Reading had a torrid time of things in 1985 with injuries more than playing a part in the attractive looking Racers team under-achieving on the track.
Before a wheel had been turned in Britain, Reading's hopes were dealt a blow when news broke in December from New Zealand that Mitch Shirra had been involved in a horror crash during the Gary Peterson Memorial Trophy at Western Springs, Aukland. The Kiwi had broken his thigh, cracked his pelvis and had also suffered internal injuries, which would keep him out of action for the early weeks of the British season due to start in March 1985.
Going into the season the Racers team plans were dealt a further blow when plans to bring Pierre Brannefors and Einar Kyllingstad over were blocked and they also had difficulties in obtaining a work permit for Per Jonsson, who had had a sensational debut season in Britain in 1984. The Department of Employment had deferred from issuing permits to anyone with an average under eight points until all British riders had been fixed up.
Thankfully that issue was eventually resolved and Jonsson returned for his second season in Britain. Also returning from 1984 was Jan Andersson, Malcolm Holloway and Tim Hunt. John Davis returned to Smallmead on loan from Wimbledon and completing the team was Mark Chessell from Milton Keynes. There was no initial place for Peter Glanz, but the Dane eventually got a recall a couple of months into the season to replace the out-of-touch Chessell. Shirra's absence was covered with the rider-replacement facility until he returned to the track at the end of April.
The season started with a series of League Cup meetings, with Reading going well on their own Smallmead track picking up wins at home to Kings Lynn, Belle Vue and Cradley Heath. However, the absence of Shirra left the Racers stretched away from home and they slipped to early season defeats at Belle Vue, Wolverhampton, Sheffield and Kings Lynn. Reading then had a further away 43-35 loss at Halifax on Saturday 27th April, but good news was around the corner as two days later Shirra was set to make his eagerly awaited injury comeback at home to Sheffield.
The Racers defeated the Tigers 41-37, although it soon became clear that Shirra was going to take time to get back into the swing of things as the Kiwi failed to score from his four rides, which was something alien to a rider who had been a 9-10 point rider in his previous two seasons as a Reading rider.
The following week's events at home to Wolverhampton could hardly have helped his recovery either. The League Cup clash against the Wolves was to have far-reaching effects on Reading's season, which nearly caused the club to withdraw from the British League. The meeting was littered with falls in the early heats, which eventually saw Wolves boss Peter Adams, with the help of his captain Bobby Schwartz, stop his riders coming out for heat 5. Reading raced to two 5-0 walkovers in heat 5 and 6, before Wolves fans got in on the act and sat on the Smallmead track to stop any further racing from taking place. With situation threatening to turn ugly, referee Paul Gray was left with no option but to abandon the meeting. The Reading promotion insisted the meeting should ahead as the track was safe, but Wolves bosses protested the opposite, pointing to the eleven falls, thus insisting the surface was ‘clearly dangerous'. The Racers insisted the meeting was only abandoned because of the actions of the Wolves fans and that the score of 24-14 at the time of abandonment should stand. The Speedway Control Board thought and said otherwise and the meeting would eventually be re-run. With six heats run from the original staging supporters weren't entitled to a refund for the re-staging later in the season, but in a goodwill gesture Reading promoters Pat Bliss and Bill Dore allowed free entry to everyone attending and a big turn saw Reading run out convincing 46-32 winners.
Reading had more worries as news swept the Smallmead terraces that Shirra was considering quitting as he continued to struggle for form after his winter crash in New Zealand, but thankfully nothing came of that as the Kiwi gradually started to find his feet again after a spell in the Racers reserve berth. The season started to turn for Shirra in a KO Cup 2nd round replay at Sheffield when he scored 12 points from five rides, which helped Reading earn a semi-final place against Oxford. Reading lost the first leg of the semi-final 41-36 at Cowley, but fought back in the return leg at Smallmead and actually led 34-26 after 10 heats. Unfortunately it wasn't to be, as two late 5-1's and 4-2 from the Cheetahs saw them run out eventual 40-38 winners and the Racers were out of the KO Cup for another season.
Reading's British League campaign was blighted by injuries with John Davis, Tim Hunt and Shirra all in the wars at various times. Davis missed the last few weeks of the campaign with a dislocated shoulder picked up in crash at home to Ipswich. Davis' absence coincided with Kyllingstad getting the go ahead to race in Britain with the Berkshire club, but the Norwegian struggled, scoring just a handful of points from five meetings. The Racers just about kept their heads above water with victories at Smallmead, but on their travels they often became the league's whipping boys. However they did pick up one away win with a superb 40-38 success at Sheffield on 26th September, but the result came at a cost. Shirra was the star man with a match-winning performance at reserve scoring a 14 (paid 15) maximum, but the Racers lost the services of Tim Hunt when he crashed spectacularly and fractured two vertebrae. The injury saw him sidelined for the remainder of the season and also eventually ended the rider's career. The injury jinx wouldn't go away, as Glanz had a spell out with torn ligaments and Holloway missed a couple of weeks of action with a wrist injury.
Reading expected to end their league season with a visit from World Champion Erik Gundersen and his Cradley Heath team, but the Heathens chose to ride at Wolverhampton in the Dudley/ Wolves Trophy instead, on the night that the Racers had penned them into the Smallmead fixture list. The meeting was never ridden, which prompted Reading to ask the BSPA to award the Racers the points - but it was not to be.
The Racers went onto finish ninth in the eleven team British League in 1985, which was won by Reading's near-neighbours Oxford.
The Smallmead club's season ended in more misery as Jonsson slapped in a transfer request at the end of the season, but thankfully the matter was sorted out over the winter and the emerging Swedish talent lined up in a Racers race jacket at the start of the 1986 season.
