martinmauger

Great book, read it at least twice will no doubt do so again. Anorak question: is the 2nd edition any different to the 1st or is it basically a re-print?...

Hull, White City 1930's - under block of flats, fire station and Teritorial Army barracks. Hull, Hedon (Hull Angels 1948/49) - just a field. Hull, Boulevard - looks much the same stadium very much showing it's age, 'cept for a dog track, amateur rugby still played, overgrown terrraces and one half of stadium, home stright side, is derelict. Hull, Craven Park - looks much the same with stadium tidied up, 'cept all semblence of track has disappeared, 3rd & 4th bend has "squared off" temparary terracing, rugby pitch much-widened and lengthened, no real sign that speedway was staged there for 11 years. Believe the pits were recently demolished. My pics of the above venues (not White City) circa mid-2006 appeared accompanying my own Backtrack article, issue 17 November-December 2006 (Billy Sanders cover) and illustrate Nigel Pearson's Speedway Star article, November 11 2006 (Joonas Kylmakorpi "Hammer Horror" cover). Some also appear on Retro Speedway/Gallery/Defunct Tracks and also Speedway Plus!/Stadia Pix websites....

Liked to have watched at Hedon Aerodrome (Hull Angels), but it was a ittle before my time; 1948/9, fixtures & league placing in Div 3 taken over by Swindon....

Saw one of those Sport From Around The World progs on a dig TV channel showing "speedway from Costa Mesa, Cailf - with a difference; the riders are all women". And there were 8 per race. Seems Saturday is Ladies' Night at Costa Mesa Speedway....

Don't know the other lady but Monty Jowett defo kicks (male) butt, don't take my word for it ask any of the guys in the Scunny Amateur Champs. I remember seeing Madeline Fundin race USA's Bobbi Hunter at Wembley Arena....

The "technical" term for those was banana seats. Memories, eh?...

This topic could run and run, and why not. Forgot about Eddie's Book Sales for years many of my Chrimbo pressies were courtesy of Eddie's. Rider interviews where they would say " I tried the inside for 3 laps then the outside but couldn't quite catch him" or versa vice as opposed to saying "I haven't got my set up right so couldn't get near him" ....

Me and mates having the Britains riders and making our own tracks out of hardboard, read somewhere a kid going OTT and having Subbuteo floodlights and stands on his bedroom speedway track I still have a few Britains riders (somewhere) and yes, one is painted to be like Mauger Fitting cowhorns, motorbike handgrips and moped back wheels on pushbikes Taking the front brake lever off pushbikes, the throttle side you see kids being into cycle speedway --- kids just don't do the above stuff anymore --- Kids jumping on the track (just!) after the race for tear offs Frank Auffret beating Penhall & Schwartz in an Engalnd v USA test at Hull England v USA tests Frank Auffret beating Olsen at Coventry Kelly Moran at Hull in 1978 Bobby Beaton almost beating Mauger at Hull (beofre Ivan became a Viking) and falling. Still think Ivan came under him too hard More memorable races, if Mauger, Olsen, Collins et al got beat, fans would talk about it for weeks The odd time a No.8, reserve, 2nd string would beat a star rider Fridays - for Speedway Mail Not knowing any speedway goss 'til the weeklies came out.

The Citroen car of choice which gradually replaced the Cortinas, Zephyrs et al was the CX 2400 Bigger crowds An equal number of speedway sports bags as football at school Warcrys (Give us a V, etc) Speedway pictures on the art room walls Kids on the street talking speedway Less gardening at the gate Overtaking Riders able to make more than one passing attempt per race Meetings not postponed at the first drop of rain Fewer engine failures Guessing which leathers the likes of Mauger, Collins, etc would wear Only team No.1 riders gating and disappearing over thr horizon, the rest would race Riders neckscarves A decent England team A Scottish team Speedway results on BBC Radio 2 The building excitement having to wait until Mondays Daily Mirror for contintental results Speedway news on the back page of the Daily Mirror A track in Hull....

Win 6 individual World Championships? Well it's been done before and Mauger didn't start winning his 'til he was about 28. Nicki certainly got his stuff together this year, or maybe felt loads better after his arm ops, and looked to be able to raise his game at least another notch if he had to....

Transport, location, cost, lack of equipment, etc are major obstacles, pun not particularly intended, but the most important thing is ride when and where you can and to enjoy it....

Think Muller was persuaded to ride speedway by the German authorites, as they had very few actual speedway riders. Though as he showed briefly at Hull in 1976 and the numerous Briggs/Mauger World Tours he could been a very handy speedway rider indeed if he applied himself, he prefared Grass/Longtrack. While some of the temp tracks are far too rutted and slick tracks do cope better with rain, most riders simply want to jet out of the gate and disappear into the distance on a speedway bike set up perfectly to F1 standard. Listen when they are interviewd, they nearly always say a track is patchy and talk about set-ups rarely about actually racing this or that rider. As they are so used to smooth, slick tracks once there is a bit of dirt or slight imperfections in the surface many struggle to cope....

Sure was and though I don't say Mauger ever walked on water, well not very often (!), the world saw him and the entire field ride on it that year. Gotta be the dampest World Final or Important meet ever....

Don't think the 1977 World final wasn't shown live but is was shown on the following Saturday by both BBC Grandstand & ITV World Of Sport. Inevitably there was some repetition of heats but I think nearly all were shown between to two programmes. In fact, I filled in the meeting programme printed in the Speedway Star as I watched the two transmissions....

Tricky one as both have their merets. My gripes with the SGP are under the old system every rider in the world had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion, or at least ridng in the competition and there a very few "pressure races" where a rider simply has to win to ensure an overall victory. By the nature of a grand prix system riders "simply" have to keep scoring well, making the competion more of a marathon, whereas in the old World Final there would nearly always be such a high pressure/high drama "must win" heat. Like I said, tricky to choose....

My copy arrived yesterday, can't wait to get stuck into it....

Cheers for that, makes sense a rider like Olsen wouldn't be there just for a 2nd half. For a long time I thought any speedway competiion was called a tournament. It's true about the so-called Golden Age of Speedway, Wembley was used for loads of diff meets: European Final, test matches, Inter-Continental Final as well as World Finals and there was nearly always a huge crowd. By huge I mean 10's of 1,000's....

Dunno, would there be a 2nd half?...

Finally got to see England v Sweden at Wembley on a DVD I got off t'internet. Finally? When it was initially shown on the box it was on too late for me to stay up, something like that can seriously mess a kid up. Query: What was Ole Olsen doing in the pits all suited and booted? I know riders often pop in various meets to watch, help their mates, catch up on goss (!), but Olsen was in his Wolves leathers wearing his red neckscarf like he was ready to ride: a possible international guest? Curious....

Cheers for that, Tony can't wait. Hope Sandman gets his tenner....

Yeah the Mick Fiedling piece was great. Anyone know when Backtrack is out next?...

Very good; interesting, exciting, fast edits & plenty good clips. But (here it comes!) I would change the "former world champion" caption to "a speedway world champion". "Former" sounds so yesterday, ok we all know it refers to 1997, but a speedway champion states what Greg is but doesn't infer he is the current champ. Otherwise great effort, good stuff....

Thought it may could been Louis who lost his bike but my mind said Briggo for some reason. Dunno any more about the financially challenged rider as at that time, in the late 1980's, there wasn't any speedway in my area as Hull & Scunny were no more I just vaugely remember reading about it in MCN or somewhere like that. Not being able to find out anymore about the guy in question, though I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it....

Seem to remember reading about another rider having a bike "mis-laid" during a World final at Wmebley and it turning up behind a hot dog stand; Briggo? Also an alledged financially-challenged rider who nonetheless progressed at quite a surprising rate was dealt a life-long ban and actually jailed for both stealing and receiving stolen speedway bikes and equipment, sometime in the late 1980's, I believe...

The official pay rates in speedway have been relatively paltry for many years. Read somewhere, Ian Thomas' book Wheels and Deals I believe, that Thomas made more money in 1979 than Mauger did when Ivan won his last title. Mauger received £500 for merely winning the meeting but Thomas pocketed £600 for backing him to win. Gotta be a moral in there somewhere....