lucifer sam

Um, well I've heard of Jochen Dinse All the best Rob

Norbold, I would pick exactly the same seven riders, and I also agree about NKI coming through to grab a spot in the next year or two. He's got the perfect attitude, calm but determined, and he could be the next Danish World Champ. All the best Rob

Denzil Kent was better than Byron Bekker. All the best Rob

I just thought I’d see speedway compares to football, in terms of releasing a fixture list. I’ve taken my local club, Oxford United, as an example. For the U’s, the fixtures were released on June 18th, 2014. Their first match was on August 9th, 2014. So 52 days in advance. The EL/PL fixtures were released this year on January 19th, 2015. The official start of the season is March 15th. That’s 55 days. Most clubs don’t start on that date, so actually it’s a bit longer. The NL fixtures were released this year on February 3rd, 2015. The official start of the season is March 15th. That’s 40 days. However, it should be pointed out other than the Cradley/Birmingham challenge dates that were announced some time ago, the next fixture is scheduled for March 29th. That’s 54 days. For many clubs which don’t open until April, it’s a bit longer. So there you go. Speedway is comparable with Football in giving fans advance notice of fixtures. In fact, speedway is slightly better. All the best Rob

Well none of them in my side in any case. Just in the squad. And with a first team as strong as Ivan Mauger, Barry Briggs, Ronnie Moore, Jack Young, Jason Crump, Bluey Wilkinson and Vic Duggan, there's not going to be many opportunites to break into the side, and Holder and Van Praag (and possibly Graham Warren at his best) are next in line in case of any injuries. IMO Holder is currently still way ahead of Ward. Of course, that could change, if Darcy knuckles down and achieves something to go alongside that obvious natural ability. All the best Rob

I would actually consider a couple of months notice fair enough - gives me plenty of time to book any time off work, etc. I prefer that to a fixture list being rushed out in November/December and then being completely changed. Fixture compiling has much improved massively in the last decade. As SCB has said, fair play. All the best Rob

Maybe in a few years time, Ward would be included within a squad of riders. He's done little to warrant a place so far, though. Places are awarded on what riders have achieved, not on their potential. Actually, I consider Todd Wiltshire more of an omission that Darcy Ward. But you've got to stop somewhere. All the best Rob

Star riders' champion in 1932 and v. close to World title in 1936. Not sure why you're looking at the post-war Langton in comparison to Kitchen, when Langton was a decade past his best by then. All the best Rob

Freddie would be No1 for my Welsh team. I decided to start with seven World Champs as my England team. If Havelock or Loram didn't come up to expectations, they'd be replaced pretty quickly by Jack Parker and Eric Langton / Tom Farndon for the second match. All the best Rob

In a ENGLAND team? :D All the best Rob

Blimey, this one is tough, having to leave out three World Champs from the first choice seven!! First team: Ove Fundin Hans Nielsen Erik Gundersen Ole Olsen Tony Rickardsson Bjorn Knutsson Anders Michanek Squad members: Nicki Pedersen (can’t believe I’ve left out a three-time champ, but I want both Knutsson and Michanek in their prime!!) Per Jonsson (such a great rider, but no room) Jan O Pedersen (ditto) Bengt Jansson Olle Nygren Tommy Knudsen Arne Pander Gote Nordin Sverre Harrfeldt Niels-Kristian Iversen could break into the squad at some point over the next two or three years!! Sorry to England, Australasia, America and East Europe, but this is the strongest subsection!! All the best Rob

First choice team: Ivan Mauger Barry Briggs Ronnie Moore Jack Young Jason Crump Bluey Wilkinson Vic Duggan Squad members: Lionel Van Praag Chris Holder Leigh Adams Billy Sanders Phil Crump Vic Huxley Graham Warren Aub Lawson All the best Rob

First choice team: Peter Craven Peter Collins Michael Lee Tommy Price Gary Havelock Mark Loram Tai Woffinden Squad members: Jack Parker Tom Farndon Eric Langton Split Waterman Ray Wilson Malcolm Simmons John Louis Simon Wigg I wouldn’t have Dave Jessup. His machinery was not up to scratch. All the best Rob

First choice team: Jack Milne Bruce Penhall Sam Ermolenko Billy Hamill Greg Hancock Dennis Sigalos Shawn Moran Squad members: Wilbur Lamoreaux Cordy Milne Bobby Schwartz Kelly Moran Scott Autrey Lance King Eric Chitty All the best Rob

I'm starting to edge to replacing Plech with Wyglenda in my starting seven, as Wyglenda outscores Plech 4 to 0 in terms of FIM Gold Medals, and was very much a leading light in all four of those. All the best Rob

I’m going for: Gollob (no reason needed) Plechanov (twice World No 2, and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Fundin & Mauger) Szczakiel (1973 World Champ, and 1971 World Pairs Final paid max) Hampel (three times in the top three of the world, and often the star for the Polish World Cup squad) Plech (World No 2 in 1979, World No 3 in 1973 and a quality performer over a period of time) Sayfutdinov (maybe 2013 World Champion but for injury) Kasprzak (2014 World No 2) On stand-by: Wyglenda (the leading light of three Polish World Team Cup successes, and 1971 World Pairs Final paid max) Woryna (twice World No 3, and another crucial member of Polish WTC successes) Waloszek (1970 World No 2) Samorodov (almost caused a sensation at Wembley in '64) Jancarz (1968 World No 3) All the best Rob Well, he's going in mine, because I need someone who can beat the mighty Ivan in a sudden death run-off, if we finish 39-39 against the Best-Ever NZ team at Katowice. All the best Rob Yes, the race is on YouTube. It should be pointed out that Georg Traunspurger's decision to allow the race to continue was FIM policy at this time. For example, in the 1974 final, a race was allowed to continue, despite the fact a stricken (and injured) Ole Olsen was on the track. The ref in '74 was Tore Kittelsen. Races were only stopped as the last resort after a rider fell. Unthinkable these days, but that's how it was. All the best Rob

Things have drastically improved in recent years. In 1999, Oxford went to Ipswich in a top-tier match with a single week’s notice. I think the meeting was on March 18th, so the fixtures came out that year in around the second week of March. Likewise we knew about a CL match at Wimbledon in early April 2003 again with about a week’s notice i.e. the third-tier fixtures for that year came out at the end of March. It’s now mid-January for the EL & PL, and early February for the NL – that’s actually a big improvement. All the best Rob

What no Jerzy Szczakiel yet? The rider who beat the legendary Ivan Mauger TWICE in the '73 World Final (the only other rider to achieve that feat was John Louis in 1975), and scored a paid maximum in the 1971 World Pairs Final, as he & Wyglenda overcame the might of Ivan/Briggo. Mauger-to-Szczakiel head-to-head between 1971 and 1973: Mauger 7, Szczakiel 6. How many riders were capable of going head-to-head with Ivan over a three-year period? Mauger said he thought Szczakiel was a massively under-rated rider in his biography - I agree with that. Or are we only including riders to have competed in British Speedway? All the best Rob I didn't think he had a British club until Wimbledon in 1977. All the best Rob

Indeed. Sending out the Press Releases on behalf of Oxford Speedway, I've tried to avoid giving anyone false hope. I have to say there were points where I thought it was pointless. Standing out in the cold outside the Kassam Stadium on a cold winter's morning collecting signatures, wondering what the point was. Fortunately, the likes of Ian Sawyer and Rob Dunn ploughed on (I dread to think how many phone calls Ian has made), to bring us to where we are now. They've worked hard to make sure we have complete support from the local council. Now there is a chance that it could happen. Of course, it might not either. But there is at least a chance. Things do look better than at any time since 2008. Fingers and toes and other bodily parts crossed. All the best Rob

O'Sullivan is wildly inconsistent, and a number of players such as Peter Ebdon knew how to grind him down. O'Sullivan has never achieved anywhere near the level Hendry maintained from 1990 to 1996. I stopped watching snooker at one point, because it was so boring with Hendry just winning everything time after time after time. I disliked Hendry with a passion because he kept on beating Jimmy White, but I still admit he's very easily the best of all-time. Snooker's an easy one to determine the all-time great. All the best Rob

Nope, Hendry by a country mile. O'Sullivan has always been erratic, whereas Hendry was almost unbeatable for most of the 90s, winning tournament after tournament, year after year. Jimmy White played brilliant snooker in the '92 and '94 world championships, but still couldn't dislodge the impossibly-consistent Hendry. As for speedway, much harder to judge. How on earth do you separate Wilkinson from Duggan (never World champ but won the '48 equivalent) from Young from Fundin from Mauger from Nielsen from Rickardsson from Hancock? The machinery has changed too much to tell. All the best Rob Muller was deserving champ in '83, but it was only Nielsen's e/f in Heat 19 that allowed him to score the full maximum. Mich in 1974, Olsen in 1975, Nielsen in 1989 and Jan O in 1991 were all more dominant performances in finals that exist on video. All the best Rob Some research 3 or 4 of us did a few years ago. Highest-ever top-flight league averages: 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) *widely reported as 11.74, but two tapes exclusions were accidentally excluded from the figures. All the best Rob

Good news. Tyler and his dad are smashing people. All the best Rob

With Danno, it was eights months from the offence. The offence was at the end of September 2000, he could ride again from the end of May 2001. All the best Rob

SCB, the only previous case of a speedway rider failing an alcohol test before an FIM event that I can think of was Stefan Danno, who was banned for 8 months. All the best Rob

SCB, I'm not really sure who I've ended up agreeing and disagreeing with - unlike some, I don't come on here just for a good argument, but rather to make my own point. But I do disagree with anyone trying to place the place solely at the door of the BSPA and the promoters. It's quite clear, after doing minimal research, that other sports have had similar problems e.g. Rugby League, which had to get its house in order. It's just taken UKBA/UKV&I a bit longer with the less high-profile sport of speedway. All the best Rob