Carter Where Does He Rate With The Great British Riders?

[Bruiser McHuge 589]

i was never a fan of DJ also Kennett i thought was just a whiteline rider but i was wrong.But make no mistake Gordon was a top class rider and he had a great career.Who was the better out of DJ and Kennett at all the northern venues and Exeter? Gordon for me.

i don't know about Exeter..but i started seeing speedway in 1978 and watched at Hyde Road and Jessup was twice the rider around there than Kennett was...i never ever regarded Kennett as any threat to Collins and Morton round Hyde Road and he never seemed to have the pace at all....whereas, especially for 3 or 4 years Jessup was a major threat..obviously from the gate but he took some picking off ..in fact he was the first rider i ever saw beat Peter Collins at Hyde Road..and i had been going a few weeks i think Jessup was never a great rider but he was a great gater and very fast whereby i never actually saw Kennett pull up any trees, although he was obviously a better rider than i ever saw in the flesh..although i did see him ride at Milton Keynes against Bradford once and look pretty good for a 40 plus rider !

[chunky 6,086]

i don't know about Exeter..but i started seeing speedway in 1978 and watched at Hyde Road and Jessup was twice the rider around there than Kennett was...

For a small-track rider, Kennett could be very, very good on some of the bigger tracks. Thinking about it, however, he seemed to prefer the flatter tracks (White City, Swindon etc) rather than the big banked arenas, such as Belle Vue, Exeter, and Halifax. Just an observation...

 

Steve

[jtooley 0]

Think this is the best assessment. I would have Carter marginally behind Collins and Lee when both at their peak. Little doubt he was world class and he would be one of the top riders in any generation even in the GPs now.

 

Personally I'd rate Kenny Carter as one of the best British riders of my time watching speedway. Not as good as Lee or Collins maybe, but I've always thought of him as better than Havelock and Loram even if he didn't ever make it to the top of the world.

 

Carter should, maybe, have won in 1982. That was the year he could and should have won it really, and I finally saw good quality video of the incident with Penhall a couple of years ago that confirmed that he was taken off by Juicy Brucey. If Penhall had been excluded, I think the title of World Champ would certainly have fitted with Carter better than Les Collins and I think he would have won had he been in the re-run of that race.

 

Remember going to see Halifax v Swindon in the early 80's and Phil Crump beating him twice in the match and again in the second half final. And it made for a fabulous night because of that. There aren't many British riders that have had such an effect as that. I mean to say, Phil Crump was a great rider yet we were, like, "wow! He did Kenny Carter at the Shay"

 

I agree that I don't think he would have had an impact on the Neilsen/Gundersen era though. Would have had to do it before then.

[stratton 1,491]

Think this is the best assessment. I would have Carter marginally behind Collins and Lee when both at their peak. Little doubt he was world class and he would be one of the top riders in any generation even in the GPs now.

Agree at the time didn'nt realise how good Carter was i was a Lee fan but Carter was top notch.!He was world class and if fit would be a threat throughout the 80,s and Nielsen and Gundersen would Not of won 7 world titles between them!

[Gavan 5,049]

Firstly anyone who achieves in their chose sport has talent just shown in different ways. Who was the more talented gifted snooker player Davis (6 titles) or White (0 titles) which proves that natural talent doesnt mean you are better or more successful. Joe Screen is a more talented motorcyclist but in terms of success is nowhere near Carter. How do you rank success? In the world final Wigg, Tatum, Doncaster and Chris Louis have all been on the rostrum and 3 of those riders have won as many british crowns as Carter so in terms of success they may rank ahead of KC but i think Carter had more natural ability then any of them, but Wigg and Tatum were exceptional on longtrack as well. Scott Nicholls has won 7 british crowns but doesnt make him better than Carter as this era is easier though Scott can only beat what is there.

 

In my opinion based in my lifetime 1976 onwards this is my ranking.

 

The top 4 due to success in world finals and british champs would be Peter Collins, Loram , Lee and Jessup in any order.

 

Close behind would be Havvy.

 

Then a group of Carter, Wigg and Tatum

 

Then the likes of Simmons, Louis and Screeny and Doncaster and Morton