PeterS

Good grief! Knowing how unpredictable Jensen was at Leicester, I bet he didn't score at all in his next match. That night he just made 5 perfect gates and was never headed. Got rid of all my records from back then so there is no way I could ever check what he did in the next but you are probably right. I will always remember him for not even been consistent within a meeting, a great race win followed by a poor last. Lots of ability and fast motors but just something missing. I remember a quote for Hans Nielsen in 1977 saying Finn was every bit as good as him. Unfortunately Finn never quite got to that level. You've lost me on that one. Have you got any more info. about him? By the way, welcome to the forum. As you have just found out we are full of "constructive" comments on here. I will always remember one great meeting from Jan in 1977 against Bristol which we won where he had 4 great races with Tormod Langli from Bristol (Another Norwegian). Jan was as hard as nails and would not let him past.

Thanks for all the constructive comments!! Here some boring details, which I hope, answer most of your comments and bring back a few memories for some of you. My family has supported the Brummies through 3 generations. My Grandfather use to watch Speedway as early as the Thirties at Hall Green and my mother watched it in the fifties at the old Birchfield stadium. Her favourite rider was Alan Hunt which I always found strange as most other Brummies fans of the Fifties only talk about Graham Warren. I was always brought up that our big local rivals were Coventry and Cradley in that order. Although I always admired some of the riders of Cradley during in the 80’s especially Erik Gundersen. My mother still lives in Solihull so we attended a few Coventry meetings during the 80’s and 90’s and mostly supported the away teams especially if Hans Nielsen was riding. Like a lot of people with no track to attend or team to support my enthusiasm died off. I also was father to two young girls so from the early nineties for about 10 years I hardly attended a meeting. Then with the coverage of Sky of the Grand Prix and the Elite League I slowly got back into it. The final clincher was when Wolves won the Elite League last year. I then decided to support Wolves and go down to Monmore Green each week. So at the start of the season I took my two children down and have never looked back. Unfortunately my eldest daughter finds it boring and only comes down under protest but the youngest one who is 7 loves it and her favourite riders are Peter Karlsson, David Howe and Chris Neath. I have always found that Speedway is something you get more out of if you are committed to one team or another. You can enjoy it as a neutral but I think you do miss something. Why I support Wolves rather than Stoke. Well I suppose because I could go to Brandon and see Wolves win (no chance of that this year) and the fact I worked in Cannock, which is fairly close to Wolverhampton. I attended most of Birmingham’s home matches from 1976 until 1980 when I went to Reading University (chosen because they had a speedway team). My memories that I can remember are Favourite riders Ray Wilson, Jan Gravningen, Zdenek Kundra, Ari Koponen. Memorable Moments in no order 1.Seeing Finn Jensen score a 15-point maximum at Sheffield in the KO cup 2.A great match against Cradley in about 1980 where we lost 37-41 but the racing was superb. 3 Seeing us beat Coventry 41-37 in 1977(?) when Ole Olsen looped at the gate and we started with a 5-1. 4. Lots of last bend overtakes on the outside from Ari Koponen Worst Moments 1,Not seeing us beat Ipswich in 1976 when Gary Middleton top scored and we beat the reigning champions 2. Losing to Wolves in about 1977, 25-53 I think. We were terrible but we did see a very young Hans Nielsen.

I use to attend Perry Barr from 1976 to it closure in about 1982. I have just got back into speedway seriously and I am now a converted Wolves fan. I do have a couple of questions though. 1. Is there no Birmingham web site. With the large fan base this surprises me a little. 2. I have read that CVS of Wolves is thinking of setting up a conference team. As he was associated with Birmingham in the past is there any evidence that it may be somewhere in Birminghama. Does Wheels still have a shale track?