WembleyLion

Yes 20,000 that day as well - see the recent Ole Olsen youtube thread also in the years gone by section.

Now officially confirmed!

Got mine at Rye last night - Uncle Len seemed to be signing a fair few copies of them.

With the top eight now known and Freddie surely being a nailed on certainty and Hans probably being an almost nailed on certainity who will get the two remaining slots?

Congratulations Crumpy - well deserved!!

David - did you see the Collins v Michanek KOC Final run off in 73 - I understand it was a great race. I too enjoyed watching Anders and he was one of my favourite big names of the 70's.

Leigh has been a credit to the GP series and I can fully understand why he has taken this decision. Not many become World Champion and Leigh certainly ranks very high amongst those who didn't quite make it.

No Swindon tonight so here are the Middlesbrough v Rye House details:- Middlesbrough 32 1 Steve Wilcock 2* 2 2 = 6 + 1 2 Brian Havelock 3 F 2 = 5 3 Mike Spink 1* 1 = 2 + 1 4 Geoff Pusey 0 2* 1 = 3 + 1 5 Mark Courtney 3 3 3 = 9 6 Martin Dixon 3 2 0 1*= 6 + 1 7 Bernie Collier 1 0 = 1 Rye House 28 1 Karl Fiala 1e/f EX = 1 2 Peter Tarrant EX 1 1 = 2 3 Bob Garrad 3 3 2 = 8 4 Kelvin Mullarkey 2 2* F = 4 + 1 5 Kevin Smith 1*3 3 = 7 + 1 6 Andy Fines F 1 = 1 7 Ashley Pullen 2 0 3 0 = 5 Heat 1 Havelock, Wilcock, Fiala(f awd), Tarrant (f ex) 70.0 5 - 1 Heat 2 Dixon, Pullen ,Collier, Fines (f) 67.2 4 - 2 / 9 - 3 Heat 3 Courtney, Mullarkey, Smith, Pusey 66.4 3 - 3 / 12 - 6 Heat 4 Garrad, Dixon, Spink, Pullen 67.0 3 - 3 / 15 - 9 Heat 5 Courtney, Pusey, Tarrant, Fiala(e/f) 67.6 5 - 1 / 20 -10 Heat 6 Garrad, Wilcock, Fines, Havelock(f) 67.6 2 -4 / 22 - 14 Heat 7 Smith, Mullarkey, Spink, Dixon 66.4 1 - 5 / 23 - 19 Heat 8 Pullen, Havelock, Tarrant, Collier 68.4 2 -4 / 25 - 23 Heat 9 Courtney, Garrad, Pusey, Pullen 65.8 4 - 2 / 29 - 25 Heat 10 Smith, Wilcock, Dixon, Mullarkey(f) 66.8 3 -3 / 32 - 28 Heat 11 Fiala(f/ex) heat not rerun due to waterlogged track! I went to this one on the Rye House coach as part of a northern trip with Workington the next night to follow.

I can do this one for you when I'm next home of an evening so if you do not mind waiting a few days (due to me being at Lakeside tonight and Swindon tomorrow) I'll do just that. As I recall the score was 32v28.

Yes indeed, Leicester were the 'support act' in the Midland Cup or something similar. The Bees won 53 - 25 I think.

I really cannot believe it's 30 years since that memorable night at Brandon when 20,000 or so witnessed Ole Olsen's Bees up against Ivan Mauger's Vikings. The winners would be the champions - simple as that. In 40 seasons of Speedway I cannot recall a larger attendance for a league fixture that I have attended. For those who were not around at the time or have forgotten, the Bees triumphed 42-36 on the night to become league champions.

I agree WHB66 - I also went to Grindsted the night before (which as you say was very enjoyable) and completed the weekend with the 80cc meeting at Korskro. Based on what I saw I feel Vojens deserves to continue as a GP venue.

So far then it's:- Gothenburg 8 May Prague 22 May Copenhagen 5 June Torun 19 June Cardiff 10 July

That's exactly what I would have thought. I guess we'll know for sure soon enough.

No Vojens then??

Congratulations to Darcy. Hard luck Tai - your time will hopefully come one day.

Good luck Tai and Lewis.

Ah I see you've been to that fictional world where you may have seen the likes of Nielsen taking out Rickardsson at Vojens in 1994 rather than let him past and Olsen taking out Penhall in key race at Wembley in 1981 .

??? Chris Harris but after finishing on 12 points with three other riders he would have won the run off having at one point been trailing in last place. He would have left it late though passing his final opponent off the last bend!!! Fans of the old Grand Prix system would have been complaining bitterly though stating that Bomber would never finish in the top eight of a Grand Prix series let alone be World Champion.

Speedway in MK would be good news for me living only 20 miles or so away. Sadly I cannot see it happening anytime soon so I'll have to stick with those memories of the Groveway (and the steep slope exiting the pits) and Elfield Park (with the steep 'terracing' which provided some great vantage points).

Well done to the three qualifiers. Zorro was a bit lucky though particularly in getting a second chance when Pepe brought Harris and Lindgren down when Zorro was firmly at the back. Still he beat Holder twice though, so fair play to him. I feel Noddy was a dead certainty for a nomination anyway but it's good to see him qualify outright. Hampel rode well (he is a much more talented rider than the pale imitation who wore a Witches race jacket at Coventry earlier this year). Pepe may well have qualified (at Zorro's expense) had he not fallen in heat 12. Bomber's night was pretty much over by the first bend of heat one though. I was quite surprised at the large turnout (aided by a high number of Polish fans).

With the addition of Hampel I would be inclined to agree.

Brings back memories, the 81 World Final at Wembley and the World Team Cup Final at Olching in the same year, both of which I was fortunate enough to attend. Also Ole's farewell at Coventry in 1983 and a crowd of 20,000!!! I remember parking about a mile away from the track and the queues to get in stretched back to the main road.

In the past few weeks Travel Plus have been advertising a trip to Gorican in Speedway Star.

Yes how could I have possibly overlooked that in comparison with the modest achievements of Mr Lee!!