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waiheke1

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Posts posted by waiheke1

  1. Posted

    4 hours ago, kevin bass said:

    Im not disputing how fast he is nor that he's a double world champion, he's a quality rider with rocket ships underneath him, im just saying if the riders infront shut the door on him and clamped him to the kerb he wouldn't get by so easily, unless he rides thru them and knocks them off, Madsen is another one who carries a lot of speed and does the same kind of move, you'd of thought by now the other riders would of sussed out him and Madsen and not keep falling for it time and time again.

    I dont think it's that simple.  Bartosz goes through the inside, round the outside, through gaps that seem impossible. At Prague yes he could be blocked like that, but on a racing track he can pass on so many different lines. Of the multi-world champs of my era, he's the most spectacular to watch imo. 

    • Like 3

  2. Posted

    On 5/30/2022 at 11:45 PM, falcace said:

    Gotta be Bruce Penhall. With respect to the previous book on him, there's a more expansive story or two there to be told.

    That for sure would be a book I would buy (though, tbh, I'd likely buy regardless of which rider from that era it was). 

    Hard to believe he is now 65 :o

  3. Posted

    On 5/25/2022 at 7:51 PM, TonyMac said:

    Thank you. We'll definitely continuing to produce DVDs and publish occasional books with a retro theme if the subject warrants it. The Peter Collins autobiography, launching at the Cardiff GP in August, will be our biggest yet at 386 full colour pages. Next year we'll publish another autobiography that we expect will provoke plenty of reaction.

    Will these be available on kindle, or only hardcopy? Suspect I will want a "real" version of the PC one, but depending on the other rider, I may prefer ebook for that one.

    Hoping it's  Andy Smith, Larry Ross or Shawn Moran! Though judging by the "plenty of reaction" comment Nicki P or Darcy?  (even if they are not really the Backtrack era). 

    • Like 1

  4. Posted

    On 5/29/2022 at 3:04 AM, Steve Shovlar said:

    Zmarzlik fails again. Great stuff.

    He's a racing tart. Put him on a track where passing is impossible, and the rest of the line up have a decent chsnce against him....

    Possibly the worst GP I've seen, partly compensated by the good performances by Tai and Dan.  Pretty disappointing to see people writing Lambert off, he's young and certainly one of the top 15 riders in the world. 

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1

  5. Posted

    3 hours ago, TonyMac said:

    Thank you. We'll definitely continuing to produce DVDs and publish occasional books with a retro theme if the subject warrants it. The Peter Collins autobiography, launching at the Cardiff GP in August, will be our biggest yet at 386 full colour pages. Next year we'll publish another autobiography that we expect will provoke plenty of reaction.

    That's good news. Have always enjoyed the books/dvds from you - the Kenny Carter book ofcourse stands out, and you have both always been super helpful whenever I've emailed. Wish you all the best, and look forward to next year's new book! 

    • Like 1

  6. Posted

    9 hours ago, JohnHyam said:

    Top comment IMO moxey63. This thread confirms that.

    Oh FFS, not this again. People have a go at you because you act like a tw@t. If multiple people call you out for your behaviour, that's not bullying - perhaps you could reflect on why it is and take on board the feedback.

  9. Posted

    1 hour ago, Najjer said:

    But you will then end up with riders with on inflated averages when they could of genuinely had 4 bad meeting and replaced with higher ones. This once again leads to more watering down of the product by naturally forcing everybody’s average higher. I don’t believe that’s a good idea and I don’t believe that average manipulation come the end of the season is actually that much of an issue - especially in todays market where there is a shortage of riders.

    I don’t think 10 meetings is a bad thing either as that represents half a season - however it should include any conbo of 4H/6A, 6H/4A or 5H/5A to prevent lop sided averages.

    Tbf, you could just increase the points limit accordingly. 

    While I can understand the logic used for the rolling averages within a season (phased reduction of number of meetings), I would think for the following season using the last 20 (10/10) would be better. The more meetings, the more you dilute the impact of any thrown points.

  12. Posted

    14 hours ago, THE DEAN MACHINE said:

    The whole thing is wrong full stop, both sides are wrong but the worst of all is us we are just peddling war 

    Nonsense. I have a lot of colleagues in the Ukraine, hard as you may find it to believe  I haven't seen any of them blame the BSF (or the British government) for the situation...maybe they are too busy trying to stay alive to spend time looking at conspiracy sites...

    • Like 2

  14. Posted

    On 4/9/2022 at 10:12 PM, martinmauger said:

    I visted both the Shay  & Odsal, in days before & after Hull's 1995 return, and enjoyed both.  As at Hull, Craven Park, the view from the main stand at Odsal was great but of the two I preferred The Shay though, reasons of smaller stadium so better atmos and in pre-2m safety barrier days (which must be said was defo needed at The Shay !) one could literally get more than up close and personal with the racing and great pits viewing too.  Racing was mostly brilliant at the Shay, unless it was a hot, dry day and then it got pretty slick, otherwise it was great.  Both sadly missed venues still, Odsal has a shale track once more so looking good for poss speedway return.....

    I always enjoyed my trips to both, but my recollection is of Odsal being the better race track. I remember the steep banking of the Shay, and Kenny Carter being nigh on unbeatable. Of the two, I probably have fonder memory of the Shay, but don't recall that the racing was brilliant, and the dvds I have of meetings there seem to support that. 

    • Thanks 1

  16. Posted

    2 hours ago, DazS said:

    its great to know all the riders have stood by their fellow riders including current world champion,  and have all refused to ride in this years championship. :D, ohh hang on we dont live in reality anymore., its now the snowflake society, of just do as your told. 

    Right. Like all the riders boycott the world champs in the 81 when PC wasnt allowed to participate, or 84 with Lee... its all because of snowflake society....

  17. Posted

    On 3/12/2022 at 7:07 AM, Col said:

    Is Lindgren only Swede in GP's?  Can't think of another - shocking from the historical Speedway power house nation.
    Except for Zmarzlik being top Pole, I'm not sure who'll be top rider from each nation ... well Dane, Brit or Aussie now.

    Not without precedent. In the early-mid 80s they only had Jan Andersson.  England had only Harris for a few years. USA have noone. NZ have had noone of world class for close to 35 years. Australia had noone in the late 80s after Crump retired. The Poles had noone for over a decade until Gollob emerged. It happens

    • Like 1

  18. Posted

    1 hour ago, falcace said:

    Ouch. I'd be very surprised if there was anything deliberate. I never saw Ravn do anything remotely dirty in years of riding for Belle Vue. 

    Just utterly bizarre, and the footage doesn't really tell the full story. 

    Agree Ravn wasn't generally dirty, though just watched a YouTube clip of him taking out Andy smith in a 1985 test, where Ravn simply didn't turn left into the first turn and cleaned Andy out. 

    In this instance not sure if it was brain freeze or he genuinely had issues getting the bike off the track, though you suspect if the latter red flags would have gone up and/or track staff running to help. 

  19. Posted

    On 2/1/2022 at 3:49 PM, falcace said:

    It's not an incident I know much about. Tell us more. I would also add that Evitts was no saint, saw him take Andy Smith into the fence at Odsal and he broke his leg. 

    On the first lap, out of camera, Ravn must have either had an engine failure or slid off his bike on the third bend, as only three riders completed the first lap. However he seemingly then made no effort to clear the track, and as Evitts came round the third bend on the second lap, all of a sudden there was Ravn standing with his bike in Evitts line. Evitts smashed into Ravn's bike pretty horribly, and I was surprised when he was able to come out for the rerun (he ended up losing to Ravn in a run off for the world final reserve slot).

    Someone who was there, or seen better footage, might be able to add more. 

    • Like 1

  20. Posted

    1 hour ago, prodons said:

    Talking of Bradford, Neil Evitts was another rider who failed to realise his full potential. British Champion at the age of 21 in 1986, his career arguably never recovered from his controversial crash in the 1987 Inter-Continental Final when Peter Ravn mowed him down.

    A few years after that he was riding in Division 2 for Newcastle after steadily falling down the rankings for the Dukes.

    Agree. Rated him from first seeing him round Hyde Rd as a Brummies reserve in 82. In 86 he started the season in genuinely world class form, faded a little as the season went on - iirc some injury problems, possibly from a clash with Andy smith- but still made the world final, and won the heat which put paid to Eric's hopes of a third  consecutive world title. But never hit those heights again.

    I saw that 87 crash for the first time just the other day. Never seen anything like it before.  Was Ravn ever punished for that collision? 

  21. Posted

    84/85 King was truly world class - I went to the overseas finals both years (I'm sure you probably did too) and he won 9 out of 10 heats for a first and third. Could have been world champ in 84 had he won his last ride in the final.

    But after that, he never kicked on, and in fact went backwards - dont think he made another world final. 

    • Like 1

  23. Posted

    15 hours ago, falcace said:

    Having a browse through Peter Oakes' excellent history of British League Speedway book the other night. Found it interesting to see some teams that look the part and actually turned out to be not up to much. Also, the opposite, teams that looks pretty ordinary, but actually really clicked. Two examples...

    King's Lynn 1988 - Lance King, John Davis, Bo Petersen, Richard Knight, Allan Johannsen, Stephen Davies, Adrian Stevens - effectively four heat leaders and two really solid second strings. Finished 9th/11

    Long Eaton 1984 - Dave Perks, Graham Drury, Paul Stead, Chris Piddock. Miles Evans, David Tyler, Mark Stevenson, John Frankland - mostly past their best, middle of road or untried...bottom in 1983, champions in 1984

    Anyone else got any examples that drained away the start of year optimism or pessimism... ?

    That Long Eaton team looks really average on paper. I guess they were helped by Newcastle, Exeter and Oxford making the move up to BL? 

    That KL team looks solid, albeit lacking a true number 1, and were Davis and Petersen still true heat leader quality at that stage?

  24. Posted

    Aces 87? At the start of the year I expected Mort (9.5+) to be supported by three other heat leaders averaging 8+ (Ravn, Blackbird,Thorp), with backing from a couple of solid second strings (McKinna and a returning from injury Smith). I thought they were title winners, but they ended mid-table. Ultimately Blackbird and McKinna dropping their averages significantly was the main factor. 

     

  25. Posted · Edited by waiheke1

    2 hours ago, Sotonian said:

    I'll stick with Exeter as Crumpie himself said if it was held there he'd win and also it's the only example so far of a rider not on his home track.

    I mentioned Kenny Carter and Hyde Rd? And Shawn Moran and Ipswich

    • Like 1
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