RichardJTyrrell

I am looking forward to the Ronnie Genz article. As a young boy I kept a scrapbook for the 1959 season and looking through that brought back the memory of the night when Ronnie beat Ove Fundin round Cowley. 'Genz beats the World Champion' was the headline although Barry Briggs was the champion at the time. 'After becoming the first Oxford rider to beat Ove Fundin, the former world champion, at Cowley for a number of years, Ronnie Genz was tossed in the air by his jubilant team-mates at Oxford Stadium last night.' Those were the halcyon days of the blue race jacket with yellow sash worn on black shiny leathers. In his fifth season at Oxford after leaving Great Yarmouth in 1954 Ronnie vied for the number 1 spot with Oxford's first 'Great Dane', Arne Pander. I've still got my post card size photos of the riders from that time including a few of Ronnie. Happy days!

Thank you for your reply, Mr Shovlar. But do you any comments from conversations with Mr Lanney about your suggestion of bringing three/four teams up to the Elite League after his season promoting at just one club, Oxford, in recent years and the problems he encountered?

Mr Shovlar, I'm afraid I continue to disagree. Being so close, as you were, to Aaron Lanney, you would probably know from his first hand experience what the problems were when he took over at Oxford for that fateful season. The following season Jesper Jensen was announced as Oxford's number 1 rider! With all due respect to him you would have to look pretty deep to find him racing nowadays. Can you imagine your three/four teams all experiencing the same problems? Have a quick chat to Mr Lanney before you reply! Mr Chapman rose to the incentive of preparing a great race track. As we found out in the Conference, racing is comparative when all riders are at the same level. You should try it sometime?

I have to take issue with people like Steve Shovlar, and Orion for that matter, with regard to the second paragraph above. They are indicative of people who think that speedway outside the Elite League hardly exists, and I don't think that last nights meeting at a Premier League track was 'wallowing in mediocity', far from it. Many of us in Oxford don't go to speedway any more - lost to the sport. Ive only seen three live meetings this season, over the Cardiff weekend, which I thoroughly enjoyed but can't find the motivation to get to what is now my nearest tracks ie Swindon or Coventry. I can't break the habit of watching every Monday or GP Saturdays on Sky although I sometimes wonder why. A trip to watch Oxford at, say, Belle Vue, Wolverhampton or Poole used to be an event looked forward to. Now it seems that the cameras are there every two or three weeks making it all so familiar. It seems to be the same fourteen riders every week in the same teams, twice a week if you count the GPs, that is if they all turn up. One of the attractions of the World Cup is that each team has the right amount of riders in the right teams, no guest riders, no rider replacement, well prepared track, all competing at the same level. This could also be said, in the main, of the Premier league in this country. In the last season at Oxford we were able to compare Elite with Conference - guess which one most spectators enjoyed the most? It all confirms my original thoughts a few seasons ago that Elite League speedway is nothing more than a circus performed by travelling players, and there aren't enough to go round, making a living from those who still care enough to go and pay to watch. Comments like those above are made by such people who probably realise that Elite is not Elite at all and there is a drastic need for extra teams injection which, of course, would dilute the product even more. Far from showing a lack of ambition to improve, Premier/Conference teams/clubs probably think they are improving where they are, cutting their cloth accordingly. How many other tracks like Kings Lynn are there in the country? I hope Buster Chapman's 'gates' greatly improve after seeing that meeting on the tele, I think he deserves it for the effort he puts in. As for belittling GBs efforts on the track its common in sport that you can only beat whats put in front of you. In the meantime I think the subject of this thread completely misses the point!

Thanks guesty 1992!

Does anybody know of the site that provides a race card for SWC events for us can't get away fans reduced to watching on the tele? It would be greatly appreciated!

I would still like to see an article on the first 'Great Dane', Arne Pander who came to Oxford as an almost complete unknown but was an overnight success. Tony Mac seems to have great success in tracking down riders, I'm sure he could find Arne. Regards

SCB, I think Silverbee lost interest after Mr Fisher's breakdown in Heat 2, a 3rd in Heat 12 and withdrawal from Heat 18, although from my viewpoint he was more interested in chatting a young lady and scattering empty Becks beer cans across the third bend. Shame really, the bin was only metres away but I expect someone else pickled them up after he'd scampered off.

None of these riders should be nominated. The whole thing is a farce and is nothing more than a grand travelling circus. Quite rightly some contributors complain about the £25 entrance fee and another £5 for a programme. Would you pay £25 to visit Billy Smart's Circus? The only riders that deserve to be in any meaningful World Championship are Zetterstrom, Holder and Hampel for the simple reason that they have qualified thus proving their worth through qualifying rounds. How can you justify asking riders to compete when they didn't even make the last qualifying round let alone win a top three place. Thats why the GP series is so flawed and farcical. When will you guys wake up??? The GP series is repetitive and boring held on sometimes dangerous tracks when riders should be concentrating on riding skills and not missing the next pothole. Apart from that the series has wrecked British speedway. Two to go in this years series - what is there left to race for? Regards

Good to see, tmc, that your enthusiasm will not be dampened and that thousands continue to support you. You can certainly count on my continued support! Regards

.....and the Camel Toe mystery remains unsolved! (Really, you don't want to know!!!)

"but this could be a bit risky with this being the last one. especially if the title up for grabs" Don't worry, the winner will be known weeks before the racing takes place!

Despite going to the last six or seven GPs at Cardiff I still do not see what all the fuss is about. Yes, its noisy, colourful and smelly and held in a great stadium, but after the final race just what has the winner won? Apart from seeing some of the world's top riders live instead of on the tele every week the meeting sometimes reminds me of the old 'Kings of Oxford' trophy when the best riders would compete in one of several 'open' meetings around the country. Great to see the top riders but the winner won a cup, a few bob and that was it, we'd all go home! Personally I think that the GP is akin to the circus coming to town. Last year it had three knife throwers, one trapeez artist and two clowns, this year its got two knife throwers, three clowns and some galloping horses because the trapeez artist fell off the swing in Denmark and broke his colloar bone. But the organisers are confident the crowds will still come because this year they've included a local escapologist who escapes after being changed into a large tank of water. Or they hope he will. Give us a break! How do we expect anybody to take our great sport seriously when we include riders in a supposedly world class event who have failed to qualify by selection, or from the small qualification process that there is. The whole system is flawed from top to bottom when included riders are 'chosen' and the winner is called 'world champion' when the majority of riders in the world don't even get a chance to enter. Having said that, how many of the riders mentioned in this thread would reach the last round in a proper qualification system? Oh yes, before you suggest, I am a dinosaur and, despite what J_D says, the only foreign country I would ever contemplate going to to see a GP would be Wales! Regards

In the absence of any other race card, Danish Webmaster has done a great job! Many thanks

Just got Sky, looking for a race card download for British Final but this link doesnt work any more. Does anyone know of a link where I can find a 16 rider race card? Regards