norbold

But Ove Fundin won the championship FIVE times and was in the first three for TEN consecutive years!!!!!

Briggo possibly, but I am intrigued to know why you would put Freddie Williams and Peter Craven above Ove Fundin. See OveFundinFan's post above.

Why? How about Ove Fundin 1960? Or Peter Craven 1962?

We can only hope.

No, it disappeared. But apparently they've put back gustix's hearing.

Are you really as dense as you make out, gustix?

And your point is......?

Tom Farndon died in 1935. All those riders you mentioned rode after the War. How many people still around do you think actually saw Tom Farndon ride? You think Jack Milne was one of the three greatest riders of all time. You are obviously wrong as people don't remember him either.

Absolutely. It's that sort of wording that makes lawyers fortunes. "Detection will be and conducted by analysis of breath and / or blood" I would take that to mean that detection could be by just breath alone. But I can see how you could argue that there needs to be a blood test. Frankly though, if he and his legal team argue the toss on this and he gets off on the technical meaning of that phrase it would be a complete disgrace.

Allo Allo, what's all this about comedy programmes about war?

Skidder 1 "and will be able to compete in the slag from the beginning of the season" Well, that should be interesting anyway.

Well that's put Tom Farndon in his place. Obviously john Chaplin and I were wrong about him. Just remind me again of all the major titles and trophies George Newton won.

Talking of the match race championship and time machines...my choice would be Tom Farndon. Tom won the match race title in 1934 and was unbeaten through five challenges until he died following a track crash in 1935. So much did the championship become synonymous with him that the competition was suspended on his death and did not return until after the War. Tom was the ultimate professional of his time. He trained hard, didn't smoke and was tee-total. He was also the most spectacular rider of his time. He was a charismatic figure who was idolised in his day, with a personal following only equalled by footballers and film stars. Funny he never found it necessary to be "one of the lads" in the pub the night before a meeting to achieve all this. He did his talking on the track. If there are any lessons to be learned by Darcy Ward, he need look no further than Tom Farndon.

Has it ever occurred to you, gustix, that the people supporting the Facebook page, the petition and the Twitter feed are the same people?

Here is a sample from the petition: Reasons for signing Rolf Harris LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM So what if Darcy got pished as a koala on Fosters? Those Europeans are always trying to convict us fair-dinkum Aussies for little indiscretions. I was also stiched up at the Court of King Caractacus. Kim Jong-Un KIM JONG-UN CITY, KOREA, DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF Ward is an imposter. I am the true Speedway World Champion of the Universe!! Oliver Reed POOLE, UNITED KINGDOM I like Darcy cos he drinks loads!!!!!!!!!! There's lots more like this. So he does have some powerful supporters with excellent reasons. No doubt the F.I.M. will give it all the attention it deserves.

You could make it 351, gustix. Why haven't you signed it?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why are you not signing the petition, gustix?

Why won't you be signing the petition, gustix?

"Everyone looks forward to watching him race and speedway is not the same with out him" I can't say I really noticed his absence in the last five GPs. P.S. If everyone's so confident that Darcy will get off because the F.I.M.'s case won't stand up thanks to an off-duty policeman and wrongly calibrated instruments, what's the point of the petition?

I would have put Coventry and Eastbourne at nos. 1 & 2. That's why I mentioned them earlier. Forgot about Sheffield though. There was a meeting at Eastbourne in 1953, The Championship of Sussex, won by Ron Barrett. It was the size of the crowd for this meeting that encouraged Charlie Dugard to revive Eastbourne in 1954. So, does that make 74 seasons? Anyway, thanks so much for all the research and presenting this Arnie. It's been fascinating, interesting and a very worthwhile project.

Can't say I agree with you there. I belong to a number of local history sites on Facebook and have learnt a lot through the sharing of information on there. And there are some brilliant photographs that turn up from time to time. You don't have to get involved with all the dross on there. Be selective and it's excellent.

It's beginning to look as though the 1965 final audience was made up entirely of Forumers!

Sounds good to me, BOBBATH! It is one of my regrets that I never asked Fred Williams about this on the number of occasions I met him in later life. But it never seemed quite appropriate just to go up to him and say, "Did you deliberately prevent Biggs winning the World Championship because he wouldn't bribe you or did you allow Split to win that last race because he did? Just one other point. I do think that in the long run the better rider actually won the 1951 World Championship as he later went on to prove.