Do You Remember The 70's & 80's When Uk Teams Signed Unknown Foreigners? Some Good, Most Were Pants!

[Shale Searcher 1,264]

I remember Leicester signing Greg Sczepanik, he was awful, and Ila Teromaas brother Pepe, he was awful as well, Ila was quality.. Then we had a load of mediocre ones as well, Boley Proch was one.. Ernst Bogh another..

[steve roberts 9,246]

I remember Leicester signing Greg Sczepanik, he was awful, and Ila Teromaas brother Pepe, he was awful as well, Ila was quality.. Then we had a load of mediocre ones as well, Boley Proch was one.. Ernst Bogh another..

To be fair Boley Proch wasn't that bad when he was forced to leave Reading and join Leicester. However Leicester were going thru' a bad phase during the late seventies (76 & 77) and signed a number of mediocre riders...remember Adi Funk? If I recall Pepe Teromaa couldn't commit himself to a full season (didn't he pick up a bad injury?) as he was a student at the time and was about to enter college or some such thing.

 

There were a smattering of mediocre foreigners during the seventies. My team (Oxford) gave trials to both Henk Steman and Eddie Davidsson and both came to nothing.

[arnieg 3,643]

I remember Leicester signing Greg Sczepanik, he was awful, and Ila Teromaas brother Pepe, he was awful as well, Ila was quality.. Then we had a load of mediocre ones as well, Boley Proch was one.. Ernst Bogh another..

Boley Proch mediocre!

 

Wash your mouth out.

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

I don't know what others think but i do think alot of these foreigners at the time had poor aquipment.I can remember seeing certain riders aquipment and thinking they had just bought there bikes from a scrapyard.Jancarz,Plech,Stancl,Kasper i know a different level to those mentioned would if organised ( no permit issues)would of been forces in England.Two riders i always felt could of been decent were Anders Ericksson and Bjorj Klingberg it never quite happened for them.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[Dave the Mic 258]

The riders referred to were legion, weren't they? I grew up watching speedway at Exeter & in the 70's & we had an awful lot of unknown continentals in particular, as well as some others. Huge successes were - of course - Scott Autrey. Came over as a kid in '73 & turned into possibly the best Exeter rider ever after Ivan.

 

Vaclav Verner was totally unheralded but WOW! What a find he was. lesser successes were his brother Jan & the other Czechs Ales Dryml & Zdenek Kudrna. Steve Koppe from Aus was another. Less successful were Walter Grubmuller from Austria, lovely guy, but not to BL standard. Later we dropped into the lower tier & in the mid to late 80's we had any number of imports, some decent, some not so. Toni Svab, Andy Boessner were OK. Then we had Henk Steman junior, who was awful, Stefan Deser who was worse. Buddy Robinson came over from the US & was steady, then there was the tragic Leif Wahlmann, who could have been very, very good. Lots of others too....

 

Oh lordy, I miss Exeter

Edited February 1, 2017 by Dave the Mic

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

I loved my visits to the County ground a great day out went quite alot the season Ivan did home meetings only 84? The track was so fast scary to be honest and my favourite rider who i watched a few times there Malcolm Holloway struggled there badly.Mauger,Autrey,Crump,Adams,Loram are up there as the best that i ever saw at the Country ground was looking back over the years SIMMO missed a few meetings there over the years.?

[Shale Searcher 1,264]

Ok, bit hard on Boley Proch.. So, we also had Les Liesk!!

 

Think Pepe Toromaa got Conscripted by the Finnish Army!!!!

[Dave the Mic 258]

I loved my visits to the County ground a great day out went quite alot the season Ivan did home meetings only 84? The track was so fast scary to be honest and my favourite rider who i watched a few times there Malcolm Holloway struggled there badly.Mauger,Autrey,Crump,Adams,Loram are up there as the best that i ever saw at the Country ground was looking back over the years SIMMO missed a few meetings there over the years.?

It was a great place to watch speedway, so fast, as you say. Yes, in '84 both Exeter & Newcastle stepped back up to the top flight & both struggled to put teams together so Peter Oakes sought special permission to use Ivan at home only. Amazing at 45 he still posted an average over 8, having not ridden regularly for a few years.

 

With the greatest of respect to Malc, many better riders than he struggled at the County Ground - or used to not turn up - as you say Simmo was one who never felt happy there, but there were many others. As I may have mentioned on other threads, the track just needed to be attacked, rather than ridden & many, many riders excelled there & loved the place, even some of those not quite so accomplished.

 

I think Scott Autrey rode the track as well as anyone I have seen, but watching Vaclav Verner, Richard Green & mark Loram there in full flow having missed the start was awesome.

 

The best visiting rider I think I saw there was Phil Crump. Even when Ivan & Scott were at their peak at Exeter, he would often romp to a full house in totally untroubled fashion.

 

I have so many memories of a great race track over the 25 years I watched there, I could probably fill a whole series of books.

 

Happy days.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Dave the Mic

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

It was a great place to watch speedway, so fast, as you say. Yes, in '84 both Exeter & Newcastle stepped back up to the top flight & both struggled to put teams together so Peter Oakes sought special permission to use Ivan at home only. Amazing at 45 he still posted an average over 8, having not ridden regularly for a few years.

 

With the greatest of respect to Malc, many better riders than he struggled at the County Ground - or used to not turn up - as you say Simmo was one who never felt happy there, but there were many others. As I may have mentioned on other threads, the track just needed to be attacked, rather than ridden & many, many riders excelled there & loved the place, even some of those not quite so accomplished.

 

I think Scott Autrey rode the track as well as anyone I have seen, but watching Vaclav Verner, Richard Green & mark Loram there in full flow having missed the start was awesome.

 

The best visiting rider I think I saw there was Phil Crump. Even when Ivan & Scott were at their peak at Exeter, he would often romp to a full house in totally untroubled fashion.

 

I have so many memories of a great race track over the 25 years I watched there, I could probably fill a whole series of books.

 

Happy days.

I do remember in 84 for Reading Malc popping out the start in heat 8 and winning and beating Frank Andersen and another??I never went to Exeter in the 69/70/71/72 seasons but first went in 73 to see Autrey.It was such a shock to see as a young lad with the track shape and all the streets behind remember it well.I would imagine Ashby/Kilby would be up there with the best around the county ground even though both said they were not totally in love with the track.Holden (bless him was decent there) also Farrell and Maxfield were two i enjoyed watching.

[Hobnob Smith 77]

To be fair Boley Proch wasn't that bad when he was forced to leave Reading and join Leicester. However Leicester were going thru' a bad phase during the late seventies (76 & 77) and signed a number of mediocre riders...remember Adi Funk? If I recall Pepe Teromaa couldn't commit himself to a full season (didn't he pick up a bad injury?) as he was a student at the time and was about to enter college or some such thing.

 

There were a smattering of mediocre foreigners during the seventies. My team (Oxford) gave trials to both Henk Steman and Eddie Davidsson and both came to nothing.

lol Eddie Davidsson I think he won a second half race in 88 secs

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

Henrik Glucklich,Kjelle Gimre, Hassie Dannielsson, Knud Ellegaard, Leif Berlin,Larry Kosta,Kurt Hansen, Stanislav Urban,Joseph Angermuller,Les Liesk,Adi Funk,a few that bring back memories.😅

Edited February 1, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[Paulco 7,077]

Henrik Glucklich,Kjerre Gimrre, Hassie Dannielsson, Knud Ellegard, Leif Berlin,Larry Kosta,Kurt Hansen, Stanislav Urban,Joseph Angermuller,Les Liesk,Adi Funk,a few that bring back memories.

Kjelle Gimre rode for Glasgow , and yes he wasn't very good

[ray c 2,299]

I loved my visits to the County ground a great day out went quite alot the season Ivan did home meetings only 84? The track was so fast scary to be honest and my favourite rider who i watched a few times there Malcolm Holloway struggled there badly.Mauger,Autrey,Crump,Adams,Loram are up there as the best that i ever saw at the Country ground was looking back over the years SIMMO missed a few meetings there over the years.?

wow happy days

[Sidney the robin 4,735]

wow happy days

What was your greatest County Ground memory :ray.?

[Shale Searcher 1,264]

I think the steel safety fence put a lot of riders off, and fair enough, a direct, head-on was not advisable.. However, at least you didn't get thrown off if pushed out to the fence on the straights (no link-fence to catch handlebars in, or footrests under kickboards) And it was a track that needed to be attacked, not just ridden..