Saturday 4th August 2012, 09:15

Former England and Ipswich boss John Berry has passed away at his home in Australia.

Berry, born in 1944, brought speedway back to Foxhall in 1969 and fronted a hugely successful period for the club. He also had a spell in charge of the national side before quitting and moving out to Perth following the death of Billy Sanders in 1985.

He still remained closely in touch with the sport and recommended current Ipswich rider Cameron Heeps to the club two years ago.

Witches co-promoter John Louis said: “John was simply the best speedway promoter in this country by a long way when he was running Ipswich.

"He was also responsible for turning me from a rider that went out purely to win races into a solid team rider and captain, who put his team mates ahead of his own ambitions.

“I had enormous respect for him, as did the rest of the team, and I have such good memories of those years when he was in charge at Ipswich, steering us all to one success after another. I also rode for him when he was England team manager and he put the same passion and drive into that as he always did at club level.

“I don’t think there will ever be another promoter like him. He always stuck to his principles and although not everyone shared his views, he never wavered from his vision of how the sport should be run.”

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