We love motorsport – especially speedway. So what better way to celebrate our ongoing sponsorship of the Adrian Flux Arena than by bringing a trio of legends back to King’s Lynn?

It was an honour to have Terry Betts, Mark Loram and Tomas Topinka share the stage at a venue where they were once idolised for a special night of sporting entertainment – hosted by the voice of speedway, Nigel Pearson.

The three icons had the audience lapping up every single word as well as rolling in the aisles with laughter as they listened to hilarious and insightful tales from yesteryear. So we’ve collated some of the best bits from the evening so you can relive them all again or enjoy them for the first time in case you missed out.

From left, Tomas Topinka, Mark Loram, Terry Betts and host Nigel Pearson chew the fat.

Tomas Topinka on the rivalry that fuelled King’s Lynn Stars’ Premier League trebles

“I had a lot of friends and there was never anybody I didn’t like. There was always some sort of rivalry between us in the King’s Lynn team. It wasn’t as much from my side of it because I took team events slightly differently to individual events. In my view, Kevin Doolan was always trying to prove he was number one. It was fine with me but sometimes it was a bit hard on the track. Sometimes the first bend was supposed to be about the team. 

“The guy on the inside should hang on the inside and not take the other one round to the fence. It was similar with Olly Allen so we had a chat with Rob (Lyon, team boss) and we decided that if Olly felt he was number one to give him the number one race jacket and it helped the situation. Even though these things happened, we were still really good friends in the team and off the track. We had big crowds, won lots of trophies and they were special memories.”

Terry Betts on being considered the greatest King’s Lynn Stars rider of all time

“I was the one who’d been here the longest so I’ve probably got a bigger range of people that have seen me. I’d got no reason really to move because of everything about it. I liked the people down here and I liked the track. It was too good really, too many people loved coming to King’s Lynn’s track. All other riders wanted to come here and race because you could race – it didn’t have a home track advantage. Quite often I wanted them to dig some holes in it so we knew where they were but the opposition didn’t!”

‘Being able to sleep anywhere helped me race across Europe,’ admits Mark Loram

“I did 127 meetings in one season between Poland, Sweden, Denmark, the Grand Prix and England. I was probably top 10 in the world for quite a few years and in one season I did over 40 meetings in Poland alone. I’m glad I did that now because obviously my career was cut short (through injury). We were busy, sometimes I was tired, but I had the amazing ability to sleep anywhere which made me able to do it. 

“Riders like Martin Dugard, who was equally as good as me, and several others couldn’t do the travelling and the late nights because they quite simply couldn’t sleep. I could literally have a power nap and get up and carry on riding. I’d quite often turn up at Coventry after a long week and go out and do the clutches, get the bike and goggles ready, look at the track and go and have a 20-minute sleep.”

Terry Betts signs a fan’s scrapbook as punters take their chance to get closer to their motorsport heroes.

Tomas Topinka and 2000 world champion Mark Loram on riding with ‘Showtime’ Bobby Ott

TT: “Bobby Ott had his own ways to deal with stuff. He never had a mechanic at the meetings and always did everything by himself. You’d try to help him during the meeting because he had two heats in a row and you’d try to help him put the stand down on his bike and he’d be like ‘woah, woah, woah, I know what I’m doing’. You’d be like ‘ok, ok, ok’. I remember against Eastbourne when Martin Dugard tried to tell him his opinion on a race and Bobby, who had a hammer in his hand, just said: ‘What do you want?’ (laughing) I think he was a good bloke though, we never had any trouble with him.”

ML: “He was fantastic. I reckon I witnessed four riders lay the bike down behind him thinking he was falling off yet he had this amazing ability to dig his knee in, look at the person behind him who would think he’s nearly down, and pick the bike back up and carry on. He’d lay them leaving on the ground shaking their heads. Like Tomas said he wouldn’t have anyone help him in the pits. A couple of times he’d had a bad race…..(laughing) and I honestly think if you’d have helped him he’d have pulled out a gun and shot you, he was so hostile.”

‘We were rivals but Malcolm Simmons was my best mate off track,’ reveals Terry Betts

“Simmo and I always wanted to be top dog at Lynn but off the track we were the best of mates. I used to go down to Kent, we’d go trials riding, (our wives) Sandra and Sue were best friends and they still are. Simmo was a gifted rider but he didn’t really sort of believe how good he was. I got the beating of him because I could psycho him out of stuff really. He was a far more natural rider than I was. He could ride any bike, road racing, trials, speedway – on two wheels he was unbelievable. 

“I really missed Simmo when he left Lynn because you had to keep improving all the time. In 1973 he beat me to top average and he thought he’d got the beating of me. In ‘74 I came back and probably had the best year I’d ever had and after that he said: ‘I’m going to have to move as I’m never going to be number one down here. I want to be number one somewhere like you are at King’s Lynn.’ That was when he went to Poole and he never looked back after, he became number one, and he won virtually everything.”

Fans flocked to the Adrian Flux Arena to listen to some of their heroes telling stories from their career.

Tomas Topinka reveals hilarious story about being stitched up during an interview

“I was really welcomed when I arrived and everyone tried to get to know me but the biggest problem was the language because I couldn’t speak a word of English. I got set up by (announcer) Mike Bennett and (rider) Bo Bhrel. They set me up for the interview and Bo said: ‘Don’t worry, he’s going to ask simple questions and every question just answer yes.’ So I did. I was on about the fifth question and I was like ‘yes’ and getting a little bit nervous and it was a bit suspicious. Anyway, at the end I was like ‘thank you very much’ and that was it and Bo and Mike said: ‘You were great, very good’.

“I think that was 1993 and in ‘99 we went to Assen with a group of my friends. We had a bus and there was a video player and we played certain VCRs, as they were back in the day, and this interview popped up. And it went like this:

Mike: So Tomas, we believe you live in Sheringham with Bo?

Tom: Yes.

Mike: Bo tells us that you’re breaking wind a lot.

Tom: Yes.

Mike: Are you breaking wind when you’re racing?

Tom: Yes.

“(Laughing) So that was the interview, and I think I was set up.”

Mark Loram on being terrified of riding at the now defunct Exeter

“It was a genuine steel fence made out of boat panels. I used to love it, the track at Exeter was a strange place but it did help my gating. When you were a home rider you’d get a team that would come and really and truthfully there’d only be three riders who were interested in racing you as the rest of them would be terrified. When I look back now I’m terrified of the place! At the time I was young, stupid and enjoying it. It was great.”

Terry Betts with Ian Howell who purchased his signed 1976 race jacket to raise further funds for charity.

Why has Terry Betts never had a career in speedway after he retired as a rider?

“Have you tried talking to speedway riders? Nobody could tell me what to do when I was young. I’m just not cut out to tell people what to do. I wouldn’t have been like my late friend Colin (Pratt). He was a good team manager – I was too easy. I’d be telling them all the wrong things (laughing). I loved my career. I was getting paid for something I loved doing. The years just went so quick, looking back I should have done things a lot differently. But perhaps I wouldn’t have loved it so much. 

“The years I had at King’s Lynn were so good and I couldn’t have ridden for better supporters. Now matter where I rode in the world, even Australia, there was always a King’s Lynn supporter turned up. It all finished too soon but I’d had 20 years of it and I made a decision to walk away because I’d seen too many riders who mentally thought they could do it but physically they couldn’t and that’s when you get hurt.”

£1,342.40 was donated to the Speedway Riders’ Benevolent Fund thanks to a raffle and auction on the night, as well as a post-event contribution from Adrian Flux.

• The event was filmed and will be released on DVD by ReRun Productions soon.

From left, Tomas Topinka, Mark Loram, Terry Betts and host Nigel Pearson face the camera.

Can I get track day insurance with Adrian Flux?

Do you want to pretend to be Betts, Loram or Topinka on your next track day? We have track day cover that applies for cars and motorbikes to ensure you’re protected insurance wise when you embrace your inner racer.