lucifer sam

After a gate-and-go Heat 1, Jonsson passes Bjarne Pedersen on the final lap of Heat 2. All the best Rob

I get up early for F1, so why not speedway? I'll send you a text early on Saturday morning "OMG!!! Bunyan has won the GP!!!" All the best Rob

Nah, stay up and watch it live. I need some (online) company while watching the GP to keep me awake. All the best Rob

Richard is a credit to both Scunthorpe and British Speedway. He always seems to email me in the early hours of the morning - I think he thinks of Scunthorpe Speedway 24/7. I honestly didn't think I would ever become associated with a particular speedway club again after the demise of Oxford, but Richard has persuaded me otherwise. All the best Rob

Arnie, I agree with your sentiments over the 1993 heat format (although the joke format used in the 1998 Elite League was worse - the one with "nominated riders" replacing the No. 4 throughout the programme). But the 1994-1996 heat format consisted of 16 heats not 15 (there was a "nominated" Heat 15 followed by a "top scorers" Heat 16). All the best Rob

Wembley was only at full capacity for the following World Finals: 1949 1950 1951 1952 All the best Rob

I tend to look at big meeting consistency as opposed to league meeting consistency. Fundin finished in the top 3 of the World Final every year between 1956 to 1965. Translate that kind of form into a GP series and you've got a man who would have been hard to beat. I agree with Norbold. Fundin would have reigned supreme between 1956 and 1963, and won 6 maybe 7 out of the 8 titles. Briggo wouldn't have had to wait until 1964 though - he would have made it happen for him, like he did in the run-off for first place in 1957. He'd have won one title, and then been a leading contender between 1964 and 1967, adding another 2 or 3 titles. Briggo would maybe have won as many titles. Fundin would have won more. Sadly the guy who may have missed out would have been Peter Craven, wnose World Final record was inconsistent. Craven could definitely beat the best on his day (and remember his World Final record was equal to beat of Briggs at the time of his death, with 2 titles each), but also he had one or two World Final stinkers. That may have cost him over a series. Craven's best form was in 1960 when he was one ride away from going through the whole World Championship unbeaten, so maybe he would have triumphed that season. All the best Rob

Falcace, good point well made - and your list doesn't even include: Bluey Wilkinson, Vic Duggan, Jan O Pedersen, Nicki Pedersen, Jack Parker, Leigh Adams, Igor Plechanov, Graham Warren, Tom Farndon or Vic Huxley. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Whether Mike Bast could have done a credible job riding in the British League is open for debate - I think he would have done. Of course we can't know for sure. Stating he is amongst the best 20 or even 50 best riders of all-time is stretching the bounds of credibility. All the best Rob Sidney, I agree - since 1928 there have been many greats. If Bast was as good as them, he would have made the Overseas Final a bit more. All the best Rob

Hans just didn't have a very good 1990 - well not by his own standards. He was pretty good the whole year around, but if anything he got even better just before a World Final. There was less avidence of that in 1990. His average was down by about a point from 11.00 to just above 10.00. Which was low for Hans. And he looked more beatable than usual heading into the World Final - including at Bradford in the Gold Cup Final. I was much more surprised when he didn't win in 1991. He was flying for much of July and August 1991, culminating with winning 13 out of 13 races on the Bank Holiday before the World Final. But he just had a bad meeting. Well I say bad meeting, but third in the world is still not too shabby. But I did expect Hans to win in 1991. And Erik's accident did definitely affect him. At the time of Erik's accident, Hans's BL average was around 11.30. By the end of 1989, it was down to less than 11.00. And then he never got that high again. The main reason is Hans stopped taking the chances when he missed the gate at BL level. Before he was always quite aggressive pushing others riders aside on the first/second bend, even if it was a challenge match or a second half race. Not dirty as such, but quite hard. Hans at his peak was quite a tough cookie. He was still a damn good rider - but not quite the unstoppable force we saw every week at Cowley between 1985 and 1989. All the best Rob

It wasn't an excuse, I just had a hunch going into that final that Hans wasn't going to win it and I was right. And I hardly need to make excuses for a four-time World Champion. All the best Rob Sidney, Your figures are out. We once researched into this: http://www.speedway-...pic=38689&st=15 Top league averages were: 1. Nielsen 11.83 (1986) 2. Nielsen 11.73 (1987) 3. Fundin 11.60 (1958) 4. Michanek 11.55 (1973) 5. Duggan 11.54 (1947) 6. Mauger 11.53 (1969) It turns out that Mauger's 1969 average was incorreclty reported, as two tape exclusions were not counted. His proper league average for that year is 11.53 - still a superb figure. All the best Rob

Falcace, I never expected Nielsen to win that final. He had been very good at Bradford in the past, but that all changed after Erik's accident. Hans started to have some very mediocre performances for Oxford at Bradford, even failing to hit double figures one or twice, which was almost unheard of. Hans lost some of his edge over Erik's accident (although he was still good enough to finish a point ahead of anyone else in the 1990 British League averages), in particular at Odsal. But he was still the best rider in the world for most of the time between 1990-1996, but not the force of 1985-1989. As for Shawn Moran, it was a farcical situation, especially as he had been completely open at the Overseas Final as to what he'd been taking for his cold. The FIM should have either stopped him from riding that day, or excluded him from the championship shortly afterwards - to leave it until after the final was just crazy. I thought he was going to win it, as he just seemed to get better and better as the night progressed. All the best Rob

Mauger was not far behind Michanek in domestic form in 1973 ahd way ahead of him in international form. It's difficult to look beyond Mauger between 1968 and 1975, only Olsen could have gone the distance and maybe have won one (maybe in 1972?). Collins and Olsen would have then taken over between 1976 and 1978, while Lee would be my favourite for 1979. All the best Rob

I would like to see a slightly different qualitying system to the GP series with more different riders each year (personally I think only the top 6 should automatically qualify for the following year). BUT I can't think of one single year from 1995 to 2011 where there has been a rider outside of the series who could have won a 6 to 11 round series that year. White Knight, could you enlighten me to the year and the rider where this has happened? On the other hand, it happened a lot under the old one-off World Final. Quite often one of the top stars was missing by the time we reached the World Final - mainly through either injury or bad luck. Examples over just a short period of time (1976-1984): * Ole Olsen and Anders Michanek (1976) * Peter Collins (1978) * Ivan Mauger (the reigning World Champion) and Ole Olsen (1980) * Erik Gundersen, Michael Lee and Bobby Schwartz (maximums in BOTH the WTC and World Pairs) (1982) * Tommy Kundsen (1983) * Michael Lee (suspended) and Dennis Sigalos (1984) All these riders might have won in those years have they reached the final. Don't get me wrong, I love the old World Final, it was so very dramatic. But far more many top riders did not contest the World Final compared to the GP series which DOES feature the cream competing against each other with almost no exceptions. All the best Rob

Stop it All the best Rob

Surely each system has its good and bad points. Yes, I miss the old World Final for its sheer drama, but it isnt coming back any time soon. The current system means we get Cardiff once a year rather than every six or seven years. Cardiff is no great shakes in terms of racing, but in terms of the ocassion, it's the highlight of the British season. Under a Grand Prix, the best rider is probably more likely to end the year as World Champion, but it's still not guaranteed. And the one-off World Finals always produced a worthy winner, even if it wasn't necessarily the best rider that year (but rather the best rider that day). And as Iris has pointed, it certainly was NOT the case that EVERY rider had the chance to become World Champion under the old system. So its swings and roundabouts - both system have their merits, However, they do seem to be some who take the opportunity to belittle the GP series at every single opportunity and it gets a little boring. All the best Rob

In other words, you're losing the argument to Iris, so you'd like to stop All the best Rob

The years active is wrong here in many cases. Hans Nielsen was riding in Denmark in 1976, the year before he came over to England in 1977. Likewise Erik Gundersen (who is just a little bit older than Nielsen) was also riding in Denmark for at least one season (if not more) in Denmark, before he came over to ride for Cradley in 1979. Even allowing for this, the number of years is wrong. Nielsen 1977-1999 is 23 years not 22. Likewise Gundersen 1979-1989 is 11 years not 10. Just a couple of examples. I imagine the years for just about every rider is inaccurate here. The old World Finals were great, but why do people pick apart the GP series just for the sake of it? All the best Rob

Oxford V Mildenhall (NL) 17 April 1980 1: Sully 2: Grahame (exc), Baldwin (ret) 3: Ackroyd 4: Fletcher 5: Ackroyd 6: Warne 7: Hack 8: Grahame 9: Ackroyd 10: Sully 11: Grahame (exc) 12: Ackroyd 13: Hack Oxford V Berwick (NL) 29 May 1980 1: Jones 2: Grant 3: Ackroyd (fell) 4: Crockett (fell) 5: Jones 6: Close (exc) 7: Crockett 8: Handley (fell) 9: Grant 10: McDermott (ret) 11: Brown 12: Caroline (No. 8 taking R/R ride) 13: Hack Oxford V Glasgow (NL) 26 June 1980 1: Passey 2: Bowen (FX), Palmer (fell - took no further part in meeting) 3: Warren 4: Campbell 5: McKinna 6: Campbell 7: Crockett 8: Crockett (res for Passey) 9: Campbell (ret) 10: Warren 11: Bowen 12: Reid 13: Warren Oxford V Miton Keynes (NL) 10 July 1980 1: Clifton 2: Davis (ret) 3: Harkins 4: Fletcher 5: Clifton 6: Crockett 7: Fletcher 8: Davis (ret) 9: Davis (res for Allaway), Allaway (tapes - taking R/R ride for Plant) 10: Harkins (ret) 11: Clifton 12: Payne (taking R/R ride) 13: Allaway Oxford V Milton Keynes (CH) 26 March 1981 1: Fletcher (FX) 2: Handley 3: Ackroyd (ret) 4: Harrison (fell) 5: Maclean 6: Perks (ret) 7: Grahame (taken out of race, but came back in after T/S Ackroyd excluded), Ackroyd (two minutes) 8: Allaway (ret) 9: Payne 10: Fletcher (ret), Perks (two minutes) 11: Alderton (res for Allaway) 12: Maclean 13: Harrison (ret) Oxford V Weymouth (CH) 9 April 1981 1: Fletcher 2: Grahame 3: Maclean 4: Grahame 5: Maclean 6: Young 7: Harrison (exc) 8: Dekok 9: Tulloch 10: Shakespeare 11: Handley 12: Shakespeare 13: Ackroyd Oxford V Milton Keynes (NL) 14 May 1981 1: Allaway 2: Payne 3: Hibbs (fell) 4: Alderton 5: Price 6: Fletcher 7: Hibbs 8: Fletcher 9: Payne 10: Hibbs 11: Allaway 12: Alderton (res for Hibbs) 13: Baldwin Oxford V Weymouth (NL) 27 August 1981 1: Grahame 2: Handley (FX), Tulloch (FX - took no further part in meeting) 3: Evitts (ret) 4: Crockett 5: Fletcher 6: Crockett (two minutes - not replaced as fellow reserve Tulloch injured) 7: Price 8: Grahame (FX) 9: Fletcher 10: Shakespeare 11: Handley 12: Evitts (ret) 13: Fletcher I am also looking for the heat results/times of the abandoned Oxford V Mildenhall KO Cup for 27 May 1982 - never published in the Speedway Star. Oxford: Graham Drury 4 (2) Brian Woodward R/R Colin Ackroyd 2+1 (1) Mick Fletcher 0 (2) Ashley Pullen 6 (2) Bill Barrett 5+1 (2) Simon Cross 6 (2) Mick Handley (no. 8) 0 (1) Mildenhall Richard Knight 3+1 (2) Mick Bates 3+1 (2) Robert Henry 3 (2) Derek Harrison 2 (1) Carl Baldwin 1+ 1(1) Ray Bales 1 (2) Andy Warne 0 (2) 1: Drury, Knight, Bates, Handley (R/R), 64.0 (3-3) 2: Cross, Barrett, Bales, Warne, 66.2 (8-4) 3: Pullen, Harrison, Baldwin, Fletcher, 66.0 (11-7) 4: Barrett, Ackroyd, Henry, Warne, 68.6 (16-8) 5: Pullen, Bates, Knight, Fletcher, 65.2 (19-11) 6: Cross (R/R), Henry, Drury, Bales, 64.8 (23-13)

Oxford V Scunthorpe (NL) 5 May 1977 (Match abandoned) 1: Whiting 2: White (fell) 3: Sheldrick 4: Sizmore 5: Whiting 6: Watkin 7: Sizmore Oxford V Mildenhall (KO Cup) 10 August 1978 1. Hack (FX), Bates (FX) 2. Moore (ret) 3. Askew 4. Spink 5. Bates 6. Knight 7. Henry 8. Spink 9: Lamb 10: Bales 11: Henry (who was R/R in this race) 12. Bales 13. Spink (who was R/R in this race) Oxford V Nottingham (CH) 5 April 1979 1: Featherby 2: McNeil 3: Hughes 4: Meredith 5: Featherby (Exc) 6. Share 7. McDonald (Exc) 8. Barker 9. Perks (ret) 10. Hughes 11. Rumsey (ret), Featherby (ret) 12. McDonald 13. McNeil (reserve for Hughes) Oxford V Berwick (KO CUP) 5 July 1979 1:McDermott (fell) 2: Wright 3: Askew 4. Close 5: Askew 6. Hack (fell) 7. Barker (FX) 8. Hack 9: Wright 10: Hack 11: Handley 12: Close 13: Askew (R/R for Lamb) Oxford V Workington (NL) 23 August 1979 1: Havelock 2: Barker (fell) 3: Emerson (ret - took no further part in meeting) 4. Blaynee 5. Askew 6: Collins 7: Emerson (non-starter) 8. Blaynee 9: Collins 10: Margarsson 11. Haley 12: Blaynee (replaced Hindle), Hindle (tapes) 13. Margarsson Oxford V Berwick (NL) 23 August 1979 1: Wright 2: Grant (fell - took no further part in meeting) 3: Fullerton 4: Kynman (res for Grant) 5: Wright (FX) 6: Handley 7: Close 8: Chapman 9: Askew (FX) 10: Fullerton 11: Jones, Chapman (MX - replaced by Barker won who race) 12: Fullerton 13: Jones Oxford V Milton Keynes V Rye House (3TT) 18 October 1979 1: Hubbard 2: Tarrant 3: Holloway (fell) 4: Askew 5: McNeil 6: Humphreys 7: Mullarkey (fell), Tarrant (MX - replaced by Kent) 8: McNeil 9: Handley 10: Pullen 11: Passey (res for Humphreys) 12: McNeil 13: Kent (res for Tarrant) 14: Pullen 15: McNeil 16: Fiala (Exc) 17: Kent (res for Tarrant) 18: MacLean

The results of the 1962 and 1963 British Championships are officially recognised. They didn't use to be, but after a campaign they were added around 10 years ago, with Peter Craven the winner of both. Both took place over three "semi-finals" - a mini GP series if you like. All the best Rob

Steve, leave these with me. Sorry for not getting back to these previously. All the best Rob

Parsloes is the last person I'd expect to be ageist, given his close links with perhaps the most entertaining rider to ever grace the third tier, Buzz Burrows. Buzz was great value, but was very old for a third tier rider. It makes his take on Hancock in the GPs all the more perplexing. If Greg is good enough, then he's young enough. All the best Rob

Why? Long live King Hancock All the best Rob

Stop it Post-war, there were a lot of older riders about. For starters, I believe Vic Duggan made his World Final debut (indeed only appearance) in 1950 at the age of 39. Anyone older than him? All the best Rob