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Notoriously Dirty Riders

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Michael Lee once said Eddie Argall took no prisoners and was very dirty towards him when he was a sixteen  year old.This ended up with his Dad Andy having an altacation with Argall.Dirty and tough are different but Chris Julian,Colin Gooddy, Jack Millen,Steve Gresham, Alan Wilko Wilkinson, Tommy Roper were all forceful could mix it hard but fairly.

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42 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Michael Lee once said Eddie Argall took no prisoners and was very dirty towards him when he was a sixteen  year old.This ended up with his Dad Andy having an altacation with Argall.Dirty and tough are different but Chris Julian,Colin Gooddy, Jack Millen,Steve Gresham, Alan Wilko Wilkinson, Tommy Roper were all forceful could mix it hard but fairly.

Malcolm Ballard was another uncompromising rider...would dearly like to see an interview with him in "Backtrack" and his reasons for retiring far too early.

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I remember Steve Gresham wiping Louis Carr out on the pits bend at the late great Hyde Road, and witnessing the resulting punch up. Was well out of order.

 

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Surprised nobody has mentioned mike Sampson,I remember him taking out tony Boyle in 1980 at stoke,the next season we signed him and there were many a fight in the pits that season after robust riding from samo.

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1 hour ago, burton1 said:

Surprised nobody has mentioned mike Sampson,I remember him taking out tony Boyle in 1980 at stoke,the next season we signed him and there were many a fight in the pits that season after robust riding from samo.

One of my favouries was Mike...anyone who attempted to 'run over' Ian Thomas while he stood on the centre green is okay with me!

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17 minutes ago, czechhero said:

10 pages in and no mention of Cribby or Big Arthur! :D

Pair of Pussies Czechy:cheers:

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Mind you, the way Cribby unscrewed his exclusion light and trod on it that night at PB , no way could u call him a pussy, it was probably red hot, well white hot actually! :rofl:

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I recall Ole Olsen blatantly stuffing fellow countryman Bo Petersen in the first bend fence in a Hackney v Coventry match (1980-81 ish). Think Bo, young and eager at the time, might have ruffled the Great Dane's feathers at some Danish meeting - or may have been Nordic Final - the week before.

Bo picked himself up, ran along the home straight and, as he made a beeline for Ole in the pits - the two riders were pulled apart. Ole just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: 'you won't do that again, will you sonny?'.

Bo was left out of the Danish Test team for a while and invites to Vojens were also thin on the ground. But they had 'kissed and made up' by 1984, when OO was team manager and BP was recalled to help Denmark win the WTC final at Leszno.

Finn Thomsen and Billy Sanders had a bit of a vendetta going, although I don't know where or when it originated. Billy, who would never take a backward step, took off his helmet and thrust it at FT in the pits after Finn had deliberately knocked him off on the first turn just after they had crossed the finish line in a Hackney v Hull match in 1981.

Simmo got some stick from Poole fans after he had Ron Preston - his club-mate - off during an England v USA Test at Wimborne Road in 1980. Simmo disliked the Americans only marginally less than Kenny Carter and I guess he regarded Ronnie as a young upstart looking to oust him as Pirates' No.1.

Some of the most skilful riders have the ability to disguise 'dirty' riding.

It would have been '79 or '80 when I wrote in my BLRC report for Speedway Mail that Hans Nielsen had ruthlessly caused an opponent to fall (can't remember who). Hans wasn't impressed and phoned me at the office to register his complaint.

Don't know the race in question, but I've heard tales of a savage bit or riding by Hans against Mark Loram in the GP.

Edited by tmc
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I take my hat off to people who can remember what happened on the 3rd bend between riders at Cradley in 1964, I cannot even remember what I had for tea.

 

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2 hours ago, Triple.H. said:

Remember reading somewhere that Kevin Smith was called Smelly because he didn't shower till he got home

 

The story going round when he first rode for Poole was, He rode in a Grasstrack meeting in the afternoon and came off, landing in a cowpat....He then rode a Speedway meeting in the evening wearing the same unwashed leathers....hence the name “Smelly Smith” :t:

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8 hours ago, tmc said:

Finn Thomsen and Billy Sanders had a bit of a vendetta going, although I don't know where or when it originated. Billy, who would never take a backward step, took off his helmet and thrust it at FT in the pits after Finn had deliberately knocked him off on the first turn just after they had crossed the finish line in a Hackney v Hull match in 1981.

 

Indeed.  This incedent ended Billy's meeting and season there and then.  There is still some doubt, however, whether Billy broke his wrist in the resulting crash or on Finn's head when they exchanged notes in the pits afterwards :rolleyes:.....

Edited by martinmauger
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7 hours ago, scottyfan said:

The story going round when he first rode for Poole was, He rode in a Grasstrack meeting in the afternoon and came off, landing in a cowpat....He then rode a Speedway meeting in the evening wearing the same unwashed leathers....hence the name “Smelly Smith” :t:

So I'm kind of, in a roundabout way, sort of more or less correct

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