Bavarian

I must say, that this Polish website is really very good. It has lots of interesting and touching pics of Raniszewski's racing life, his private life and his funeral in the FlashGalery.

That Polish website is phantastic, they have mow uploaded all the official documents of that Test Match in Vienna, even with eye witness statements. But it's in Polish language and someone would have to come up with a decent English translation. http://www.raniszewski.com.pl/ From what I see now (race results, heat 15), it was definitely Hans Sidlo, an Austrian, who collided with Raniszewski. Bishop was in that race, but not in the crash. There are several eye witness reports, inclusive one of Hans Sidlo, which would be most interesting.

15. bieg. Sczepił się z Bishopem i wjechał w betonowe schody - tor nie miał bandy!

Was it? I thought with the knock our formula it did not matter if Your were winning a race or finish second, as there were no points awarded and all You needed was to be in the top two in each race. And therefore it did not matter at all if You were going out as the third or fourth placed loser of the k.o. race. And the best of that system was to see some of the riders just twice on the track. Or how about the top eight sitting out the first half of the show.

This only shows the inaccuracy of the contemporary report in the Speedway Star. The reporter mixed the happenings of two accidents of heats 14 and 15 into one. The truth is that in Heat 14, another Polish rider, Krzesinski, had a heavy crash and was taken to hospital. In this race (Heat 14) were Kamper and Sidlo for Austria, and Kaiser and Krzesinski for Poland. Kamper and Kaiser were out in front when Sidlo fell in front of Krzesinski. This race was later re-run without Krzesinski. In the next race, heat 15, the fatal accident of Raniszewski happened, and that race of course was never re-run, the match being abandoned. Riding in heat 15 for the Austrian team was Josef Seidl and Phil Bishop, and for the Poles it was Kapala and Raniszewski. It is obvious form seeing the video sequenece, that the two rides invovled in this tragic accident locked up and not that anyone had fallen in front of the other, as described in the Speedway Star report. Clearly that refers to the previous incident of Sidlo and Krzesinski in heat 14.

East European Grand Prix, Continental GP, Baltic GP, Pommeranian GP or simply Torun GP.

Yeah, it is indeed great, that a rider can still win a GP even when for whatever reason he has dropped a few points in the earlier heats (engine failures, exclusions etc). With every point scored counting for his world championship points total, noone can throw a race or just don't bother to try really hard to race for every single point. THat's the beauty if teh riders do not just compete for the title, but also a top eight position for next year. That gives nearly every rider something to aim for right til teh end of the season. On a GP night a rider who scores a 15 point max in the heats knows exactly what he's got, even if he might not be guaraneed to win the final. But nobody takes away his points. Yet every rider who makes the semis, regardless if he has 15 or just 8 or 9 points, is still in the hunt to win the GP on the night, and if he is indeed good enough to beat the other top scorers in the semi and grand final, that is very well deserved. As I said, this is an absolutely brilliant race formula and points scoring system. P.S.: You can't be serious to suggest replacing the current system with the former k.o. formula, are You?

There's absolutely no cause for changing the current system. With the traditional 20 heats, plus two semi-finals and final, and points scored throughout the meeting in all races counting for the championship, this is near perfect. It guarantees that there is absolutely no meaningless races for any rider anytime during the meeting. That's the best system we ever had for the Grand Prix. Don't even think about changing it!

Not so, heat 14 wasn't the fatal race, but only the last race that was completed. That rider Krzeszinski who fell in heat 14 was taken to hospital with lighter injuries (concussion etc). Then came heat 15, the fatal race, which was of course never completed. In that race the Polish pair met Phil Bishop and Josef Seidl (actually a German), who both rode for the Austrian team. Judging from this piece of information it is highly likely that the other rider involved in the accident is indeed Phil Bishop (or possibly Seidl, but I doubt that). I think it is Bishop behind the unfortunate Raniszewski, and himself lucky to slide off and narrowly miss that concrete stairway. From the video it is impossible to say how the accident happened or whose fault it was. Not that it matters anyway now after all those years.

Great to see a response by Bert Harkins. However I am still at a loss if there is a Scottish national speedway team manager or not. Who could do the job to organise such Tests with either the USA, Germany or any other interested nation? Is it entirely up to the Glasgow and Edinburgh promoters? That's not ideal, since they would always have their clubs interests as a priority. There should be someone (Harkins, or Dick Barrie or Kenny McKinna or who knows who) appointed Scotland manager and deal with the organisation. This would be the first and most important step towards international recognition of Scotland as a speedway nation of its own. I don't think that the reason Scotland can not take part in FIM team events as a nation on their own has anything to do with not having an FIM approved speedway track in their country. Canada doesn't have one either for example. The real reason is that the Scottish ACU isn't directly affiliated to teh FIM. The British ACU for the whole of Great Britain is, and since each federation are only allowed to enter just one team in the world cup, it is either England or Scotland, or as it now is Team GB. The British ACU decided that for the inaugural year of the new look Speedway World Cup (SWC) to send a Great Britain team as their representative side rather than an England team. In earlier years the FIM allowed the British ACU to hold their own (UK) world team cup qualifying round involving the then still ACU affiliated Australia, NZ, England and Scotland. In the World Pairs, on occasions the FIM even allowed the national federations to enter more than just one pairing. This happened with Sweden in 1972, when there were two Sweden pairs riding in a world Pairs Final. Sweden A and Sweden B even had a run-off against each other for the bronze medals. In those early years of the world pairs, when there were initially not a lot of nations interested to participate in thsi competition, the FIM allowed the ACU to enter up to four pairings representing the respective nations of England, Scotland, Australia and New Zealand (Wales was not considdereed to up to the neccessary international class). This FIM policy changed in the mid-1970, when more of the continental nations joined in. And when in the mid 70'S Australia, and a few years later New Zealand too, broke away from the ACU in London and established themselves as independent FIM members, Scotland fell by the wayside. Scotland never did what Australia and New Zealand did and remainded under the roof of the British ACU - and eventually got frozen out of international competition when the British ACU was restricted to just one entry in the world pairs and team events. England it was to represent the British ACU in the world team cup rounds against the now independent Aussies adn Kiwis, with the emerging USA taking the fourth spot that used to be given to Scotland in earlier years. In theory, Scotland, England and Wales could still have held their own preliminary meetings to decide which of the home nations goes forward to the FIM rounds, but with England's domination this would have been no contest. So Scotland (and Wales were frozen out completely) until in 2001, the ACU changed their policy and decided to sent a Great Britain team instead of England to represent them in the future SWC. That was the end of the road for the England team, and that is the current status quo. Let me tell You that in football there are several unrecognized "nations" (by the FIFA), who nevertheless organise their own international matches. For example Catalonia (A part of Spain, captial Barcelona) have their own national team and played against top teams such as Brasil to a sell out crowd of 100,000 at the Estadio Camp Nou in Barcelona last year. Scottish speedway should follow this way, no harm done in trying to set up a national team. It worked well in years past (teh 60'S adn 70's), and it would give the riders and fans up north of the border something special. I am certain that Scotland's official test matches would be a tremendous success. Scotland would also be welcome to visit Germany again. Get in touch with the German team manager Mr Schaefer, I sure something can be arranged. I'd love to see You come over here, though I'm not sure if Scotland away from home would be strong enough to challenge Germany? Maybe You should rather visit Norway or Holland instead?

That's correct, except that the Oberhausen track was not a long track (L-T), but a proper 400m speedway oval. The meeting at Oberhausen was in fact the Continental Final of the 1956 FIM World Individual Speedway Championship. Let me add a little more about the stadium / speedway track seen in the video of that bizzare fatal crash of the Polish rider Raniszewski. This was the Praterstadion in Vienna (also known as the 'Wiener Stadion'), which was and still is Austria' biggest sports stadium. It was the Austrian equivalent of what Wembley was in England. It hosted the International football matches and major speedway events in the 1950's and 1960's. Severall FIM world championship speedway event were held at this track, beginning with an individual Contionental semi-final in 1952 until the 1963 world team cup final. The stadium today, in a modernized shape, is no longer use for speedway, but football and athletics, and bears a new name (Ernst-Happel-Stadion). It hosted the (soccer) Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany.

Great! It seems everyone wants this, so where are the people to make it happen????? Hello out there ....

You mean there's some Bandits out there????

Wonderful idea - Scotland vs the USA. The Americans (minus Hancock) would be the ideal strength for a test series with the Scots, and a great attraction for the Glasgow, Edinburgh and Berwick supporters, too. I am sure the fans would love to see, much more so than any other club challenge matches. It just has to be arranged between the two nations. So, come on Scotland, go for it! The Yankees are waiting to come!

If there is anybody interested and responsible for the Scottisch National Team, he may simply get in touch with the German team manager Rene Schafer via the German Speedway Team website, link here: http://www.speedway-germany.com/_kontakt.htm I know that Schafer is trying to find international Test match opposition for the German team, so why not grab this opportunity with both hands and use it revive the Scotland team. As I already said, with two Germans riding for the Monarchs this year, it's the perfect situation and makes it all so much easier. And believe me, there are some talented German youngsters waiting for the chance to ride in Britian. Potential new assets for the Scottish clubs, maybe?

Rivett was a class act, but he was a KIWI, only living up in Queensland. Didn't he represent both Australia and (later on) New Zealand in Internationals?

Is Scottish Speedway represented by the Scottish ACU? Does Scotland have a national team manager? Would Scotland be interested to engage in international test matches? If so, can someone please put me into contact with their manager, because Team Germany are seeking international opposition for some test matches this year. They will probably meet Italy early in the season, but with Edinburgh having a couple of German riders (Wolbert and Dilger) it'd be a great opportunity to bring the rest of the German team over for a couple of internationals at Armadale and Glasgow over one weekend (perhaps even at Berwick, too).

The old ones need a rest after the European season. It would be interesting to compile a list of established Australian British League riders who do not participate in this year's Aussie titles. There's no 1 Lason Crump 2 Leigh Adams 3 Ryan Sullivan 4 Jason Lyons 5 Davey Watt 6 Craig Watson 7 Travis McGowan 8 Shane Parker 9 Steve Johnston who else?

My favorite female rider is Micaela Bazan from Argentina. Have You guys heard that in the Danish Second Division there is one club that wants to track an all female team this coming season, captained by Nana Jorgensen. Apparently they have four girls together to form the team. I wonder if they will be nicknamed the "Amazons"? Interesting! Wouldn't it be nice if once a year an international women's speedway trophy could be raced? The FIM organises such events in other forms of motorcycle racing (Moto Cross), so why not speedway?

And Switzerland,who are said to have 11 active ice racers, were again denied a place in the world team championship. What a joke!

No, Dale Finch is a New Zealander. But there is an American rider by the name of Jesse Finch.

If the GP series goes to Australia, it should be held at the best available stadia, which Gillman or Mildura certainly are not ! Most importantly they should not just hold one GP, maybe two in Aussie and one in NZ. That makes sense, when tehy get all teh GP riders and stuff over there. If Poland can have three GPs, and two each in Sweden and Denmark, there is every justification to stage a couple (or even more) in Australia as well. How about the Ekka in Brisbane, the new Sydney Showground, Melbourne Showground or Kwinana Beach in Perth? That woud be great tourist destinations.

Didn't he lose his life in a racing accident in America in the 1980's? I am not quite sure but seem to remember something like that. Perhaps anyone on here knows for sure?

Didn't he ride for Halifax?

This stadium You refer to is not in Cape Town, but in Durban. And You may be surprised to know that the old stadium which had to make way for the brand new one, has staged speedway in the past, in fact as recently as the 1980's and early 1990's! That stadium was the old King's Park aka Kingsmead Raceway, where Buddy Fuller & Co ran sprintcars stock cars and solo speedway! Durban has some tradtion with Speedway. It is a great holiday resort. If SA does get a SGP, it should go there! But I agree, it is not likely to happen in the next five years! And it would be quite a risk for the promoter!