Dave the Mic

I posted this on FB on learning this very sad news. As an Exeter fan of 40 years, one of my three favourite Falcons ever. Deeply saddened by this news. "Absolutely gutted to hear of the passing of this outstanding speedway racer. I began my speedway education at Exeter in 1975 & when this guy arrived in 1977 it was a like a whirlwind had blown into Devon. One of the most magnificent racers ever to grace the CG, he was totally fearless but fair on track & was possibly the most spectacular racer ever to wear the green & white & one of my top three Falcons of all time. No one wanted to miss a race when this guy was on track - he... was dynamite. Off track, he was the complete antithesis of his on track self, kind, gentle, humorous, always happy to speak to & spend time with fans & just the most amazing commitment to the cause - trekking across from Czecho every week, when the iron curtain was still up, in his Skoda. Speedway has truly lost a great man & a gentleman. A sad, sad day for our great sport. RIP Vac & thanks for the most amazing memories you left us all with." And I posted this on the Dream Team section of the Speedway Plus website in 2006. "During those formative years of my speedway days at Exeter, an unknown Czech arrived in 1977 & became possibly the most spectacular racer in the history of the Falcons. Paid 11 on his debut & incredibly a near 11 point average at home in that first season. But it wasn't his points scoring that endeared him to me or the other Exeter faithful, but his all out, full throttle style. I swear once his reputation got around visiting riders would miss the gate to make sure he was ahead of them! The County Ground was a fearsome place with its banking & steel fence, but many a rider would ride wide only for Vac to find a "gap" to go outside him & roar to another win! It was only when you rushed down to the fence to see the tyre marks half way up the steel fence you realised that there was actually no gap to go through...."

My memories only go back as far as the mid 70's & two Norsemen stand out in my memory for different reasons. Dag Lovaas always so stylish on & off the track & was of course very successful too. I remember being very disappointed when he retired prior to the 1977 season without turning a wheel - even more so as White City's use of rider replacement for him all season robbed by beloved Exeter falcons of a probable league title. The following year, the Falcons took a calculated gamble by signing Reidar Eide who had endured a poor season at Leicester after struggling on his return to the Lions side following a broken leg in '77. He came in on a steal of an average at 3.24 & started the season at reserve. Before long he had returned to his normal self & was averaging well over 8 points a match. Sadly the other side of his nature also returned & he went on strike mid season, reputedly asking for better terms, before returning to the fold & his high scoring. Unsurprisingly, given his difficult persona his stay was a cameo as he moved onto Reading for 1979.

I grew up watching speedway at Exeter's famed county ground. We didn't have a great history of Swedes at Exeter - the Falcons being better known for the Czech's who made Devon their British speedway home, but two stick out for me. Although his Devon stay was outside the back track era, Tony Olsson's Falcons flame flickered only too briefly for us in 1992 & he was a genuine number one for us in his truncated spell in the green & white. Falcons fans starved of success since the halcyon days of the BL title in 1974 & the heady days of Ivan Mauger & Scott Autrey, must have thought the good times were back (I know I did) when the blond Swede led our line. Sadly he disappeared only too quickly when it became apparent that the Falcons side assembled was too expensive to run. The other was the tragic Leif Wahlmann who joined us during the ill fated 1984 season back in the BL. He was one of few bright spots in a disastrous season. He seemed full of potential & a place in the WU21 Final at King's Lynn appeared to confirm what we thought down in Devon, which was that whilst not our season saviour, he had enough about him to suggest he could have a big future & his spectacular on track endeavours endeared him to the Devon fans. The pall that engulfed the club after the news of his tragic death at Lynn that day was palpable & hung over the track like a cloud for the rest of what was a terrible year. Across the wider sport, the 70's was a brilliant time for speedway & the Swedes were a huge part of that in the UK. The aura of Mich was obvious & when I saw Tommy Jansson cruise to a serene 12 pt max in March 1976, even at the tender age of 10 I knew I was watching a star. Sadly fate intervened in his rise to real stardom. I also remember both Soren & Christer Sjosten with fondness, even though they rode for two of Exeter's biggest rivals. Jan Andersson also left a huge impression for being so very pleasant & incredibly smooth on a race track

Wholly inaccurate on Havelock in 1992. He had few, if any equals internationally in 1992. He won his British Semi & the British Final, reached a run off for the Commonwealth title despite riding with a badly injured hand. He then won the Overseas title & was second in his WC semi, before winning the title at a 5 ride average of 13.33 per meeting. He ripped through his card in the world pairs semi, passing several riders easily including Nielsen & Knudsen & scored paid 17 in the final, excluding the run off. He top scored for England in their WTC qualifier with 14, his only poor meeting was the final in which he scored 7. Over those 10 meetings his 5 ride average was 13.07 & if you exclude the WTC final it was 13.72. I would respectfully suggest he had a decent claim to be champion that year. That's fair enough Steve, if that's how you see it. Few other riders complained. Can Holder not rider grip?

Not really. Five rides, 14 points & Doyle wins. Don't like him at all, but he is the best there is right now. On form he was a worthy winner, but he shouldn't have won. Nielsen did have him off though in that same race & had Sam been excluded when not under power (he had lost a chain) in the same race, there is a good chance Andy Smith could have won it It's only Pearson that does that. Yawn. It was an absolutely appalling GP. Track was terrible, but from those I have spoken too in the past, the racing there is rarely decent anyway. The venue as a GP venue is terrible. Basically a speedway track in a field. I went to Pocking in 93, Norden in 83 & Vojens in 88 which were all much the same. Have we really come nowhere in all that time. They should not hold another GP. The referee. Awful. Too many restarts when not required, got the Zmarzlik exclusion woefully wrong & thought was very harsh on Lindgren who was riding in a straight line when Dudek wasn't & they touched. Holder. What a git. Whined like a baby about the track at Lynn & lo & behold has a great GP on a track more suited to motocross. But then he was riding for himself last night, not his team. Finally Doyle. Don't like him at all, but it does look as though he will get a deserved world title this year.

I am looking too obtain rule books for British Speedway, most notably from the 70's & 80's. If anybody has any they wold be prepared to sell or loan to me, could you please message me? I willing to pay any postal costs & if you would like them returned, I would happily take the info I need & then send the item back to you special delivery. Thanks

I only saw him race twice in the flesh, both at Exeter. Once at a league match in 1975 when he scored about 12 I think & was beaten by Ivan 3 times & then in the SGC in 76 when he ripped through the card for a full max. Very stylish, very quick, very sad.

Not missing your point at all. The riders you mention are rightly classed as legends as much as for what they achieved as for their perception by the speedway public. They also had longevity of greatness, as Hancock has. I think Woffy is a great rider, no mistake & I like him as a racer. Not sure he would be quite in the same league as those you mention either, apart from Pedersen. Legend though? Not yet, in my opinion. I don't recall suggesting Havelock was an "all time great" either. Not once. However suggesting that he was only "very good" is doing him a huge disservice. I wouldn't rate him with any of those riders that have one more than one title, including Woffinden, but that isn't to say that at the peak of his powers he wasn't one of the best around, because he was.

Probably lowest of them all I would think Iris. Still won it though, which is more than can be said for most riders who throw their leg over a bike.

Only by some. I recall regarding an article by Ivan Mauger after the '92 World Final saying he was just what speedway needed. I recall him saying something like, "Look around an airport & you will see many more people that look like him than me". He was foolish with his drug offence, but accepted his punishment like a man, came back reformed, better, stronger & more committed & we know where it ended. Never shirked his responsibility as a racer for club or country & was an excellent servant for all his clubs & his country, many times as an inspirational captain. I would suggest he was a worthy world champion & carried his title with dignity & as a great ambassador at a time when the sport (like now) was struggling. Very good? A world champion? Oh, OK. Do you have any idea how few people actually reach the pinnacle of their chosen sport/profession, compared to how many try it? Any sportsperson that becomes a world champion is part of an elite group, whether you rate them or not. It is an incredible achievement that only a few can match. Even Muller & Szczakiel deserve absolute respect as perhaps the two speedway world champions who rate lowest in many fans view, but the reality is they still had to deliver when it mattered. Would you rate Kelly & Shawn Moran, Todd Wiltshire, Tommy Knudsen, Zenon Plech & Leigh Adams, as just "very good". I would argue they were great riders, yet between them they didn't win a single world title. There are dozens more riders who were great racers, but couldn't quite reach the very top. In the early 90's Havelock was one of the best around, proven by his world title win. And I'm assuming your describing Woffinden as a legend is tongue in cheek. Long way to go before he can assume that status.

Yes. But they are Polish.

Agree. Very dangerous rider.

As I said in my post, there is an improvement. However, most tracks are restricted in when they can run. Any track near any kind of residential area will have the NIMBY's saying that they hate the noise & it scares their chickens or something. At Somerset, one lady even said that she had the shale coming down her chimney & she was almost a mile away. Planning for a new track at Haldon Racecourse near Exeter was halted first by the firefighters recuperation home almost 2 miles away saying it would blight recovery of firefighters & then some lesser spotted reed warbler or something would have it's nest disturbed & that kicked up a fuss. Sadly it isn't as straightforward as you think getting time on track - may tracks only have planning for use once a week - what help is that?

And Australia did what exactly? At least England got to to the final, which is more than the Aussies did. The Aussies race KL as often as the English lads, so no home track advantage. You need to understand the differences between what has happened here & abroad. In Denmark, Sweden, Poland & Australia, for example, the tracks are pretty much exclusively owned by the clubs & there aren't the do gooders there that there are here bleating about noise etc. The track problem is a historic one. Back in speedway's hey-day with massive crowds & lots of tracks, speedway promoters piggy backed tracks off greyhound, rugby & football stadia & paid rent. They creamed off huge profits & made loads of money & didn't reinvest in the infrastructure of the sport by building their own stadiums at a time when it would have been easier to do so as planning restrictions were looser. Essentially some of the problems of today, stem from greed of promoters when things were good. As time has gone on with planning harder & people moaning about noise etc, it has been more difficult to have facilities for kids to train & learn, although there is some improvement in this. Another issue is the demise of grass track racing. Back in the 70's, 80's & 90's there were big meetings on the grass every 5 minutes & kids learnt the art of racing etc on the grass as there were loads of opportunities. Foot & mouth, which caused loads of issues in the rural UK, planning & noise have seen numbers of meetings fall & less riders as a result. The old style second halves disappearing hasn't helped either. Finally, the obvious problem of money.

Did you not watch the world cup? England pasted the Aussies without our number one. The Poles are light years ahead of everyone as they have the facilities to bring riders on & as the sport is huge over there, there is funding & lots of willing youngsters