GiveusaB 1,176 Posted May 7 There was nothing ZERO about this rider... But, as for HERO....the late great 'Alan Grahame' gets my vote! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fatface 2,612 Posted May 7 (edited) Richard Green, Exeter It was a miserable start to the 1988 season at Exeter with a rag tag ensemble of riders who were either years past their best or misfits ie. Bruce Cribb, Dave Trownson, Paul Evitts etc. A couple of months into the season and they signed Richard Green, a second string left out of the Mildenhall team. Hardly inspiring. But he was a sensation. In his first meeting he took Gordon Kennett from the back. From that point on, he was the absolute darling of the crowd for several brilliantly entertaining years with his ‘win or crash’ approach. He would have won the NLRC one year if he hadn’t crashed (again!) in his last race. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rider make as many last bend overtakes as Greeny did. He was a real catalyst for turning the season round. Peter Jeffrey also emerged from the juniors as a real prospect, then Steve Regeling arrived and we had a proper no1. By the end of the season, we even started winning away matches! Edited May 7 by fatface 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ch958 2,403 Posted May 7 not really a zero but Terry Lee went from second string at Teesside in 1968 to carrying the team to an extent in 1969. Should have stayed but tried 1st Div with Halifax which was maybe a step too far. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TonyMac 720 Posted May 7 Many thanks to all for your responses - some real crackers here. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Technik 520 Posted May 7 Back with Reading Petri Kokko rode at reserve one season after arriving with an unimpressive opening CV gained at Newcastle & took often 6 sometimes 7 races in a meeting. I'm not sure but this could have been in the early stages of Lee Richardson's career. For sure they both went on to produce big scores for the Racers as heat leaders. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikebv 10,456 Posted May 7 (edited) Maybe Jason Doyle fits the category? 2010 Poole, aged 24, at reserve, running a 4 point average.. 2011. Aged 25, a second string at Poole.. 2017. Champion of the World!! A massive leap... Edited May 7 by mikebv 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RS50 371 Posted May 7 Seem to recall that for some time Charles Wright looked nothing more than a good National League rider. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iainb 5,318 Posted May 7 30 minutes ago, RS50 said: Seem to recall that for some time Charles Wright looked nothing more than a good National League rider. While his bro went in the other direction from hero to zero 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Najjer 2,916 Posted May 12 On 5/7/2024 at 9:14 PM, RS50 said: Seem to recall that for some time Charles Wright looked nothing more than a good National League rider. He signed for Somerset in the then Premier League and never looked back - a real story of how he went on to become British Champion 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grachan 7,381 Posted May 13 Alf Busk at Swindon. He came into the team and was hopeless - barely scored a point for half the season. Then, all of a sudden, he top scored at Belle Vue. I remember it now - looking in disbelief in the newspaper to see the result and seeing "A. Busk 10" written on the results page. Not sure what happened, but from then on, he was very good for the Robins. Another one at Swindon was Bobby McNeil, who signed in 1975 and was a pretty average reserve for the whole year. Last match of the season - top scored with 14 against Hull. Then, the following year, became a heat leader. The Jason Doyle theory is another good one. I really felt that Swindon had drawn the short straw when we swapped Maciej Janowski for Jason but it turned out that we had the better deal. I never saw him as a future World Champion in his early career. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
matt webb 3 Posted May 13 Kevin Brice, 4 pointer in the lower league but when he came to KL had a great season, 5-1s with Henka were brilliant to see 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Daniel Smith 5,717 Posted May 14 I've never had a zero to hero rider. Never disliked anyone really, the biggest panto villain vs Kings Lynn was Dave Norris & Ryan Fisher. The latter is the closest to 'Zero to Hero' I can think of when he signed for us. Overall though, I've never considered any rider a "Zero". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GeneralMelchett 575 Posted May 14 (edited) at Arena we had Rob Tilbury in the old NL days - the stinker rode for Canterbury - got in punch ups with the Chessell brothers and Andrew Silver and was just panto villan no 1 for us Arena fans- then Canterbury closed down and he signed for us in 1988 - proved a higely popular rider upping his average to well over 8 probably nearer 9 as well - always gave it 100% so we forgave him his past and he became a firm fave! (not so much his ability it was we really disliked him that I select him) Edited May 14 by GeneralMelchett 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chunky 6,159 Posted May 14 6 hours ago, GeneralMelchett said: at Arena we had Rob Tilbury in the old NL days - the stinker rode for Canterbury - got in punch ups with the Chessell brothers and Andrew Silver and was just panto villan no 1 for us Arena fans- then Canterbury closed down and he signed for us in 1988 - proved a higely popular rider upping his average to well over 8 probably nearer 9 as well - always gave it 100% so we forgave him his past and he became a firm fave! (not so much his ability it was we really disliked him that I select him) Yeah, Rob was definitely an "acquired taste"! What a poseur! Funny thing, with riders like him, their persona gets in the way of their ability. Rob actually was a damn good rider, but people let their views of him colour their opinions. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
martinmauger 587 Posted May 15 (edited) Jumping in late (too late?), I'd go with John Cook, apologies if already mentioned. In 1980 he stuggled badly at Hull on a 4v JAWA known for tricky handling, he moved to Ipswich as part of the deal taking Dennis Sigalos to Foxhall (A HUGE loss to Hull BTW) with Billy Sanders coming to Hull (along wth a cash adjustment), where Billy became quite popular. But from 1981, riding a track he seemed to prefer more on a Weslake he defo preferred more, Cookie became the all-action 'Cowboy' that we all loved to watch, never a dull moment when he was on track.... Edited Thursday at 02:56 AM by martinmauger belated spelling 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
