Per Jonsson was Per-Fection. His Smallmead track record still stands 20 years later
When Coventry visited Smallmead late in the season 20 years ago, on 12 October 1987, Racers and Bees fans, alike, were privileged to witness a piece of Reading Speedway history, which still stands to this day.
Prior to the start of the Reading .v. Coventry British League match, the Smallmead Track Record stood at 59.2 seconds, set by Hans Nielsen on 24 June 1985.
The opening heat of the 1997 Reading .v. Coventry British League match saw the Racers pairing, of Per Jonsson and Malcolm Holloway, take on Bees number one Tommy Knudsen and his partner, Dave Bargh. Jonsson scorched round the 4 laps of the Smallmead circuit, ahead of Knudsen, Bargh and Holloway in just 58.1 seconds - more than a full second quicker than Nielsen's 1985 track record!
The well prepared track gave the opportunity to Jonsson to record another sub sixty seconds time in Heat 6 and Coventry's Tatum and Knudsen cracked the sixty seconds barrier, in Heat's 4 and 5, respectively, too.
Jonsson completed an immaculate 12 points maximum with Coventry's Knudsen topping the Bees scorechart, with 11 points. The match ended in a 39-39 draw, but Jonsson topped off his evening by, also, winning the second half ‘Flying Four' race for the Racers top four points scorers.
Per Jonsson's Smallmead Track record has stood for almost 20 years and is the longest standing record for any Speedway track throughout Great Britain.
Whilst it is generally accepted that the introduction of the dirt deflectors slowed down the bikes a bit but, in my opinion, the modern streamlined machines with more potent engines, has more than compensated for the dirt deflectors.
Since Jonsson's premature retirement from racing, following sustaining his serious back injury in Poland in June 1994, sub sixty seconds race times have been a bit of a rarity around the Smallmead track. That is until the new Bulldogs elevation to the Elite League in 2006.
Last season, five Bulldogs riders and eight from visiting teams clocked-up a total of 34 sub sixty seconds heat wins, around Smallmead, between them. The quickest of these was recorded by Andreas Jonsson(Arena Essex - but not related to Per!) who recorded a time of 58.21 in Heat 1 of the match, between the Bulldogs and Arena Essex, on 8 May 2006. This was just .11 of a second outside Per's record.
It is interesting to note that Travis McGowan topped the list of bulldogs sub sixty seconds heat winners with 7, with Matej Zagar on 6, Greg Hancock on 4, Sam Simota on 3, Charlie Gjedde 1 and Todd Wiltshire(guesting for Greg H.) also 1.
Of the eight visiting riders to beat the sixty seconds barrier, not surprisingly, Jason Crump did it three times, in two visits to Smallmead. Former Racer, Lee Richardson(Swindon) did it twice, as did Leigh Adams(Swindon), with sub sixty seconds heat wins also coming from Hans Andersen(Peterborough), Andreas Jonsson(Arena), Seb Ulamec(Swindon), Bjarne Pedersen(Poole) and Todd Wiltshire(Oxford).
The majority of the quicker times were recorded in Heat 1, with most of the others spread evenly over Heats 2 to 5. The grip on the track deteriorates considerably during the remaining heats and, surprisingly, Matej Zagar recorded a Heat 13 time of 59.68, in the match against Swindon on 25 September 2006. Incidentally, the track must have been at its absolute best, for the Swindon match, as no less than seven sub sixty seconds heat wins were recorded that night, three of them by Zagar.
So far this season, eight sub sixty seconds heat wins have been recorded, at Smallmead, the quickest being 59.15 by Greg Hancock, against Wolverhampton, on 13 April 2007.
I wonder if any Bulldogs, or visiting rider, can equal or beat Per Jonsson's long standing Track Record this season?
I have noticed that some riders, who have gated particularly well and opened up a big lead ahead of the other riders, ease off towards the end of the race. This might have deprived one of them of beating Jonsson's record, so let's see all riders- particularly the Bulldogs - keep on full power right until the end of the races.
What an honour it would be to become the new Smallmead Track Record holder, after all this time, beating, probably, Reading's greatest ever rider - PER JONSSON.
Not only did Jonsson get around Smallmead in the quickest time, he was almost unbeatable on his home track, setting a record of the most consecutive races without defeat.
When Coventry visited Smallmead late in the season 20 years ago, on 12 October 1987, Racers and Bees fans, alike, were privileged to witness a piece of Reading Speedway history, which still stands to this day.
