martinmauger

Off the top of my head I'd like Bruce to discuss: Favourite tracks/opponents. 1970's: Briggs/Mauger World Championship Tours; Israel, South Africa, NZ, USA v Rest Of The World, riding every meet against World Champions; Briggs, Mauger, Fundin, Olsen, etc. 1978: If he hadn't joined Cradley Heath which other British League club would he have considered? And why not Hull, LOL! 1979 World Pairs, Vojens: when none of Bruce's partners made it and effectively competed alone, albeit with a non-scoring Danish reserve. 1979 Hull: how did it feel winning the KO Cup v the Vikings. 1980 World Final, Gothenburg : with a film crew in his face seemingly 24/7 how it affected his build up. 1981 World Final, Wembley: at what point, prior to the event, was he sure he would win it? 1982: His feelings toward the USA winning a clean sweep (?) of World Titles & Bobby Schwatrz & Dennis Sigalos winning the World Pairs without him. His working relationship with the above and other USA riders. 1983 World Final, Norden: had he not retired could he have given Egon Muller a run for his money? 1980's: Could he have challenged Erik Gundersen & Hans Nielsen? 1980's: If Hollywood hadn't come-a-knocking and he'd taken time out to recover from reported 'speedway burn out', how much longer would he have ridden? Any more World Titles?...

Not read the "Penhall World Champion" book for a while but seem to remember it being "Bruce did this, Bruce rode here and scored whatever, then Bruce did that", etc. Don't rate it all, "Stars And Bikes" from 1980 or so is much better. While it is interesting to read Penhall's own personal thoughts on Carter, he is enitled to his own opinion of course, it is puzzling that he should write "I have nothing to say in regard to KC' then he goes on about him for several paragraphs. He should either say what he thinks about Carter or not though I do hope he now leaves that particular subject behind and writes about other riders, meetings, etc....

Nope not Bruce Nelson/Penhall, was in the mid-70's when I was considered too young to go to speedway alone as none of the family were remotely interested....

Read a book at school many decades ago called "Stories For Boys", or something along those lines, and it contained story of a motorcycle cop who also rode for the local speedway team. I recall Tough Of The Track too...

Yes, I meant to say he gave the right answer....

I remember in 2000 when Mark Loram was on the progamme and his question ws 'guess the (speedway) team' - and they showed a Hull Vikings bib! Mark got the question right.....

That coulda bin it seem to remember the rider was called Ray something, though it was a long time ago....

There was a GP shown live from Germany (I think, could've been Poland) a few years ago which was held up for something like 30 mins for fence repairs after a big smash, no air fence back then. It needed 2 wooden board panels which once located, approx 30 mins of live TV showing mostly nothing remember, they were attached within a couple of minutes....

Frank Auffret, Bobby Beaton & Graham Drury were no shows at Wimbledon and Joe Owen didn't make it to Swindon that year....

Thanks for reminding me(!). Have to say Hull really 'lost' the league championship over the course of the season when 3 riders did a no show at Wimbledon and the remaing 4 + guest Graeme Stapleton (who also guested for us on 'that nite' at Brandon, for injured heat leader Kelly Moran) went down by 36-41, drawing 39-all at Swindon when another rider never turned up and a result at Poole going from a 40-38 win to another draw when Mauger was excluded having cracked his silencer coming off the track when the last had ended. It could therefore be argued the team didn't really deserve to win in any case. I was there 'that nite' memories include Vikings flags on sale in the car park (I still have mine) the then usual Coventry gating championships, huge crowd packed like sardines on the terraces - you couldn't fit another person in with a shoe horn, and Coventry fans sharing champagne with us after the meet. Coevntry then had a match v Leicester but by then Hull fans had understandably lost interest by that point. Heck of a nite though. Indeed 1979 could've an absolutely awesome year for Hull both directly and indirectly. The Vikings won the 4-team finals at Sheffield, New Zealand won the World Team Cup (beating Olsen's Denmark), Ivan won his 6th World Championship in Poland, we could've (should've?!) won the league and the season ended in late October when Bruce Penhall's Cradley Heath (featuring future Craven Park era Viking Alan Grahame) beat us in the final of the Knock Out Cup but I think even Mauger had had enough by then. But there was one more disappointment for Hull fans when the riders didn't come out after the final home meeting to say 'goodbye and (hope to) see you all next year'. Could've been one heck of a year. Oh well....

I remember a German called Walter Grubmuller, may have ridden for Exeter and mostly specialised in grass/long track like most of his countrymen? Well I watched F3 car racing on C5 the other night and there was a young driver with the same name....

Olsen was certainly one heck of a rider and regularly made mincemeat of the Hull team at the Boulevard, where he was definately an attraction, until we signed Mauger. Ivan did great for us but I always wondered what would have happened if Ole had joined Hull in 1976 (as initially insisted by good ol' Rider Control) and how the Hull Vikings would have faired....

There's a guy who lives just around the corner from Wimbledon who rides in the Scunny Am Meets from time to time....

Always narks me when they say "the track was slick/grippy in practice, I set my bike(s) up accordingly then (low and behold) it was the complete opposite for the meeting and so caught me out". Why not set up one bike totally different 'just in case', as Mauger reportedly did for the 1979 World Final, then you have either eventuality covered? With so many bikes usually available, gotta be worth a punt....

Very good read as always, will there be a Scottish Special Pt 2 covering Edinburgh and other Scottish tracks; Motherwell, Paisley, etc?...

Indeed....

Same here, s'pecially the stock car racing with Dennis Sigalos & Kelly Moran; wonder whose idea that was, LOL!...

Love that mag, a Part 2 would be cool....

Wouldn't swear to it, the Hull version wore plain dark blue leathers and won neary all his 2nd half races quiet easily and it was said he wasn't available for No.8 duties due to work commitments....

Also confirming what I thought, Siggy took, and holds for all time, the track record at the Boulevard; 68.6. His No.1 fan at Hull was "Mrs One N" so called because she had "Denis Sigalos" printed on a t-shirt - with just the one n. Her family ran a chippie just round the corner and a bit from the Boulevard in Hawthorne Avenue and had speedway photos all over the walls, especially pics of Siggy.....

Andy Buck was a 2nd halfer at Hull for most of 1995....

No probs just calling it as I see it, as is is everyone I imagine....

Same here, anyone know when the next issue is due?...

Siggy first came over to the UK in 1979 and won his first ever race for Hull, at the Boulevard. He also rode for the Vikings in 1980 starting to blossom into he rider we all remember before being sold to Ipswich (along with John Cook) as part of a part-exchange deal with Billy Sanders coming to Hull. Going slightly off thread, it was reported Billy was unhappy at Hull but I've read, and seen on video, interviews where he said riding for Hull "was much more enjoyable than he thought it would be" and he regularly exchanged a thumbs with team-mates after successful races....

Yay! Gotta include the Templeton brothers, George Hunter and Hurri-Ken Mckinlay; tricky....