Testimonial for 'Home Town Boy'
IT'S not very often that a professional sportsman shows loyalty to one particular club throughout his entire career.
But, when it is his home town club you are talking about, the person concerned deserves all the plaudits levelled at him.
That's why David Meldrum deserves all the recognition which is coming his way this weekend when his 'Milestone' benefit meeting (or Testimonial) is staged at Shielfield.
For Meldrum, or 'Victor' as he is known in speedway circles, had a 14 year career spanning from 1994 to 2007, and he is being honoured for the 12 years he spent as a Bandits' asset.1
He now joins a small, but growing band of Berwick riders, who have been honoured in this way for their exceptional service to the club.
Graham Jones, Steve McDermott and Rob Grant all spent ten-plus years riding in the black and gold.
Meldrum will now become the fourth such rider, whilst current favourite Michal Makovsky, now in his ninth successive season with the club, and who is due to receive his Testimonial next year, will become the fifth.
So what is it that kept the local boy 'local' for all those years. I caught up with him in America before he was due to fly in last week and this is what he had to say.
When did you first seriously think about becoming a speedway rider?
I've always been bike mad, my dad used to work at Border Bikes (then took it over) and used to race the classic bikes so I used to go everywhere with him. Then my Mum took me to watch Hans Nielson at Berrington Lough in '87 when he did some demonstration races and I've been hooked since!
We used to crush empty tins of coke so they'd stick to our left trainer and race each other and pretend to be our favourite rider, I was always Sean Courtney or Charlie McKinna! I always wanted to be a road racer til I went to the speedway and since I first went I've always wanted to be a speedway rider, so since I was 10!
What did it mean to you when you first signed for your home town club?
It meant so much to me signing for Berwick at 16. I'd been at the training track all winter and was gradually getting faster and faster, then it was Brian Little who asked me if I wanted the No 7 jacket just before the '94 season in the acadamy league, I'd just left school and was doing my apprenticeship at Fenton as a gamekeeper and I was just loving life!
You spent virtually your entire career with the Bandits (except for brief spells at Somerset, Stoke, Edinburgh and Newcastle) did you ever have an ambition to move on and further your career elsewhere?
I nearly went to Coventry in '99, I'd done a deal and all but signed on the dotted line, that's when Berwick weren't sure what league they'd be running in or even at all, then Peter Waite came in and I told Colin (Pratt) that my heart lies with Berwick and I went back to the Bandits, so looking back I don't suppose I did have the ambition because that was a great opportunity with the Bees and I turned it down!
You were always considered a one track man, in that you were an expert around Shielfield, did that ever worry you?
I was considered good around Shielfield and could beat anyone on my day round there (like Mark Loram when he was world champ) but I did have my moments away from home too, I've probably had a really good meeting on every track (apart from Birmingham) but just couldn't find the consistency needed to do it all the time, maybe riding the big Berwick bowl every week didn't help either, especially going to the smaller tracks like Edinburgh!
You spent more than 12 years as a Berwick rider, what were the highs and the lows during that time?
There were plenty of highs and lows, but I tend to forget the lows and consider them as more a learning curve!
Apart from the obvious ones there are a couple of races that stick out in my mind. One was at Shielfield and it was a last heat decider and I think we needed three points to win. it was Robbie Kesler and Sean Wilson against Moggo and myself, I passed Sean coming out the second bend on the outside and Robbie up the inside on the third lap I think, and Moggo fought his way from the back and we got a 5-1! The other race was another last heat decider at Exeter and I got second to clintch the match and got the bumps afterwards!
Probably the biggest low was crashing in heat eight against Rye House (I think) when my elbow got tangled in Steve Masters' rear wheel, I had to withdraw from the meeting and my elbow had a load of fluid the size of a tennis ball the next day. Then that week getting dropped from the team and in the press Peter said I was injured and nobody concerned with Berwick speedway had even bothered to phone up and ask how I was. I think they brought Adam Pietrasco (or whatever his name is) in place of me, that was '04 I think!
How much of an influence were the likes of your uncle Andy (an ex-Bandit) and your dad Archie (your mechanic) on your career?
Andy wasn't really an influnce on me, although when I first started everywhere I went I was introduced as Andy Meldrum's nephew. He only goes to the speedway once in a while and is coming down for my meeting! My Old Man had a lot of influnce on me, he never pushed me but always backed me. We had our moments but for the majority of the time we got on really well in the pits, and I know if he hadn't done my motors I wouldn't have achieved what I did and I probably would have packed in racing quicker!
Where they any others you tended to look up to for advice or help?
There were a few I looked up to and asked for advice, Sean Courtney being my biggest mentor. It was Sean who took me down to Cocklawburn beach for my first shot of a speedway bike and he has been there for advice ever since, and his son Joe is mascot for my testimonial! Scott Lamb, Martin Dixon and Alan Mogridge are my other mentors and I've learned so much from them on and off track. I was going to have the first race of the mini meeting with my four main mentors in it but Sean wasn't keen so I've taken his place in that race! Other than that Kevin Little's a great friend and always good for advice or a loan of something!
You travelled to America quite often for the ice speedway, are you still involved in that?
I first flew to America on Christmas day '98 and rode for ten weeks, traveling thousands of miles with the likes of Stuart Robson, Anthony Barlow, James Birkenshaw and Adrian Newman,
I went back in 2000 for a couple of months with Wesley Waite and had a sucsessfull two months there! Then later that year I went to race three meetings at Charlie Venagas's track in San Bernadino (California) with Stuart Robson and Greg Hancock!
Then in '03 I got I call from Anthony Barlow (who had moved across to the States) asking if I wanted to ride in an ice series he was starting up with his wife. I said yes and have been an ever-present since! It was while we was racing in Tampa that I met my now wife April. Her brother races quads and did some of the tour and we got to know each other! We've just finished racing the ice a week ago where I ended up a disappointing sixth. We also did two meetings in Canada.
How are you now finding life living in the US? Where abouts do you live and work, and do you miss anything about Britain, and Berwick in particular?
I live in Central Florida in a city called Lakeland, it's smack inbetween Tampa and Orlando, about half an hour either way! I've been here about 16 months and have settled in nicely, I've a steady job with my brother in law, Chris, who's a joiner, and I'm slowly picking up the trade! What I miss about Britain the most is the speedway, not so much actually racing myself, but going to the meetings and the crack! Obviously I miss my family a lot, and I miss a lot about Berwick, you don't realise how lucky you are living there untill you move away, I'm well happy in Lakeland and I wouldn't change that, but I do miss just going out the front door and walking everywhere. Where we live just now is on a busy road and there's no sidewalk and in all the time I've lived here I've not walked anywhere, how sad is that!
What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future, speedway wise I still plan on riding and hopefully do a few meetings up in Indianapolis and maybe a couple in California and I enjoy riding in Anthony Barlow's ice series so will carry on with that!
We'd like to get our our own house soon and that's our goal this year. At the moment we live with April's mum and she's great, but we'd like to start a family sometime soon and have our own gaff!
How disappointed were you that your benefit meeting was postponed at the back end of last season?
At the time I was really disappointed to have my testimonial cancelled after all the hard work everyone had put in, but then I saw the state of the track on what should have been my meeting and was glad I wasn't riding, so in hindsight I'm glad it got called off because at least with Razor (Berwick track curator Ian Rae) doing the track I know it will be the best it can be!
So how do you sum up your career?
My first love as a schoolboy was always rugby. But I absolutely love the sport of speedway, I respect everyone who puts their leg over a bike, I've traveled up and down Britain, a bit of Europe, all over the USA and a good part of Australia racing the bikes, I've had the ups, and the downs - broken bones, torn ligaments, pulled muscles, concussion, bruising, cuts, knocked out, dislocated joints, you name it, I've had it. And have I any regrets . . . you must be joking!!!
DAVID Meldrum's Milestone meeting is being held at Shielfield on Saturday (April 18) and the line-up is now complete.
Those confirmed are: Jason King, Richard Hall, Ricky Ashworth, Tero Aarnio, James Grieves, Lee Smethills, Derek Sneddon, James Wright, Shane Parker, William Lawson, Andreas Bergstrom, Danny Warwick, Ritchie Hawkins, Josef Franc, Michal Makovsky, and Craig Branney, with reserves Andrew Tully and Jamie Courtney.
There will also be a 'mini-meeting' with a host of former favourites including: Meldrum, Scott Lamb, Martin Dixon, Alan Mogridge, Gary Phelps, Scott Courtney, Shawn McConnell, Kevin Little, Paul Bentley, Scott Robson, Malcolm Hogg and Rob Grant, with reserves Jamie Robertson and Ben Hopwood, who are both yet to be confirmed.
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Weather for Berwick-Upon-Tweed
Thursday 24 May 2012
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