waiheke1

I seem to be in a minority, but thought it was a decent meeting. Passing in at least half the heats.

Hate to think what the consequences would have been there without an airfence. Quite possibly saved Freddie's career and more...

I assume that was the reason, and means Freddie gets a third rather than a dnf. Surely could not be fit to race in a rerun.

Hi Does anyone have the scorecards for this (both legs)? Many thanks

Nothing epitomises my memory of Saturday's like that...the end of my favourite era in speedway.

But it was hardly considered a success, and the following year it reverted to a one-off. The racing was pretty mediocre, but I'm sure for a speedway fan it was an enjoyable couple of days, and I bet Amsterdam made for a good night after the first meeting.

PLEASE don't use averages that way to indicate the strength or weakness of the league. What the top riders in a league average is irrelevant to the strength of a league - though if anything high averages of the top riders may equate to lower strenghth in depth, though as the post above points out, race format and other factors need to be tsken into account. Doubling up also tells us nothing about the standard, other than that the gap betwewn the two leagues has reduced. Relative to world standards I'd agree the quality of both leagues has dropped, and also agree with your assertion that the racing quality can be just as good.

Egon Mueller in 83 was MASSIVELY quicker than anyone else. Gundersen and Nielsen always appeared to have the quickest bikes in their era of dominance. Was there ever a year in which the world champion didn't have bikes as quick, or quicker, than anyone else?

Yep. He missed 3 (?)years when he should have been at his peak. Typically racers, as opposed to gaters, have struggled to be as successful later in their career. (Gollob is an exception).

Set-ups and good bikes have always, and will always, be important. Mauger, Olsen, Penhall,Lee, Gundersen, Nielsen etc always had equipment as good or better than any of their rivals. Woffy is a clear example- when he won his first couple of world titles, he looked a speed above everyone else. This year he sometimes looks like he is riding a lawnmower. Similarly, I recall Emil having bikes that were sensationally quick a few years back- that's not the case the last couple. Zmarzlik in the last 2-3 years, consistently looks like he is quicker than anyone- he must also be the lightest of the GP riders, which i assume makes a difference. Honestly, this felt a little like sour grapes from Emil, and frustration that his team are not getting his bikes right.

79 was his best year, i would agree, arguably in the world's top ten riders thst season. So on that basis, can understand you saying he never kicked on. Arguably he didnt invest enough in top bikes (the 81 final he blew his best motor the night before), certainly in the latter years of his British career.

I did stats analyis of each season in the 80s, and while you could argue the weightings used, Davis ranked 24th - behind other brits such as Kennett, Bastable and Alan Grahame. As a reference, Crump was ranked 8th, thr only top ten rider not in the field Agree Davis never performed at the very highest level, with the exception of 1980. After a dip in form mid-80s i recall him having a superb 1985. I don't think you'll find a bigger Larry Ross fan than me, I'd say his peak ran 79-82 - his only world final appearance was after moving to Aces, and he was cornerstone of their 82BL title win, topping their away averages.

Agree re "occasion." 81 was the complete package, it wasn't great just because of the racing. Would disagree re Davis. The best rider missing on form was Phil Crump (Crump for Ross was about the only change you could make to strengthen the lineup). The likes of Mauger, the Morans, Sigalos, Les and Peter Collins would all have been bigger threats on the night than Davis . Agree, from what i have seen the 76 final was arguably the best for racing - maybe biased because a lot of that came from the deserving world champion.

Tbh, it isn't remembered as arguably the last truly great world final just for the racing, but because it had "the whole package" 1. A truly world class lineup, with no genuine title contenders missing 2. A world class stadium, in a great city, with a huge crowd 3. Two superb races, that decided the destiny of the world title 4 A popular and deserved world champion, who was clearly the best rider in the world that season. The racing at Odsal in 90 was better, BUT that ticked only the "racing" box...stadium, crowd, line-up were not comparable, nor, with all due respect, was the 1990 Per Jonsson in the same league as 1981 Penhall, as a rider or in terms of popularity

This 100%. My favourite era in speedway is the 1980s. I was absolutely crazy about speedway. I still think it's great, but I don't have time to watch as much as i would like, and not living in europe - hence no access to live speedway - i no longer have that enotional connection to the sport that comes with watching your team race live on a weekly basis. like you i did most of my viewing at hyde rd, and agree the standard of racing today - at least at the top level - is generally better than that of the 80s. Certainly the quality of racing in gps is massively better than the 80s world finals.

Or Declan Eccles?

Let's face it, in the 80s of the five continental qualifiers, only Muller was close to world class. So you were guaranteed at least quarter of the field would not be competitive. Additionally, every workd final of that era - except 81- was arguably missing at least one genuine title contender due to injury, one poor meeting etc And of course by mid-late 80s the sport had prematurely lost a number of riders who should have been at their peak- penhall, sigalos, sanders, carter, lee etc. What a line up you could have had, without those losses and with a fairer system; Lee, Carter, Wigg, Tatum, Nielsen Gundersen, Knudsen, Pedersen, Sigalos, Penhall, Ermolenko, Moran, Moran, Jonsson, Muller, Sanders as an example. Have to add, this is a superb thread; rational discussion and great memories.

Woffy didn't finish in his semi though, so i believe Madsen's last beats his DNF

Dudley Wood. Only visit there was 83 (i'm pretty sure) and the Aces meeting was rained off. Edit: not sure if it counts, but I've been to Cardiff to see the ABs play, but never to a speedway GP

Zmarzlik will likely end his career regarded as one of the top ten post-war speedway riders. If Fricke and Lambert fail to reach his level - and i would be very surprised if either do reach it- they could still be good enough to challenge for - or even win- a world title.

No Wiggy????

Very similar to mine; Larry Ross, Chris Morton, Andy Smith, Peter Collins, Shawn Moran

Wembley, White City, Blackbird Rd, Plough Lane, West Ham

Really sad news. Can only echo the other comments, that speedway had lost a gentleman, a hugely passionate, knowledgeable and articulate advocate, and one whose lasting legacy is a top class magazine. RIP Phil.

Hyde Rd, NSS, Odsal, Torun, Bydgoscz.