Jeremy Doncaster - submitted 6th May, 2009
I first started watching John ride for the Ipswich Witches from the second bend at Foxhall in the mid-70s so was there to see them winning the League for the first time in 1975 and also saw John win the British Final at Coventry in the same year.
I first met John when I was about 15 or 16 as I worked at Davey Bros. in Ipswich where he used to buy his spares. He often suggested that I should try speedway although he was then riding for Halifax.
When I did decide to venture into the sport John gave me invaluable advice about contract negotiations. He made sure that I understood all the things that I should get paid for and was always encouraging me to 'go back for a bit more'. He also passed on very sound advice about bike setups, clutch maintenance and how to focus at the start of a race including getting to know how different referees used the tapes. Much of this I recorded, as he did himself, for future reference and I still use much of this to pass on to todays youngsters at Ipswich like Ollie Rayson and Joe Jacobs.
One thing that I never expected was that one day I would ride over John's head! We were taking part in the annual 16 lapper event at Foxhall and John was leading the final race. Preben Eriksen got a bit close to John, which resulted in him spinning round and falling on to the track. I was a few riders behind and wasn't aware that he was there until it was too late and I went straight over him, ending up in the fence myself. Fortunately no permanent damage was done although I did apologise to all of his family for any following forgetfulness that may have been caused by the incident...
When I was riding for Ipswich in the mid-80s I was very grateful for all the further help I received from John, who was team manager at the time. When I later returned to Ipswich, as a replacement for Tony Rickardsson, John was by then the promoter. This made our contract negotiations very interesting as I knew all the things to look out for due to John's own advice earlier in my career! We had a very good relationship and John knew that he could always rely on me to raise my game whenever required in a meeting.
I was there in 2003 when John decided to try out a young Swedish rider who went on to become such a Foxhall favourite; Kim Jansson. Mainly though John has always tried, as a rider and promoter, to attract local talent into the sport and he has certainly done that over the years - Scott Nicholls, Chris Louis, myself, Mark Loram and more recently Ollie Rayson and Joe Jacobs.
Although John never quite made it to World Champion level I have the utmost admiration for what he did achieve, both at a local level with Ipswich and at a national level riding for his country. He was always totally committed to any team that he rode for and did everything he could to nurture and develop other members of the team.
I completely agree with the sentiments expressed recently by John Berry in the local press; some sort of national honour is long overdue for the many years of hard work and dedication John has put into the sport.
Wins the first British League Pairs Championship
This was held at Foxhall in October, 1976. John represented Ipswich alongside the late Billy Sanders.
At the halfway stage they were struggling in fifth place after various problems in the early heats.
John (wearing number 13) had problems before he had even taken part in a heat when he suffered a grazed hand in a freak pit accident and then slid off in his first heat.
However he and Billy then scored well in their last three heats, heading off Coventry (Ole Olsen and Mitch Shirra) and Belle Vue (Peter Collins and Chris Morton) to take the title.
John Louis 12 pts, Billy Sanders 10 pts.
