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Tai Woffinden Best Ever!?

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Best ever? I dislike the guy intensely but of course he is.

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37 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

Yep, not taking anything away from Peter Collins at all. Brilliant rider.

Just this nonsensical argument put forward about his other titles. Look at the 77 pairs.. on his home track at Hyde Road.. the opposition was mediocre at best. Similarly in 1980.. nothing major in terms of opposition, the Poles on their own track plus the Danes with a yet to fully mature Nielsen the best.. the rest complete also rans.

Similar story in many of the World Team Cup Finals. 

The standard of the teams competing in a World Cup Final now is way above those competing in the World Team Cup Finals of the 70's.

Considering collins was past his best, his performance in the 1984 word pairs final at Lonigo was something special. The heat that day was unbearable.

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Worth a watch...

Not only can he pass on the first two turns...

He does a pretty decent job of it elsewhere too..;)

 

Edited by mikebv

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After watching that video just remember he would only have been an average rider in the days when every race was fantastic and the riders so much more skilled on engines that lasted 10 seasons before servicing and were all exactly equal because nobody tuned them, also winning one meeting was so much harder than scoring the most points over a series :D.

He's lucky to be around when Speedway is such an easy sport to win.

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7 minutes ago, Vince said:

After watching that video just remember he would only have been an average rider in the days when every race was fantastic and the riders so much more skilled on engines that lasted 10 seasons before servicing and were all exactly equal because nobody tuned them, also winning one meeting was so much harder than scoring the most points over a series :D.

He's lucky to be around when Speedway is such an easy sport to win.

or Wembley crowd doubled Cardiff, mainstream TV covered our sport (world of sport), national newspaper gave it credibility (daily mirror)

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1 minute ago, ColinMills said:

or Wembley crowd doubled Cardiff, mainstream TV covered our sport (world of sport), national newspaper gave it credibility (daily mirror)

None of which has any relevance whatsoever to the discussion.

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Just now, BWitcher said:

None of which has any relevance whatsoever to the discussion.

 

Just now, BWitcher said:

None of which has any relevance whatsoever to the discussion.

totally agree, but in "my opinion" speedway as a package was credible, rules that wasn't swayed the way they are today..i cant see many sports around that has lost the fan base in such huge numbers the way speedway has. 

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We'll have someone saying he only has a 9 pt average so can't even be as good as Malcolm Simmons,who had a 10.9 average and won the pairs a few times,come along soon!!!:P

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It's the old pub debate "Who's the greatest...."

It will always be hard to compare riders of different generations. Bikes, tracks and formats have all changed over the years and while everybody as their own views, each of them valid how is it possible to compare Woffy to the likes of Colins and Mauger when the circumstances they raced are so very different. And how do you class greatness. Number of titles, points scored, length career.

The only fair way is to look at those riders of the same generation.

Woffy is  one of a small group of the current British riders who as ridden in the GP series and as certainly done the best out of those so it would be fair to say he is the best British rider of this generation

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4 hours ago, OveFundinFan said:

You mean Peter Collins has not won three INDIVIDUAL world titles, he has won a total of 10 world titles.  How many world titles has Tai won? er 3  (good going, but far short of Collins)

How many of Collins 10 titles were individual? How many of Collins 10 titles were as a team and his partners score 0 points?

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31 minutes ago, ColinMills said:

 

totally agree, but in "my opinion" speedway as a package was credible, rules that wasn't swayed the way they are today..i cant see many sports around that has lost the fan base in such huge numbers the way speedway has. 

Yes it was so credible that riders were regularly 'buying pts' of others in World Championships.. others were letting countrymen beat them in order for them both to qualify..

Indeed it was so credible the national press ran an expose on it and the sport hit a massive down turn ever since with mainstream media turning their backs.

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6 minutes ago, iris123 said:

We'll have someone saying he only has a 9 pt average so can't even be as good as Malcolm Simmons,who had a 10.9 average and won the pairs a few times,come along soon!!!:P

Why are you comparing Malcom Simmons to TW.  How disrespectful. 'won a few medals" Its three more gold medals Than TW has won in a team event!!

Of course back then The eastern block riders turned up on horse and carts and rode mopeds and the Swedes would share a bike between them and the Danes all had to ride Ole's hand me downs :wink:

I keep hearing that todays riders have so much more skill? It sure takes a lot of skill to hold the bike flat out on a slick track for 4 laps!. With a nice little air fence added for extra protection! Just look what happen at a recent GP when there is a bit of dirt on the track. They had there little riders meetings and demanded to have all the dirt scraped off. If they are so skilful, surely they can ride in any conditions? There is a thing called a throttle and it can go both ways! :wink:

At the end of the why can't we just all agree TW is the best rider in the GP series at this moment in time. As were Ivan, Ole, Rickardsson and Crump were when they became World Champions:t:

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1 minute ago, BWitcher said:

Yes it was so credible that riders were regularly 'buying pts' of others in World Championships.. others were letting countrymen beat them in order for them both to qualify..

Indeed it was so credible the national press ran an expose on it and the sport hit a massive down turn ever since with mainstream media turning their backs.

Team Monster last year in the last round? or does that not count

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3 minutes ago, hulvik said:

It's the old pub debate "Who's the greatest...."

It will always be hard to compare riders of different generations. Bikes, tracks and formats have all changed over the years and while everybody as their own views, each of them valid how is it possible to compare Woffy to the likes of Colins and Mauger when the circumstances they raced are so very different. And how do you class greatness. Number of titles, points scored, length career.

The only fair way is to look at those riders of the same generation.

Woffy is  one of a small group of the current British riders who as ridden in the GP series and as certainly done the best out of those so it would be fair to say he is the best British rider of this generation

The best and fair way to say which rider's were better than others is by individual titles. Even over generations. 

Mager and Rickardsson are the best of the best and can't possibly be disputed. They're very much at the top for everyone because of the number of world titles.

So, to be the best British rider it also has to be judged on the world stage individually. 

Tai Woffinden tops the chart of the greatest ever British rider.

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