Ivan Mauger 1965 Accident

[BOBBATH 466]

IN the great year of 1965-all of us PL fans wanted to see how well Ivan would do against the NL stars. Sadly Ivan had an accident very early on which affected his form . I am trying to recall the details- I think it was an early Newcastle match at Wolves-anyone recall more details e.g. other riders in the fateful race. I  think one may have been Pete Jarman but am not sure

[chunky 6,081]

I don't know the circumstances surrounding the accident, but it was on 16th April. Heat 5, and the others in the race were Pete Jarman, Gordon Guasco, and Goog Allan.

Judging by his scoring when he came back, I don't think it affected his form that much, just that it put him out of action for two months.

Remember, Bob, you can always check yourself for stuff like this on Speedway Researcher. It may not give you everything you are looking for, but it's a great place to start.

[BL65 655]

I remember it well, it was Mauger’s second ride. He had already been beaten by Tommy Sweetman and Jim Airey and then crashed and was excluded against Pete Jarman and Gordon Guasco.  He took a while to recover anything approaching full fitness but gave a dazzling display at Monmore Green in the final meeting of the season, the Champion of Champions Trophy, when he scored 14 to finish runner up to Brian Brett on 15. The pair were in a class of their own that night, trouncing a strong field including Barry Briggs, Nigel Boocock, Olle Nygren, Cyril Maidment, Arne Pander, Colin Pratt, Mike Broadbank, Ron Mountford, plus the home stars.

[steve roberts 9,242]

In Ivan's book "Triple Crown Plus" he says that he had a collision with Gordon Guasco and his left leg ended up in Gordon's engine as they turned into the corner. He smashed up his left ankle very badly and was subsequently rushed to hospital for surgery whereby he had a couple of screws inserted into the ankle to hold it together. That saviour of many speedway riders Dr. Biagi came to his assitance and decided to plaster Ivan's foot placing his foot in an upward position  so that a steel shoe could be fitted round the plaster so that he could continue riding...which reminds me of the time that Jack Millen rode with a plaster cast on his left foot without, I believe, a steel shoe!

[BL65 655]

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

In Ivan's book "Triple Crown Plus" he says that he had a collision with Gordon Guasco and his left leg ended up in Gordon's engine as they turned into the corner. He smashed up his left ankle very badly and was subsequently rushed to hospital for surgery whereby he had a couple of screws inserted into the ankle to hold it together. That saviour of many speedway riders Dr. Biagi came to his assitance and decided to plaster Ivan's foot placing his foot in an upward position  so that a steel shoe could be fitted round the plaster so that he could continue riding...which reminds me of the time that Jack Millen rode with a plaster cast on his left foot without, I believe, a steel shoe!

Gordon Guasco was unable to avoid Ivan, who fell in front of him.  Mauger missed 15 meetings/2 months of the season, making his comeback in the World Championship rounds (with the aid of the plaster cast), then missed a Newcastle match before returning to the team at the end of June.  Brian Brett was one of the riders in a 'pool' that season and joined Newcastle as a short-term replacement for Mauger.  When Ivan returned to the team Newcastle were allowed to retain Brett and they finished the season joint top of the team's league averages on 8.81.  Brian reached the World Final, Ivan was eliminated at the British Final stage, although at that point he was carrying hand, leg and foot injuries.

[BL65 655]

12 hours ago, chunky said:

Judging by his scoring when he came back, I don't think it affected his form that much, just that it put him out of action for two months.

In 1964 Mauger had a league average of 11.54 in the Provincial League, compared to Charlie Monk's 10.88.  In 1965 Charlie achieved 10.22, with Ivan way down on 8.81.  I think it highly probable in an injury-free season that Mauger would have at least matched, if not bettered, Monk's figures.

[chunky 6,081]

1 hour ago, BL65 said:

In 1964 Mauger had a league average of 11.54 in the Provincial League, compared to Charlie Monk's 10.88.  In 1965 Charlie achieved 10.22, with Ivan way down on 8.81.  I think it highly probable in an injury-free season that Mauger would have at least matched, if not bettered, Monk's figures.

I get what you are saying, but was that actually because of the injury?

Looking at the details of his scoring, it seems a little strange. It wasn't like he was generally down on his scoring; he had a lot of really good nights - but also a few really poor ones. His first meeting back was a WCQR, and he scored 11 from four completed rides, plus a fall. Then he scored 9 from three, plus a fall, followed by 11 from four, and ten from five.

Then he hit a really bad spell, which included quite a few DNF's. Was that spell the result of the injury? Did he aggravate the injury? Obviously, I'm not in a position to shed any light on that, but he did appear okay on his initial return from injury.

[steve roberts 9,242]

9 minutes ago, chunky said:

I get what you are saying, but was that actually because of the injury?

Looking at the details of his scoring, it seems a little strange. It wasn't like he was generally down on his scoring; he had a lot of really good nights - but also a few really poor ones. His first meeting back was a WCQR, and he scored 11 from four completed rides, plus a fall. Then he scored 9 from three, plus a fall, followed by 11 from four, and ten from five.

Then he hit a really bad spell, which included quite a few DNF's. Was that spell the result of the injury? Did he aggravate the injury? Obviously, I'm not in a position to shed any light on that, but he did appear okay on his initial return from injury.

In Ivan's book he mentions that during 1965 he had to wear a special boot and had to adopt something of a different style. He had been riding with the screws still in place which caused him problems and during the winter of 1965/6 when he aggrevated the bone thru' excessive training he had them eventually taken out. When he got back to England at the start of the 1966 season he felt much fitter and ready to tackle the new season without the worries of 1965. He mentions, also, that during 1964 he had ridden in less meetings as was usual and dropped far more points than he had the season previous.

[BL65 655]

2 hours ago, chunky said:

I get what you are saying, but was that actually because of the injury?

1 hour ago, steve roberts said:

In Ivan's book he mentions that during 1965 he had to wear a special boot and had to adopt something of a different style. He had been riding with the screws still in place which caused him problems.

The screws were inserted at The Royal Hospital, Wolverhampton, following which Ivan returned home, having been informed the plaster cast would need to be on his smashed ankle for 3 months.  He was then admitted to Manchester Royal Infirmary as he had a high temperature, probably due to an infection, remaining there for about 3 weeks. The special boot was created the week before the World Championship qualifying rounds, just over 8 weeks after the crash, to enable Ivan to compete.  By mid-July it appeared that Ivan was gaining enough confidence to start using his left foot more in the turns.  Having participated in official fixtures only following his comeback, he then felt sufficiently fit to plan a flight to Denmark to ride in a 1,000 metre event on 8th August and also rode for 'Overseas' in a challenge at Newport on 20th August.  Unfortunately, he broke a finger at Newport, then the next evening, riding for Newcastle at Wimbledon, he hit the fence and fell, breaking several bones in his right foot and aggravating the hand injury.  Ivan missed the next home meeting as he stayed in London after the Wimbledon match in order to receive intensive treatment in an effort to be fit enough to ride in the British Final.  The world championship meeting was delayed for a week due to rain, but the handicap of riding with so many injuries proved too much.

.

 

 

[chunky 6,081]

Ah, that's more like it! Looking at his performances, I figured there was more to it than I initially thought. Makes a lot of sense picking up additional injuries...

[BOBBATH 466]

Thanks everybody-as a matter of interest on the night the British Final was rained off (at West Ham), I spoke to Ivan at the bar  and had a nice chat with him ( a gent). He was using a crutch as I recall and I said it must be a bit of a relief that it was rained off-gives you an extra week to recuperate etc. He said that it would take  far more than a week to get better . He also didn't look 100%. As you mention he rode in the re-run of the meeting and despite a manful effort scored 5 points and was eliminated. 

[martinmauger 584]

On 10/21/2020 at 1:16 PM, chunky said:

I get what you are saying, but was that actually because of the injury?

Looking at the details of his scoring, it seems a little strange. It wasn't like he was generally down on his scoring; he had a lot of really good nights - but also a few really poor ones. His first meeting back was a WCQR, and he scored 11 from four completed rides, plus a fall. Then he scored 9 from three, plus a fall, followed by 11 from four, and ten from five.

Then he hit a really bad spell, which included quite a few DNF's. Was that spell the result of the injury? Did he aggravate the injury? Obviously, I'm not in a position to shed any light on that, but he did appear okay on his initial return from injury.

Think it was around this time he also had an illness he struggled to shake off which was eventually diagnosed as meningitis....

[BOBBATH 466]

On 10/21/2020 at 6:47 AM, BL65 said:

In 1964 Mauger had a league average of 11.54 in the Provincial League, compared to Charlie Monk's 10.88.  In 1965 Charlie achieved 10.22, with Ivan way down on 8.81.  I think it highly probable in an injury-free season that Mauger would have at least matched, if not bettered, Monk's figures.

I agree with you  BL65-wasn't Nigel Boocock top of the averages in 1965- was Charlie the top of the former Prov. League Riders that year- I think George Hunter and Eric Boocock also had good years. And whatt about Jackie Biggs who I think had about a 3 point average for Coventry in 1964 and then became a star turn for Newport in 1965, when he would have been in his late forties I think. What a great year that was-the best!!!!!

[BL65 655]

54 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

I agree with you  BL65-wasn't Nigel Boocock top of the averages in 1965- was Charlie the top of the former Prov. League Riders that year- I think George Hunter and Eric Boocock also had good years. And whatt about Jackie Biggs who I think had about a 3 point average for Coventry in 1964 and then became a star turn for Newport in 1965, when he would have been in his late forties I think. What a great year that was-the best!!!!!

Yes, Nigel Boocock averaged 11.09, with Monk on 10.22, Hunter 9.41 and Eric Boocock 9.44.  Ivor Brown ended the season on 9.27, having averaged 9.83 up until his serious injury in the Internationale at Wimbledon.  Jack Biggs improved his average from 4.86 to 9.05.