HenryW 1,177 Posted December 8, 2021 6 hours ago, bluebee said: Just been passing the time watching some YouTube videos (thank you Clean Cut Sports!) and particularly enjoyed the precocious talents of a young Przemysław Pawlicki . The commentator observes that he was certainly a future world champion in the making. What happened to the exceptional Shamek? Why didn't he even make the GPs? I've looked of Wikipedia and it only goes up to 2010 in his case. I know his brother has been making a name for himself. He did. He was a permanent member of the GP series in 2018 having won the GP Challenge in 2017. Unfortunately he didn't have the best of seasons, ending in 14th place. His average in the Ekstraliga last year was just marginally lower than his brother's. They have both failed to consistently deliver on their undoubted talent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sidney the robin 4,735 Posted December 8, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, Daniel Smith said: Never thought or seen these words mentioned ever in terms of Ryan Fisher:- World Champion & safe. People used to go in on Nicki Pedersen for the way he rode but Fisher was far worse imo. Only 3 name come to mind as rider's who could have & should have been World Champion are:- Leigh Adams Emil Sayfutdinov Darcy Ward I'd give an outside shout out to Fredrick Lindgren too but he's cost himself a few time just by being reckless Graham Warren , Dave Jessup ( never rated him) Dennis Sigalos, Billy Sanders, Tommy Jansson he would of certainly won a title. Edited December 8, 2021 by Sidney the robin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluebee 199 Posted December 8, 2021 1 hour ago, HenryW said: He did. He was a permanent member of the GP series in 2018 having won the GP Challenge in 2017. Unfortunately he didn't have the best of seasons, ending in 14th place. His average in the Ekstraliga last year was just marginally lower than his brother's. They have both failed to consistently deliver on their undoubted talent. Shame. Shamek was such an exciting youngster. Thanks for the info Henry. It goes to show that talent alone is no guarantee of success at the highest level. Still, he and his brother have made longish careers in the sport at a pretty good level. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 4,863 Posted December 9, 2021 16 hours ago, bluebee said: Also was David Howe that highly rated when he was young? Only by himself maybe... I remember reading an interview with him once where he said it never occurred to him that he wasn't going to be world champion. I also remember reading an interview with Martin Vaculik after he won his first GP and he was going on about how he wanted to emulate Tony Rickardsson, although he's a pretty decent rider he's quite a way off TR standards at the moment. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HGould 2,200 Posted December 9, 2021 Zenon Plech (what could he have been with the kind of money and investment the Poles have now) and Tommy Jansson (tragically lost when approaching peak) are the best 2 I can think of from the past who had everything to be World Champions and may have benefitted from GP format rather than one-off Finals. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
*JJ 508 Posted December 9, 2021 Adam Roynon. When he rode for Birmingham in 2009, he was obviously going to the top; he was faster than Jason Lyons, and not many were that! But then he got injured .. again and again ... 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
arnieg 3,603 Posted December 9, 2021 20 hours ago, bluebee said: Also was David Howe that highly rated when he was young? Rated as a good prospect but a world champion? Maybe I'm wrong. Saw him at Cardiff and was well off the pace. His Conference League debut season as a 15 year old compares very favourably with Woffinden and Ward's first seasons, so yes he was very highly rated. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gambo 1,334 Posted December 9, 2021 Showing my age, I know, but I seem to recall a young Sean Wilson being on TV, (Blue Peter?) and being suggested as a future Champion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedwayTShirts 307 Posted December 9, 2021 Brian Andersen when he won a youngsters meeting at Cov and he almost got there, managed a GP win at Bradford from memory. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chewbacca 653 Posted December 9, 2021 (edited) Joe Owen before his first big injury at Hull. Whilst he was a solid second heat leader in the BL and NL #1 afterwards he wasn’t quite the rider he had been. 1976 the year before his accident and aged 19 NNL avg 11.54 inc 28 full maximums in 39 matches BL avg 8.86 inc 2 full maximums in 10 matches (bearing mind how strong the BL was in those days Edited December 9, 2021 by Chewbacca Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fatface 2,525 Posted December 9, 2021 Joe Screen was dynamite and had the ability Henrik Gustafson looked a stronger prospect than Tony Rickardsson at first Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LagutaRacingFan 1,919 Posted December 9, 2021 Hans Andersen He would have won the 2006 series if he took part from the start. Crump got very lucky that year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King Jamie 350 Posted December 9, 2021 Of those mentioned in this thread, the likes of Fisher, THJ and Daniel Andersson all rode for the Monarchs. Fisher won two league titles during his time at sunny Armadale, while THJ won one. That they all dropped off so soon after leaving 'Cardiff without a roof' just proves that bearing the famous crown on your race jacket is deemed the pinnacle of one's career and future World title ambitions pale into insignificance. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
enotian 562 Posted December 9, 2021 mid 80's when I first got into speedway Havelock, Dugard and Silver were the future of British/World speedway. All had great debut seasons in the old National League (Div 2 for newbies) averaging 7 ish in a fairly strong league with the likes of Kennett, Jessup and Collins in it you'd been World Finalists not to long before. I'd have said Dugard would have been the one to become a World Champ. World Final debut at Bradford in 1990? Must have been in his early 20's at most. Seemed to freeze in the spotlight and scored nothing or next to nothing. Don't ever recall him doing anything on an international stage thereafter apart from the wildcard (at Brandon?). Superb domestically for a long time, against all the top guys in the World. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve roberts 9,241 Posted December 9, 2021 14 minutes ago, enotian said: mid 80's when I first got into speedway Havelock, Dugard and Silver were the future of British/World speedway. All had great debut seasons in the old National League (Div 2 for newbies) averaging 7 ish in a fairly strong league with the likes of Kennett, Jessup and Collins in it you'd been World Finalists not to long before. I'd have said Dugard would have been the one to become a World Champ. World Final debut at Bradford in 1990? Must have been in his early 20's at most. Seemed to freeze in the spotlight and scored nothing or next to nothing. Don't ever recall him doing anything on an international stage thereafter apart from the wildcard (at Brandon?). Superb domestically for a long time, against all the top guys in the World. Having watched Martin develop as a rider at Cowley he showed great potential. Personally I thought moving back to Eastbourne was a mistake and as Gordon Kennett was once quoted he should had taken himself off to "Aussie" during the British close season to help his development both as a rider and a person. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites