Split

I was at the Custom House stadium when that fatal accident happened. I also witnessed the crash where Australian, Dave Wills lost his life on the same track. Watching Speedway racing has given me much pleasure over the years but those are two of the saddest moments,

@ Sidney. You shouldn't forget twice World Champion, Ronnie Moore who was the other member of the "Big Five" in those days. It might have been a Big Six if Plechanov had ridden for a British team.It was well known that nerves got the better of Knutson on the big occasion. I've always suspected that Björn was starting to get disenchanted with the sport when he won his world title. Maybe that's why he wasn't so nervous. He certainly could and almost certainly would have gone on to win more titles if he hadn't retired prematurely.

It's a case of dotting the o's and crossing the t's Try alt148 - I don't speak Swedish but I do speak German and need to know how to type the umlauts.

If we really want to be pedantic it was actually Björn and not Bjorn.

Not sure about Nygren but Split was past his best when her rode for Ipswich. Peter Moore on the other hand was at his peak and a match for any rider in the world at that time. It's a shame that he seldom seems to feature in the list of riders in threads like this.

As I've mentioned before on this forum, my mother was present on that fateful evening and never attended a speedway meeting again.

I'm open to correction but I think that I once read that statistically, Vic Huxley would the "best" ever if we take races ridden/races won as the criterion.

How about Billy Bales and Ray Wicket as a pairing?

Has anyone mentioned Lew Coffin?

Going from memory again (dangerous) but wasn't the move of Gooddy, Genz and Geran forced on Oxford as the team's combined average was above the maximum allowed? I seem to remember that there was some such rule introduced back then. If so the strength of the revised Oxford Line up would at least on paper, have been close to that of the 1965 Hammers. So presumably if Oxford had been allowed to keep their "second strings" they would indeed have been hard to beat in the championship race.

I remember Cyril Roger from the Southampton team of the 60's that took the National league title from the seemingly invincible Wimbledon. Of course Briggs and Knutsson were the stars but the team had strength in depth and Cyril was very much part of that. It's sad that he is no longer with us.

I'm open to correction Bob but I think Colin Gooddy was also in that 1964 Oxford side. I was fortunate enough to see Arne Pander ride back in the early 60's and in my humble opinion he was a potential world champion.He remained a world class performer even after that fractured skull but was never quite the same rider. So sad to hear of his passing.

Brilliant!

Back in the days when I lived in South East London, Manzes in Peckham High Street was the best pie 'n' mash shop in the area and apparently it still is. http://www.manze.co.uk It's not far from the Old Kent Road so all New Cross fans (including Norbold) should know it.

What a shame that riders mentioned in the last two posts on this humorous thread were tragically killed on the track and both in London.

@customhouseregular No, that must have been one of the old Long Eaton team

@iris123 Ron Johnson was indeed born in Duntocher, Scotland and was one of London’s top riders in the early days. He should not be confused with New Zealander, Ron Johnston who captained Belle Vue in the 50’s and early 60’s. Johnson emigrated to Australia with his parents when he was just a child. I saw him ride at New Cross when he attempted a comeback but he was well into his 50’s and out of his depth against younger riders.

Anders Michanek Bjorn Knutsson Bengt Jansson Andreas Jonsson And they are all Swedish!

Björn (it means bear in Swedish) Knutsson.

Ross Gilbertson was a very stylish rider and at Poole with Geoff Mudge and Tony Lewis formed one of the most potent heat leader trios the Provincial League ever saw. I had the good fortune to see them ride at New Cross back in the 60's.

Back in the 60's there was a genuine Speedway Riders XI. The team shown below played a charity football match at the Firs Stadium in Norwich against a Showbiz XI which included some of the stars of the time such as Tommy Steele, Ronnie Carroll and Dave King. For the record they lost 1 - 0. Derek Boulter, Ernie Baker, Pat Flanagan, Bob Andrews, Viv Harwood, Gerry Jackson, Danny Dunton, Geoff Harris, Bob Warner, Cyril Maidment, Jim Tebby.

Didn't Ross Gilbertson represent Scotland?

Coming second in two world finals and a frontrunner for the best rider never to win the title is a pretty good record.

Seeing Peter Craven win in 1962 was my first.

Vic Huxley - that's going back a bit and even before my time! Others that come to mind are Gote Nordin (the most stylish rider I ever saw), Peter Moore (probably the fastest 'gater' the sport has known), Tom Farndon (tragically killed when he was reaching his peek) and Arne Pander who suffered an horrendous injury and was never the same rider again. Apart from injury, the pause during the Second World War saw several potential World Champions prevented from winning the title when they were at their best.