lucifer sam

Agreed - Tim Sugar was a very good team manager and knew the rulebook inside out. You couldn't get anything past him. All the best Rob

We're talking about a Champions Of Champions British Final meeting, though. All are good riders and some have to miss out. In my opinion, Carter would struggle to finish in the top ten against that kind of company. Nearly all the other riders are more decorated than him - KC won two British Finals, two BLRCs and a World Pairs and that's about it. Not much when you stack it against the other riders in the list, some of whom have a huge list of individual honours. Also, Carter lost the 1981 British Final to Steve Bastable. With all due respect to Stevie B, he's probably the weakest British Champ, and I can't imagine him winning e.g. against Louis/Simmo/PC were at their pomp in the mid-70s. Yet he beat Carter in '81. It's tricky when comparing eras. I would rate e.g. Joe Screen above Kenny Carter. Screen was amazingly good during his Bradford years. Others will disagree and place KC above Joe. All the best Rob

Ok, I'll nail my colours to the mast for the 10 qualifiers to the Commonwealth Final: 1. Peter Craven 2. Peter Collins 3. Michael Lee 4. Mark Loram 5. John Louis 6. Malcolm Simmons 7. Dave Jessup 8. Simon Wigg 9. Gary Havelock 10. Joe Screen (Reserve. Kenny Carter) All the best Rob

There's a four-generation Dugard dynasty, with Martin Dugard the best of them. All the best Rob

Middlo would probably admit that Neil Street was Poole's best team manager. He started the production line of Australian talent, that has served Poole well through to the current day. Neil Street bringing in Craig Boyce, Leigh Adams, Tony Langdon, Gary Allan, etc, started that trend. Bernard had an outstanding record. Team manager in 1985 - won the BL. Same in 1986. And then quit early in 1987. His record was 2 out of 2 at the top level - does any manager have a 100% winning record in top tier speedway? I think Bernard was ruthless with the tactics and very good at managing the riders and getting the most out of them. All the best Rob

Going by stats alone and awarding 3-2-1 to the top three places: 1 Joe Screen 19 (2-6-1) 2 Kelvin Tatum 13 (2-3-1) 3 Michael Lee 12 (2-3-0) 4 Chris Louis 12 (2-2-2) 5= Mark Loram 10 (3-0-1) 5= Andy Smith 10 (3-0-1) 7 Dave Jessup 10 (1-2-3) 8 Kenny Carter 9 (2-1-1) 9 Peter Craven 8 (2-1-0) 10= Simon Wigg 7 (2-0-1) 10= Gary Havelock 7 (2-0-1) 12 Peter Collins 7 (1-1-2) 13= Chris Morton 6 (1-1-1) 13= Andy Grahame 6 (1-1-1) 15 Neil Evitts 5 (1-1-0) 16 Malcolm Simmons 5 (1-0-2) 17 Eric Boocock 5 (1-0-2) 18 John Louis 4 (1-0-1) Although it should be pointed out that Craven scored his 8 points from only 3 finals, before his premature death. IMO Craven, Collins and Lee are the actual top three. All the best Rob

Local derbies with Eastbourne next season? All the best Rob

Slightly confused as how we're discussing the merits of the riders around Hyde Road, a track that never staged a single British Final. Surely any British Final Champion Of Champions would took place at Brandon, the spiritual home for the event. Of course, the BLRC Champion Of Champions would take place at Hyde Road. All the best Rob

Andy Grahame finished on the rostrum of three successive British Finals (1982-1984), with a win, second place and third place apiece... in a competitive era too. He probably has a better British Final record then several of the riders who have been included. All the best Rob

I think there's going to be hundreds with a "q" somewhere in their name. Beginning with Q seems much rarer. So far we have: Chris Quigley Allan Quinn Aston Quinn Bob Quick Cyril Quick Craig Quinn T(?) Quick Any more? Any first names beginning with a Q? No Quincy's? All the best Rob

Chris Quigley. That's beginning with Q. As for a "q" just in the name somewhere, lots of those around (especially among the Swedes), including a former World finalist: Hasse Holmqvist. All the best Rob

From what I recall, it was the last in a trail of refereeing cock-ups throughout that GP, and Tony Steele was given the remaining rounds of the season, because Wolfgang Glas wasn't up to the job. All the best Rob

Thanks for the clarification. Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely Wolfgang Glas was the worst-ever referee for a Grand Prix? I'm sure he was the referee to the Swedish round in 2000, when he totally missed Loram clatter into Rickardsson, excluded Rickardsson, tried to reverse his decision... but a FIM Jury declared he couldn't do that. All the best Rob

It was the decision of the FIM Jury, not solely the referee. The FIM Jury at each Grand Prix consists of: * Armando Castagna * A local official * The FIM referee All the best Rob

The Speedway Grand Prix is a sporting contest, where each competitor should have an equal opportunity. I believe a representative of the main series sponsor being down the pits, but only helping certain sponsored riders, can lead to a conflict of interest. Not only that, but it could lead to a situation where that representative asks certain team members to drop points to aid other team members. Some may even suggest that this already happened in the recent Australian Grand Prix. I would be interested in reading other people's thoughts. All the best Rob

Billy Hamill and Greg Hancock were sponsored by Exide, and rode under the Team Exide Banner. Hans Nielsen built up a big lead in the Grand Prix, but had a bad round in the fourth round in Sweden, and there was a big chance for Hamill to make up some points. At that time, points for the final were 25-20-18-16, so there was a big swing between winning a GP or finishing third or fourth. Hamill was only third in the final at Linkoping (behind Henka Gustafsson and Tomasz Gollob), but then fourth-placed Hancock came down. Hancock didn't get up and the race had to be stopped. Hamill won the re-run, thus gaining seven extra GP points. Henka Gustafsson was denied the only Grand Prix round win of his career, while Hamill finished just two points clear of Nielsen at the end of the year. Gary Havelock alleged on the Sky Sports television coverage that Hancock had acted deliberately to gain his Team Exide team-mate a re-run. In the fifth and sixth rounds: * Round 5: Hamill passed Hancock for third place towards the end of the final at London (Hackney), after Hancock went wide. * Round 6: Hamill and non-Team-Exide member Sam Ermolenko allowed Mark Loram to finish in front of them in Heat 20 at Vojens, so that Nielsen did not reach the A Final. Ermolenko - the early race-leader - made the admission in his autobiography, where he explained it was revenge for the Danes throwing a race in the World Pairs Semi-Final (1991) to eliminate the USA from the final. Ermolenko also said that he regretted it, since he didn't realise that the extra points scored by Loram would relegate him to 9th in the standings (with top 8 qualifying automatically) and would lead to his elimination from the 1997 series, after he failed to secure his place via the GP Challenge. Sam never got back into the series. While Nielsen should have never lost such a big lead (he'd still been the most consistent rider in the world until 1995, and '96 was when that crown started to slip, as ultimately it was the stinker in Sweden that cost Hans), there were those who felt he had lost to a team rather than an individual. Gary Havelock, in particular, wasn't backward in coming forward with his comments over the Team Exide collaboration. All the best Rob PS I admit to being a huge Nielsen fan, but I've tried to tell the above as objectively as possible. EDITED: Double-checked: it was 1991 where the Danes allegedly threw their final race in the semi-final to eliminate the USA from the World Pairs Final.

Surely Marvyn Cox was a far better rider than Paul Hurry? Dean Barker for that matter as well. And 1978 World No 2 Gordon Kennett is a huge omission. All the best Rob

Another Aussie on a 5.00 maybe? Certainly worked with Jake Allen and BWD. All the best Rob

Yes, there's two very clear variations there. As for Mauger and Nielsen, IMO clearly ego was involved. As has been pointed out in Ivan's case, was No 15 really better than No 13? I think it's more part of a mind game. 'Favours' for other riders is a different kettle of fish. At least Penhall in 1982 and Screeny in 2000 were honest about it - nothing hidden away. Same as in Heat 20 of the 1982 ICF - where Ole clearly instructs Erik (with a hand signal) to slow down on the final bends so that Bo Petersen can pass them both and get into the run-off for 11th place (which he lost): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lq_y9WIY4P0 Again, nothing hidden away. I think that's where Greg fell down last weekend - he tried to hide it. All that subsequent nonsense claiming he had a problem with the clutch. It also causes fresh doubt as to what happened in 1996. Were Gary Havelock's allegations at the time correct? Did Greg deliberately fall in Sweden to gain Billy Hamill a re-run and therefore interfere with the result of the '96 World Championship? All the best Rob

I guess so, although he might have been philosophical that the 'plan' hadn't worked in '88 as in '87, and that No 9 wasn't a terrible draw in any case. 1987 ICF: Nielsen allows Jimmy Nilsen through in their final race, finishes 3rd rather than 2nd in the meeting, and gets two inside gates against Gundersen over the two-day world final; the second in Heat 23 is particularly pivotal. All the best Rob

Cheers GC. It's very close - but as you say, the ref got it right. Nielsen JUST finishes first. (And both of them looking down at their bikes is very funny. For 2016, read 1988 ). Draw numbers for final: Nielsen 9, Gundersen 1, Jonsson 12. It's arguable whether 1 or 9 is a better draw, but I guess it was all about getting the better gate in the race between the two (Heat 5) in the final. What's interesting is the number than Ivan avoided in 1979. No 13. Generally thought of as the best draw number, but Ivan wanted No 15. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." Indeed All the best Rob

TWK, isn't the point of him pulling out of Birmingham to give himself the chance to retire? Tony Mole has been brilliant to speedway. How do we go about getting him an MBE? All the best Rob

GC, have you got a link? Thanks. All the best Rob

I'm 43, and just been to my 44th consecutive season of speedway. All the best Rob

As I was saying... an easy choice All the best Rob