packerman 160 Posted April 15, 2016 Is that Cookie? Scariest rider at Poole while with Exeter in the late 80's. Fell on 1st corner and went under the old fence, his helmet came off and rolled along the dog track, some thought he'd been decapitated! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skidder1 7,637 Posted April 15, 2016 I remember that incident well!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted April 15, 2016 Scariest rider at Poole while with Exeter in the late 80's. Fell on 1st corner and went under the old fence, his helmet came off and rolled along the dog track, some thought he'd been decapitated! Sounds awful. I also saw him have an horrendous crash at Blackbird Road when his handlebars got caught up on the wire fence on the home straight. Sue was standing near us and made a hasty retreat to the pits to check how he was. I'm afraid that's all I can remember though and I don't know what injuries he had on that occasion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shale Searcher 1,264 Posted April 15, 2016 Sounds awful. I also saw him have an horrendous crash at Blackbird Road when his handlebars got caught up on the wire fence on the home straight. Sue was standing near us and made a hasty retreat to the pits to check how he was. I'm afraid that's all I can remember though and I don't know what injuries he had on that occasion. I was working on the first corner, if I remember correctly, didn't Ricard Hellsen have an ef directly in front of Cook, and Cook skewed into the fence trying to avoid him? I know he was thrown a long way!! I also seem to remember Mike Lanham having a carbon copy accident, Hellsen May have been involved again, and Lanham was thrown a very long way and was really badly injured, multiple fractures and all sorts of internal damage.. He never rode again, I saw him in the 90's at the fours, still needed a sling for one of his arms, lucky to be alive I think.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gemini 4,894 Posted April 15, 2016 (edited) There aren't many Speedway related things that I remember these days but I do recall Mike's awful crash as well as it was more or less on the same section of track. Crashes are the worse thing about Speedway and I don't like to see them. In fact my dad who took me to Blackbird Road when I was 9 eventually stopped going altogether as he didn't like crashes. I think Tony Davey (Ipswich) also had a bad crash at Leicester when he broke his leg and ended up in the Royal. I remember that one too because feeling sorry for him being in a hospital nowhere near home we went to see him. Edited April 15, 2016 by Gemini Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Reviresco 708 Posted April 16, 2016 There aren't many Speedway related things that I remember these days but I do recall Mike's awful crash as well as it was more or less on the same section of track. Crashes are the worse thing about Speedway and I don't like to see them. In fact my dad who took me to Blackbird Road when I was 9 eventually stopped going altogether as he didn't like crashes. I think Tony Davey (Ipswich) also had a bad crash at Leicester when he broke his leg and ended up in the Royal. I remember that one too because feeling sorry for him being in a hospital nowhere near home we went to see him. 24 April 1979, Tony Davey broke his thigh at Blackbird Road. They reckon there was a part of the kick board jutting out onto the track which he hit, coincidentally when riding outside his partner Mike Lanham, and it threw him off his bike and that he broke his thigh on the handlebars. 'Shrimp' hated being in hospital and went for the 'quick fix' of having a plate inserted rather than staying in traction. The procedure was botched though and would probably have brought about the end of his speedway career but of course the next season, three days before his Testimonial, he had a crash with Peter Carr and his thigh was broken again. That happened right in front of me and the photos of him laying on the track with his leg folded in two are imprinted on my mind forever. Tony of course had suffered that terrible incident in Ipswich's first top flight home meeting in 1972, when he damaged his left hand so badly when it got trapped between Roger Wright's chain and rear sprocket, that they had to remove the little finger down to the wrist, along with a large portion of the palm, with his ring finger remaining but useless. Brilliant that you went to visit Shrimp when he was in Leicester Royal Infirmary. Not a lucky track for the Ipswich boys as, as you recall, Mike Lanham had his career ending accident there too, in 1983, leaving him with only one usable arm for the rest of his life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shale Searcher 1,264 Posted April 16, 2016 24 April 1979, Tony Davey broke his thigh at Blackbird Road. They reckon there was a part of the kick board jutting out onto the track which he hit, coincidentally when riding outside his partner Mike Lanham, and it threw him off his bike and that he broke his thigh on the handlebars. 'Shrimp' hated being in hospital and went for the 'quick fix' of having a plate inserted rather than staying in traction. The procedure was botched though and would probably have brought about the end of his speedway career but of course the next season, three days before his Testimonial, he had a crash with Peter Carr and his thigh was broken again. That happened right in front of me and the photos of him laying on the track with his leg folded in two are imprinted on my mind forever. Tony of course had suffered that terrible incident in Ipswich's first top flight home meeting in 1972, when he damaged his left hand so badly when it got trapped between Roger Wright's chain and rear sprocket, that they had to remove the little finger down to the wrist, along with a large portion of the palm, with his ring finger remaining but useless. Brilliant that you went to visit Shrimp when he was in Leicester Royal Infirmary. Not a lucky track for the Ipswich boys as, as you recall, Mike Lanham had his career ending accident there too, in 1983, leaving him with only one usable arm for the rest of his life. Ray Wilson also had that terrible crash on the exit of turn 4, if memory serves me correctly, Dougie Underwood was also involved.. Wilson broke his Femur in that crash as he slid under the fence and got trapped under the hare rail on the dog track! He moved to Birmingham after that crash, he was never the same rider again..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
