E I Addio
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Posts posted by E I Addio
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1 hour ago, CoffeeandTV said:
Not really. Eric Cantona last played professional football 27 years and is 58. Peter Kildemand last won a Grand Prix 8 years ago and is 35.
You're entitled to your opinion, but I look forward to him proving you wrong!When Greg Hancock was 35 he still had three World Championships ahead of him. Plenty of sportsmen stay at the top longer these days but it doesn’t get any easier physically as you get older. Kildemand could do well but he does have a number of crashes behind him that tend to cause riders to lose their edge, especially if they are married with kids.
I’d like to see Kildemand turn the years back but I don’t think anyone will really know until the season starts.
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He had a good innings and kept the sport going at great financial cost to himself. Lived and breathed Speedway.
Former Provincial league riders champion but as others have said he really came to the fore as a promoter. Inextricably linked to Hackney and Rye House, particularly the latter where the sport only existed because of him and his financial input. One of the best if not the best GB team managers in his day despite backstabbing from other promoters with half his ability. Throw in the fact that he was a top rate track curator and we see there weren’t many areas a of the sport where he was wasn’t a powerful force.
The sport is now a poorer place without him
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8 hours ago, M.D said:
Adam was world kettle ball champion a few years ago.
He certainly looks super fit. I’m pleased for him, because speedway wasn’t particularly kind to him and I think he could have done better if injuries hadn’t come at the wrong time. Good rider.
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Does anyone have any news on what retired riders are doing now?
Adam Shields seems to be doing well as a personal trainer in Oz and as far as I know Dave Watt was working as a carpenter of shopfitter. Last I heard Robert Mear was still digging up roads but doing quite well on continental grass tracks.
What about the likes of Stuart Robson , Hans Andersen, Steve Johnson, or Tony Rickardson and those like them? Anybody know what they are up to these days ? I think we all take a bit comfort from knowing that various old favourites are doing ok in their retirement.-
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To some extent a team managers job is as busy or quiet as you want it to be. A good team manager is usually kept pretty busy in the pits. Riders are kept pretty busy with their bikes and often have no idea of the time or the score.
A team managers job is first of all to get everyone together for a track walk then make sure the riders are ready with to go on parade and you would be surprised how many riders arrive an hour or more before the meeting and still have to be chased up to be ready. He has to make sure his riders are ready for each heat ( although the pit Marshall also does that). If a rider is on two minutes and has to sort his bike our with minor repairs the manager has to make sure the time warning is not exceeded.
He has to think ahead and have another rider ready to go in case someone touches the tapes, decide on things like reserve swaps and when to use a Tactical Ride , and of course use a bit of psychology to motivate riders and see every race in case he needs to speak to the ref.
I would say it varies from meeting to meeting but team managers are kept busier than most people think at times although of course there other times when it all runs like clockwork.
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On 6/26/2024 at 2:41 PM, BOBBATH said:
Thanks Norbold, If good old Bob Andrews says it then I believe it! Would the same apply to Ove, Peter and Bjorn do you think?
I forget where I read this,but it was probably in Classic Speedway, and it was on the lines of “ you didn’t need to leave a on gap for Ove , he would come through whether there was a gap or not and whether he needed to or not”.
By all accounts it seems Ove had to win every race even if it meant knocking his own team mates out of the way ! Somewhat surprisingly the same was said about Nigel Boocock- by his own brother Eric !
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21 hours ago, chunky said:
Sounds like Briggo's early days!
From what I have read about Briggs’s early says, and from the man himself on the DVD, it seems to me more of a case off sending someone out to pick up fallen riders that the young Briggo had knocked off !
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20 minutes ago, chunky said:
Years ago on here, there was a discussion on here about "the greatest of all-time", and it was amazing how many people just went for riders they'd seen. I made the point about Jack Young specifically. He retired before I was born, so no, I didn't get to see him, but I did state that it wouldn't prevent me from including him with the very best. Same with Farndon, Huxley, and Duggan...
Well that’s another moot point. I always say you can only judge the best of their time., Different attitudes, different standards of professionalism, different bikes , different tracks , different standards of opposition, all play into a riders success or lack of. How would Tai Woofinden handle a dirt Douggie on cinders ? We don’t know, but doesn’t stop the discussions being fascinating.
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Thanks Norbold and CHR. We are of like mind and I think you are the only ones I’ve spoken to who share my view of Mauger. Not that I am knocking him but I always kind of felt that he never had quite the same intensity of opposition that the “big five “ had. Olsen was , for example a big name alongside Mauger and admittedly you can’t argue with Olsens three World Championships he also had some World finals where he wasn’t really in it, and I don’t think that could be said about Fundin. I think Ivan was robbed in ‘73 on that dodgy gate but was a little lucky in ‘72 as Briggo had already beaten him before his crash and really looked unassailable. However, we can opinionate forever on this.
Jack Young , Norbold. Yes.To come from the second division, even back then and take the world title was phenomenal.
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Personally I don’t think the record books tell the whole story . For one thing records tell us that Jerzy Szczakiel was almost on a par with Ivan Mauger if judged purely on the occasions that met but I would suggest that anyone who put them in the same bracket had taken leave of their senses. Ivan IMO was probably the best ( or shall we say most successful ) rider of his generation if judged on w week—in week-out basis, assuming we say Fundin, 5 or 6 years older belonged to a previous generation, as finished his 5 World Championships before Ivan won any of his. How would you guys match those two ?
Then we have Briggo. More erratic on form but at his absolute best I don’t think there was a rider so far ahead of the opposition except arguably Fundin who I didn’t see at his best so can’t really comment. My outstanding memory of Briggo is winning the last of his British finals at West Ham. The No. 2 gate wasn’t working and nobody did better than third off of it and even Ivan ran a last from it . Then. Briggo came out off No2 and a made it look like it was the others that weren’t working as he waltzed to a 15 point maximum.
Then we’re does Ronnie Moore fit into all this? I have seen him described as the most naturally talented rider that ever sat on a speedway bike .
I only ever saw I’m at the back end of his career when he came back from retirement after 6 years was past his sell by date , but still better than most could ever hope to be, and probably one of the most stylish riders I’ve ever seen. Where does he fit with the others ?
Great Sport to have us all talking like this years later.
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I am 99% sure the “ pungent odour “, ( if I can express it that way) came from the Boake-Roberts Abrac Chemical works in Carpenters Road . We used to cycle up from Stratford along Carpenters Road to the Stadium, getting lungfuls of the vile pong as we urged our bikes up the incline. My goodness it was vile, and it was exactly the same smell , albeit in milder form drifting across the stadium when the wind was in a certain direction. Apparently it was well known in the area ( the smell that is ) when my dad was a boy growing up in Bow.
As for the Bovril connection, I had an uncle and aunt living in Hackney and I understood the factory manufactured Branston Pickle ( Branston and Bovril were the same company so may have both been made both there) . Anyway the place did pen-and -ink quite a bit but not as bad as Abracs in Carpenters Road. Uncle Fred and Auntie Flo were always coming out with tales about dead mice and things being found in the pickles so with that inside knowledge I’ve always avoided the stuff !
Them was the days in the East End. A great place to grow up in those, days. Wouldn’t change it for the world but wouldn’t want to live there now !
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1 minute ago, iainb said:
I think you're also more likely to see a home winner under the current format of semi and final than under the old 20 heat top scorer wins method. If the home hero has a stinker in one of his rides he can still pick up the pieces.
Personally I would prefer the 20 heat formula but even that has its downside because four riders get the worst gate twice with no second chance of a semi final. However the nature of speedway is that you need a slice of luck to win anything, and that’s the way it goes.
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7 hours ago, iainb said:
Bewley currently has a home average of 8.40 and away of 7.47, I'm not going to search through every rider but I'd bet you could count the number on one hand of those with a higher away average than home, if any at all... so the answer is yes.
Do you think Bewley would have won on any other track? Possibly, would he have beaten Robert Lambert around King's Lynn?
The top 3 brits in the "away" averages are
1. Scott Nicholls
2. Tai Woffinden
3. Dan Bewley
I am not saying that there is NO home track advantage, but I question whether there really is much in the point particular at high level, bearing in mind the number of other factors that come into play, one of which, we now know, choosing when to change tyres. Track conditions change as the evening wears on and even if the riders knows the track he still has to adapt as conditions change. For example in heat 8 Howarth rode the best race of the evening up to that point, the beat Woffinden, so he obviously knew the track well. Then there was a track grade so when Howarth came out for heat 9 it was a completely different track and he was last all the way, and that was off gate two which had been by far the most successful gate position up to that point. Hero to zero in two races.
Then look at gate positions in the final . Bewley the “ track specialist” picked gate one but got a dreadful start, which really shows how fickle track conditions can be. Bewleys pass of Woffinden in the final was IMO a fine piece of riding, not track conditions.
As far discrepancies between Home and Away league performances any track curator worth his salt would be able to prepare a track to suit 7 specific riders in his home team but as far as I know, and I hope, it doesn’t go on in individual meetings, particularly at championship level
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Is there really much in the “ home track advantage “ thing ? Speedway is such a fickle sport depended on so many unforseeable and unquantifiable factors that I would have thought that the higher up the order you get the more you should be capable of riding anywhere especially if you aspire to becoming a champion.
There used to be a Swedish rider you may vaguely remember, Norbold, a chap by the name of Fundin. His famous comment was “ I want someone to build me a bike to get me to the first bend first, then I’ll do the rest “ . Surely the sign of a true champion is that as long as he has a decent bike he can “ do the rest “?
I thought it was a pretty decent meeting last night. Incredible to think that under the old 20 heat formula Tom Brennan would be British Campion now.
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36 minutes ago, HGould said:
I've never been a big Rory fan but this is sad news.
I'd imagine that having retired once and come back, this may be career ending definitely season ending.
With the exception of possibly R Worrall there would be very few replacements available, a fact that is overlooked in my opinion.
It's all very well to hope for new clubs or returning clubs but where are the riders at heat leader level especially but also second string and credible reserves to staff them.
Further reduction of second tier points limit or advent of six man teams would appear to be the only logical solution.
I think six man teams would be another nail in the coffin of the sport especially as we are already seeing riders fairly regularly having to come out six or seven times a meeting. Your point is well made though. Where is the next Rory Schlein coming from or riders of similar ability? Who is going to fill the gap Scott Nichols leaves when he eventually goes ? Even in his mid forties there are not that many 20 years younger who can give him a run for his money . It doesn’t look good for the future when these older guys eventually bow out.
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6 hours ago, norbold said:
My main memory of Hackney is walking across Hackney Marshes to get there. It was the only track in my 60 odd years of speedway that I have lived in walking distance of!
Obviously the racing at ‘Ackney made less of an impression on you than Stan Stevens beating Briggo at the wonderful West Ham !
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On 5/31/2024 at 1:23 PM, TonyMac said:
YOUR HACKNEY
For my regular Backtracking column in Speedway Star I’m asking fans of different clubs – past and present – for their personal thoughts on what immediately springs to mind whenever their team or track is mentioned.Over the years which riders, meetings, incidents and people associated with this track stand out – and why?It’s not only open to home fans – visitors’ recollections are also welcome. You can mention as many different aspects as you like but please don’t simply type names – add some supporting comment explaining what they mean to you.Best contributions will appear in print. Thank you for taking part.To help prompt you, here are several suggestions…* ‘Make it a Date, Friday at Eight’* Leaping Len, Pratty, Benga, Cass the Gas, Thommo, Mort, Plechy, Bo Pete, Pavitt, Russell, Loramski, Louis, Galvin, Moggo, etc* Hawks and Kestrels* The ‘lucky’ 50 pence piece* Snowie Beattie’s weekly fiddle* Hawkeye and Birdbrain, Bert Busch, Ken Archer, Alf and Keith Weedon, Big Arthur, Bryn Williams* Superama, Champions Chase KO, NL Best Pairs* Terry Ripo, Ted Sear* Sampson’s CoachesLen losing his trousers at the end of season meetings!
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3 hours ago, stevebrum said:
Tai is also known as being a proven multi world champion. Controversy is part of his make up as well it seems.
Tai is a proven world champion multi times over, Emil is not. Tai is a loose cannon and controversial character at times but has earned that right.
Emil can be as interview perfect as he wants, he is very popular. Being a good interviewer doesn’t earn him the kudos that Tai already has.
Nobody is arguing about Tai’s past record. That speaks for itself, but speedway needs every avenue of support it can get and mouthing off is not the way to get it. It’s a pity because I know from personal experience that Tai can be a very nice guy behind the scenes. I just don’t know why he he speaks the way he does in the public eye sometimes.
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47 minutes ago, stevebrum said:
Tai does, and is known for it. He is outspoken. People seem to have an issue with that.
Being outspoken means stating your opinions frankly and clearly, it doesn’t mean being too inarticulate to express yourself in normal language.
What Tai is known for is having his brains in his throttle hand.
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An all round motor cyclist who already had a successful career in scrambling behind him before he even took up Speedway. It’s not easy to successfully make the transition from one discipline to the other but Tiger did it, reaching the World Final within 3 years. I think he carried on successfully in Speedway till he was about 40, which was quite old to stay at the top in those days.
So, more than just a Speedway rider , a great all-rounder and a great enthusiast. A credit to the sport.
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39 minutes ago, Goldhawk said:
Hackney really was an outstanding race track where riders could and did pass anywhere. I've read in the past it was felt by some too fast for size of track. There may be some truth in that tbh, but the overriding issue of all the time i watched Speedway there ( 24 years ) was riders hitting lamp standards with serious injuries or worse. Both fatalities there with Vic Harding and Denny Pyatt were caused by them. i also saw the worst looking crash i have ever seen there in 1973 between Allan Emmett & Dave Kennett where they locked handlebars going full speed going down the back straight and didn't turn hitting fence on third bend at full speed upright. Allan Emmett was a star in the making and retired the following year and Dave Kennett wasn't the same rider after. He potentually could have been as good as Gordon.
Hackney was a great track, if today safety fence regulations were in place of today the injuries of the time would have been very much less . The were much worse tracks out here. The lamp standards were the issue. Maybe Wimbledon was the safest track of the time with their supported fence without any lamp standards if i remember rightly.
Did it match Hackney for racing ? em ...............................; )
PS On Milo (reference last paragraph and post) Milo has made a successful career out of stand up comedy since crash. He still harbours hope to walk one day..
I think the riders being flung head first into the safety fence or lamp standards was a common feature of many fatal and serious accidents both at home and abroad.
On a slightly different tack regarding riders riding wide on the bends at Hackney, I remember reading an interview with Colin Pratt in Classic Speedway in which he was saying when he rode for Hackney he would always get to the track early so he could make sure Len Silver would always prepare the inside line the way he wanted it done and that was where almost all of his wins came from .I found that interesting because Pratty’s time at Hackney was probably the best of his career . It’s interesting how track preparation helps different riders.
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6 hours ago, orion said:
I would think most punters would think is was a joke if you never called a meeting off because of a bad forcast ... its just common sense
Agreed. We have to remember that promoters lose money by calling a meeting off. I forget exactly how the system works but Jon Cooke used to say that once you get to a certain point the losses run into several thousand pounds so that money is saved by earlier call offs. Cooke used to have about 3 or4 weather forecasts from different sources before calling a meeting off. It’s a difficult decision for promoters and they sometimes get it wrong. A pain for the fans when meetings get called off, but when the sport is being run on a shoestring anyway it hits them hard in the pocket if meetings are called off too late.
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Interesting comments from everyone but I think all of our memories play tricks on us at times. The Sad fact is that ALL forms of motor and motorcycle racing are dangerous and people are going to,get hurt at times.
Although safety features , notably air fences have enhanced safety , that , in my opinion is cancelled out by the fact that there are far more crashes.
I can’t remember a single meeting back in the day when we were 20 minutes into a meeting and had only run two or three heats because of crashes, yet it seems to be a frequent occurrence today. I remember talking to Olle Nygren not long before he died and he was saying that when he was riding he reckoned to do about 100 meetings a year and only fell off once or twice and that “Briggs Mauger and the others were the same” , but these days he reckoned most were falling off more than that every month. Speedway tracks are much harder to land on than most spectators realise.
There seems to be little doubt that tuners have got a lot to do with it. You can’t get a quart out of a pint pot , and every time you squeeze more power from the engine you shorten the power band so power comes in more suddenly and unpredictably making the bike more difficult to ride.
Incidentally, can anyone update me on what SS said about Graham Miles post accident?
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15 hours ago, chunky said:
Are you talking about World Finals, or just World Champions? Seeing that you mention Hancock, I would think the latter.
Well, the first one that sprang to mind was Tomasz Gollob. He was 39 years and 5 months old when he won in 2010
Tommy Price was 37 years, 9 months and 20 days old (1949)
Egon Muller was 34 years, 9 months, and 9 days old (1983).
Sam Ermolenko was 32 years, 9 months, and 6 days old (1993).
Jason Doyle was 32 years and 22 days old (2017).
Anders Michanek was 31 years, 3 months, and 7 days old (1974)
Artem Laguta was 31 years and 19 days old (2021).
Jack Milne was 30 years, 2 months, and 29 days old (1937).
These are the only riders who won their first titles in their 30's.
Thank you . Everything I’ve ever read about Tommy Price suggests he was a far better rider than results suggest, perhaps not in his technical skills but he certainly seems to have been a “hard man” and somewhat ahead of the game mechanically. He apparently geared his bike half a tooth lower than everyone else round Wembley on the basis that if he got in front by the first bend, he was such a hard man to pass that he was likely to hang on to that a early lead. In the workshop he drilled extra oil ways to avoid the engine failures occurring to the early J.A,P’s in those days. He also used to start warming his bike up earlier than anyone else because had a special barrel in his JAP engine although I can’t remember what it was made of, or whether it actually was a special barrel or just psychological mind games to con or intimidate the others !
Certainly one rider I wish I’d seen and it’s probably fair to say that if WW2 had not intervened he would likely have had a much better record than he has today.
Oxford Spires 2025
in SGB Premiership Speedway League
Posted
I don’t know anymore. If someone is on a 4/4.5 You are talking about someone who you expect to hover just inside or outside your reserve position and win some of the less important races both at home and away if the team are to do anything. I would say Kildemand still has the experience to beat a lot of second string/reserve level riders but for the sort of money he probably wants the promotion would probably expect him to be almost a third heatleader at home and score enough points away to enable the team to a few away wins. Whether he can do that is anybody’s guess. If you think of riders like Hans Andersen, Peter Karlsson and even Jason Crump to a certain extent they all went off the boil fairly quickly when they got to a certain age. So to sign Kildemand is a certainly a risk but it really depends on what exactly they want from him and who else is in the team. I would love to see him do well but the promotion need to go into this with their eyes open.