Reviresco

268 metres Current Track Record 57.5secs

I believe that Central Park has an agreement now to also run meetings on Fridays between 6pm & 9:30pm with the 8:30pm curfew still applying to Monday night meetings. On that basis, it would look as though EL meetings could be held on Fridays, with maybe PL (or NL) meetings being held on Mondays. If speedway can be held only once a week at Central Park, does that mean that fortnightly alternate league meetings would have to be staged? And on this premise, does this mean that the Lakeside EL operation will move to Central Park either on a 'stop gap' or permanent basis? Having campaigned previously to have speedway restored to Essex, I hope that this does not mean the loss of the sport to the County once again.

EL and PL Bryn, not EL and NL then?

If a visual explanation helps, probably not, one can be found at..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dnRgHIoI9k That was in the days when it wasn't staged at the end of the season and the winner (that's on overall points, not necessarily the winner of the actual 16 lap final) received a Weslake engine, not just a bottle of lambrini. (Until I watched this again today, I'd forgotten John Cook's interview and his explanation of how he tried to fix the problem - 'it came out on this turn, so I fingered it, got it going, and by the time I got my rubber back on...... and Phil came underneath me'. Probably not the only time that Cookie ran into similar problems up on the Heath )

I remember Reg more as a referee and only saw him a few times as a rider, although I do remember seeing him ride in a 4TT at Arlington in October 1970 when they held penny farthing races during the interval and the late Colin Sanders fell off and broke his collar bone. (Reg refers to his exploits on a penny farthing in his interview on The National Speedway Museum website, but I don't know if this is the same meeting: http://www.national-speedway-museum.co.uk/reg%20trott%20interview.html ) I also saw him ride at Brooklands in 1970 and again as part of the Eagles 1971 BL2 Title winning side and at Custom House the following season. A fantastic achievement to have had such a long riding career and overall association with the sport. R.I.P. Reg.

I think both Mr & Mrs Nicholls have been outstanding so far tonight....................

Think he wasn't happy with how close to the track one of the guys on the centre green got on the 4th lap.

Looks like the Coventry management missed a trick by not booking Eddie as a Guest themselves. His recent PL form warranted it.

On that (Lindback) basis, Sidney, Kildemand shouldn't get a look in for a Permanent Wild Card either as not only did he fail to achieve a Top Three position from the Qualifier in Rybnik, but also failed to get through the earlier round in Riga on 27th June when he fell and was excluded from his first ride and then withdrew from the rest of the meeting. Lindback, at least, qualified from Riga. It normally always is a decision between: political/commercial/geographcal factors; injuries; riders failing from the GP series and; those failing from the qualifiers. Is any better than another? I would fall probably on the side of the injured rider, e.g. Hampel, as, even in pre-GP times an injured rider had a chance of recovering and qualifying for next year's Championship whereas these days an injured rider like Hampel not only misses the opportunity of qualifying by right (top 8) from the GP series but also misses the opportunity of competing in the qualifiers for next year's series. Hampel could well have finished Top Three in the series this year and this probably strengthens his claims for a 2016 PWC. I think it will be: Lindback, Hampel and whoever finishes 9th & 10th in this year's series.

Scored 002001 in the League back in April and 20201 in the recent PLRC.

Brilliant NKI in Heat 9.

Bruno, the Defunct Speedway Tracks site is normally a good place to find some background. http://www.defunctspeedway.co.uk/Coatbridge%20Speedway.htm http://www.defunctspeedway.co.uk/Paisley.htm Hope this helps and enjoy your trip.

Can anyone please provide some background to what appears to be a very interesting story for this gentleman? It appears that in the mid to late '50s, 'Teo' took part as a Pole in the European qualifiers of the World Championship, reaching the European Final in 1956, before coming to Britain and taking part via the British rounds, qualifying from the British Semi-Finals as the British Reserve for the 1963 World Final at Wembley. Tragically, after having reached the British Final the following year 'Teo' lost his life as a result of a fall riding for Swindon at West Ham on 1st Sept that year, never regaining conciousness and succumbing to his injuries on 22nd Jan 1965. It looks as if Memorial meetings were staged at Blunsdon for some years after his passing. Many Thanks.

If this was a one off Final staged in 1983 at Norden, then Muller would win it. If it was held in any other country, Muller would not win it. Then again, if it was held in 1973 at Chorzow, maybe Szczakiel would win it? Putting that aside, I would say: Collins, Lee, Michanek. (However, I think Gollob should be included and that would change my prediction) I didn't see Knutsson ride, but his record of: 2nd, 4th, 2nd, 5th, 1st, 10th looks mighty impressive.

Totally agreed 'Fuel Taps'. I doubt if there is any other rider whose promoter would have taken his club up a division to keep a particular rider at that club. I can't believe it is nearly 45 years since I first saw JL ride - as a Guest for Eastbourne (who had Dave Jessup & Gordon Kennett in their team) at Brooklands in October 1970. John won his 4 heats by at least half a lap and set the fastest time of the night. (I think JL then scored a paid max the following evening guesting for Hackney against West Ham) The next time I remember seeing John ride was for the Witches at Romford in a BL2 match at the beginning of the 1971 season when both he and Tony Davey rode to maximums and either broke or then equalled the Track Record during the meeting before JL equalled the new Record again in retaining the Silver Helmet. Saw John in both the 1975 and 1976 World Finals, but still consider that 1973 may have been his best chance of winning the Title but for his disqualification from the British/Nordic round. As '25 Year Fan' says, finishing 4th in the 1972 Final in only his third year in the sport and his first full-time riding in the top division, was an amazing achievement. JL's rapid rise from 2nd Half rider to world class was meteoric. Not sure whether being a late starter helped or hindered his career. The Thursday after the 1975 World Final. I made the trip up the A12 to Foxhall for the Witches match against Reading with JL (3rd in the World) taking on Anders Michanek (2nd), only for John to be excluded for taking Mich off on the 1st bend of the 1st heat which led to Michanek's withdrawal from the meeting. (Remember Billy Sanders scoring a maximum) BLRC2 and BLRC champion. Not sure if anyone else has achieved this. Not sure if its an urban myth but was told that for an oil company (Castrol?) commercial, John was asked to drop his clutch late in one meeting so he could be filmed passing through the field to the front. Mention John Louis and team riding always comes to mind and as 'Colin' has mentioned there were 2 x BL Pairs titles (with Billy). I can't forget John Earrhy making the comment over the PA that JL had been warned by the referee for looking behind him more than forwards after one particular heat of team riding. After the unveiling of the Prince Obolensky statue in Ipswich, Radio Suffolk asked what other person should be honoured similarly and for his services to his sport and to his town, JL deserves that accolade.

Just to mention that it would have been Billy Sanders' 60th birthday today. I know that others on here would disagree, but 30 years on, I still believe that Billy had the potential to win an Individual World Title and, with him being already qualified for the Overseas Final and with that and the Final itself to be held at Odsal that year, plus a successful (although a year too late) switch to GMs, Bill was looking to have as strong a chance as any in 1985. Would've been Australian champion and been a contender for World Titles until 1991 at least. Not meant to be of course.

Indeed, the GM was to prove to be the engine to be on from then on. (Some of us tried to persuade a certain Australian rider to switch to GMs for the 1984 World Championships, but he went with his special, trusted 'out of the box' Weslake which was shown to be outdated by then. It would have been good to have seen him on one at the Overseas Final at Bradford in 1985, but it was not meant to be.) By the by, in my previous post I didn't mean to denigrate any of the British (or Wembley) riders who qualified for, but failed to win, any Wembley World Final. All speedway riders hold my utmost respect and qualifying for a Final was a fantastic achievement.

Muller certainly flew at Norden that year. Also remember seeing him scoring 6pts from 5 rides in the World Pairs Final at Ullevi that year. A score bettered by all but 2 other riders in that meeting. I just feel that Muller would not have won in 1983 if the Final had been held in any other country that year, whether he was flying or not. (On the old 3 year rota system, of course, the World Final would have been due to have been held in Ullevi in 1983.) As regards all those British (and Wembley) riders who did not win at Wembley. They most likely wouldn't have won wherever the World Final was held. Only my opinion of course. History is history though and it will always tell us that Muller won a World Championship, Gollob won a GP series and, to date, Hancock and Pedersen have won more than one each.

Just goes to show, imo, how much advantage Muller enjoyed on that day in Norden.

Muller's title may not have been a fluke and he may have been a (very very) good rider but, imo, he would not have won the 1983 title if it had been held in any other country than Germany. Witnessing his performance in the World Pairs final that year against Sanders' and others, shows the home advantages he enjoyed that day in Norden, again imo, had a huge impact on the result. One of the factors that, I think, is overlooked in Gollob's GP performances was the immense pressure he was under from his fellow countrymen to bring a World Championship back to Poland for the first time since 1973 - more so, imo, than any other rider in the series and, just maybe, having more than one GP per season in Poland was more of a hindrance than a help. I feel very privileged to have watched Gollob ride on all sizes of tracks, be it in the GPs or during his spell with the Witches. As for Darcy, if he gets back into the series within the next 5 years - probably he will win one, but another rider who may have had a better chance under the one off system than the GPs.

Thank you for confirming my 'Kiwi' friend.

Not Hampel? IMO, surely a regular, loyal, contributor to the GP series who has been runner-up twice and also finished third and was placed third in this year's series before his injury deserves to be considered in the current top 15 in the world and 'deserves' a wild card for 2016 ahead of any of Ward, Emil, Lindback or Kildemand? But I see that you have Lindback in twice - from the GP Challenge and as a wildcard, so maybe you meant Jarek and not Antonio as a wildcard.

Ah, so you are saying now that Auty was overriding and out of control before he hit Tungate and that Auty took him out at the end of the 2nd bend in the first running of Heat 10. A very good case for an exclusion then. So, the referee was in fact not correct in allowing A4B and, as has been said previously on this Thread, if Auty had been excluded from the re-run, he wouldn't have been on track for any incident to occur in the re-run.

No, he said that an Australian rider has won every heat that an Australian rider has been in - and he's correct. Doyle won the heat that Holder finished last in and Batchelor won the heat that Doyle retired from.

That was one of the worst decisions I've seen in watching speedway for 40+ years. Totally agree that, on that basis, there should never be another All 4 Back again.