Grachan

Rayleigh?

OH...NO...IT...ISN'T!!

I didn't see that much in the run-off, except they possibly looked for each other on the first turn. After that it seemed a fairly legitimate race. There was also the Inter Continetal final the same year, where Ole Olsen waved a couple of Danes through on the last lap.

Yes, it's Christmas time, and what would Christmas be without a Panto? Remember when Panto Villain cum Fairy Godmother Bruce Penhall cast a magic spell so that Cinders (Dennis Sigalos) shall go to the ball. Also starring Shawn and Kelly Moran as The Ugly Sisters. 'It's Brucie!' 'Where?' 'Behi-i-i-ind you!!!'

I used to quite enjoy second halves, but to be honest thay carried little weight for supporters. The main advantage was you could leave at some time during the second half and avoid queuing to get out of the car park. Nowadays there aren't normally enough spectators to have to worry about that much anyway. I still look at the score after 13 heats to get an idea of how the match has gone, although 15 heats is quite a good number as it gives everyone 4 rides plus the extra heat at the end. The formula now is better than when they just stuck an extra reserve race in heat 14.

Olle Nygren?

Bugger. I thought that would be quite difficult. Mavis it was.

Aha, I can be Mr Smartarse on this one, because my dad had a programme from it. Peter Collins won it, Les Collins was Second and John Louis was third. When England won the 1977 World Team Cup in Poland, who was the reserve who came out and had 2 wins?

And a jolly fetching titfer it is too. Cheers Frigbo (& Norbold).

Great to see a packed Owlerton, but who put that chimney there?

Erik Gundersen, Lance King, Simon Wigg, Phil Collins, Jan O Pedersen, Alan Grahame, Peter Ravn.

The only thing that made Peter more predicatable than Phil was that if he was behind you knew he was going to get past whereas with Phil he might not. Good rider, though - Phil Collins. I remember him winning the Overseas Final at Belle Vue one year. I'd have to agree that Peter had the edge in pretty much every department though. (Unless Phil could gate - I can't remember, though being a Collins I'd say it was unlikely)

I remember Eric Broadbelt having an accident where he collided either with a track raker or a grading tractor(?) I still recall the picture of him on the track with a badly cut face. I guess that must have been around 1974/75 time.

I don't think I have unfortunately. If anyone has got some, though, I'd gladly make a copy of it and put it up. Wouldn't mind seeing it myself come to that!

Mr Gundersen's name did pop into my mind as I was writing that. I was thinking more about league matches though. Not many riders could have finished a season with a perfect 12 point league average away from home. He wasn't unbeatable by any means, but if one of your own riders beat him it was always an event and, even more importantly, annoyed the Oxford supporters!

Andrew Silver, Shawn McConnell, Peter Collins, John Cook, Michael Lee, Per Jonsson, Ivan Mauger. It was always worth watching Hans Nielsen just to see if someone could beat him.

Wonder if Ipswich Town won at Old Trafford??

It's certainly not something you've ever tried to keep a secret! The Mort certainly had a good moan about the conditions during that meeting. Not as good as John Louis though: 'Get out in that slimy and that's it. You're done for!!'

You sound just like Chris Morton falcace!

They did have speedway back then, but it was raced on celluloid.

Incidentally, if anyone has any old stuff they fancy sharing I'd love to see it - particularly from the pre-Betamax 70s!

I read the comments today and thought exactly the same thing, both in terms of his remarks being offensive and the point that changes are made every year. Giving points to a team just because they are behind sums it up perfectly.

Two blokes in a bar. One says: 'My dog's got no nose.' 'Really?' says the other. 'How does he smell?' 'Bloomin' 'orrible!' says the first one. Good joke eh?

So you did. We've really got to stop agreeing like this Racer X! It's an interesting point about Gjedde/Loram, particularly as a lot of Charlie's points came from reserve. The problem is, give discretion on one rider and everyone will start wanting it. With Charlie Gjedde, though, presumably he'll be based on his PL average from last year. Averages still seem the best way of selecting riders' grades, even though they are far from perfect.