to have appeared in post-war speedway. At the time of writing there are over 3800 riders who have ridden in a league or cup match since 1946 and this would be too many to fit into one publication. We have decided to split the work into volumes with the deciding factor being the decade in which the rider made his or her league debut.

The first issue covers all the 583 riders who made their post-war debuts in the 1940s and includes household names like Jack Parker, Vic Duggan and Freddie Williams down to Charlie Bourdon who had a career with Bristol lasting just four laps. Each rider has a biographical pen picture and full career statistics including Calculated Match Averages. The disc is also packed with superb photographs from the John Somerville Collection.

The work has been incorporated onto CD rather than in book form in order to reduce costs and with an eye on the environmental impact of book production.

Available from www.speedwayatoz.co.uk

The following is an unsolicited critique by Ian Martin (Sunderland Speedway)

"This CD in my opinion is a great piece of dedicated work. It really is a mammoth undertaking AND there are more CD's to come. Having read a lot about so many different riders it is obvious that the author is working on a labour of love. For those who are interested there are stats aplenty. There are also small biographical details on EVERY Rider. I have found reading this quite addictive.

All in all - a good read, interesting facts and an easy presentation that is simple to use. For anyone who is interested in Speedway AND the History of the Sport itself then this is a MUST (ideal for Christmas). I recommend this work most highly."