waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 3, 2016 Being a stats geek, I’ve been playing around for some time with a rider rating system for historic seasons, and finally come up with something I’m happy with. As with any such system, some elements of subjectivity come into it (e.g. should some meetings be treated as “more important” than others, and it so, how much additional weighting should they be given), and with speedway there are also some constraints around availability of information. Obviously one balance is “sanity checking” that results are roughly in line with what you would expect, though of course in doing that you run the risk of tailoring a system to match an expected output. I've taken into account BL matches (inc League Cup/Ko cup), Nl matches, Test matches, World Team Cup/World Pairs, World Individual Final (and qualifiers), BlLRC/NLRC, Euro U21 individual champs and other individual meetings. All meetings (or where applicable series of meetings) were given a statistically calculated "multiplier" based on the calibre of riders participating. Additionally a "weighting" was given dependent on importance of meeting, ranging from "1" for a league meeting to 10 (for World Final), meaning performances in world final counted for the equivalent of 10 league meetings. Anyway, for those interested I'll be inputting year by year the top 20 performers, and then finally a top 20 based on performances over the decade. 1980: 1 D Jessup 12.00 2 B Penhall 11.56 3 M Lee 10.96 4 Peter Collins 10.47 5 C Morton 10.25 6 S Autrey 10.17 7 J Andersson 10.12 8 H Nielsen 10.04 9 O Olsen 9.93 10 B Sanders 9.77 11 B Petersen 9.76 12 D Sigalos 9.63 13 J Davis 9.62 14 L Collins 9.47 15 K Carter 9.23 16 I Mauger 9.13 17 A Michanek 8.94 18 B Schwartz 8.85 19 L Ross 8.79 20 G Kennett 8.71 Comments: The last year in which England truly ruled the world, the only year in the 80s where an Englishman topped the rankings (I suspect it would be the last year pre-Tai where this was the case!), and 4 Englishmen in the top 5. No real surprises/anomalies in the top 20, I suspect this would have been the first season in over a decade where Mauger ranked outside the top 10, while Michanek was placed in the top 20 based on performances in a handful of meetings. Top “continental” rider was Zenon Plech in 35th, though if you exclude his disappointing world final display he would have finished 27th which is arguably a truer reflection of his standing that year. Top National League rider was Dave Perks in 37th. Outside the top 20 were emerging riders included the Danes Tommy Knudsen (25th) and Erik Gundersen (27th), while the Americans had Ron Preston (30th), Kelly Moran (38th) and Shaun Moran (74th). GP series: In a GP series, I’d argue the top three would probably have finished in that order. Outside that I suspect the likes of Olsen, Sanders and Mauger would all have performed better than their rankings, while of the top 10 I don’t believe Morton would have been in the series. Top 3 in GP series: Jessup, Penhall, Lee Rest of top 8: Collins, Olsen, Autrey, Sanders, Mauger GP challenge qualifiers for 81: Morton, Nieme, Davis (have based on performances Inter continental/Continental final and World final for those not likely to have been involved in 1980 series) Wildcards for 81: Andersson, Nielsen, Sigalos, Plech ? 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) 1981: 1 B Penhall 11.58 2 K Carter 11.09 3 T Knudsen 10.36 4 E Gundersen 10.26 5 M Lee 10.12 6 J Andersson 9.97 7 C Morton 9.97 8 P Crump 9.92 9 D Jessup 9.85 10 O Olsen 9.58 11 H Nielsen 9.55 12 B Petersen 9.12 13 Alan Grahame 8.93 14 B Schwartz 8.81 15 G Kennett 8.76 16 B Sanders 8.75 17 L Collins 8.69 18 L Ross 8.65 19 S Bastable 8.63 20 D Sigalos 8.52 Penhall a clear top, though with a lower average than I expected, given he was clearly the best rider in the world. Knudsen’s 3rd spot indicated that perhaps he wasn’t such an upset world final medalist, particularly given his performances in the Nordic final and test series vs England in particular. Evidence perhaps that Carter and Knudsen were just as talented as Erik and Hans, and with better luck with injuries and decisions could have been regarded in the same light. Slightly surprised that Morton, Jessup and Olsen were not a little higher, with Lee, Andersson and Crump may have been a little lower, the latter rewarded for consistent performances over the BL season . Jessup would have finished higher but for his two world final engine failures, without those he would likely have taken 3rd place in the rankings. Lee’s year as World Champ, while below the standards of the preceding years, was perhaps not as bad as was made out. The view that the 81 World Final line up was the strongest of the decade is supported in that of the top 11 riders in the world (11 being the number of inter-continental final qualifiers) , only one did not make the world final – Phil Crump (8th) being replaced by Larry Ross (18th). The year England dominance came to an end, though still accounting for 4 of the top 10 and 8 of the top 20 places. The year perhaps notable for the emergence of the young Danes, while of the young Americans Kelly Moran (22nd) and Shawn (33rd) both improved their rankings. Ivan Mauger dropped (just) our of the top 20 into 21st. Egon Muller (23rd) was the best of the continental riders, while Mike Ferreria (71st) was the top NL rider. Edited to add that Knudsen is the only teenager to make the top three of the rankings in any year in the 80s, while Bastable at 19th is the lowest ranked Brtitish champion, which aligns with the fact that he was almost certainly the biggest "surprise" winner of the British Championship in this era. GP series: Penhall to win comfortably, but behind him? Defnite doubts over whether Carter, Knudsen or Gundersen would have been in the series. Presumably PC would have been entitled to enter , though can’t see him making an impression without regklar BL racing.. I’d lean towards Jessup in 2nd and Olsen 3rd. Top3 : Penhall, Jessup, Olsen Top 8: Lee, Andersson, Morton, Nielsen, Sanders GP qualifiers for 82: Carter, Knudsen, Gundersen Wildcards for 82: Mauger, Sigalos, Peter Collins, Muller Edited February 3, 2016 by waihekeaces1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) Carter and Knudsen you could put them at the level of Nielsen/Gundersen at that time, they both were very unlucky with injuries.Nielsen/ Erik they bagged seven titles between them would they have done that? if injuries(and other circumstances)had not happened.No Penhall,Lee,Carter,Knudsen,Sigalos,Sanders, those six at there best would of been big players from 83 onwards Sanders for me is often forgotten up until his death was on a upward spiral and in superb form. Edited February 3, 2016 by Sidney the robin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,624 Posted February 3, 2016 Waiting with baited breath for the much discussed 1983. I suggest that you write this up as a series of articles for speedwayplus Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) 1982: 1 B Penhall 11.64 2 K Carter 11.60 3 D Sigalos 10.81 4 H Nielsen 10.51 5 S Moran 10.37 6 K Moran 10.16 7 E Gundersen 10.08 8 B Schwartz 9.68 9 L Collins 9.40 10 T Knudsen 9.24 11 C Morton 9.19 12 P Crump 9.00 13 J Andersson 8.99 14 R Preston 8.98 15 Andy Grahame 8.98 16 B Petersen 8.94 17 D Jessup 8.94 18 Alan Grahame 8.89 19 M Lee 8.80 20 G Kennett 8.78 The closest battle of the decade for the number on spot, but THAT decision ultimately provided the difference in giving Bruce the number one spot. The year of the Yanks, as they occupied 4 of the top 6 and 5 of the top 8 places. Surprises - again Dave Jsessup was lower than I anticipated, Tommy Knudsen a little higher, while also slightly surprised that the Belle Vue pair of Peter Collins (22nd) and Larry Ross (23rd) were outside the top 20. Lee had arguably his worst ever season at that stage, but still scraped into the top 20. Olsen (27th) dropped out of the top 20, a couple of places ahead of that other great Mauger. Joe Owen (33rd) was the top NL rider, while Ales Dryml. (43rd) was the best of the continental contingent. England continue to have the most representatives in the top 20, with 8. A couple of promising English youngsters, Neil Collins and Simon Wigg, both moved inside the top 50 for the first time. GP series: I'd have to say the top three as they are, ut the top 8 very hard to call. Penhall's retirement in the rostrum would of course mean that nonth place would be seeded through to the following year's GP. Top three: Penhall Carter Sigalos Top nine: Nielsen, Gundersen, Jessup (nailed on) plus Knudsen, Morton, Andersson,? - but equally Sanders, Peter Collins, Olsen, Lee could all have scraped in instead. GP qualifiers for 83: L Collins, K Moran, P Crump Wildcards for 83: Lee, S Moran, Olsen, Jancarz ? No room for Sanders, PC or Ivan? I assume one spot (minimum) would have had to go to the continent, and also that this would generally be a Pole, given they were still a "major:" nation, if not in strength at least in terms of hosting world finals and attendances at those. Kasper was probably the most promising continental youngster (45th), while both Druml and Stancl (48th) woere arguably more deserving than veteran Eddie. Edited: Change my mind, Kasper as u21 champ to get a wildcard. Edited February 3, 2016 by waihekeaces1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BWitcher 12,453 Posted February 3, 2016 This is awesome stuff waiheke, keep it coming! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,314 Posted February 3, 2016 Very interesting. I'd be interested to know hoe you did the weighting? Am I right in thinking that a World Final would be used 10 times? Ie counting as 50 rides? Or making it 10 times the points from 5 rides? How did you get the average? Particularly as Dave Jessup averaged 12.00. It would be interesting to see how the 1 to 10 meetings were ranked. Really interesting stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grand Central 2,654 Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) Your remarks say that Dave Jessup would have been THIRD in the 1981 rankings not NINTH if he had just not had those two engine failures at Wembley. Seems that you have got your weightings quite a bit 'off' in that case alone. Surely the whole idea of a 'rankings system is to assist in 'evening out' such one-night events and give a better judgement over the whole season. DJ may have dropped 6 places on the night with those failures, but to also do so in a ranking system for the entire season as well seems to expose a fundamental error in the weightings systems being used. Edited February 3, 2016 by Grand Central Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted February 3, 2016 This is awesome stuff waiheke, keep it coming!I agree Witcher are you taking the p... more than likely? but we do agree sometimes can't wait for the 1983 ranking's don't forget Eaces1 that Lee murdered Nielsen in the 83 BLRC and the Pride of the East Trophy in 83 hope those results count. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 3, 2016 1983: 1. H Nielsen 11.45 2 E Gundersen 11.08 3 D Sigalos 10.97 4 M Lee 10.97 5 E Muller 10.92 6 K Carter 10.90 7 B Sanders 10.42 8 C Morton 9.96 9 M Shirra 9.94 10 O Olsen 9.80 11 S Moran 9.77 12 T Knudsen 9.36 13 P Crump 9.36 14 B Schwartz 8.94 15 Alan Grahame 8.82 16 Peter Collins 8.79 17 D Jessup 8.74 18 J Andersson 8.72 19 B Petersen 8.71 20 S Wigg 8.70 1983 was in a way a year without any true stand out, though in the end one rider was comfortably more consistent than the others. Where it was really close though was the battle from 2nd -6th, where 5 riders were separated by 0.18, and a miniscule 0.001 seperating 3rd from 4th. Perhaps a little surprisingly, Billy Sanders was not one of the top 6, despite his world pairs heroics and 2nd place in the world final. No huge surprises in the top 10, thoug Shirra at ninth surprised me a little. The dominant Cradley team had all of their top 5 ranked in the top 23 in the world (King at 22nd and Phil Collins 23rd), with their reserves chiming at 35th (Peter Ravn) and 64th (Jan O) respectively. Joe Owen was again the top NL rider, in 37th place. In a GP series. Well it’s still very much up for debate. To my miknd, Hans’s consistency would have seen him crowned champ. But behind him, I would lean towards Lee in 2nd, with Sigalos 3rd, Erik just missing out along with Carter. Sanders, Morton And Muller would have rounded out the top8, but per the 82 results I’m not convinced they would all necessarily have been part of the line up. Top three: Nielsen Lee Sigalos Top nine: Gundersen, Carter, Morton, Olsen, Crump, Andersson (Olsen retiring at the end of the season, place goes to Andersson) GP Challenge qualifiers for 84: Sanders, Muller, Shirra: Reserves: King, Phil Collins, Karl Maier (this will become important in 84!) Wildcards for 84: Knudsen, S Moran (both missing top 8 though injury), Plech plus another Brit (Jessup? Peter Collins? Wigg? Phil or Les Collins?) or an American (K Moran or King?). I’ll go with Jessup, not a popular choice, but given he was likely to have finished top 2 in both 80/81, probably the way the call would have gone). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fatface 2,549 Posted February 3, 2016 Interesting stuff and the results are not a million miles away from how I would rank them in those years. Well done 😀 I certainly remember going to the 83 final and feeling it was wide open with Nielsen a very marginal favourite. I seem to recall Speedway Mail publishing annual rankings according to international speedway journalists during the Winter and that always made interesting reading. Of course, naturally the Polish writer would have Plech and Jancarz unfeasibly high! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) 1983: 1. H Nielsen 11.45 2 E Gundersen 11.08 3 D Sigalos 10.97 4 M Lee 10.97 5 E Muller 10.92 6 K Carter 10.90 7 B Sanders 10.42 8 C Morton 9.96 9 M Shirra 9.94 10 O Olsen 9.80 11 S Moran 9.77 12 T Knudsen 9.36 13 P Crump 9.36 14 B Schwartz 8.94 15 Alan Grahame 8.82 16 Peter Collins 8.79 17 D Jessup 8.74 18 J Andersson 8.72 19 B Petersen 8.71 20 S Wigg 8.70 1983 was in a way a year without any true stand out, though in the end one rider was comfortably more consistent than the others. Where it was really close though was the battle from 2nd -6th, where 5 riders were separated by 0.18, and a miniscule 0.001 seperating 3rd from 4th. Perhaps a little surprisingly, Billy Sanders was not one of the top 6, despite his world pairs heroics and 2nd place in the world final. No huge surprises in the top 10, thoug Shirra at ninth surprised me a little. The dominant Cradley team had all of their top 5 ranked in the top 23 in the world (King at 22nd and Phil Collins 23rd), with their reserves chiming at 35th (Peter Ravn) and 64th (Jan O) respectively. Joe Owen was again the top NL rider, in 37th place. In a GP series. Well its still very much up for debate. To my miknd, Hanss consistency would have seen him crowned champ. But behind him, I would lean towards Lee in 2nd, with Sigalos 3rd, Erik just missing out along with Carter. Sanders, Morton And Muller would have rounded out the top8, but per the 82 results Im not convinced they would all necessarily have been part of the line up. Top three: Nielsen Lee Sigalos Top nine: Gundersen, Carter, Morton, Olsen, Crump, Andersson (Olsen retiring at the end of the season, place goes to Andersson) GP Challenge qualifiers for 84: Sanders, Muller, Shirra: Reserves: King, Phil Collins, Karl Maier (this will become important in 84!) Wildcards for 84: Knudsen, S Moran (both missing top 8 though injury), Plech plus another Brit (Jessup? Peter Collins? Wigg? Phil or Les Collins?) or an American (K Moran or King?). Ill go with Jessup, not a popular choice, but given he was likely to have finished top 2 in both 80/81, probably the way the call would have gone). A great read alot of effort has gone into this fair play to you,Nielsen on top in 83 on stats 😞 alone not to worry eh! Edited February 3, 2016 by Sidney the robin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 3, 2016 Very interesting. I'd be interested to know hoe you did the weighting? Am I right in thinking that a World Final would be used 10 times? Ie counting as 50 rides? Or making it 10 times the points from 5 rides? How did you get the average? Particularly as Dave Jessup averaged 12.00. It would be interesting to see how the 1 to 10 meetings were ranked. Really interesting stuff. For weighting meetings I used the following: X1: BL, NL, unofficial international meetings, misc individual meetings (not specified otherwise below) X 3: Official test matches, World Team Cup/World Pairs qualifying rounds, European Under 21 final. X 5: BLRC, World Individial qualifiers (from National final onwards, or from Quartyer-final onwards for Contintenal riders), WTC/World Pairs finals X 10: World Individual Final Certainly you can argue for or against particular weightings, for example is the World Final too high? This is one area that is really subjective, and while I am happy with the balance, certainly open to feedback - and relatively minimal work to see what the output is if these are changed. However, if you reduce the weighting of other meetings, my thoughts are that you end up with a ranking where domestic form bore too significant an impact on the final ranking. Under the above system an international rider reaching the world final would have roughly even weightings attached to domestic league, international team and individual events (e.g. ride 30-40 league matches, six tests plus WTC campaign would equal 29 “meetings”, reaching the world final plus BLRC would equal 30 “meetings.”) I converted all events to a BL type CMA (i.e. based on 4 rides), so the world final was the equivalent of 40 not 50 rides. In terms of weighting scores in meetings to reflect difficulty, the method was quite simple. BL averages were taken as the “base.” So an average rider would expect to score 6.5 in a meeting where bonus points were earned, 6 points otherwise. If in an individual meeting the riders participating in it had a mean BL average of say 9(i.e. the total of all the 16 BL averages of participating riders was 144), that is 3 pts (or 0.75 pts per ride) more difficult than the BL. So I would add that number of points to the riders score for that meeting (in above example rider scores 10 points from 5 rides in individual meeting, add 3.75 "difficulty" pts to this, gives 13.75 points, then divideby 5 multiply by 4 to get into BL CMA format, converts to a "score" of 11). For riders not racing BL, I gave them an “assessed” BL average to use in calculating weigint to use for meeting,s based on their performances in other meetings relative to strength of competitors. The other thing I did, was that for individual finals, bearing in mind the aim is to win, was to give a 10% "uplift" for the winner, 5% for 2nd and 3% for 3rd. For "qualifier meetings" , the uplift was 5%, 3% and 2%, with 1% for qualifying in a non-rostrum spot. The above means it is possible for a rider t average more than 12, Jessup's 12.00 average is a co-incidence rather than indication of perfection. The alternative to the above approach was to use a % multiplier/divisor for meetings (and this was what I used in earlier versions). However, I found that that skewed averages too unfavourably for riders in weak National finals for example (so someone like Billy Sanders could score a 15 point maximum in the Aussie champs, but have his average dragged down significantly), and too high for those who had tougher meetings (riders were coming out of the BLRC with an 18 average). The multiplier/divisor approach would arguably have worked better if I was having a "total score" output (and was the original approach, but I really wanted to have the output in an average format, being something a little more "tangible". Your remarks say that Dave Jessup would have been THIRD in the 1981 rankings not NINTH if he had just not had those two engine failures at Wembley. Seems that you have got your weightings quite a bit 'off' in that case alone. Surely the whole idea of a 'rankings system is to assist in 'evening out' such one-night events and give a better judgement over the whole season. DJ may have dropped 6 places on the night with those failures, but to also do so in a ranking system for the entire season as well seems to expose a fundamental error in the weightings systems being used. Valid point, and as per above, the weightings are subjective. I'd note that it wasn't just the two engine failures, I also assumed that Jessup would have done better in his final rider had he been sitting on 11 points rather than 6 going into ir, and with everything still to ride for. The drop is also exacerbated by the closeness of riders in that points range in that season. Another example would be that Plech in 1980 who I felt should have ranked far higher, or Egon in 85 lower. Chris Morton suffered through having consistently rubbish world finals record. But, the World Final was the ultimate goal for riders, and I didn't think that making I the equivalent in importance of 10 domestic meetings was unrealistically high. But would welcome feedback on what weightings others would propose. I agree Witcher are you taking the p... more than likely? but we do agree sometimes can't wait for the 1983 ranking's don't forget Eaces1 that Lee murdered Nielsen in the 83 BLRC and the Pride of the East Trophy in 83 hope those results count. BLRc certainly included, and given quite a high "weighting" Sid. I don't have complete results for all individual meetings, but did however have the top three for most UK based individual events, so riders were awarded points for finishing top3 in such events (PotE being one such event). Interesting stuff and the results are not a million miles away from how I would rank them in those years. Well done tbh, that was the "sanity check " I used - do these look roughly right is I were to rank them myself. Some riders, such as Petersen and Alan Grahame, seem to consistently rank higher than I would have expected, but that reflects their consistent BL form, and some variations are to be expected, given natural bias from watching speedway mostly at hyde rd for example. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 4, 2016 1984: 1 H Nielsen 11.32 2 E Gundersen 10.82 3 S Moran 10.38 4 D Sigalos 10.08 5 M Lee 9.95 6 L King 9.91 7 M Shirra 9.72 8 S Wigg 9.68 9 P Crump 9.60 10 C Morton 9.52 11 K Moran 9.49 12 J Andersson 9.44 13 K Carter 9.41 14 B Petersen 9.28 15 B Sanders 8.96 16 B Schwartz 8.79 17 Alan Grahame 8.77 18 J Cook 8.67 19 Peter Collins 8.56 20 Phil Collins 8.43 Hans once against top of the rankings and I doubt any would dispute the top three (though possibly the order). Sigalos and Lee both started the year in fine form, but had their seasons curtailed (by injury and ban respectively), and in fact 84 marked the end for both of them as world class riders. King had an excellent year, and perhaps a little surprised that he ranked only 6th. Morton had a superb season in some ways (2nd in BL averages, world pairs and BLRC champ), so I was surprised he was only 10th, but his early exit from the world individual championship, and some disappointing (comparitively) performances for England lowered his score. Kenny Carter slipped out of the top10 in a season curtailed by injury, Tommy Knudsen slid to 23rd in an injury hampered season, while Dave Jessup slumped out of the top 20 all the way down to 35th. Bo Petersen, Billy Sanders and Peter Collins all finished lower in the rankings than I mighthave anticipated, with Shirra and Crump finishing higher. Karl Maier (21st) the top of the continentals, while Steve Lawson (45th) was the top NL rider. Several young Brits started to emerge in the top 50, among them Jeremy Doncaster (27th), Neil Evitts (39th), Kevlin Tatum (43rd), simon Cross (44th) and Andy Smith (47th). A couple of future stars also had their first full seasons in the BL, with Sam Ermolenko ranking at 59th and Per Jonsson at 62nd. Ipswich, Belle Vue and Cradley all had their top five riders ranked in the top 50 (Aces had all seven within the top 67 riders), with Cradley also having four riders on the top 20. Grand Prix Series: Early doors it may have shaped as a five way battle, but Sigalos and Lee would have dropped out of the series early on, leaving Nielsen, Gundersen and S Moran to battle it out. Removing BL and BLRC, where Erik suffered a huge number of tape exclusions, from the figures it narrows the gap between him and Nielsen to a mere 0.0002. Given the World Championship had not embraced the tape touching rule, that’s close enough for me to plump with Erik as world champion. In the battle for top eight, I suspect Kenny Carter may have withdrawn from the series once it was no longer mathematically possible to finish on the podium, while King (likely in as series reserve to replace Sigalos) would have had time to cement a comfortable top 8 position Top three: Gundersen, Nielsen, S Moran Top eight: King, Shirra, Morton Crump, Sanders. GP 85 qualifiers: Wigg, K Moran, Petersen, Maier (reserve) Wildcards for 85 : Carter, Kundsen, Andersson, Muller ? Assumed uncertainty over Sigalos’ injury status would have seen him omitted from the picks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waiheke1 4,295 Posted February 4, 2016 With 1980-1984 covered, a reflection on the top riders of the first half of the 80s. The list below shows the top 20 performers, based on their top three seasons in that period. Penhall and Nislsen had both finished top of the season rankings twice, with Jessup top in the other seasons. 1 B Penhall 11.59 2 K Carter 11.19 3 H Nielsen 11.09 4 E Gundersen 10.78 5 M Lee 10.72 6 D Sigalos 10.62 7 D Jessup 10.26 8 S Moran 10.17 9 C Morton 10.06 10 J Andersson 9.84 11 O Olsen 9.77 12 B Sanders 9.72 13 T Knudsen 9.66 14 P Crump 9.63 15 B Petersen 9.39 16 K Moran 9.35 17 Peter Collins 9.32 18 M Shirra 9.23 19 L Collins 9.19 20 B Schwartz 9.16 Penhall predictably emerges clearly as the top rider, though perhaps surpirsingly Carter takes 2nd spot ahead of Nielsen – underlying though that Carter in his prime was arguably as good as anyone of his generation. No other major surprises in the top 10, and in the top 20 Shirra the only surprise inclusion for me. Bo Petersen and Jan Anersson ranked higher than I would have anticipated , while Billy Sanders, Peter Collins and Bobby Schwartz all ranked lower. A little disappointed that Larry Ross (24th) fails to make the cut off, while the dominant rider of the 70s, Ivan Mauger, came in at 27. Egon Muller (23rd) was the top continental rider, followed by Karl Maier (41st), with Edward Jancazr and Jiri Stancl the only others to make the top 50 (49th and 50th respectively). Steve Lawson the top ranked rider to ride exclusively NL (53rd), though Joe Owen and Simon Wigg both include NL seasons in their rankings and come in at 29th and 42nd respectively. The period was also notable for 4 Collins brothers all raning in the top 50, with Phil (32) and Neil (46) joingin Peter and Les. The top 10 consisted 4 Englishmen, 3 Danes, 2 Americans and a Swede, while the top 20 comprised 6 Englishmen, 5 Americans, 5 Danes, 2 Aussies a Swede and a kiwi – indicating a fairly even match between the three powerhouses of world speedway at that time. Certainly a WTC with sides of England: Carter, Lee, Morton, Jessup (P Collins), Denmark Nielsen, Gundersen, Knudsen, Olsen (Petersen), and USA Penhall, Sigalos, S Moran, K Moran (Schwartz) looks pretty evenly matches, and you could throw in a Rest of the World side of Andersson, Crump, sanders, shirra (Muller) to make up four teams. Similarly , test teams adding the likes of Les Collins, Grahame bothers, Autrey, King, Cook, Thomsen. Eriksen to the mix, would see pretty closely matched line ups. A world final line up, or GP series, consisting the top 16 riders on that list would certainly be a pretty tasty line up, even if you replaced numbers 12-16 with 5 “token” continental qualifiers – namely the four listed above, plus Ales Dryml (55th). Expanding to a top 50, you have 20 brits, 9 yanks, 7 danes.4 aussies, 3 kiwis, 2 swedes, 2 poles, 2 west germans and one Finn, indicating that Britain still had comfortably the greatest strength in depth , if not neecsarily at the top end (and also perhaps reflecting the Anglo-centric nature of the stats used). Was their evidence that the Danes were going to dominate the rest of the decade? The Americans had lost Penhall, and as it turned out Sigalos, while the Moran’s were indicating that perhaps they would never fulfil their talent – conversely, the Morans still had time on their side, while King and Ermolenko were emerging talents. From England, Jessup and Peter Collins were past their peak, Lee’s future uncertain,and Morton as it it transpired had peaked as well from 80-84. But few would have foreseen that Carter would never reach another a final, and in the likes of Wigg, Doncaster and Tatum it seemed there was plenty of emerging talent. For the Danes Nielsen and Gundersen were world class, but Olsen was retired, Petersen ageing, Knudsen's progress had been stalled by injury, while Jan O Pedersen (84th in 1984) and John Jorgensen (72nd) were showing potential but still far from world class. Changing the criteria to get a top 20 on performances across all seasons ridden in the decade doesn’t change things markedly – Penhall still top, though Nielsen moved ahead of Carter into 2nd, and Lee ahead of Erik into further. Most other changes are minor swapping fof positions, with only S Moran dropping out of the top 10 (into 17th) to be replaced by Olsen, while Shirra and Les Collins would drop out of the top 20, to be replaced by Alan Grahame and Scott Autrey. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
