Tiger by name, Tiger by nature - submitted August 31st 2009
It was towards the back end of the 1969 season that I first saw this tigerish young newcomer in action in the second half. Working in York at the time, my visits to Foxhall Stadium were quite limited but I still believed that I could pick a good rider from any mix. This rider was a near sensation.
Sure enough, the young man on the speedway' bike, had more than an inkling of gumption about him. With a scrambling background he quickly showed he had something that many riders lacked - dedication, determination to do well, and the ability to back it up where it counted, on the track. Top that with a terrific personality and you had the whole package - John 'Tiger' Louis. In those last weeks of the season, he was given a couple of open bookings and two team outings in challenge matches and was more than competitive in each.
After that great late season introduction in '69 he signed on for his first full season in the second division of the British League. Normally a new rider would struggle in the kind of company he kept, but our John streaked from reserve to heat leader topping the point scoring chart for Ipswich with over three hundred points in official matches including seven full maximums, two of those against Berwick in the Knockout Cup Final. At the other end of the scale in a league match at Rochdale I witnessed the only match where the Tiger failed to score in six outings - it must be said because of engine failures!
He won the Silver Helmet from Eric Broadbelt at the end of August and defended it seven times to end the season as holder. For one so new to the sport this was fantastic but there were still more achievements to come. Capped in all twelve Young England internationals against the Czechs and the Swedes he amassed 137 points. Division One promoters sat up and wanted to sign him. He guested for then first division Newport and even whipped in an impressive 15 point maximum against Wolverhampton, guested for West Ham and won the second half final to boot!
From this one mighty season, Ipswich Witches became a force in speedway and it all began in the wake of the Tiger's tyre tracks.
He was by far the best newcomer the sport had ever seen, yet in his second year he achieved a staggering 11.31 CMA in official matches and this included 21 full and 4 paid maximums from 38 matches! He scored almost 200 points for Young England, won 26 of his 29 Silver Helmet races only relinquishing it Phil Crump and failing to reclaim it in the final meeting of the season because of an uncharacteristic engine failure when leading. Just in case you think that was all, he went to Hackney in the British League Division Two Riders Championship and won!
If John was a second division champion then his progress in Division One up against the cream of the world's top riders was quite remarkable. Outside Suffolk John may have been regarded as something of an upstart - but John proved to all and sundry that he was one of the world's best riders and probably one of England's greatest ever competitors.
The pinnacle of his career was in the mid-seventies when his CMA steadily rose to 11.08 in 1976. What had he achieved prior to this? Without doubt he was the Ipswich number one each year. Regularly involved in the Golden Helmet match races, He became undisputed British Champion in1975 with a flawless maximum in the final at Coventry, then finished third in the World Final at Wembley after a run-off with Kiwi legend Ivan Mauger - the first Englishman to stand on the rostrum since Peter Craven in 1962. On the international scene he was a member of England's triple winning success in the World team Cup, and was World Pairs Champion with Malcolm Simmons.
He also won the British League Riders Championship in 1979 becoming the first rider to win both divisions titles.
His achievements may never be matched by a local rider again, but John was the heart and soul of Ipswich Speedway during its most successful spell when we tracked a local side that included the likes of Billy Sanders and Tony Davey and went on to win every competition during those blistering seventies.
Those early days will remain with me forever, but possibly the one day that I recall with pride was the 1972 World Championship Final at Wembley. My wife and I travelled on one of the supporters coaches and from the off, all the way along the A12, car after car overtook us displaying the Ipswich Witch and of course Tiger's scarves and flags. One car that went past had a message in the window. 'My Son John Louis'. Perhaps Tiger didn't win the title but he certainly won a whole host of English hearts that day as he finished equal fourth.
Who can forget some of the on-track tussles he had with riders like Phil Crump, Terry Betts, Peter Collins, Ole Olsen, Ivan Mauger and Reg Wilson to name just a few...
Wonderful memories of our greatest rider.
Tiger, thank you.
Dave Feakes
