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KKS

He probably failed to arrive and a guest replacement was used.

Hans Nielsen is the only rider I know of to manage a perfect 12.00 league average away from home during an entire season. He dropped a few races at home, though, bless him. It was 1986. He finished with a league average of 11.83. From what I remember, that year there was a small league and the League Cup took up half the season. His average in that was lower so it drops below Ivan's. In league alone, though, I'm pretty sure Hans in 1986 wins it.

If found guilty will he get a % reduction in time for being British..?

On the other hand, team strengths have fallen quite dramatically - very few of the world's best now compete in the UK. Whereas once upon a time, a heat leader never had an easy race, because almost every World Class star competed in the UK. For example, if you faced Oxford and you were a heat-leader, you had Nielsen, Wigg or Cox in every race. Likewise, if you faced Cradley Heath and you were a heat-leader, you had Gundersen, Pedersen or Cross in every race. I'd say that's tougher than what current riders have to face, where some teams don't even have one top rider.

Steve, just caught up on this one Yes, I was a fan. I think Todd was riding in a measured way for us, because he knew how much speedway could hurt, but at the same time we had his complete commitment. If we needed someone to beat Adams and Crump in Heat 15 to defeat King's Lynn, or hold out Rickardsson for the whole race in the year of the six-lap Heat 15, then Todd was the man. It's quite remarkable when you consider he had five years out of the sport, then returned in Germany in 1997 and the UK in 1998 and was the World No 8 by 2000! It makes you wonder what he would have achieved but for the injury - as he pointed out, he was ahead of Rickardsson, Hancock and Hamill, then found himself missing five years and playing catch-up. He was Oxford No 1 in 1999 and 2000, won numerous last-heat deciders which seemed to be his speciality, helped us win the league title in 2001 (ironically his weakest year for us, but again performed when we really needed him to), and then his return to the club in 2003 and 2006 simply cemented his status. And while he did set everything up to pop out the start and then control the race from there, he did show that he was more than a gater - wasn't there a 18-point-maximum against Peterborough where half of it was scored from behind? Todd is the one top rider we managed to keep hold of for more than a year or two (or 2.5 years in the case of Hancock) in the later days of Oxford. Plus he was good for team spirit and he's a nice guy.

I came back to the sport in 88 when the Aces moved to Kirky Lane and watched the first few matches as many riders (probably the majority), found the track somewhat tricky and more than a good few were 'all shapes' on occasions.. He smashed the track record in his first ride.. I remember he rode down the straights with his front wheel slightly off the ground for virtually the whole straight, before bringing it down to execute a perfect turn, never once locking up or finding unwanted drive, but riding every bend as if on rails.. One of those WOW moments some riders can give you..

I sure will once i get chance to go through it this week, unfortunately because we don't have access to the source code we are a little limited but still able to give a fairly comprehensive update From what I see because I don't have the source code we just need to keep the format of 10 top flight and 14 2nd tier Clubs. Each club needs a minimun of 7 riders assigned or it will crash. A minimum of 333 riders has to be therefore in the game, consisting of; Teams Riders 168 Unattached 56 Foreign 30 Retired 79 Can be more, but not less than those numbers

The main reason for me saying what I did was that speedway is "dirt-track" racing, and the sport suffered when we started to lose the dirt. You do make a great point, though. I have often said on here that one thing I miss (in Britain, at least), is the variety of tracks. We used to have tracks of vastly different size, shape, and surface. Now tracks seem to be built to a "standard". What I am trying to work out is that John rattles on about his lifelong "involvement" in speedway, yet basically, it seems that he enjoyed it for about 10 years, and (when it "changed" in the 50's), HASN'T been interested for some 60 years! I don't like to harp on about it (actually, I do), but I am still trying to work out how someone "in" the sport doesn't recognise Plechanov, Moore, or Mauger... You don't have to physically attend speedway and watch racing to be able to identify legends like that. I've never been to an F1 race, but I recognise Jackie Stewart...

Agreed. If everyone stands two metres apart inside the stadium and queuing to get in, there should be no problem. Just as there’s no problem doing the same in a park.

There are plenty more where they came from! The great thing is that a lot of them aren't that well-known, so it's always nice to see pics for the first time. Unfortunately, the quality isn't always great (being taken from newspapers rather than glossy photos), but at least I have them.

I do think that there needs to be some kind of grip on reality... Go to the vast majority of supermarkets and you will see no social distancing whatsoever.... My store has had over 200000 visits over the past seven weeks, all within a confined space of less that 15,000 Sq ft.. We let a max 70 in at a time and I can guarantee within one aisle, social distancing goes out of the window.. Some customers do the 'social distancing dance' where they go left, then right, then left again as two people try to avoid each other, but many just walk past others almost touching.. Going to a sporting event in the outdoors, with controls as to who can come in, and when and how many, and only standing or sitting where clearly shown, would be infinitely less risky than going doing your shopping..

Probably heard there was to be a drugs test and his van broke down on way to court via Edinburgh

Often on the 'best-ever' lists featured on this forum we've seen riders of a bygone era overlooked. That seems to be the case with this list with players like Raich Carter, Tommy Lawton and Cliff Bastin not included. And Beckham at number 4 with Greaves and Finney at 14 and 15 - the least said the better.

That was in KO Cup matches I believe. It also left him free towards the end of the meeting to be used as a TS if needed.

When you begin a competition you get a drop down box which gives you the option of choosing a team to control or 'control none'. This gives you control of every team. Even then on the match screen, next to each team's name is an icon, either an outline of a head or a computer. You can change these. The head icon for both teams means you control them both. Hope this helps.

The Curtis Sport website. Although don't look for Issue 2 quite yet - give it a week or so. Yeah, hopefully monthly!

I lost a lot of respect for Jason after that incident (wasn't even Todd's fault!) but I later re-gained it when he matured both as a rider and a person. A good ambassodor I felt towards the sport.

On Todd’s comeback meeting in his first ride I remember there was a crash on the pits bend and Crump who was his teammate at the time punched him when he got up of the floor. Crump then said he was injuand pulled out of the meeting.

Fair comments Rob!

I often wonder why we have to suffer irrelevant comments from the fans of Newcastle and Workington among others on the Kent loop. Like most of us, I am not interested in the drivel they call "crap". I want to know all the stuff that affects Kent and our local area..

He was signed to ride on a six-week contract, but Aaron Lanney cut it to four weeks and brought in Todd Wiltshire a couple of weeks earlier, because our team spirit was non-existent while Rickardsson was in the team. We only won one meeting under Rickardsson - when he deemed to finally show everyone his capabilities in a home match against Reading. Todd was a 7.50 rider in 2006, but brought together the side as a team and still had his uncanny habit of going out and getting the points when we really needed him to. We were woefully weak in 2006 - it was Todd who saved us from the wooden spoon. I'd quite liked Rickardsson up until the point he signed for us, but lost a lot of respect for him. Mind you, I don't think he cared what any of the fans thought, he was just in it for himself. On the other hand, Todd further cemented his place as a club legend.

Actually, three, because of the Gold Sash. Just put together the content for Issue 2 of the Oxford mag... but I think I might include a piece on Hans' BL record from 1984-1992 in the next issue. In some years they are staggering - the 11.83 in '86 and 11.73 in '87 (would have been 11.87 but for an e/f).

Speaking personally vulnerable and elderly relatives depend on me so, social distancing permitting, I need to go out regardless though I'm self-limiting this to every few days or so. When I am out and about every time I make like a Berwick fan, wearing a Bandit-style mask plus surgical gloves. Stay safe people....

I can remember those shed huts over the far side that sold memorabilia i was always spending shedloads there.

All his stars were aligned that night! If I remember he beat Hans three (?) times including the Golden Helmet.

Len wrote an excellent piece in Speedway Star in early April, basically said, health and welfare was paramount, at his age he can't take any risks and thought at that time that Speedway should think about 2021 not 2020. Have since seen a link of Social I think to something more local to Kent with similar message. I think its hard to see restrictions being eased any time soon in terms of crowds anywhere near high enough to make sport viable for any promoter.

Top two from each side in vast majority of cases.

Hans when he signed for "The Cheetahs" in 1984 had the bends re-shaped to allow more passing opportunities going in and coming out of the bends...although he fence would come up very quickly on the exits as the track narrowed!

Very quick guide how I got the game working. Don't have computer to hand (wife using it for work) so apologies for any mistakes will double check this evening. 1. Install a VirtualBox (I used one from oracle). 2. Download windowsXP (or 98 if preferred). I googled 'Windows XP for Virtual Box' and found one pretty easy. 3. Run VirtualBox create new 'box' for windows XP. I followed all the steps and didn't change any settings (Used default settings). Was prompted to find downloaded Windows XP to load from (I put file on desktop for ease). 4. Go through Windows installation (this took longest time for me). 5. Once complete and running XP I installed Guest Additions (was found in the devices menu) 6. Once guest additions installed I could drag the Speedway Promoter file (which was still compressed) from my win 10 desktop to XP desktop. 7. Unzipped speedway promoter files then copied these into the GDW2002 folder under windows folder (found in my computer icon in start menu). 8. Played game by opening from same folder copied files into. This is the way I done it. I am by no means an expert and others may have done it different and got it working.

Good point Lion, Steve Roberts could probably tell us the track certainly got better in my view.My first visit there was in the 1973 Supporters club trophy and then it looked a little run down but in the Nielsen era when the track was good with the new restaurant open it was a terrific night out.Then apart from Wimbledon which had an aura about it Oxford with that new restaurant was probably one of the most comfortable nights out at a league meeting.

Wasnt the deal that Nielsen put together with Oxford included a clause where he could "reshape" the track?!? Or is my memory playing mind games.?

From my memory Gundersen, Knudsen, Thorp, Blackbird,Shirra/Holloway, Ermolenko,were amongst only a few who beat him on merit at Cowley.His battles with Erik and Tommy were pretty special when prepared right Cowley was a half decent racetrack was never really a fan of it up until about 1984.

All the more remarkable that Hans achieved an average of 11.03 in 1988 and 10.91 in 1989 when both those criterias were in operation. Just demonstates the force he was during the eighties.

That is very interesting and I have not picked up any of that. As an "Oldie" myself, I am not keen on mixing with loads of strangers. On the other hand, I am a Speedway fanatic in the truest sense and cannot wait for racing to start. Bit of a dilemma really. Be interested in the thoughts of others like myself.

What a load of gibberish (again). If crowds could be allowed to attend events with limited numbers the EPL could restrict attendances and allow fans in, they aren't - talking about shopping and sport side by side at the moment is moronic.

Not even sure what that is supposed to mean. There was always differences, pretty much from the start. I mean when speedway started off in the UK, it wasn't the same as how the Aussies had been racing in their homeland. The tracks were generally smaller and I think the surface was different. When the Aussie riders went to California for instance in the 1930s the tracks were also different to Australia or the UK. They noted it took some getting used to the clay surface....

Here is the New Zealand team (including several Dons) that beat Belle Vue at Hyde Road on June 2nd, 1953 (Coronation Day). The Kiwis won 55-53 thanks to a last heat 4-2 from Geoff Mardon and Ron Johnston against Ken Sharples and Louis Lawson. Mardon (13), and Johnston (12+2) were top scorers for the winning team, while the Aces were led by Sharples (14) and Lawson (11). Back row: Maury Dunn, Geoff Mardon (Wim), Ron Johnston, Barry Briggs (Wim). Front row: Merv Neil, Trevor Redmond, Ronnie Moore (Wim), Peter Clark.

So when you get the editing done and files saved - maybe you could share them :-) ? I need to learn this VB stuff...

This virus is a terrible thing but please get your facts correct. People have recovered from the virus. No need to post crap for dramatic effect. We know how bad it is.

I'm going for Alan Mogridge https://wwosbackup.proboards.com/thread/1773/alan-mogridge

I remember I Mauger from time to time leaving his fuel tap closed and losing power on bends 1/2, after turning it back on he would chase the other riders and often still beat them.

I think that crisis is well over now... in fact the way things look at the moment the NHS will be taking the summer off (along with the teachers). There's only 10% of critical care beds in use and A&E's are like ghost towns. The death rate at the end of April was actually below the 5 year average

"Easy Jet have been brilliant" You must be joking. You have been done up like a kipper IMHO. Well, you might have a worthless piece of paper (an IOU ) so if Easyjet decide to remain in business you might get a flight from them form some airport to where you want to go at an inflated price - which will make their "£10" gesture worthless. I have put my refund into the hands of my credit card company for a refund under section 75.

thanks for all the replies. I came to the sport in the 1990 so most are a bit before my time, but would have loved to have seen some of the riders mentioned in full flight.

I remember a few seasons back Doyley started with a near 14 point average

Couldn't track down Ann. But managed to find one of the riders, Franz Boßlet, who also gave a talk and has a driving school in the area, where one of the bikes used to be on display. Asked him about the speedway and hope to get an answer soon

Whilst I don't condone people doing this, this rhetoric is old and stale now. A&E units are deserted in hospitals.

Ffs I think there are bigger concerns in this country with people disregarding the social distancing rules that a lone biker riding on land without permission.