Riders Who Never Quite Fulfilled Their Full Potential

[lucifer sam 3,953]

 

 

Was Egon Muller an underachiever? He overachuieved in terms of being a world champion when he was far from best rider n the world. BUT..he could have been a far better rider if he had committed more to speedway, and ridden BL.

 

I see you point, although I would question if a rider who won both the Speedway World Championship and was also three-time World Longtrack Champion could de deemed as not fulfilling potential.

 

I somehow doubt if Muller would have exchanged the above with a successful BL career!

 

All the best

Rob

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

Sid, it wasn't an injury as such. Lance King didn't return to the UK in 1985, because Cradley could only afford him or Erik Gundersen, and perhaps not surprisingly, they went for the World Champ. It killed the momentum of King's career - until then he looked like a future champion.

 

All the best

Rob

Can you remember an injury Rob? i am sure he had a knee injury i think he rode for Bradford then.I am sure he might of had some sort of brace on it i know what you are saying is correct that gap in his career stalled it.At Bradford he was not quite the rider that we had known before his time had gone. Edited May 10, 2016 by Sidney the robin

[lucifer sam 3,953]

Can you remember an injury Rob? i am sure he had a knee injury i think he rode for Bradford then.I am sure he might of had some sort of brace on it i know what you are saying is correct that gap in his career stalled it.At Bradford he was not quite the rider that we had known before his time had gone.

 

I think there might have been an injury while rode for Bradford. Of course, later on, while he was riding for King's Lynn, he was involved in the horrific pile-up at Odsal in the 1989 WTC Final. Lance had his head in a neck brace on that afternoon, was essentially physically OK, but the psychological effect of that accident was a factor in his subsequent retirement.

 

But it was that missing British year in 1985 which really affected him and changed the whole course of his career. When I interviewed him, he certainly thought that was the big game changer.

 

If you look at 1984, his performance in the final was no fluke. It's already been mentioned that he won the Overseas Final with a maximum, but he also breezed through one of the toughest-ever Inter-Continental Finals (which claimed the stricken Carter and nearly Nielsen too), with a third place.

 

All the best

Rob

Edited May 10, 2016 by lucifer sam

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

Crump finished 2nd at that overseas final Sid, his best performance at Hyde Rd in my time watching. .

 

Was Egon Muller an underachiever? He overachuieved in terms of being a world champion when he was far from best rider n the world. BUT..he could have been a far better rider if he had committed more to speedway, and ridden BL.

God i had forgotten eaces1" that he scored 12 pts in that meeting a real good line up too remember Crumpy wearing black leathers that day.I still think Crump' s second in 1975 BLRC Hyde RD was his best performance (3rd in 74 to).I believe 75/76 were Crump's best chance of being WC if only he had put the Streety engine away who knows.In that era up to 1980 Crump( 75/76) ,MIchanek,Olsen,T.Jansson, Collins,Mauger,Lee, were the main players in my book.Looking back if he had lived Jansson would of only been aged 30 when Egon won in 83 makes you think eh.! Edited May 10, 2016 by Sidney the robin

[lucifer sam 3,953]

God i had forgotten eaces1" that he scored 12 pts in that meeting a real good line up too remember Crumpy wearing black leathers that day.I still think Crump' s second in 1975 BLRC Hyde RD was his best performance (3rd in 74 to).I believe 75/76 were Crump's best chance of being WC if only he had put the Streety engine away who knows.In that era up to 1980 Crump( 75/76) ,MIchanek,Olsen,T.Jansson, Collins,Olsen, Mauger,Lee, were the main players in my book.Looking back if he had lived Jansson would of only been aged 31 when Egon won in 83 makes you think eh.!

 

With Crumpie, Steve Gresham (his team-mate at Newport, Bristol and Swindon) thought the turning point was Crump's injury at Sheffield in 1977. Until that happened, he thought Crumpie was nailed on to become World Champion.

 

All the best

Rob

Edited May 10, 2016 by lucifer sam

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

With Crumpie, Steve Gresham (his team-mate at Newport, Bristol and Swindon) thought the turning point was Crump's injury at Sheffield in 1977. Until that happened, he thought Crumpie was nailed on to become World Champion.

 

All the best

Rob

Yes totally right,Phil got a very bad injury with another one of my heroes Martin Ashby he had bad shoulder injuries.Crump was not the same force after but he was still a hell of a rider consistent and the 16 lapper King hard as nails. Edited May 10, 2016 by Sidney the robin

[salty 2,200]

Never really took to him...don't know why. Now David Shields...sensational for Oxford in 1978. Scored a maximum in his first appearance for 'The Cheetahs!' Re-surfaced at Cradley (1982?) but the spark had gone by then.

 

Rick Woods - Never saw him ride during his brief period for Newport. Saw his brother, Gene, however during his time at Birmingham.

Dave Shields came back to Cradley in 1981 and was a big part of us winning the league (definitely still had a "spark"). The longer the season went on the more effective he got and whist John McNeill and Bent Rasmussen struggled, Dave was the vital back up from reserve to the top 4.

Would have been interesting to see how far he would have got but he never came back to the UK after '81.

[norbold 7,101]

One rider whose results didn't quite match his ability I always thought was Reidar Eide. He always rode West Ham really well and beat some of the best there. He was usually well into the 9/10 point averages but only made one World Final and only finished thirteenth in that.

[briggo 29]

But for his Prestatyn grass track crash in 1969, what could Norman Hunter have achieved?

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

One rider whose results didn't quite match his ability I always thought was Reidar Eide. He always rode West Ham really well and beat some of the best there. He was usually well into the 9/10 point averages but only made one World Final and only finished thirteenth in that.

"Norbold" Eide was a very classy rider,these riders Eide,P.Crump,Monk,Boulger,E.Boocock,Harrfeltd,Betts,Airey, Lofqvist examples) only reached 15 W. Finals between them criminal really.

[iris123 20,939]

.

 

Was Egon Muller an underachiever? He overachuieved in terms of being a world champion when he was far from best rider n the world. BUT..he could have been a far better rider if he had committed more to speedway, and ridden BL.

Funny,as I was thinking the same today.I think the talent was there it was just the fact he saw Longtrack as his main discipline and of course why not,when at the time the money was there to be earnt.And I am sure Egon would say he had a great life out of what he did

[Terry 1,319]

Funny,as I was thinking the same today.I think the talent was there it was just the fact he saw Longtrack as his main discipline and of course why not,when at the time the money was there to be earnt.And I am sure Egon would say he had a great life out of what he did

 

The same could be said of Karl Maier. He could've been a top speedway rider, I remember him having a great race with Sigalos in the 83 world final, but like Muller, he prefered longtrack.

[iris123 20,939]

 

The same could be said of Karl Maier. He could've been a top speedway rider, I remember him having a great race with Sigalos in the 83 world final, but like Muller, he prefered longtrack.

Possibly,sticking to the Germans,also add Gerd Riss to the list?Think he went quite well in his brief BL career.

 

One who does stick out also is Mirko Wolter.Lot of people who saw him when he was a teenager rave about him.I only saw him at the back end of his career and he certainly had talent

[steve roberts 9,242]

Possibly,sticking to the Germans,also add Gerd Riss to the list?Think he went quite well in his brief BL career.

 

One who does stick out also is Mirko Wolter.Lot of people who saw him when he was a teenager rave about him.I only saw him at the back end of his career and he certainly had talent

Klaus Lausch showed potential but again the lucrative long track scene proved more attractive...and later in his career tuning engines!

[iris123 20,939]

The last German for today,i promise.....but Matze Schultz is the same age as Smolinski and won 2 German senior titles before Smolinski won his first.They were always neck and neck,with Matze I would say better on the northern tracks and Smoli better down south.But Matze didn't seem as determined to make a career out of speedway and concentrated on I think getting his engineering qualifications and generally rode speedway at the weekends.Again,speedway is a short life and you can't blame someone for trying tosecure a long term future,but think he could have been at least as good as Smoli