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Speedway Star in the winter

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1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

Wish that I had read the article on Hans and Erik (although I've read versions in 'Backtrack') as it was a continuing factor during the eighties...especially with Olsen sticking his nose in!

If Penhall, Lee, Sanders, Sigalos, Carter, had all hung around what an era that could of been with Erik/Hans.!!! such a shame for speedway that.

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12 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

If Penhall, Lee, Sanders, Sigalos, Carter, had all hung around what an era that could of been with Erik/Hans.!!! such a shame for speedway that.

Yes and despite what some would have us believe there were 'star' riders back during that period.

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6 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Yes and despite what some would have us believe there were 'star' riders back during that period.

YOU could throw Knudsen and Tatum into the mix too

 

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1 minute ago, PHILIPRISING said:

YOU could throw Knudsen and Tatum into the mix too

 

Not sure who is saying there were no star riders,but was Tatum really a star in that sense? Ok as a Wimbledon fan he was a great prospect,and it was brilliant to see one of our riders go from reserve to near top,but not sure he really had star status.Here in Germany,yes,he definitely was with Wiggy a star on the long track,no doubt

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On 12/8/2018 at 10:44 AM, screm said:

It would certainly be quite a story if he was to make it to the Olympics and a one I hope receives attention from a wider audience than just the followers of speedway. 

don't hold your breath on that

 

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On 1/27/2019 at 8:17 AM, Richard Weston said:

I certainly don't dispute that the Danish content wasn't interesting.

My main complaint is the with the way the article is constructed

 (a) the writer should change his ways or (b) you sub editors should change the copy. If that happened, we would all be happy :)

 

I think the double negative was a bit of an own goal for someone complaining about the poor grammar of others! :blink: 

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1 minute ago, WalterPlinge said:

I think the double negative was a bit of an own goal for someone complaining about the poor grammar of others! :blink: 

could be worse , he could be so stupid ,he would claim Kelvin Tatum was never a star

 

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For me Tatum never had the same status as some of those riders mentioned.Penhall,Lee,Carter,Nielsen Or Gundersen for instance.I’d never particularly attend a meeting because Tatum was riding.On the other hand I would be attracted just by the appearance of the others 

Edited by iris123
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30 minutes ago, iris123 said:

For me Tatum never had the same status as some of those riders mentioned.Penhall,Lee,Carter,Nielsen Or Gundersen for instance.I’d never particularly attend a meeting because Tatum was riding.On the other hand I would be attracted just by the appearance of the others 

YOU may be rght but Kelvin would have been very competitive in that company

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36 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

YOU may be rght but Kelvin would have been very competitive in that company

Not doubting that.Just he lacked something in star attraction

And of course add Per Jonsson and Jan.O to the list somewhere below most,but alongside or above Kelvin in that period

 

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41 minutes ago, PHILIPRISING said:

YOU may be rght but Kelvin would have been very competitive in that company

I remember Kelvin going full time in a tough BL and aquitting himself very well.Then reaching the 1985 Bradford WF and also riding with Carter in the pairs.When i think of Kelvin i always put him in the Doncaster,Wiggy, Havvy era until 1990/91 along with Erik/ Hans of course.

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6 hours ago, Sidney the robin said:

If Penhall, Lee, Sanders, Sigalos, Carter, had all hung around what an era that could of been with Erik/Hans.!!! such a shame for speedway that.

I've always thought the same.  You could prob argue for Kelvin Tatum and also Simon Wigg too but their speciality was longtrack of course.  Very good in that sphere both riders were too, but it's long been a common belief that both could have been better speedway riders had they not prefared the much bigger track racing.  Still courses for horses and all that (see what I did there).....

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I have thought the same about most of the top long track riders.Egon,Karl Maier and of course Gerd Riss in the 80s was looking a great prospect until he really concentrated on LT

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42 minutes ago, martinmauger said:

Very good in that sphere both riders were too, but it's long been a common belief that both could have been better speedway riders had they not prefared the much bigger track racing. 

Could be wrong, but seem to remember that Tatum came quite late onto the longtrack scene, where he was arguably more successful as a rider. I vaguely recall something of a row about him being wildcarded into a British Masters grasstrack to get the necessary international licence for longtrack despite having never really ridden grasstrack previously. 

His reasons for focusing on longtrack I don't know, but I feel he'd somewhat peaked at a certain level in speedway and was never going to win a world title with the likes of Nielsen, Gundersen, Jonsson and Rickardsson around. With the greatest of respect, he wasn't in their league even though he was a very good rider on his day. 

I'm also not convinced Wiggy could have been much better without the grass and longtrack distractions. Obviously a one-time World Speedway No.2 isn't bad, but he was far too inconsistent as a speedway rider and I think he actually overachieved in speedway. 

Weirdly speedway riders seemed to make the transition to longtrack better than the other way around, as evidenced by the number of speedway riders who were able to win the World Longtrack in the old days. Can't think of many primarily longtrackers (maybe Egon Muller) who won the Speedway World Championship. 

Edited by Humphrey Appleby
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18 minutes ago, Humphrey Appleby said:

Could be wrong, but seem to remember that Tatum came quite late onto the longtrack scene, where he was arguably more successful as a rider. I vaguely recall something of a row about him being wildcarded into a British Masters grasstrack to get the necessary international licence for longtrack despite having never really ridden grasstrack previously. 

His reasons for focusing on longtrack I don't know, but I feel he'd somewhat peaked at a certain level in speedway and was never going to win a world title with the likes of Nielsen, Gundersen, Jonsson and Rickardsson around. With the greatest of respect, he wasn't in their league even though he was a very good rider on his day. 

I'm also not convinced Wiggy could have been much better without the grass and longtrack distractions. Obviously a one-time World Speedway No.2 isn't bad, but he was far too inconsistent as a speedway rider and I think he actually overachieved in speedway. 

Weirdly speedway riders seemed to make the transition to longtrack better than the other way around, as evidenced by the number of speedway riders who were able to win the World Longtrack in the old days. Can't think of many primarily longtrackers (maybe Egon Muller) who won the Speedway World Championship. 

Obviously being an Oxford fan I saw Wiggy at his most potent on shale but he could be frustrating to say the very least. I recall reading that Bernard Crapper in ear shot of Wiggy would declare that he was rubbish just to wind him up...and the ploy worked. Hans would say that Wiggy constantly tinckered with his bikes even if they were performing well which would cost him, and the team, valuable points. On his day he was as good as any rider but speedway he viewed as secondary to his grasstrack and/or longtrack ambitions.

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