Grachan

I'm pretty sure I remember Jimmy Nilsen beating him a couple of times. I remember the Carl Blackbird meeting. Didn't he beat Hans more than once? A remarkable meeting for Carl. It shows how good Hans was, though, when you remember times he was actually beaten.

Hans Nielsen is the only rider I know of to manage a perfect 12.00 league average away from home during an entire season. He dropped a few races at home, though, bless him. It was 1986. He finished with a league average of 11.83. From what I remember, that year there was a small league and the League Cup took up half the season. His average in that was lower so it drops below Ivan's. In league alone, though, I'm pretty sure Hans in 1986 wins it.

It wasn't one that built up 4 levels with a hole in each level was it? That's what I had.

Most of my riders tended to get 5 or 6 points!

When I was young I used to make up pretend matches by rolling red, blue, white and yellow marbles down a shute. Who knows? If there is no trsce of this match maybe somebody was also playing marble speedway in 1948.

Funny thing is, I thought that. I didn't realise it was an actual match though.

Hooray! I threw myself off from the start by not getting the score chart matching the heats I think. Did Tim Hunt march across the centre green and phone the ref when he got excluded?

Last attempt. Sadist. 1 John Davis 3 3 3 3 = 12 2 Tim Hunt F 1 1 2 = 4 3 Jan Andersson 2 3 3 3 = 11 4 Mitch Shirra 1 2 1 2 = 6 5 Per Jonsson 3 3 3 1 = 10 6 Mark Chessell 2 1 0 = 3 7 Malc Holloway EF 0 0 = 0 heat 1 1 2 V 1 2 Davis, 1, 2, Hunt 3-3 heat 2 6 7 V 6 7 - 6, Chessell, 7, Holloway 2-4 5-7 heat 3 5 4 V 5 4 - Jonsson, 5, Shirra, 4 4-2 9-9 heat 4 3 6 V 3 7 - 3, Andersson, Chessell 6, 3-3 12-12 heat 5 5 4 V 1 2 - Jonsson, Shirra, 1, 2 5-1 17-13 heat 6 1 2 V 3 6 Davis, 3, Hunt, 6 4-2 21-15 heat 7 3 6 V 5 4 Andersson, 5, 4, Chessell 3-3 24-18 heat 8 2 7 V 2 7 2, 7, Hunt, Holloway 1-5 25-23 heat 9 5 4 V 3 6 Jonsson, 3, Shirra, 6 4-2 29-25 heat 10 1 2 V 5 4 Davis, Hunt, 5, 4 5-1 34-26 heat 11 3 7 V 1 2 Andersson, 1, 2 Holloway 3-3 37-29 heat 12 1 4 V 3 5 Davis, Shirra, 3, 5 5-1 42-30 heat 13 3 5 V 1 4 Andersson, 1, Jonsson, 4 4-2 46-32

Oh God! I see Jonsson should be a 1 in his last race. Chessell is wrong too. This is harder than I thought haha

Take 2: 1 John Davis 3 3 3 3 = 12 2 Tim Hunt F 1 1 2 = 4 3 Jan Andersson 2 2 3 3 = 10 4 Mitch Shirra 1 2 1 2 = 6 5 Per Jonsson 3 3 3 2 = 11 6 Mark Chessell 2 1 0 = 3 7 Malc Holloway EF 0 0 = 0 heat 1 1 2 V 1 2 Davis, 1, 2, Hunt 3-3 heat 2 6 7 V 6 7 - 6, Chessell, 7, Holloway 2-4 5-7 heat 3 5 4 V 5 4 - Jonsson, 5, Shirra, 4 4-2 9-9 heat 4 3 6 V 3 7 - 3, Andersson, Chessell 6, 3-3 12-12 heat 5 5 4 V 1 2 - Jonsson, Shirra, 1, 2 5-1 17-13 heat 6 1 2 V 3 6 Davis, 3, Hunt, 6 4-2 21-15 heat 7 3 6 V 5 4 5, Andersson, Chessell, 4 3-3 24-18 heat 8 2 7 V 2 7 2, 7, Hunt, Holloway 1-5 25-23 heat 9 5 4 V 3 6 Jonsson, 3, Shirra, 6 4-2 29-25 heat 10 1 2 V 5 4 Davis, Hunt, 5, 4 5-1 34-26 heat 11 3 7 V 1 2 Andersson, 1, 2 Holloway 3-3 37-29 heat 12 1 4 V 3 5 Davis, Shirra, 3, 5 5-1 42-30 heat 13 3 5 V 1 4 Andersson, 1, Jonsson, 4 4-2 46-32

That gives me the same score chart though. Because I had given Chessell a point by mistake there.

I was just about to put that. Chessell 3rd. 3-3

Does heat 7 have to be 3-3?

Ok. a 4-2 in heat 13. Are you sure it wasn't 45-33? Davis has to have a maximum so that Mitch can get 6 and Chessell 3.

Bugger. It would be Mark Chessell wouldn't it!

Whaaaaaaat!! Give me a minute.

1 John Davis 3 3 3 3 = 12 2 Tim Hunt F 1 1 2 = 4 3 Jan Andersson 2 3 3 3 = 11 4 Mitch Shirra 1 2 1 2 = 6 5 Per Jonsson 3 3 3 2 = 11 6 Mark Chessell 2 1 0 = 3 7 Malc Holloway EF 0 0 = 0 heat 1 1 2 V 1 2 Davis, 1, 2, Hunt 3-3 heat 2 6 7 V 6 7 - 6, Chessell, 7, Holloway 2-4 5-7 heat 3 5 4 V 5 4 - Jonsson, 5, Shirra, 4 4-2 9-9 heat 4 3 6 V 3 7 - 3, Andersson, 6, Chessell 2-4 11-13 heat 5 5 4 V 1 2 - Jonsson, Shirra, 1, 2 5-1 16-14 heat 6 1 2 V 3 6 Davis, 3, Hunt, 6 4-2 20-16 heat 7 3 6 V 5 4 Andersson, 5, 4, Chessell 3-3 23-19 heat 8 2 7 V 2 7 2, 7, Hunt, Holloway 1-5 24-24 heat 9 5 4 V 3 6 Jonsson, 3, Shirra, 6 4-2 28-26 heat 10 1 2 V 5 4 Davis, Hunt, 5, 4 5-1 33-27 heat 11 3 7 V 1 2 Andersson, 1, 2 Holloway 3-3 36-30 heat 12 1 4 V 3 5 Davis, Shirra, 3, 5 5-1 41-31 heat 13 3 5 V 1 4 Andersson, Jonsson, 1, 4 5-1 46-32

Think I've done it. And with no corrections! Which means I probably got it wrong. Should I post it here and be proven wrong?

Kennet did ride for us one year, Sidney. It was in the latter part of his career. I'm not sure if he was a full time member or rode as a number 8 while in the Second Division.

Both presumably. I see on the SGP article that all riders have to sign a contract to say that they are not contracted to any club in any other country.

Me too. I think they would attract good crowds as the only choice for this year.

Maybe they could get 16 riders together and have a British "Grand Prix" series or something like that.

If we get anything, I can't see it being more than a few open/challenge matches around August/September time. Teams could easily be made up with guests as they will be purely for entertainment purposes. I can't see there being any league. Matches like that would normally be very sparsely attended, but if they were the only speedway this year they'd probably attract pretty decent crowds. Poland is way ahead of the UK with Corona Virus and even they aren't starting until June - and even then without crowds, which the UK have said they won't do. So Poland will also be having crowds before they are viable in the UK. We'll be lucky to get anything at all. Jason has gone to Poland with Swindon's blessing, according to the website, as they couldn't guarantee him a start this year. Any rider who can get a place in Poland and is happy to stay there for 6 months will be a fool not to take it if they want a ride this year.

Why would the winner not be a true champion?

Sounds good to me. Although I suspect that if you have £10 entry most teams will go bust by the end of the year. But who cares? I got my scoreboard.