Sidney the robin
-
Content count
8,532 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
24
Posts posted by Sidney the robin
-
-
Your point is? 😀Some very interesting contributions about speedway in the yesteryears and lots about events that had nothing to do with speedway I think the heading was Speedway 's Golden Year which obviously was the late 1940's of perhaps the early 1950's. any thing else is just a pale imitation of those successful years
-
1
-
-
Hyde Rd Belle Vue v Reading,Collins v Michanek and England v Sweden at Sheffield with Collins, E.Boocock,Michanek,TJansson in the last race.
-
Thanks "Norbold" George Hunter was in front of Peter and his engine seized think that is correct.No, in that particular race he went off scratch along with the other three riders.
-
Thanks BL a great post learned a lot more todayHandicaps were applied in the National League in the early 1960s, with rules determining which riders started off scratch or 10 yards. The 'big 5', Ove Fundin, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore, Peter Craven and Bjorn Knuts(s)on went off 20 yards. In 1964 the National League had 7 teams and handicaps continued to be applied, although Peter Craven had tragically lost his life in 1963 and Ronnie Moore was back in New Zealand recovering from serious injury. Barry became particularly disgruntled at the number of blown engines he suffered in fighting to overcome his handicap and stated how much his confidence was adversely affected by having an often insurmountable task of passing riders of the calibre of Nigel Boocock, Ken McKinlay and Gote Nordin, for example. In early August 1964 Barry threatened to retire unless handicapping was scrapped. At the same time Newcastle were experimenting with handicapping Ivan Mauger in second half races at Provincial League level. The back marker handicap was duly removed for Briggs, Fundin and Knutson towards the end of August 1964.
There had been a number of meetings between Provincial League Select and National League Select teams prior to the amalgamation in 1965 and it was clear that many of the Provincial heat leaders were more than a match for all but the very top riders in the National League. Also, the National League teams had a number of riders of reserve standard who would be second string or reserve standard in the Provincial League. When the two leagues amalgamated in 1965 a number of the top riders from the 1964 National League teams did not take part. A ban on commuting foreigners ruled out riders including Ove Fundin, Bjorn Knutson, Bengt Jansson, Gote Nordin and Soren Sjosten. Additionally, Brian Brett and Leo McAuliffe initially retired but then returned during 1965 to cover for injured riders. Further still, there were some fairly good National League riders, including Norman Hunter and Malcolm Simmons, who had ridden at Provincial League level as recently as 1963. The feeling was that the standards would soon level out in the new British League and this proved to be the case. Several riders from the 1964 Provincial League quickly flourished in the British League, including Ivor Brown, George Hunter, Charlie Monk, Colin Pratt, Roy Trigg, Eric Boocock, Dave Younghusband, Ray Wilson, Ivan Mauger, Peter Vandenberg (although a National League rider in 1963), Bill Andrew, Jack Kitchen, Clive Featherby, Peter Jarman and Jim Airey. I think it is fair to say that the large majority of supporters approved of the amalgamation, which enabled a fair number of riders to develop at a rapid rate by matching their skills against the best of the ex-Nationals.
-
Remember that game at the CG,a game that always sticks out in mind 'Downsman" was a home Friday night game against Millwall one side of the pitch was unplayable flooded.If i remember rightly Trevor Lee a very good black lad played think he scored."Killer" Hales...legend. Remember when they beat Swindon at the CG, Walshie set up all 3 goals for Killers hat-trick as they blew The Town away. The Adver headline was "Halestorm hits Swindon". Got sent-off for fighting with fellow striker Flanagan in one game.
Always plenty of room on the terraces of what was the biggest ground in England.
BL65 when the leagues came together was there a feeling that a lot of riders could be out of there depth but often a lot of them adjusted and made progress Eric Boocock was he one.?Also my uncle often told me that Briggo would often win off a handicap when did that finish was Peter Craven on a handicap when he sadly lost his life.?Totally agree. I have every programme from the 1965 season for all British tracks except for the rained off meeting at Halifax on 29th September and three meetings at Weymouth in February and April. League tracks had a meeting scheduled for each week, virtually no guest riders, no rider replacement so every team had to track 7 riders, no changing team line-ups every other week except when required because of injuries. The weaker teams suffered some heavy defeats, but that happens these days even with the points limit and the chopping and changing culture. Back in 1965 crowds were generally good everywhere, there was variety with some away teams only visiting once a year, so seeing the World Champion in action, for example, was a crowd puller, whereas in modern times there is no novelty value if the opposition visits 3 or 4 times a season. In 1965 fans would support 30 meetings a season because of the variety of opposition and meetings, unlike today where a number of tracks only run meetings once every couple of weeks.
-
BOBBATH did you see Charlie Monk win the Easter Trophy at West Ham,or him winning the prestige Internationale at Wimbledon.Which i believe at the time was quite a shock.?
-
The Valley i only went there once they had Derek Hales and a 16 year Paul Walsh playing there record crowd there is 75000.
-
Tell you something "Macca" old age is catching up with me.Remember Fred Davis playing Kirk Stevens could of swore Kirk won he did not Fred had a 3.0 head to head with him he beat him.I can remember Fred getting to a semi aged 64 it was against bloody Perry Mans god it catches up with us all mate old father time😧! Going back to Tennis my top five would be Laver,Sampras,Borg,Djokovic,Nadal my favourite two players were McEnroe and Stefan Edberg.
-
1
-
-
Going back to certain years being a all round sports fan, Feb 1990 Tokyo Douglas beating Iron Mike ( Mike knocked him out rnd8 down for 13.5 seconds 😀)has to be up there in my favourite sporting moments.McEnroe beating Borg in 5 at Wimbledon Knowles beating Davis 10.1 at the Crucible also a a 64 year old legend Fred Davis beating Kirk Stevens in the last 16 at Sheffield great moments for me.
-
A great post "Macca really enjoyed the read yes I can remember Rob Maxfield first see him for Worky and quite alot of him in his NL days at the feared Exeter County Ground.Going back to Bill i see quite alot of him luckily from 72 onwards the best i ever see him ride was him winning the 77 spring Classic a massive meeting
then.Saying that in that best pairs meeting when he fell riding for the Aussies that day he was awesome.When at Swindon give us a shout and a pint will await you.
-
1
-
-
Always found it strange "Macca that people always felt Bill and Crump senior never got on they did i believe you would know better than anyone.I know for certain god they both respected each other and were both aware of each other's ability.Think if i am right Phil/Bill clashed in the Aussie Final think Crumpie got eliminated on 12 pts four wins.Hated it when Bill got S... at Swindon after that Phil is a legend in my eyes but Sanders was someone i rated and liked.After that Norden 83 Sanders was nearing his peak he would of challenged Hans/Gundo no doubt in my mind at all.Good Shout Sidney, but the Billy Sanders League and Cup winning double the following year makes it 1984 for me. 1983 was a fun year too, with Billy back at Foxhall and nobody believing what good mates he and Siggy were - Bill, got on so well with 99,9% of other speedway riders, but Mike Lee and Sigalos would rate amongst his better friends - Billy and Dennis sharing workshops in 1982 helped form the bond. And Bill finishing as runner-up in both the Individual World Title and the World Pairs in 1983 too, of course. If he had won one of them, then maybe I would have gone for '83 too - and maybe he would've still been with us today too, but that's another story of course.
I enjoyed watching my speedway at King's Lynn in 1982 too. A poor team overall but a great track and the banter in the bar afterwards (or in Michael's transport) was an education. Colin Richardson was part of the Stars team that year and Lee would've been three years old at the time, running around chuckling while 'the adults' had a drink and a chat. Great memories.
-
2
-
-
My golden year would be 1983, i loved that year generally the late 60s /70s would win hands down all of the time. That year Lee, Carter, Nielsen,Gundersen, Sanders,Sigalos it was a special period at the time i didn't realise it.
-
1
-
-
Maybe if he didn't have his wrist broke again!! remember v Ippo ? he did miss most of last year.Looks like the scorpions could do with a proper number 1 or at least another rider that could score like one.
-
The presentation tonight on BT was very good,got home from work thought who is this woman? to be fair she was excellent.Scott for me is Scott the same all the time great for tv for me he will have a job in speedway with the media after he stops racing no worries.
-
He will be there in the mix first race he looked real quick hope i see him at Belle Vue the WTC will Deffo see him ride at Cardiff/Torun.And sadly, thats how he's become. To full of himself.. And then has the nerve to look at his arms when he has the pick in semi and final tonight ,as though to say I have no sponsorship on them...
-
Are people in the speedway world worried about Nigel Pearson and his feelings on Tai and his decisions he has made regarding his future.? Think i am right in thinking that Rossiter said that he totally understood where Woffinden was coming from on his decision.
-
Without him in the side well we might as well give up, Woffinden,Lambert,Cook,Nicholls,Harris not a bad five to be going along with without Tai forget it.I guess that you would still have tai as captain of team GB
-
2
-
-
Pearson to me is a speedway fan no more than that a senior figure are you sure? does he want to create bad feeling between the GB camp and cause a massive problem when quite honestly Tai has done nothing wrong.Umm i think your find that Pearson is a senior speedway journalist and was a huge tai fan that most would bet everything that he wouldn't say a bad word against tai, so he seems upset with tai too along with several promotors and sky.
-
What has it to do with Nigel Pearson ?nothing at all he should just concentrate on doing his job.I see that Nigel Pearson isn't happy since tai pulled out of the British final, Sky not happy either, be nice for rosco to comment.
-
Getting seriously worried how much I'm agreeing with you lately
If his travelling costs for the UK were covered, and that's how I read it, why not drop Sweden for the UK. Haven't heard too much about Sweden paying mega bucks. To say travelling is exhausting is a bit misleading as he lives in the UK and judging by his tweets last year he comes back quite often.
Quite simply he doesn't want to ride here, which makes his so called wish to "help" British speedway progress a total farce. I've always judged people on their actions and not their words. Yes he did a massive amount for GOSH and I've applauded him for that but when it comes to British speedway he has lost my support, respect and any admiration that I did once have for him. He won't give a toss I'm sure.
My only hope is that the BSPA do not give him any special favours in the future, he has snubbed them several times now and IMHO any support, financial or otherwise, would be far better targetted at young British hopefuls like Kyle Bickley, the Thompsons and the McGurks.
Don't forget Tom Brennan a fine prospect.
-
Its only just starting but it already makes you realise what a massive cock up they have made of it all this season.If a FTR can move into the 1 to 5 you cannot have protected heats it just does not work.FTR moves straight to heat leader(to be totally out classed) because of protected heats then heat leader moves to 2nd string with easier rides then 2nd string moves to reserve with protected heats.Total madness their averages over a season will be so so messed up.God knows how they are going to work out team averages for next year.
I m o all they had to do was return to the old heat format to put a stop to all this noncence.
Wouldn't it be better big anough of the promoters to change this rule rolling averages what a joke.It shows more strength to admit you are wrong and do something about it the fans would have respect for that.To plod on with this stupid rule until the end of the year is madness.
-
1
-
-
How new changes effect each team (updated every 2 weeks when they change or assessed average changes)
From: 2nd MAY
Belle Vue -No change
Coventry - No change
King's Lynn- Huckenbeck drops to reserve
Wilkinson moves in 2nd string
Lakeside- No change
Leicester - Auty moves in to top 1-5
Starke returns to reserve
Poole- Ellis becomes a heatleader
Brady moves to reserve
Pedersen moves to 2nd string
Swindon - Wright drops from heatleader to 2nd string.
Josh moves to heatleader
Wolves- Bech becomes a heatleader & Thorsell a 2nd string
Good post god it is long winded keeping up with these rolling averages thanks mdmc82.
-
1
-
-
I don't think he will lose any sleep over it do you ?Of course the he thinks the majority still back him ,because the only ones he's spoken to are the sycofants who wouldn't dream of telling him the truth .
-
If Pearson asks Tai for a quote or a comment i would tell Pearson to shove it, to be honest he is sh.... stirring to the highest degree.This is becoming a bit too surreal for me!
Speedway's Golden Year
in Years Gone By
Posted