REBELS77 4 Posted March 28, 2008 One rider who was very unlucky was Paul Gachet,Eastboune no1 in 1975 came to the Rebels,broke his ankle in a 2nd half crash at White City in 77 then Broke his thigh in the last meeting of the 1978 season at Mildenhall, Never came back which was a shame as when the Rebels moved to Eastboune in 1979 could have really worked for him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canadian Star 6 Posted March 28, 2008 Here's one or two for you - Troy Pratt - looked a great prospect at Kings Lynn before getting hurt, David Crane would be another, never recovered or was as good after badly dislocating his shoulder at Leicester. Ian Turner's progress was slowed considerably after suffering bad back injuries at Reading just two weeks after winning the British Junior Championship in 1971. Howard Cole never was the same after his big crash at Leicester in the 1972 British Semi Final, up to that point he was looking really good that year. Tony Davey as previously mentioned definately comes to mind, the same for Mike Lanham to a lesser extent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spin king 1,923 Posted March 29, 2008 Tony was another who had a number of serious injuries. He usually bounced back pretty well, but how much better would he have done without constantly having his career interrupted? I still remember seeing the photo on the cover of the Ipswich programme when he broke his thigh - yuk!!! Steve The thing I remember about Tony Davey was his riding style, had a nice easy style of riding as though he was sat in a nice comfortable chair. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oddfossengen 1 Posted March 29, 2008 i think he got into sand track racing and was very successfulyes declan appeared many times at matchams park ringwood hants in the late 80s early 90s racing a standard mx bike against pukka sandracing bikes he was thrilling to say the least used to drive all the way down from liverpool each week to compete he must lost loads of money i was earning more as a commontater than they were as riders Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
colincooke 0 Posted March 31, 2008 (edited) I've just looked through the whole of this thread with great interest. I'll mention Bees riders 1st as they're the one's closest to my heart. Les Owen of course stand out a mile for me. Les was never one to turn up any trees but as a team man he was 2nd to none,Les could win you match without scoring a single point,that's how unselfish he was. Howling Gorgon has mentioned Andy Hackett. This lad was a joy to watch, it always seemed that when he was just getting his form back, injury beset him again. Tony Davey is one i certainly agree with, John Berry raves about him in his books, if he hadn't sliced that finger i'm sure he would've beaten John Louis to the top. There are of course riders who have reached the top despite horrific injuries & their courage & determination shouldn't be overlooked, Sam Ermolenko is 1 that springs to mind. Steve Weatherley is another that comes into my thoughts. Edited March 31, 2008 by colincooke Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
madbiker 0 Posted April 10, 2008 Rolf Gramstad was a brilliant young rider who`s career was ended by a freak accident, he should never have got those green leathers ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oddfossengen 1 Posted April 11, 2008 in a roundabout way eric broadbelt was accident prone and never reach the heights expected of him he even broke his ankle riding into the back of the grader at either leicester or sheffield Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spin king 1,923 Posted April 11, 2008 Must be something about green leathers as Eric too wore green leathers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dantodan 314 Posted April 11, 2008 Jesper Olsen. His career was dogged by dislocated shoulders. I remember him leading a race at Hull and he tumbled off the bike. His shoulder had dislocated just turning the previous bend. He was a great rider and with a bit of luck he would have achieved more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SCB 0 Posted April 11, 2008 Chris Manchester. At 21ish he was one of the top guys in the EL averaging 9+ by 25 he was a washed up EL rider who was riding in America. He only broke a collarbone too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
21st century heathen 220 Posted April 11, 2008 And he won the Intercontinental that never was. I can't believe I didn't think of him for this thread. We were talking about him a couple of weeks ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garry1603 353 Posted April 15, 2008 Dave Morton always seemed to get injured when he was about to hit the really big time. He would probably have reached a few World Finals if he had avoided the big injuries. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DW 11 Posted April 18, 2008 Andy Reid broke his thigh in the opening match at Edinburgh in 1981.He had made the breakthrough as a genuine heat leader the year before and had looked good that night until his fall.He came back that year but was not the same rider and he then made the mistake of going into the BL in 1982,was back mid season with Glasgow in 1983 before crashing at Edinburgh again at the end of that season.He had a reasonable 1984, a poor 1985 and made a handful of appearances in 1986. Had he not crashed in '81 he would almost certainly have been a 9 pt man that season (and Glasgow may have been genuine league challengers instead of their 5th place finish) and then who knows??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tigerblade 221 Posted April 18, 2008 Dave Morton always seemed to get injured when he was about to hit the really big time. He would probably have reached a few World Finals if he had avoided the big injuries. I don't know about a few World Finals, but I do agree with you about the injuries - as well as his crashes for Hackney and Wolverhampton he was on fire for Sheffield in 1983 before he suffered a head injury at Ipswich which knocked him back a bit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tarabanko 5 Posted April 18, 2008 (edited) Roland Dannö - sadly paralysed after a crash in poland Per Jonsson - worldchamp 1990 but think he could have done it again but was sadly left paralysed after a crash in 1994 Tommy Jansson - had what it takes to become the best but was sadly killed in 1976 in a crash here in Sweden Mikael Blixt - was on the verge of making it big time before the crash in england that ended his career. Joe Owen - Blistering star who could have gone further if not crashing in the last meeting for the year in the last heat at Ellesmere Port? Erik Gundersen - The little dane who had it all, had been world champ but could have done it all over again if not that crash at Odsal, Bradford in 1989 had happen. Tommy Knudsen - A real star, but was sadly injured to many times to reach his real limit Jan O Pedersen - World champ in his own class in 1991 and had become worldchamp again if not that crash happened in Denmark. / Mikael Edited April 18, 2008 by tarabanko Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
