salty

Got issue 3 this afternoon (yes the post is slow in this part of the world) and it is just as good as the first 2. Quite emotive reading the Joe Owen and Tommy Jansson articles. Just a thought though, at the end of the article on Weymouth Brian White makes a throwaway remark that the Poole promotion aren't happy with what he is doing at Weymouth. The buggers should be doing everything in their power to help him, I would like to know why they aren't happy, surely the more successful tracks the merrier.....

Didn't Ole do the track for World Final at Peterboro'?

I had my conspiracy theory hat on as well and think you may well me be on the mark with that. Last Gp I remember when Gate 4 was so productive early was in Vojens a couple of years ago which aided the Danish wild cards then as well. Having said that the Danes rode out of their skins last night.

Pedersen/Crump incident tough to call. Minimal contact but a dangerous move imo. Nicki seems to think he "can do what he likes" when in front. I do not think this includes pulling some of the moves that he has done this year. Be interested to know what he was saying to Crumpy across the pits as Crumpy got ready for the re-run. On the other hand I think he deserves a lot of credit for trying to clear the track in the final. As Crumpy was leading at the time it would have suited Nicki to have a re-run, so fair play to him for that.

All those defending Hans and accusing Rune of being a diver, have a look at where Andersen finished up on the corner. He went in so fast that he ended up very close to the fence, that shows me he was out of control as alluded to by Johnno in his commentary. A very similar incident in Wroclaw ended up with Holta being excluded, the difference being that Holta had lost a bit of control down the back straight which contributed to the accident.

Pleased for King and the other qualifiers, but doesn't seem right that Gizatullin can get 14 and still not qualify. Hope he gets a ride in the next round....

On a faintly related note, I read recently that Manchester United have banned their players from signing autographs, as they are concerned about signed memorabilia being sold on websites and auctions at inflated prices! All the better to sell as "official product" I guess. Makes you realise what a great bunch speedway riders are.

Dont even go there!! there will only be one King Kenny. Couldn't have put it better. Carter might have been controversial in terms of his public pronouncements, but he wasn't what I would class a dirty rider. Pedersen is. Issue 2 is another fascinating read, I thought the article on Vic Harding was excellent.

Bet you the Danes (also a neighbour of Germany) don't have a German rider as a Wild Card. Feel sorry for Topinka, last year he gave a great wild card performance and should have been selected again.

I remember when Paul was 14 or 15 and he used to have after the meeting rides at Plough Lane. Honestly thought he would go onto really big things, but a nasty injury (was it at Middlesbrough?) seemed to knock the stuffing out of him.

Think the only reason that White City were called the Rebels in the late 70's was because that was the nickname of the Oxford team who moved there. Having said that using the Confederate flag wouldn't probably have been the smartest move given the rich mix of cultures resident in that part of West London.

Great to see these Heathens heroes still going strong. Good old Triggy!!!!

James Moore, New Zealander who rode for cradley and Oxfors in the late 70's? What is so special about that I hear you ask? Because his full name was...James Timy Te-Kerehi Herini-Moore. Only tenuously linked but I had a lot of time for the person who named their racehorses Betty Swallocks, Mary Hinge and Cunning Stunt respectively. (trained by Julie Cecil in the early 90's I believe)

As I have mentioned before on a similar thread, there is a great interest in bike racing in Northern Ireland, but it is all devoted to road racing. Last meeting held over here afaik was in about 1981/2 at Ballymena involving a Cradley team. Reportedly a crowd of approx 5,000 attended. Positives for Ireland: Population crying out for top class sport. Ulster Rugby Union matches in the Heineken Cup attract five figure crowds and the Belfast giants Ice Hockey team attract a good following(not so sure that is still the case) A bike racing culture exists. Negatives: Bike racing culture is not the same as Speedway culture. Accessibility for riders/machinery, quickest ferries are about 1 1/2 hours,but that is from Stranraer! Can't see a way round that problem!!!! P.S. Edgar Stangeland lives over here.

Last time I saw Speedy Pete he was Team manager for Poole in the 1983 season. Don't know if he stayed in the sport after that.

Heat 1. Siagalos,Carter,Penhall,Kennett 60.4 (2-4) Heat 2. Simmons,Jessup,Autrey,Schwartz 61.3 (7-5) Heat 3. S.Moran,Davis,K.Moran,Morton 62.3 (9-9) Heat 4. Penhall,Sigalos,Simmons,Jessup 52.6 (10-14) Heat 5. Andy Grahame,Davis,Schwartz,Autrey (15-15) Heat 6. Carter,S.Moran,K.Moran,Kennett 62.4 (18-18) Heat 7 Andy Grahame,Penhall,Sigalos,Alan Grahame(21-21) Heat 8. Carter,Davis,Schwartz,Cook 62.8 (26-22) Heat 9. Simmons,S.Moran,K.Moran,Jessup 62.9 (29-25) Heat 10. Carter,Sigalos,Penhall,Andy Grahame 62.5 (32-28) Heat 11. Simmons,Davis,Schwartz,Oxley 63.1(37-29) Heat 12 Alan Grahame,S.Moran,Morton,K.Moran 62.3(41-31) Heat 13. Jessup,Sigalos,Penhall,Simmons 62.3(44-34) Heat 14. Alan Grahame,Morton,Schwartz,Cook 63.7 (49-35) Heat 15. Carter,Andy Grahame,S.Moran,K.Moran 63.8(54-36) Heat 16. Sigalos,Morton,Penhall,Alan Grahame 63.7 (56-40) Heat 17. Carter,Schwartz,Andy Grahame,Autrey 64.0(60-42) Heat 18. S.Moran,Simmons,Jessup,K.Moran 63.8 (63-45) Scorers Carter 17(6) Kennett 0(2) Jessup 6+2(5) Simmons 12(6) Alan Grahame 6(4) Morton 5+1 (4) Davis 8+3 (4) Andy Grahame 9+1 (5) Penhall 9+2 (6) Sigalos 13+2 (6) Autrey 1(3) Schwartz 6 (6) K.Moran 3+2 (6) S.Moran 13(6) Oxley 0(1) Cook 0(2) Very wet night if memory serves. Regards Kennett

Sad news, if not unexpected. Condolences to all. Remember him more as the manager than as a rider, like Honey I would have given him a tough ride from the first bend...., but looking back he did a reasonably good job considering the lack of support from the stadium owners.

Further to Norbold's post you will need to know how many rides (for averages purposes) Kilby 17 (7) Andersson 10 (6) Bouchard 2 (5) McNeil 1 (3) Karlsson 1 (2) D.Ashby 0 (2) Pope 0 (1)

In my years watching at Plough Lane the best visiting performance I remember was Martin Dixon when he was riding for Middlesbrough in about 1987? He won about 3 races in the match from the back and also won the Silver helmet with an overtake on Neville Tatum. At a track where overtaking was somewhat rare that performance really sticks in my mind.

Paul Dugard, much trumpeted arrival but sank without trace. Steve Collins, similarly expectations were too high because of family. Carl Blackbird, like mark courtney a big money signing for the Aces who was unable to justify the fee. Andrew Silver, fantastic in the NL, but never reached as high as I thought he would. Countless foreign signings over the years. Like others I disagree with the word shame, maybe disappointment....

Leicester. John Titman, Ila Teromaa and Jerzy Rembas. Rembas nearly won even though his league average was less than 5.00.

According to the Cradley book mentioned previously, the roots of the "feud" lay in a Scratch race Final between the two when Ivan was guesting for Wolves. In that version Ivor was twice knocked off. The real explosion taking place at Brough later in the season when Ivor rode Ivan very,very wide (he didn't fall) and resulted in heated exchanges in the pits. Later in the meeting (again the Scratch race final) Mauger made it clear to everyone he was out to get Brown, even telling the other 2 riders to stay out of the way. Mauger then allowed Brown to gate before storming under him on the first turn, fencing him and leaving Brown with a stretcher ride, trip to Hospital and 4 weeks sidelined with a badly gashed foot. The truth???? who knows?

According to Peter Fosters Cradley book the person referred to is Ivor Brown, who had a number of run-in's with Mauger in the 1964 season.

Norbold. Thanks for that info, I stand corrected.

Cheers Norbold, I will have to check, can't see that we would have ridden you more than once that season though. As it happens the 2nd match I ever saw was a double header at the end of the 68 season Heathens v Hackney followed by the Hammers. Hurri-Ken got 3 wins.....but 40-38 to the Heathens.