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steve roberts

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Posts posted by steve roberts

  3. Posted · Edited by steve roberts

    2 hours ago, auntie doris said:

    An event yesterday at a local hotel attended by ex-riders and about 200 fans of the Robins. Ex-riders Briggo, Broady, Keen, Dukey, Ashby-looking very frail, Nilsen, Davis, Bouchard, and others in attendance, plus books, bikes and memorabilia for this famous old Wiltshire club, sadly now defunct. Never got the chance to defend the 2019 League and Cup Double.:cry:

    How is Jimmy Nilsen? Emigrated to the States if I recall?

  8. Posted

    Slightly off tangent but whilst on the NYMR last week I spoke to a passenger who was from Hoddesdon and was very aware of Rye House and the present situation and on discussion found out that his great Uncle is Clive Hitch (who is still with us) and son Martin who both rode speedway...I remember watching Clive when riding for the "Robins".

    • Like 2

  9. Posted

    1 hour ago, old bob at herne bay said:

    Does anyone on here know what a speedway “licence” is? 
    Are they in short supply - why do they have to be put “ on ice”  seems to infer that once handed back they cannot be re issued? 

    How do I apply for a new speedway promoters licence ? Who issues the”licences” DVLA? How much do they cost and how long are they valid for? 

    It was/is a perculiar one "on ice". I know that Reading's was put "on ice" during the development of Smallmead and I believe the same applied to King's Lynn when "Buster" Chapman (remember him as a novice riding for Oxford!) was negotiating the purchase of Saddlebow Road? Oxford purchased Hackney's licence when they re-entered the British League in 1984...would be interested to learn the situation regarding Swindon's licence and who actually owns it?

  13. Posted

    7 minutes ago, Split said:

    Relying on my fading memory again but I seem to  recall that a rider named Alf Wells rode for Edinburgh back in the 60's. Were they related?

    I don't think there is a connection?

  14. Posted · Edited by steve roberts

    1 hour ago, orion said:

    Not sure what he's on about . Speedway only runs one a week on a Thursday as a rule between March and Oct .. So easy to fit in and any rent money  from the speedway on top of the Greyhound money is a bonus and better than nothing , 

    From the speedway point of view a club a  of Swindon support have a better chance than most of breaking even . The bottom line is Clark has stopped Speedway so he can build houses just like he always wanted to 

    Totally agree! He quotes total rubbish and anyone knowing his history will realise.

  21. Posted

    4 hours ago, Grachan said:

    Dag Lovaas. He was so good but seemed to just lose interest and retired at the end of 1976.

    He was almost unbeatable in the wet. If he'd been in the 1977 World Final he might well have won it with conditions how they were.

    Remember Dag's sublime 15 point maximum in absymal conditions during Mike Keen's Testimonial Meeting at Swindon in 1976.

    Dag achieved his desired move to Cowley in 1975 and then had it taken from him due to the enforced move of the "Rebels" to Wood Lane where he never really settled. He remained faithful to the JAP engine which didn't really suit the wide open spaces at White City.

  22. Posted

    5 hours ago, chunky said:

    Thanks to a comment by frigbo on another thread, it got me thinking...

    I checked Tommy Nilsson's average in his first year in the UK, and thought it was pretty good. So, I just started checking the first-year averages of other Swedes, and looked to see who made the biggest initial impact. I decided to stick with the BL era until 1980; after that, i feel that British speedway started to go a little weird with leagues and foreign riders!

    So, here is a list of first-year averages of Swedes who made their debut in the upper tier from 1965-80. I have excluded riders who had been riding here before (Sjosten, Nygren, Nordin), but I did throw in the one first-timer from 1964 (Bengt Jansson) just because. I have also excluded riders/seasons where a rider appeared in a handful of matches (10 is the minimum), whether they came back or not, so a first year here should be considered a "full" year.

    I just think it's interetsting to see how some riders developed long and successful careers (Jan Andersson, Richard Hellsen), yet others (Bengt Andersson, Bo Wirebrand) were never able to really improve on an impressive start. Some great names on here, though...

    10.05 - Torbjorn Harrysson
      9.29 - Hasse Holmqvist, 9.19 - Bernt Persson
      8.74 - Anders Michanek, 8.21 - Gunnar Malmqvist, 8.03 - Tommy Johansson
      7.82 - Christer Lofqvist, 7.51 - Jan Simensen, 7.48 - Tommy Jansson, 7.32 - Tommy Bergkvist. 7.30 - Bengt Jansson*, 7.08 - Bengt Larsson
      6.90 - Bo Josefsson, 6.41 - Tommy Nilsson, 6.38 - Christer Sjosten, 6.03 - Bo Wirebrand
      5.86 - Lars Jansson, 5.22 - Bengt Andersson
      4.75 - Richard Hellsen, 4.65 - Soren Karlsson, 4.57 - Bengt Brannefors, 4.56 - Jan Andersson, 4.17 - Conny Samuelsson, 4.14 - Stefan Salomonsson, 4.12 - Nils Ringstrom, 4.00 - Tommy Pettersson
      3.70 - Hasse Danielsson, 3.61 - Jan Davidsson, 3.44 - Lars-Inge Hultberg, 3.19 - Leif Soderberg

     

    I would have thought that someone would have given Conny another chance as he did show some pretty good performances away from Cowley but perhaps it was his own decision to give the UK a miss?

  23. Posted

    3 hours ago, frigbo said:

    As he didn't prioritise it, Simon Wigg never reached the individual heights in speedway that his early years promised. 

    His priorties were Grasstrack and Longtrack....should have achieved more in speedway (altough his record was impressive) if he had applied more in my opinion. I saw him during his hey-day riding for the "Cheetahs" and he proved to be both inspirational and frustrating at times. Hans always said that Wiggy was forever tinkering with his bikes even when they were going well which cost him points.

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