Grachan

I'd say something was seriously wrong 5 years ago. There were not enough teams and sides were totally unbalanced with should-be heatleaders riding as second strings. I'd say it was a weaker league then, even if there were more top riders in individual teams. Also, riders who would be heatleaders in the PL tend to be reserves in the EL - eg Mads Korneliussen, Richard Hall, Magnus Karlsson. Either that or they have moved into the top 5 and are struggling - eg Ostergaard and also Christian Hefenbrock, who would be a top liner in the PL and is now struggling after moving into Wolves' top 5. A lot of things effect average of riders - eg race format, variety of different shape tracks, number of teams in the league etc. I don't think you could say that any league is weaker or stronger than another.

7.30 SS Xtra

Looking at the Swindon v Sheffield programme I mentioned earlier, Carl Glover had 2 R/R rides for the absent Arnold Haley and scored 1 point from 6 rides! Even though riders could have a maximum of 8 (or is it 9?) rides, the score sheet only had space for 6 rides, so maybe that's just as well.

Coincidentally I commented on the R/R rules from 1976 just yesterday in another thread. This was the R/R and guest rule in 1976, paraphrased from a Swindon v Sheffield programme. If the no 1 is out, then any other rider can have a maximum of 3 of his rides as R/R. If the no 2 is out, then the no 1 can have one of his rides and the remaining riders can have a maximum of 3 of his rides. If the no 3 is out, then the no 1 can't have any of his rides, the number 2 can have one of his rides and any other rider can have 3 of his rides. If the no 1 and no 2 are both out then the remaining riders can have a maximum of 3 R/R rides. If the no 1 and no 3 are out, the no 2 can replace the no 1 3 times or the no 3 once and the no 1 twice. All other riders can have 3 replacement rides. If 3 riders out of the top 5 are absent, a guest may be used for the highest average absentee and, if out of the 3 riders absent, one of the other heatleaders is out, rider replacement can also be used. I remember Finn Thompsen getting 21 from 8 rides at Swindon that year. I think they only had this rule for that season. Fancy that. Speedway changing the rules. Swindon won 53-25 by the way! And Martin Ashby beat Tommy Jansson 2-0 in the Golden Helmet.

When I saw that it reminded me of Erik Gundersen when he won his forst World title, saying that he was dejected after his first ride and Ole told him that it's not important to win the first ride as you can still go on and win the title. Ole learned from his own mistakes by the look of it!

He's class isn't he. Your type of rider no doubt Frigbo! Ole Olsen's first race is just amazing. A sort of: 'Oh, ooh, go on, oh my God, yes, yes, go on, oh my God he's... OH NO!!!' type of race. Great stuff.

Me too. I have it on video!

For racing, incident and drama, the 1972 Final certainly beats it in my opinion.

I was also there in 1981. My third Wembley Final along with 1975 and 1978, and the only one I saw where Ole Olsen didn't win it. The one off World Finals were fantastic, but unfortunately they did start to go downhill with meetings like the Amsterdam 2 day effort, which was pretty embarassing. One section full of British fans and, apart from that, an almost empty stadium. Which other finals did Igo to? 1975, 1976, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1985. After that I start to lose track of what year it was! I went to one at Vojens where Per Jonsson came off and Erik Gundersen won it in a run-off against Hans Nielsen. Saw Per win at Bradford. I think that was 1990. Plus, I was one of the elite few at Amsterdam. I think that's all. Never got to see one at Ullevi. It's all very well mourning their loss, but the damn things weren't even on television in the end!

I've been through a few meetings over the last couple of years where TRs have been used (normally when people have complained about the result being false). I did this by looking at how the first two probable Tac Subs might have been used and basing their success on the scores from the TR (eg if the TR produced a win, so does the TS), plus guessing how any further probable Tac Subs may have gone based on the form of the riders. Every time I have done this the match would have been closer under the old TS rule. The TR is a horrible rule for me as it emphasises this unfairness and imbalance in the scores so obviously, but the TS rule was more unfair. Personally I see no reason why we need either. The low points limits these days are enough to ensure scores should remain relatively close. I know it can create closer matches, but it's just horrible. Imagine if someone loses the Play-off final because of it! Nightmare.

Did they have safety fences on the inside in the sixties then? http://www.speedwayplus.co.uk/images/honest3.jpg

I though he did! I wasn't sure if I'd actually imagined that or misheard it.

Colin. Sorry about that case of mistaken identity. I remember seeing the Durex advert in a barbers shop once when I was getting a hair cut (Something for the weekend sir.) It's possible I'm getting the picture confused with a birthday card I once bought which DEFINITELY had an action shot of Gordon on it. I vaguely remember the Mars advert. Didn't the guy with the Mar bar say: 'I hope the lads win tonight', or something like that?

The thing I remember about Gordon Kennett is that he was used in a Durex advert.

I'm sure I remember Gordon Kennett riding for Swindon one year. Or was that as a no 8?

I think there was a thread on it a while back and TMC was on it! I went with Tee-Mill tours and was also given 'provisions'. We were most fed up with gerkins and stale bread rolls by the end of the trip.

That seems a bit of a dodgy contract. I'm not surprised he got snotty. Still, he did sign it I suppose.

The 'technicality' being that he didn't enter it.

Didn't Loram opt out of the qualifiers? So I see no reason why he should be in the GP. Lee Richardson and Chris Harris look the likely two to pick from if one more Brit is allowed. Lee hasn't proved himself this year, and has also opted out of the qualifiers so I wouldn't give it to him. In fact, if he's at Swindon next year, I'll be glad if he's not in it. It might improve his league form. Therefore it has to be Harris, who has shown he can do some good meetings at international level. I don't see him doing any better than Richardson has this year to be honest, but there's no other choice really. Loram is a better rider, but Harris deserves it more.

He was great in 'Kung Fu'.

That's no fun. That's how I'd have said it anyway.

While we're on the subject, how do you pronounce Miedzinski?

That's definitely the one, even if I did get the teams wrong!

Thanks. I'll check that out. It seems they have stuff on quite regularly as I've just watched a match. Couldn't quite work out the teams - one was shown as GTZ and the other ZKZ - which I think was Stal Gorzow because of the Mickey Mouse body colour. A few riders looked quite impressive. Pawel Staszek. A bit of a gating tart, but beat Walasek pretty easily when he did gate. Mariusz Staszewski won the match for the away side with a round the boards overtake. I liked him. Had a bit of Nicki Pedersen about him. Never heard of these riders before, but they looked pretty useful. Jonas Davidsson rode. Scored nothing!! EDIT - Hey, Peatbog, I've just noticed that it was you that I got the information about this from on Digital Spy! Thanks. (That Manko bloke - that's me that is!)

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but there is a channel on the Hotbird Sattelite called 'Edusat' that shows Polish Speedway and it is showing a meeting right now!