PRESS RELEASE No 6 – March 4th
 
 
 
LOU Sansom, Workington’s first speedway superstar, is jetting 24,000 miles to be a special guest at the Comets 40th anniversary meeting on March 27.
 
Sansom, now 63, says he would even like to have a “tootle round Derwent Park on a bike to wave at the fans” just for a leisurely spin round the track again.
 
The popular Australian rode in Workington’s very first meeting and will be one of three riders who faced Berwick that night who will be attending the celebrations.
 
Ian Armstrong and former Sheffieldteam manager Reg Wilson will join Sansom. Vic Lonsdale and Maurice Wilson are both dead while Mal McKay and Dave Kumeta are in Australia.
 
Comets team manager Ian Thomas, the original promoter in 1970 and who signed Sansom to ride for the Comets, said he was thrilled that the former go-karts star was coming back to west Cumbria.
 
“I think it’s true to say that there have been two legends as far as Workington speedway is concerned. Carl Stonehewer certainly from the second era, and definitely Lou from when we first launched in 1970.
 
“It would have been nice to get the two of them together for the night but unfortunately Stoney has a prior engagement,” he said.
 
When he was putting his team together Thomas was recommended two young Aussies by a friend, Dennis Gavros – his younger brother Jimmy Gavros and Lou Sansom.
 
“I did the deal to bring both of them over but tragically, days before they were due to fly over, Jimmy was killed in a racing accident. Lou came on his own and the rest, as they say, is history,” explained Thomas.
 
Sansom rode in the very first race at DerwentParkin 1970 – and didn’t make an auspicious start as he fell off on the first corner after a clash with Berwick’s Andy Meldrum. He then fell off in the same place in his next ride too, before winning his last two outings.
 
Ironically, when he returned in 1975, after a year’s absence, he fell off on the first bend of his first race again too.
 
He is the all-time top Comet in terms of appearances and points from the first era (1970 – 1981), riding in 213 official matches he scored 1,960 points and 109 bonus points for Workington.
 
While riding in Comets colours he recorded 36 full and 11 paid maximums and topped the Comets averages in three of the six years he rode for the club – 10.51 being his best in 1973.
 
The 1973 season was his golden year in which he topped the Second Division averages and scored an incredible 20 full and 2 paid maximums from 42 matches.
.
That year he finished third in the Division Two Riders’ Championship at Wimbledon, behind winner Arthur Price (Boston) and Bobby McNeil (Eastbourne).
 
In 1975, as well as riding for the Comets, he rode some Division One matches for Ian Thomas at Hull, and in 1976 he rode matches for Birmingham in Division One before joining the Brummies full-time in 1977.
 
He averaged 5.00 for them before returning home for good with his wife Linda, who hails from Workington.
 
Now working as an RAA patrolman in and around Adelaidehe has been back to the UKfor a visit once before, in the summer of 1995.
 
This week, from his Adelaidehome, he said: “It will be absolutely fantastic to come over to Workington to see everybody again. I’m really looking forward to it.
“To see all the fans again and also to meet up with a lot of my old team-mates will be something really special.
“I get updated as to how the Comets are getting on and I’m keen to see how the track has changed since my day. But this 40th anniversary meeting is the perfect time to come over and see it for myself.
“I’m all sorted at this end, I have my ticket and am raring to go!”
The returning Workington hero will be available for commercial engagements during his short trip and on the Friday night before the anniversary meeting will be chatting to local journalist John Walsh and answering questions for “An Evening with Lou Sansom.”
Tickets for that event are £5 and can be obtained from Tony Jackson, a close friend of the rider, on 01900 65963 or at Press and Practice (March 13) during the ‘meet the riders’ night in the Derwent Lounge.