martinmauger

There was a kids TV quiz programme in the 1970's when I was still a kid, age-wize at least (!), called Runaround presented by the late Mike Reid, once 3 speedway riders appeared with their bikes but don't recall who they were. And Jim Fixed It for a young lad to ride at Reading with Dave Jessup, the kid already had his own bike and gear so Jim actually didn't need to 'fix' that much. On Magpie, ITV's Blue Peter, Mick Somebody (the Marc Bolan lookalike) tried speedway at King's Lynn, I believe it was, he complained "I can ride the straights ok but I can't do thw corners"; a lot of beginners have trouble with the corners in speedway. The memories are flooding back now: I also saw the This Is Your Life Barry Briggs episode (I know!), don't recall a lot about it I'd only just discovered speedway, just Briggo riding round then the late Eamon Andrews dressed in immaculate overalls presenting him with the big red book and an 'old man in speedway' (Johnny Hoskins !) said something that had everyone rolling about laughing, such a blooming shame the tape was wiped which was common in those days a lot of valuable stuff wasn't archived....

Congrats again to Worky, coincedentally Hull (another ex-Ian Thomas club) also won the treble in 2004, good for the Comets riders fans & management. Not sure best place to comment so posted in both threads...

Congrats again to Worky, coincedentally Hull (another ex-Ian Thomas club) also won the treble in 2004, good for the Comets riders fans & management. Not sure best place to comment so posted in both threads...

Congratulations Worky on the KOC win and now the Champs League, best of luck in the Shield.....

And me: big event, huge crowd , but the wrong result (Cov v Hull) wish it was available; on DVD. Leicester were on 2nd but many in the crowd had left by then, or retired to the bars, not me I watched the 2nd match while crying into champagne I shared with Bees fans - I was 'no but a lad' and too young to drink . What I'll always remember though is the sporting nature of Bees fans that nite, Hull had realistically already chucked the league away mid-season due to the infamous no-shows at Wimbledon (3) and Swindon (1) and were unsurprisingly spanked that nite. But Bees' fans were great, no idiotic jeering, where I was anyway on the back straight, just "hard luck lads, want some champagne ?! Here, have some more" . Flippin' brilliant nite. But the wrong result for the 1st match....

Forgot to include: or a puncture. Either way, stop the messing about and get on with it. At Hull, Craven Park, there was very strict 10pm curfew, literally NIMBY people would stand outside straining to hear the speedway from afare poised and ready to make a complaint at dead-on 10PM, yet we got through double headers in good time. Friends living 2 streets away often never heard the bikes but one man complained he'd been hit by stone from speedway, despite living 2 miles away. Don't recall, and am unable to check at the mo, whether it meant an earlier 7PM start, but double headers were completed, but these days it may be a struggle. I miss Hull Speedway....

Think Eriksen was sponsored by some energy / health product at that time, he certainly did have a memorable design on his van at that time though. I recall Hans Nielsen had a set of (none more) black leathers with the Danish flag across the shoulders and back that were stolen and at the practice of one World Champs meet at White City (1980?) he was seen wearing a set borrowed from Bruce Penhall...

" I really would like the agm to ban the opening of the pit gates after a false start and the riders should go straight back to the start unless a rider is being replaced or being put back 15 mtrs. It is the delays between races and the time wasting at the start that need looking into and reducing. " Ths should be top of the list at the AGM, I for one detest the waiting around while the riders in turn stand around chatting at the pit gate, they wouldn't lke it if they were kept waiting while members of the public returned to their viewing postition after having visited the loo, track shop, food outlet, etc. After an unsatisfactory start, no tape breaking, no falls, all four back, riders should be given one minute ((you have one minute)) to line up again at the tapes once more or be put on 15m handicap or excluded. A speedway bike can easily do 30m + 4 laps on a tank of fuel so the only exceptions should be, after consulting with the clerk of the course or machine examiner, if something is dangerously wrong with a bike e.g. loose or too tight chains or if a component has worked loose then, and only then, mechanics allowed onto the track to retify the fault, if a rider realises he has the wrong set up or is on the wrong bike, too bad....

If not team kevlars then at least 'wear what you like but in team colours'. e.g. blue / white for Poole, gold / black for Wolves, etc....

Double headers are often a necessary evil in speedway but It occured to me for a double header v the same opponents, couldn't just one match be staged and the scores count for both meetings, i.e League & KOC, etc. I am not particularly referring to last nite's Worky v Lakey postponement(s) but double headers in general. I seem to recall a few years ago in at least one meeting the score counted for 2 competitions with full, and prior agreement of both team mangements, and presumably the BSPA & SCB. Double headers are almost inevetable but the cost of bascially staging 2 meetings with effectively one income, but with just say 1 1/2 x usual admission, though with one set of travel costs, must financially crippling especially at this time of year....

Off the top of my head (supposed to be working but hey it's Friday): Ivan Mauger blue Circle Industries leathers & mostly white Exeter leathers with tassles, Barry Briggs red with black & white sleeves, Joe Owen black white sleeves with checks on shoulders + blue & white Shepley Racing suit, Mike Curoso blue white K&N Products + red / blue suit, Scott Autrey ditto, Dennis Sigalos red / blue with stars, Kelly Moran mostly white with red / blue stripes & white stars, Graham Drury red / blue Roberts Racing he wore part 1976 before they were stolen (!), Shawn Moran black with red flames, Garry Stead blue / silver suit he wore in 2005 & 2006, Malcolm Simmons mostly white with Simmo on right leg, most of Bruce Penhall's suits, Kenny Carter Pharoah Racing red / blue suits he wore in 1981 & 82, Peter Collins red / green Castrol leathers, John Louis black with tiger stripes on sleeves, John Davis black suit Castrol in sliver with silver / chrome sleeves, Ole Olsen mostly black with orange sleeves silver stars down the arms + a blue & white suit, Michael Lee blue suit with BAF on forearms + Poole Pirates suit, the Gulf / Weslake team suits (Lee, Kennet, PC, Louis, Simmons), most of Jason Crump suits, Erik Gundersen ditto, Tai Woffinden early black / orange suit. Pause for breath. I have good memory for design and favour the colour blue (really ?!) and like many modern kevvies but quite a few look similar with the barbed wire / razor wire design....

Indeed he did, I recently watched the 1982 Final from LA (the Carter v Penhall one) and Les was really on it, actually taking Penhall from the back, must have been gutting to lose out in that one comparitively easier race. I read somewhere it took him ages to sort his 4V JAWA as apparently they coud be well tricky to set up and he got it running 'just so' in the qualifier, which I believe he won, before the final. Comparing competitors, in any sport, from different eras is interesting but really just for fun as ultimately it isn't resolved: different times, conditions, mindsets, equipment, venues and in speedway different competition rules: World Finals v GPs. But the cream always rises to the top so winners in one era would almost certainly be a winner in a different time....

Pretty much spot on ^. Mostly about the fastest cars, the rest making up the numbers, racing at 200MPH knowing you have zip chance unless 3/4 of the field drop out, gotta be soul-destroying. A few peeps told me that for each race there should be a ballot so everyone gets a chance in every car. Back onto speedway, maybe promoters should mix things up from time to time with handicap racing, 12 or 16 lappers, etc....

He came across well love to know how he managed to wear his Monster Energy gear, maybe the Beeb thought the green 'M' was his speedway club logo. Other energy drinks are available....

More like "we're hoping to be quicker than the other teams at the pit stops", little comment about passing them on track....

I've said this before but I enjoy most forms of motorsport, F1 can be a high-speed procession and the recent GP in Japan made the Suzuka circuit appear quite dull, which it sure ain't; many incedents have occured deciding many titles there. But surprisingly as an ex-biker I can't abide MotoGP, BSB, Superbikes, whatever, though I love the IOM TT, or be bothered to work out the different categories of bikes or watch them queueing in single file up for lap after lap waiting for a mistake, EF or fall, after a few laps or so I change the channel,. But, getting to the point, I can watch F1 from beginning to end. Boring for us to all like the same things; pinching another poster's punchline, "I'll get my coat"......

Me too, support your local team if you possibly can....

I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday nite's GP, went down to the wire, loads of pressure, almost like a World Final....

I pointed out Muller that on reflection Muller wasn't necessarily the surprise winner 1983, if GP system was in operation back then he may well have won a German round. Old World Finals and modern GPs totally different of course: almost sprint vs a marathon. It could be argued Tai was a surprise winner in 2013, doubt many expected him to turn his form around in such dramatic fashion from his previous GP series appearences though obviously he's more than proved his consistency....

Don't agree that Muller winning in 1983 was a huge shock. On a German track he described as "like a mini longtrack", he admitted later he'd practiced on it all he wanted, appeared to supervise track grading and watering as the meeting progressed (!) and everyone knew he'd turn up with super-quick machinery, which he did: just the one GM such was his level of confidence. Granted his main area of interest was longtrack / grasstrack / sandtrack. He wasn't a contender on 'conventionial' speedway tracks but he was a more than handy speedway rider when he really wanted to be, he averaged 8.75 over 8 matches (I think it was) for Hull in 1976. Think he also stated the German authorities more or less forced him to ride speedway else he wouldn't be permitted to ride his preferred longtrack, etc. One off winner on a track suited to him; for sure. Shock winner at the time; not really. Well done to Woffy by the way....

This ^. Also applies to Greg these days, they only did or do what they needed to or need to, sometimes you're not gonna win a race but need at least get a finish to win overall. In addition to being brilliant at what they do, consistant winners in any sport make it look oh so so easy, which it ain't obviously. Hope Woffy brings it home tonite....

Yeah all the best Robbo. He, with brother Scott, rode just the one season at Hull in 1997 but 21 years on I still recall his never give up race to the chequred flag attitude. Nice guy too, nice family in fact, from the few briefish chats I had with the Robsons. In the Hull proggie his name varied from Stuart, to Stu and on at least one occasion Stew Robson, someone was having a laugh there methinks....

Recently saw an interview with Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham he was wearing a speedway hoodie, couldn't fully make out the design but it had 'Speedway' or 'Vintage Speedway' with the picture of a rider on the front....

Seem to recall the owners of the site / land, Imery's I believe, only guarranteed a few years availability for speedway after which they would likely mine or dig the area where the speedway track was sited. Think they pretty much stuck to the agreement, even perhaps allowing a further season's racing due to delays in preparing the area. I never made it to St Austell but seen videos: the 'stadium' was a bit basic, similar to the Mountains Of Mars, but no one cared. The promotion and riders made the best of things, in fact the unique nature of the venue was somewhat of an attraction. The smallish well-shaped & well prepared track provided brilliant racing though, the St Austell Gulls and especially the Trewlany Tigers were competitive and exciting opposition which are the most important things afterall.....

And me, either that or they would need to rebuild the pits . Depends on what the ref said at the riders' briefling and whether he adhered to it....