coldace

So many great calls here. Generally speedway riders tend to be on the average to shorter side. But what prompted me to post was the photo on page 91 of Philip Dalling's excellent book which shows Sonny Dewhurst in relation to all of the others. May have had a bigger impact if he had been stood next to Reg Fearman that night!

Thanks Chunky

Didn't realise Chamberlin was as short as that. Do you know the height of Peter Craven and Billy Bales?

Just reading Philip Dalling's excellent book 'Saving Speedway'. Highly recommended but I was intrigued by a photo on page 91, of the Stoke vs. Liverpool line ups. Number 7 for Liverpool is Sonny Dewhurst who was so much smaller than everyone else. Been digging and found he was only 4 foot 9 inches tall. Was he the shortest rider? And how tall were Peter Craven, Billy Bales, Georgie White and Johnny Chamberlin, all who I remember as being vertically challenged. At only 5 foot 6 myself I have an morbid interest in this.

Thanks compost, I now know where to look. It's well hidden though!

Thanks for that Moxey, much appreciated. What a fantastic impact he had in 1949-50 in the top league. Must have been a real sensation.

Anybody know where I can find the Graham's career stats for his time at Birmingham, Coventry and Wolves? Been looking but can't find the number of meetings and averages at all.

Really hope that we can get to see Fricke and Lidsey before they go back to Aus.

Thanks for the information Youngy

I think it is different in the UK, almost certainly as there is a shortage of available riders, hence the number who double-up. Despite that, with more meetings, riders get the opportunity to ride themselves into form and so are given longer. Some clubs have less patience, Poole maybe, and others leave it longer, like my own club Belle Vue. Like all things its high risk - high reward. It is certainly more risky to commit to Poland if you are not at the top. Would imagine the UK is much less of a risk for them and they get more meetings.. I make no value judgement just recognise that it's not the same.

OK, thanks for that. So it seems he's scored just 10 points in all this Polish season. Poor reward for his dedication and effort.

Has he ridden for Lodz yet? I couldn't see any reports. He won't have had many meetings at all since he arrived in Poland which can't be good for him practically or mentally..

Thanks for the info. If Kurtz rides in the 1st Division is it that his rate per point drops? I'd imagine it must do. As stated, they don't muck about in Poland.

There is a general belief that Polish speedway threatens the existence of speedway in Britain. As a BV supporter I was concerned that thee of our 2020 team went over to Poland and I have tried to follow their scores. Lidsey has done very well and must have made good money. However, Bewley had three meetings scoring 1 point and Kurtz seems only to have had one meeting scoring 5 points. How can Bewley and Kurtz make it pay? Do they have their accommodation and food paid for by their Polish clubs? I think that these riders will need more than one meeting a week both to make it pay and to get enough rides to improve. So possibly they are going to be very keen to race over here. Indeed, Lidsey said as much in the Star. Anybody know why Kurtz isn't getting the rides and how those who aren't scoring regularly make it pay?

Wouldn't be surprised if there isn't an official British Championship with a couple of preliminary rounds and the final at BV. Maybe even televised.

I think handicap racing at this level at the NSS would be very entertaining. My view is that it works well at big tracks but not so much at the smaller ones. I watched racing at Oxford in the early '60's when the 'big five' were 20 yards back and if the reserve was an experienced rider, like Jackie Biggs for example, it was really hard for Fundin, More etc. to get past. Never saw it at Belle Vue in those days but would imagine watching Craven pick his way through would have been a treat. In the end it was the pressure from the 'big five' that got it scrapped. Given the different levels now in the NL, I think it would be worth trying.

No, not just because. There is reason to believe that he could adapt to the Belle Vue track and do well. His ability to do better on the small tracks would be a welcome bonus. Over the past few years that has been our weakness. Berge, Etheridge, Drodz all could score well at home but were really a liabilty away. It's obvious that we will need a more solid team this year having unfortunately lost Max Fricke and Kenny Bjerre at the top. Also, nice to see new faces.

Might be nice to try Pickering. By all accounts up and coming with a nice style. Also, being used to small-track Edinburgh may do better away than Jye. I wouldn't be disappointed with Jye as he'll score well at home.

Rode well that night. Certainly entertaining as I remember. I think he should be ok at home and will put himself about, no doubt.

I agree largely but feel that Kurz is at the stage of development where this is where he kick's on. Remember Fricke was similarly inconsistent and unconvincing in 2017 but last year kicked on to be a proper number one. Some of the improvement was down to the consistently good state of the track. He never misses an opportunity to praise the NSS and how much he likes riding it. From watching Kurtz on televised meetings at Poole, he looked uncomfortable on that frankly dreadful track. We will see!

As long as they don't 'poach' Kenneth Bjerre I really don't care. We may need him ourselves!

My view on what Mark Lemon said about Bjerre was that he couldn't commit to the start of the season. It may be possible that he is available later in the season. Just a thought, but if Kildermand doesn't work out or intends not to stay all season, then maybe Bjerre replaces him later. Who knows? With Kurtz, I think he is at a similar stage of development as Fricke was 2017 and see know reason why he can't make the same progress as Max has. He'll certainly have a consistently good track to do it on. I'm looking forward to watching him.

What happened to the talk about Fredrick Jacobsen coming in on a low average at reserve? Has that now changed?

I think you could be right. You could say that Kurtz is at about the level Fricke was a couple of years ago and he has progressed during his time at the NSS and with Lemon. Kurtz could do the same and maybe Holder although he seems to have an 'attitude' problem.