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WHERE'S VESPRINI?: THAT WAS THE YEAR THAT WAS PART 4
Saturday December 21, 2013
Complete this sequence, 1978, 1979, 1992, 2005 and..................2013. Yes all years when The Rockets reached the KO Cup Final, each having its own story.
The first two I must admit were before my time so any comment will be deferred to John Sampford who witnessed both of them. Although he does tell me he was still in short trousers at the time! 1992 has already been the subject of a post here and as you’ll know occasionally on dark nights in the middle of the winter I wake with a start shouting “Arena Essex Ronnie No!!!!!!!†2005 was every bit as frustrating, a top team that had taken the league by storm robbed of its lynch pin falling at the final hurdle. Witnessing the 63-27 thumping at Kings Lynn in the first leg is another nightmare seen through the Saddlebow Road fence. Eight years later and this time it was a case of the curious incident of the Australian in the Czech Republic.
In most sports a cup final is a big deal, fans look forward to the day and team members are wrapped up in cotton wool for weeks before to make sure they can play their part. Speedway though has always been different and when the big day came around both teams had reasons not to be cheerful. Somerset were missing Nick Morris while the Rockets had waved goodbye to The Admiral as he joined his mate in Eastern Europe. Young Normans ailing limb had also decreed that he could only be replaced by a National League rider which added to the fact the Rebels could rely on a top notch guest while our lads were left to call on R/R yet again virtually ended the contest before a wheel had been turned. When the second leg arrived even Webby decided to keep the union jack trousers in the wardrobe for a night when there appeared to be more atmosphere on the moon.
Plenty of questions remained, why are Australia’s Under 21’s more important than our Rockets, why should Uncle Len foot the bill in terms of attendance, why did we have to race on that Friday, how can a rulebook that produces such an uneven contest be fair and why did the fish bar run out of chips? The final one came from a conversation I overheard between races so I can’t say whether its 100% accurate or not. So with cup hopes floating off down the Lea all that was left were the end of season awards which saw a clean sweep for The Admiral although personally I think R/R should have got an honourable mention! Ironically one of the best performances of the final month occurred at Central Park Sittingbourne where the Bowen 747 stunned everyone by finishing second in the Silver Ski Holidays Championship behind Steve Boxall. With no practice the lad who for almost the first time in his adult life can now go through an airport scanner without some metal part setting the alarms ringing looked superb. As I drove away that night I had a feeling next season might well turn into the year of the reunion and a few weeks later in his usual style Uncle Len had named the team before some promoters had left the bar and my hunch became reality. Steve, Eddie and Luke back in the same line-up, the last time that happened was eight years ago and what happened then? Just a thought to keep us going through Xmas.
Roll on 2014!
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