OveFundinFan

Why, for example, do riders still risk their lives in the Isle of Man TT? Every year there is at least one fatality, "at least one" is one too many, and sadly some years thee is more then one fatality. Many of those killed are not high money earners, in fact it is probably costing them a small fortune each year just to compete at the level they at. What drives them on? Its an inner feeling that they want to compete. They know the risks, its just that the "inner" man is driving them on. I cant understand why they do it, probably because whilst I love motorcycle competition, road racing has not been one of my favourite sports. I can though have a guess what drives a speedway rider on. It would be hard for anyone to explain, but its "in the blood" and whilst the danger is always there most riders "blank" it out for the majority of the time.

No need to "hide" this thread, nor any other. The comments already made have been seen by numerous members of the forum, so what good does it do to remove them now?. They were genuine thoughts of people at the time they were written. Hopefully all contributors on the forum today, and the time to come, will be in one accord hoping that Darcy can make a recovery, no matter what has been said in the past.

Nicely put post #20

Before he passed away in mid 70's Bill Collins was always with his son Peter at grass tracks and BV

Of those I saw from the early sixties through late seventies - I would say Jessup and Plechanov would be right there in the mix.

Just bought the Simmo e-book and because Amazon gave a £3 voucher when I bought Tragedy - Kenny Carter (because I was a first time purchaser) it will make the Simmo book a great deal, not that it wasnt. Even downloading the trial version you get to read the intro by Simmo, the forward by Barry Briggs plus more. More then enough reading to judge whether you want to buy the book or not.

Thanks for that Tony. As I was a first time user of Amazon Kindle when I bought e-book of Tagedy I got a £3 voucher to use with my second purchase.

Excellent, that makes two of us at least - any more want to join the new trend.???

Here goes, dont know if I the first to do it but a change of name to my real name and yep, thats a photo of me. Anyone care to follow....????? Lets start a trend to display proper names and real photos.

and at the age of 17 Come on bigballs, what was you doing at 17, did you get to world championship meeting of any sort (including tiddlywinks or ludo), not as a spectator but as a competitor?

Thing is with the internet and forums, people can hide behind a name that is not real, and put up a photo of something not representing them in reality, and then they hide behind a keyboard as well. One forum I belong to, my last profession as a professional carpet cleaner, the majority have their photo and real name shown, if not that then it would be a photo of their van with sign writing. Those were the rules of the forum introduced just in the last couple years. No one can use a gmail or hotmail type of account either. Everything had to be traceable, including the ip address. This helped stop members have more then one account. No major issues on that forum at all. Well run with moderators always about and they are known to all as the moderators.

There are more (Poles) over here then you think, TWK

2 English, 2 Danes, 2 Aussies.... where are the Poles and the Swedes

British speedway doesnt need Robert Lambert but British Speedway definitely needs the likes of Robert Lambert. No one rider should be held so high that British Speedway needs that person. Apart from anything else it puts too much pressure on that person, Robert Lambert in this case. But British Speedway desperately needs the likes of Robert Lambert. When you look at the young Poles, young Danes and young Swedes, GB is lagging behind. Particularly in Poland, the youngsters are queuing up to be under 21 World Champion or a wild card for a GP. That sort of quality is not here in GB to the same extent, no where near. What is needed is a "school" to take the GB youngsters that show qualities that can be developed and give them experience at home AND in other countries with similar youngsters. GB is sadly lacking in this critical area of international development.

but weatherwatcher has not said lets put the short stoke (modern) engine in an upright frame. Ge said "is go back to the upright", that would imply going back to "the upright" with the longer stroke engine. How would that suit you oldace? Now whether a long stroke engine would physically suit to being "laydown" so to get the benefit of the lower centre of gravity I dont know. What i do know, is that we had some mighty fine speedway racing with the old style longer stroke upright engine called the JAP, then came the 2 valve Jawa which was fine, then the 4-valve conversions, and the Weslakes etc. All upright, all doing fine. So is it the short stoke higher revving engine that is contributing to the problem, be it laydone or if fitted upright?

Done Tony. Can you let us know when there is another e-book release so I can use the £3 voucher included with the Tragedy book purchase

Well surely he could get sponsorship from other countries that do show GP and other speedway meetings he races in ie Poland-Sweden It does seem strange, but he lost a lot of money when that Polish club didnt pay him, and now he married and by the sound of it has a small boy (think he mentioned him in one of his interviews on Saturday night)

He has said in the past that lack of top sponsors (and their money) is the reason he cannot afford a 12 series GP season - but he can afford a 4 round Euro championship effort. Some politics in the background. There was 4 Russians in the Euros last night - they couldnt get top four for the world team championship. Somethings going on thats causing negatives.

Just a few days ago I finished reading the e-book version of Tragedy - Kenny Carter .... all 29 chapters and they are long chapters as well. I stopped going to speedway about the time Kenny made his appearance on the speedway scene, so only saw him on TV. I didnt know anything of his background though I could see/hear that he had a "mouth" when I saw him being interviewed etc. The book describes his upbringing very well, and I can well imagine how this must have affected his mind set on many things - his younger years itself was indeed a tragedy. How frustrating it must have been wanting to win that world championship "for his Mum" but missing out due to misfortune or injuries, and boy did he have some injuries to contend with. I would love to have seen him ride,along with the rest of the top riders at that time,particularly the Americans and the top Danes. It would have been nice if Kenny had won that elusive world title, maybe it would have changed the outcome, who knows. I found the book compelling reading, sad yes, but that was the nature of Kennys life unfortunately, but also informative, giving lots of detail going on behind the scenes in speedway at that time. Would I recommend this book to others - yes! - its a must read be it in paperback, or e-book - my preferred version. Good value for money too in e-book form

I think Emil has something when he was saying how good the 4 event series of the Euro Champ was. He did go onto say you have to race hard in all four rounds. Thats a bit different to say 12 GP rounds I think the GP's should be 6 or most 8 round series. Keep the riders on their toes becaus eit would be a shorter series then current 12 rounds, hopefully provide better racing

Thanks for that MrMungo. Restored my belief in him somewhat.

Thanks Ghostwalker, I may well have been playing catch up on recordings and it could have been week before then, dont really know, only that in that meeting I was watching he went well.

More then likely Emil was on a different bike/engine. And Emil could have been taking it "easy" so he well fit for the Euros Ward has something to prove, Emil doesnt. Lots of reasons to make it difficult to make a sound judgement. Oh. and I am an Emil fan so difficult for me to hear him being talked down. Will Ward win a world title in the next five years - theres a good chance he will.

That dont bother me, cant afford Michelin priced food. Have they got a McD