lucifer sam

The toilets at Dudley Wood were an "experience" Actually, I liked really liked Cradley Speedway - the place had a unique atmosphere. It felt a little like walking into the Lion's den, especially when things got heated, but it was still fantastic getting out of there (a) alive and (b ) with a win. All the best Rob

Actually, it made his story. It would have been much duller had he simply continued winning everything for a decade. His fight back in his 'second career' is what made his worthy of being called The Greatest. All the best Rob Indeed. And what about 1949? Tommy Price, Jack Parker and Louis Lawson created their own slice of history with an England 1-2-3. That's what's in the record books. Not that Vic Duggan, the best rider in the world in 1947-48-49 was missing though injury. All the best Rob

Yeah OK, Cradley as well. You can be in the PL as a feeder team for EL Oxford Not sure about Wimbledon, though. Even 150 million might not be enough to set up a stadium within London. All the best Rob

Indeed. In fact, the 1984 games is considered one of the most succesful ever, despite the absence of the USSR and rest of the communist bloc. Whoever wins the Grand Prix is World Champion. History remembers the winners. No one remember the losers who opted out or couldn't take part. Harsh but true. All the best Rob

Very sad. If I ever win 150 million on EuroMillions, sorting out Reading is No 2 on the list behind Oxford, and just ahead of Exeter and Newport. All the best Rob

Hey, don't drag me into your argument. All the best Rob

Simon Wigg was hugely successful wearing green leathers, including 5 World Longtrack Championships. All the best Rob

Just counting rides in that meeting, isn't Jensen 4-2? All the best Rob

Oxford, sometime in 1973, although can’t remember too much about it!! I was born the same day as an Oxford vs Belle Vue KOC match, which my dad had to miss! I do remember the Oxford Cheetahs team of 1979, I was six at the time, and remember George Hunter and Les Rumsey riding for Oxford. To begin with, I thought Les Rumsey was a woman, because one of my mum’s friends was called Leslie. Very vividly remember the Pip Lamb Benefit Meeting at the end of that season, two pairs meetings, a BL one and a NL one, and Bruce Penhall became a hero after that. I filled in my first programme for the IL4TT round at Oxford in June 1980. Former Oxford rider Gordon Kennett rode for Eastbourne and scored a maximum and celebrated with a wheelie, while the NL Cheetahs finished third (largely thanks to Dave Perks and Derek Harrison), beating BL Wimbledon into fourth place. All the best Rob

SCB, don't you think, after the kerfuffle of this winter (and last), that maybe just maybe that the BSPA might work been working in conjunction with UKVI, and been listening to their advice on which riders are eligible for a visa application and which aren't. All the best Rob

I think everyone has grasped it, bar SCB and Najjer. All the best Rob

SCB, are you the government then? Because they are the ones who decide. You don't. All the best Rob

Yes they do. The UK government are the ones who have set the rules, and the clubs have followed them. All the best Rob

It's not handing out dodgy visas. If a rider could not compete in the UK last season, then their previous season's average is the one taken into account. Or do you think you know better than the UK government, who have set the rules in the first place? All the best Rob

And surely the week's big news story, and therefore the automatic choice for front cover this week? It's not as if they are praising him: the headline is about his 10-month ban. If the Speedway Star hadn't have covered it sufficiently, you'd be criticising them for sweeping the news under the carpet. All the best Rob

Well looking at that criteria, I can see a way that he could get a work permit. Let's wait and see, shall we? All the best Rob

Seems about the right punishment. Maybe time to lock this thread and move on.... All the best Rob

Bryn, Briggo's Golden Greats meeting was at Coventry in 1988. Pretty sure Fundin was riding as well. All the best Rob

While I've always considered that the way you win a speedway meeting is to beat 31 opponents rather than score 46 points, I can't help feeling a scoring system implemented on opponents beaten would further alienate speedway from the general public. 3-2-1-0 is dead simple. To say sometimes it's 2-2-0-0 and other times 2-1-1-0 is not so simple. Speedway should be marketed to the general public, not the statto geeks. Even if I'm one of those myself All the best Rob

Yes, the Olsen debacle certainly went a long to hasten the end of rider control as well. Ole Olsen was actually originally allocated to the 1975 Oxford Rebels, but the Rebels realised they couldn't afford to agree to his terms and asked to be allocated another rider. Then the Rider Control Committee decided to allocate Dag Lovaas to Oxford and Ole Olsen to Hull. I think Ian Thomas managed to get £12,000 or something like that for the sale of Olsen from Hull to Coventry; he tells the tale in his autobiography. Rider control lasted the one more season, with John Berry voicing his displeasure at having to offload a home grown talent, Mick Hines, who was allocated from Ipswich to Wimbledon in 1976. And then there was a weird prototype points-limit in 1977, which allowed Ipswich to keep the same team under a 52-point limit, but forced Reading to release Boleslaw Proch, because as a team making a change, the Racers were subject to a 48-point-limit. All the best Rob

Big hoo-hah over Rider Control. Belle Vue were reluctant to let any riders go, especially as the majority of them were home grown. But at the same time, the 1972 Aces were one of the strongest-ever teams and someone had to go. In the end, it was Ivan. The row was still going on as the 1973 season started, and Ivan went as far as to threaten to retire if he was left without a British team. I think Mauger's debut for Exeter was on Easter Monday, which fell in the latter half of April that year. There was a similar spate a few years later with the home grown Ipswich Witches, at which point the rider control system fell apart and was replaced with a weird two-tier points limit for 1977 (Reading fell victim to it and arguably it cost them the league title). It was then replaced by a flat 50-point-limit in 1979 - although an oddity was that, at this point, it wasn't possible to replace a rider with a lower-averaged rider, if you were still above the limit. Cradley found this out after sacking Steve Bastable and not being able to bring in Ila Teromaa. The points limit was reduced to 48 in 1984 and 45 in 1986. All the best Rob

http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=2429 All the best Rob

He has to be in the top three. All the best Rob

Phil Collins = namesake of the other Phil Collins (Genesis). All the best Rob

As someone who watched Nielsen regularly during his time, I would say Nielsen 87 shades Nielsen 86. The stats may say otherwise, but stats can lie a little. In 1987, Nielsen would have achieved a 11.87 BL average (surpassing the '86 BL average of 11.83), but for a seized engine causing a fall at Hackney in October. Nielsen in 1987 was just supremely confident. He was World Champion throughout the whole season, rather just the end of it, as in '86. His World Team Cup form, form for Denmark in the test series, in individuals, he just seemed to dominate every single meeting he was in. And talking of unbelievable team riding, Nielsen from this era was mind-bogglingly good. He could team-ride Jens Rasmussen to a 5-1.... over Erik Gundersen!! All the best Rob PS If Sam had continued his '93 form for another couple of seasons, he'd definitely be a contender for a place in the all-time top ten.