Parsloes 1928 nearly

That's right... Biggs and Boyce being the only two who lost a run-off for the title and didn't even get a runners-up slot out of it...! I did miss out Langton from the very first final though... Odd that I missed that as it was surely THE most infamous run-off of all time..

One of only FIVE riders to lose a run-off for the title in a WF who never actually won the thing; and one of only two of these (Waterman being the other...) to finish on the rostrum again after the run-off failure, so that puts him up there and abouts.. It would be SIX, but as Moran was later stripped of his silver medal due to 'drugs' seems prudent to leave him out...

Tony recently reappeared riding in a Short Track UK meeting. I'll look up the details, Phil.. I should know off the top of my head but it's late and you know me old grey cells are on the way out!!!!

Hmm, well in Bluey's case surely not that many, as sadly he was dead before 1940 was up.. You'd obviously know this as I know you've read Dr. Belton's excellent biography...!!

Mind you he still finished SECOND in that '75 World Final - so his 'plan' to relinquish the title nearly didn't work out too well..!!!

Spot on arnie. We agree so much (even on choice of prog. boards! ) that people will start to talk!! You can't get better than THIS list of "best" riders not to be World Champs. On the purely empirical test of number of rostrum positions without ever being on the top step, Gollob is head and shoulders above the others. Plechanov's one of only two riders only to be runner-up twice but never champ: the wonderful Split Waterman's the other. Duggan and Parker dominated in years when there was no championship. Plech was also twice on the rostrum and really should've been the Polish champ that was ordained in '73. Moran's I can't agree with you - but then I think that was your little jest!! Anyone who remembers Michanek at this prime will know that, yes, he was without doubt the best in the world in '73 and '74 and would easily have won a GP series in those years. Oh, and Havelock won ALL of the major rounds in his world Final winning year BTW, so no reason at all to diss his credentials as a world champ. On the other hand would competing in six 'rounds' and winning NONE of them make someone a worthy champ..?! That's what England's las "world champ" managed.. I'm sorry to say it, especially with his Kentish connections but there's no question that the LEAST deserving World Champ in history is our own Mark Loram...

Can anyone confirm that 19 September does remain accurate as the date of the Northside-staged round..? And a start-time for this meeting please..?

Not that stand, no... I understand that even though it is, by decades, the most modern part of the stadium it's been neglected so badly it's a H&S risk...

And in 2001, that side was redeveloped with a brand-new, state-of-the-art, glass fronted grandstand dubbed the Mick The Miller Stand. But this facility was hardly ever used and has been shut down (and falling down) for over five years now. If you ever want a case study in how NOT to run a stadium, go no further than the management of Wimbledon Dog Track!!!!

So do I.. Am missing Buzz ride for Weymouth at Mildenhall on Sunday as it is as it clashes with the 'V' Festival (it's a load of beat-combos playing music, MM!! ) - would be peeved if that ALSO clashed with the KL Round of the U-15s!!

Strange order in which to list these two meetings though isn't it!!!

Must admit as a business decision this makes no sense.. Charge £12 to £15 they'd certainly make more money than the 25 nicker a go is going to make...!

Many thanx. And I think that's a VERY good line-up. A 'proper' 16 rider, 20 heat meeting with just the top three berths to chase... Should make it mega competitive.. I might go up for this one... Certainly appeals far more to me than a pointless GP' round'...!!!

What IS the line-up then..? Funny that people say the GPs are so great but there's little interest in the only meeting which actually allows people to qualify (rather than be selected by someone at a desk!) for it!! Contrast with the huge interest in the past and huge excitement of penultimate rounds of the World Championship: the '76 & '77 Intercontinental Finals at Wembley & White City respectively spring to mind....

Hmm, five and half years ago and no-one has picked up on shazzy's amazing gaffe...!! The gallows at Tyburn was last used in 1783!!! I know the Canterbury Crusaders liked picking the odd old-timer but surely not someone over 200 years old!!! A more modern example has slipped thru' the net to date: that young Aussie, elder brother of Sam, named by parents who'd presumably been celebrating the birth of their first-born son a little too hard: Corey Dore!!!!

Er, have you been on the sauce!? It was the WHITE helmet colour which changed to green!!!! I understand this was Sky TV who wanted this change - but have to say that makes little sense; and too often you find shades of green which are as yellow in hue as the yellow!! I say bring back yellow and balack AND white!!!

Bloody hell - this is bad news. Kind regards to Yvonne & Gordon and the family at this time and of course best wishes for a speedy recovery to the young master himself..

Is that one 'doubling-up' with the Buccs' visit to KL then or has the latter changed..??

Well sure - but Sky+ which is a brilliant thing generally, does have a weak spot when it comes to overrunning live sport. Has happened to me several times including this morning.. Surely such a clever toy as sky+ is, could be tinkered with so that a live sports broadcast carries on being recorded on the box until it's finished NOT ended at the scheduled time...

I sky plussed it but (like a couple of years ago with the European Champions Cup Final [Football]) when a prog. overruns even as live sport the flipping thing ended well short of the end so I missed the climax. Completely gob-smacked to come on here and see that Poland won...: they weren't at the races at the point (after heat 19) that sky+ gave up on me! But having said that, what a fantastic meeting. The WTC IS the future of international Speedway, a zillion miles better than the -yawn! - GPs...

What I would give now for Speedway matches between teams from these two towns... I notice Dagenham never took on Rye House away. Perhaps it was always cloudy first thing in the morning...

Bloomin' 'eck..: sorry, no...!!!

Both Dagenham & Romford rode out of the Dagenham track...: which stood a stone's throw from where I know live on Ripple Road...

Come on, foreign nationals of a country at which we were at war (in this case Italians...) may find themselves relatively innocently implicated and therefore interned - that's just a fact of war. But Taylour was Irish and she was interned ONLY because of her treasonous views and associations. I am at a loss as to why you want to defend her for this. She WAS an active Nazi...: mercifully being 'active' in this country did not give her the abiklity to do what her beloved Hitler was doing in Germany but I note you concede that she did join in throwing bricks through Jewish buisnesses in Stepney so she was well on the way... And sorry no, describing Hitler as a God is not a "stupid comment (we all make at times)" it is something far more serious than that.. At the Battle of Cable St., Moseley's pack of brown shirts were seen off by an overwhelming majority of decent East End folk. I don't call the scum who set out that day to attack Jews, "misguided" I call them Nazis and internment was the best place for them. Shame they didn't throw away the key...

How is anyone rewriting Speedway history..! What YOU want to do is blank out that this rider was a Nazi and went to prison for being one. The only person seeking to pervert the truth here is you...