Reviresco

Liked the tribute on the back of Tai's kevlars - 'This one is for Rob, Daz & Shaz'. Having just watched my recording of the meeting, this didn't seem to be picked up by Pearson & Tatum unlike Greg's tribute to Darren Boocock - but I may have missed it.

Even more remarkable considering that he, Covatti, was knocked out in the qualifying round at Abensberg where he finished 12th on 5pts. Not quite sure how a rider can fail to qualify in a previous round and then be given a wildcard for a later qualification event and be allowed to qualify from that.

National Hunt Racing, Rugby Union (Northampton Saints & Super Rugby Chiefs), Tennis, Boxing, Moto GP - used to love Superbikes when Aaron Slight & Fogarty were racing, Athletics when it doesn't drag on too much.

And agreed with you too '51', and '"tirade" was a poor choice of words - far too harsh, but the best my old befuddled brain could come up with at the time, please re-read as: "launch your sarcastic comments at" as I appreciate that most of the comments are meant in a jovial rather than personal insults. Yours Speedway, Neil

As an ex Ipswich Witches fan from 1972 to 1980 & again from 1983 to 85, and a Witches follower these days - as I don't go and watch them ride that often, I tend to agree with this comment as CL does appear to come across as whingeing quite a lot of times (and certainly nowhere near in the 'put down' league of the late John Berry) but, that said, if it wasn't for Chris and, more importantly, his Dad John, there woud most likely not be a speedway team in Ipswich and therefore on balance I can accept the often immature comments as, I would much rather have an active Ipswich Witches and not just one that we remember from the archives of our brain. And, let's face it, you Monarchs fans(and others) would have one less to team to launch your tirade of sarcastic comments at. Yours in Speedway

I didn't get down that far, but will try to remember to take a look next time With Regards

I enjoyed last night's coverage. The two of them seemed a lot more relaxed, which suited both of them. Speedway, as its nature, revs itself up - you don't need the commentators doing that too. I felt that I was in Scott's front room watching the meeting with him. Keep it up lads and thanks to Eurosport for picking up the international speedway. Best Regards

Pedersen is 666 - absolutely love it. Best Regards

Thanks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated. All the best

Yes, thanks again Sidney. You summed Bill's career up perfectly there. Not many 16 year old lads arrived from Australia in those days and went straight into a top league side. Bill survived his first two years well. I think I remember his first heat at Foxhall was as a Reserve replacement in Heat 1 and he won it beating the then current World No. 3 Bengt Jansson. Then came out and won Heat 2. Bill's riding style was awesome, pure natural balance and when the full face helmets came in, it added to his image on a bike. Poetry in motion. He was equally as good on water skis. As you say, lost his way a bit in league racing in 1980 and '81 - despite coming 3rd in the '80 World Final, but came back strongly in '82. I remember Bill was asked to guest for the Witches three times in '82 when John Cook went AWOL and, I think, got maximums in each. I was at his house in Werrington County in February '83 when he took a call from Ole Olsen trying to persuade Bill to ride for Coventry as he saw him as his replacement, but Bill was set on returning to Foxhall. I thought it wasn't a good idea, but he had re-learnt how to ride the white line at Liverpool during the Australian season and his riding in '83, '84 and for 1mth of '85 was a delight. His ability to team ride, gate, pass inside or out, cut back were brilliant and he was an honour and a joy to watch. Was at Smallmead when the Witches clinched the league title in '84 and the delight on his face captaining his Witches team was brilliant to see. Then up to Hyde Road for the 1st leg of the Cup Final against the 'unbeatable' Aces. Bill got a maximum on a track that was so frozen it was almost unrideable. Then back to Foxhall for the Sunday afternoon 2nd leg and more joy on the Rooty Hill Rocket's face. Won the Aussie title at the beginning of '85 but sadly never rode at Bradford in the Overseas Final with Stan Bear taking his place. Think Bill was on a 11.5 League Cup average at the time of his death. He had won the Golden Helmet at home riding Richard Knight's bike and then lost it to Bo Petersen at Blunsdon, but we never got to see him try to regain it at the return fixture at Foxhall on the Thursday as, after being withdrawn from the meeting at Monmore on the Monday, the awful news came through on the Tuesday. So many good times, so many stories and memories. Happy Days. Bill winning the Daily Express Spring Classic at Wimbledon as a complete outsider, his ready smile, the '80 and '83 World Finals, the '83 World Pairs Final, his sense of humour, his walking round the Foxhall track on his hands, his passion for speedway, his captaining of the Witches at Eastbourne when John Louis wasn't available and his '84 captaincy will live in the memory forever. Sad that he never made a Wembley World Final - in '81 I was at Brisbane when he won the Austrailian title and in the pits at Liverpool for the Australasian Final when he missed qualification by a point, after being excluded in one re-run heat on the 2min rule after having laid his bike down to avoid Mitch Shirra who had fallen in front of him. Needed to win his last heat to be in a run-off, but Gugliemi wasn't keen to help him, after all that Billy had done for Gugliemi and Gugliemi gated and Bill couldn't find a way past. Both Billy and Phil Crump ended on the same points, but Phil decided not to contest the run-off to decide who would be reserve for the Overseas Final at White City. Think Jason was about 5 years old at the time, running round the pits during practise, never knowing he would one day be a 3 x World Champion. Of course, sadly, Billy's son Dean also took his own life a few year's after Billy. I would be surprised if Billy didn't record double figures at every track he rode at the last time..... Sorry to have gabbled on, particularly on a Michael Lee thread. With Best Regards

Lets hope Emil can handle the National pressure as well as Mr G has done most of the time. Carrying the expectations of a nation, particularly when you have 2 or 3 SGPs in your country each year is not an easy task. I'm sure Emil can as he seems well grounded and a lovely lad. With tghe emergence of more Russian riders this may help Emil. Tomasz virtually had to do it on his own for many years until Jarek came along. Maybe Russia will win the Team Cup as many times as Poland some time in the future? Whether speedway in Russia will ever be as big as it is in Poland is open to debate. Totally agree with your Day & Nicholls comments. Nice and relaxed, chatty and imformative, not many Umms and Arrrs and - no Woahs! With Regards

Enjoyed the meeting and the coverage tonight, despite the track. Great stadium, great crowd and Day & Nicholls were very good even with Day getting riders wrong a couple of times and Scott politely correcting him. I too enjoyed the Tai and Hans clip and, as TheReturn says, would be good to see more items like this of the riders away from the track - though maybe not Darcy Ward Always will remember Julia Bradbury interviewing Ryan Sullivan in a swimming pool in her bikini - Julia, not Ryan. More of that type of filler would be enjoyable..... Now, are the Lada girls better than the Monster girls..... Best Regards

Thanks again Sidney. Phil's home tracks, Mildura and Swindon, were neither of Bill's favourites and I even remember being in the pits at Bunsdon when Bill pulled out of the meeting as he thought the track was too dangerous. You couldn't reason with him when he was in that mood. And the incident when he finished behind a Swindon rider, possibly Martin Yeates, in a heat and a Robins fan came on to the drog track and threw the w*nker sign at Bill. Billy being Billy and an ex amateur boxer waved the fan over to the fence and then threw a right hook whilst still sitting on his bike. The security guys then escorted the 'fan' from the stadium. I'm unsure if it was, but it might have been the '83 Australian Final in Adelaide when Bill got booed by the crowd after Phil was excluded in one heat and Billy did his famous 'get stuffed' acceptance speech on the rostrum. Good times. JB may have said that the best was yet to come and I do not believe in speaking ill of the departed, but I do hold JB responsible in many ways for Bill's sad early departure at the age of 29. JB thought Bill only rode well when he was wearing an Australian race jacket, advised him badly financially and should never of let Bill miss his last programmed meeting at Monmore Green the day before his death, let alone leave him unsupervised on the Tuesday. JB treated Bill badly with his Benefit meeting too, especially considering the service that Bill gave to Ipswich Speedway. I'd written to Bill in Australia and tried to talk with him when he came back for the start of the '85 season, but not living near Ipswich, I never had a chance to stop him doing what he did. Ipswich Town were playing at home that night and friends said that there was a horrible in take of breath in the stadium when the announcement was made. I remember receiving the phone call and then being contacted by his mum and sisters to try and find out why and what had happened. JB didn't even pay to fly Bill's ashes home. Trevor Harding (Uncle Ghost) and I did. Now don't get me on Finn Thomsen, now that was a rider Bill did not get on with. There weren't many, but Finn was definitely one. With Regards.

Thought the meeting came over well tonight, despite the track. Cracking stadium and crowd. Thought Steve & Scott did very well, despite Day calling the incorrect rider a couple of times. A popular home winner. Laguta, Pedersen & Tai riding well and Mr G being his frustrating best 0,0,3,3,3 beating Emil in his 4th ride. Best Regards

And he's riding well again in Russia tonight. Good lad.

They'd be the only ones then. Not popular down Ipswich way Mr Carr. Talking about JL, it's about time he was recognised for his contribution to the sport as a rider and then a promoter. IMO, JL would have been an individual World Champion if he'd started the sport at a younger age. Saw him ride at Brooklands, I think in 1970. Won all his heats by half a lap. Dave Jessup was equally as dominant around that time in the National League, or whatever it was called then. It's probably a myth, but I heard he did a commercial for Castrol and was asked to drop the clutch late so he could be filmed overtaking the other three riders. Without JL, there may not be any speedway in Ipswich. The Council at least should recognise his efforts and achievements. With Regards.

Typical Mr G. 2 x ducks followed by 2 x wins, including one over Emil. Is mercurial the right word - or just frustrating.....

Thanks Sidney and totally agreed. As you say, Bill was a-l-m-o-s-t top of the tree world class. Multi National Champion, 2 x League & Cup double winner with the Witches plus anothe League and Cup win, 1976 World Team Champion, 1980 3rd in the World Individual Final, 1983 2nd in the World individually and as a Pair - a meeting Australia should really have won as Carter & Collins should have been excluded in one heat. Great team rider. Looked after team mates bikes for free. Cared about and loved the sport. Pugnacious and annoying at times, but a great bloke taken from us too early. It was a real shame that Billy and Phil fell out. They could and should have won the World Pairs title between them. Guess it was down to a number of racing incidents in Australia which then got carried over to the UK. Remember once when Phil was riding at Foxhall that he beat Billy during the meeting and threw a 'V' sign at him. Those were the days of 2nd halves and they both qualified for the final. Phil decided that discretion was better than valour and trundled round at the back and then rode is bike straight into the car park, onto the Citroen Safari and head down the A12. I passed him somewhere near Chelmsford, looked over and there he was driving the car still dressed in his leathers. I gave him a wave and a smile as I drove past him. Also remember Billy going into the bar after a meeting at Blunsdon, it might well have been Bill's last ever meeting, and tried to quiten down the rowdy Robins fans by saying, hey, we all love speedway, let's forget our rivalries. Michael of course was one of the few riders to win the World speedway and long track crowns and was virtually unbeatable at times in British speedway. With Regards.

I got to know Michael quite well in 1982 when Billy Sanders rode for Kings Lynn. Mike was a lovely "boy", was he just 22 at the time? A genius on a bike and with fast bikes too. Great times in the bar, or in Michael's van after meetings at Saddlebow Row, with the two of them chatting about speedway, a sport they both cared about and loved. As with so many top class people in and out of sport, he needed a 'crutch' and unfortunately his chosen crutch was illegal drugs which, without a doubt, stopped Michael achieving all that he should have done as a speedway / long track rider. At age 18, he had the highest average in the British League. Demons in his head that cost him a career, relationships, money and his freedom. There are incidents I know of which are best kept quiet, but led to the end of his long standing relationship with Janet, who had been such a support to him. And of course in 1984 was the 5yr ban by the SCB when riding for Poole at Kings Lynn, despite the three other riders and the KL promoter, giving evidence that his actions had caused no danger. Billy and Michael were great friends, Billy was 3yrs older than Mike, and great rivals, and it was good seeing them ride together in '82. A lot of Kings Lynn fans would've thought that they were enemies, but how far from the truth was that. In the same way, Billy was great friends with Dennis Sigalos who, effectively, took Billy's place at Ipswich in 1981. Billy, waiting for Michael to pass him on turn 2 of Heat 20 in the '83 Individual World Final to enable Michael to finish on 11pts and 3rd on the rostrum, 1pt ahead of Gundersen, Carter & Olsen, showed how strong their friendship was. The same as the way Siggy was seen urging Billy on when Siggy's own chances of winning the '83 Title had gone. I just think its very sad, Michael Lee's story. Whether he'll ever be able to live without his 'crutch' and be happy, I don't know. The 'boy' has done and paid for the crime. Good Luck Michael.

Agreed Ailurus Fulgens My money, if I had any, would be on Iversen and Zagar to be in top 3 and qualify automatically too, but we'll see. Should be a fascinating meeting the Challenge. Best Regards. Edited to add: Typical Mr G in the European Championship tonight. 2 x ducks then 2 x wins including one over Emil. On the evidence of his 3rd & 4th heats, Tomasz is well worth his place in the SGP this and next season. On the evidence of his first two rides he's not. Mercurial or just frustrating? Edited to change 2 x wins to 3 x wins and on the evidence of his 3rd, 4th & 5th rides :-) Liked Mr G's kevlars tonight too.

Agreed he has looked off the pace, lacking in confidence and disinterested in a few SGPs this season, but dumping Tomasz after 4 x low scoring SGPs is a bit rich. His fitness is under question and his choice of bikes and gate picks is frustrating, but it all adds to the enigma that is the 2010 World Champion. Out of 8 x SGPs this year, Mr G has top scored in two and been in the Final of three. Currently in 9th place in the SGP standings with 68pts, 3pts behind Greg and 14pts behind Chris Holder, with Latvia, Slovenia, Stockholm & Torun to go, there is still every chance that Tomasz will finish in the top 8 and, if he didn't, the offer of a WC for 2014 would be automatic IMHO.

Yes, I remember "Barbie" too. Thanks for reminding me James. What good times they were at Foxhall. I see that the EADT today has a mention of PJ's passing and mentions that John Berry saw him at Claremont Stadium, Perth WA and persuaded him to join the Witches management team as Marketing Manager. Guess that's where the introduction of the 16 Lapper was hatched. Lots of Love to Paul's family and friends worldwide.

Good to see the Thread back on track. Maybe we can revive the Sigalos / Sanders debate when the Plymouth thread is started. Weather forecast good for tonight, cloudy but warm, only dropping to 19c by 10pm. Hopefully a decent attendance for an off-night meeting and all the riders finish the meeting safe and well.

But he may have needed to pay to get out - even at kid's rates...... Needs to grow up.

Totally agree HE