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Of course and was a deserved finallist then and again in 1988. My point is that the quality of top level opposition took a serious dip from the mid 80s onwards. John Davis reached the 1980 final in quite a tough era and fair play to him. And for many years after that didn't reach the final, because he just wasn't good enough. So when he got there again in 1988, it wasn't that he had become a better rider, it's because - for different reasons - a lot of world class riders fell by the wayside.

Seems like they were some of the LAST riders you actually "saw" too...

Yes, something similar for me too. I was interested in speedway some time before I actually went to see a match as two of my uncles had been going to speedway since before the War and often spoke about it. So that, growing up, I would hear stories about Bluey Wilkinson, Jack Parker, Vic Duggan, Jack Young and so on. I used to follow speedway results in the newspaper and watch it on the odd occasions it was on telly. My own heroes were Split Waterman, Aub Lawson and Brian Crutcher, so, again, even to this day they have held a special place in my memory of the "greats". By a strange twist of fate, when I did go to see my first meeting, the very first heat brought together Split Waterman and Aub Lawson and I also bought a copy of Speedway World and the front page headline news story was about Brian Crutcher. Also, at my very first meeting, Ove Fundin scored an immaculate 18 point maximum. It has been very hard in the 60 years since to shake me from the belief that Ove is the greatest rider of all time.

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

If travel, quarantine and foreign league restrictions aren’t lifted before a re-start is allowed we’ll be left only with a finite number of British riders to make anything of the season. Some clubs might be willing to run and others not. We might be left with a completely unique, one season league of just 10 clubs and a team building average of CL 32! We’d need 70 riders and we have about 85 British riders, including NL ones. Three of Swindon’s top five might be Ellis, Perks and Rowe, and if we could get Jordan Stewart over and have say Kinsley, Luke Harris and Stoneman, I’d be happy to watch that type of team. We might increase the standard or the number of teams if foreigners (including Aussies) base themselves here. Each team could have a home and away meeting each week and conclude the league meetings after week nine, leaving one spare week for rain offs and two weeks for the play offs and final. Without being dependent on foreign riders, clubs could generally run on their preferred race nights and there would be no double uppers! Your rider would be solely your rider. This season could be used as a worthwhile trial for a future blueprint for British speedway, especially one that includes living within its means.

Didn’t John Davis make the world final that Michael Lee won?

Anyone would be hard pressed to find a clearer World no1 in the late 80s as Hans Nielsen. Even though Gundersen pipped him for the World Title in 88 (he was great under pressure), Nielsen was still consistently better than Erik at that time. Gundersen seemed beatable and at times, no matter the track, Nielsen was unbeatable. That said, in different circumstances, I would have loved to have seen Sigalos, Penhall, Carter, Lee, Sanders in the mix at that time too. The cream was notably thin at the top of world speedway then. Guys like Conny Ivarrson, Olli Tyrvainen, Troy Butler, even John Davis all made world finals, when in truth, they wouldn't have had a sniff 5-10 years prior.

Possibly because it is true.

Ron Preston was a rider who i thought had a big future in the sport

I tend to agree with that. In my memory Barry Briggs is the greatest ever, but thinking back to an impressionable age I suppose his reputation went before him and he was probably a great rider in my imagination before I actually saw him ride, based on what I had read in Speedway Star. The reality is I probably only saw him race a handful of times, not enough to form an objective opinion, but I suppose Briggo to me represents that adolescent age when we have our hero’s and nobody else will ever come close to them.

A WHILE back a poster on here bemoaned the lack of an interview with Andreas Jonsson ...well, your prayers have been answered. He talks to Paul Burbidge in SS this week. Compelling stuff.

So its 51 years ago to the day that Apollo 10 was launched Apollo 10 Launched: 18 May 1969 UT 16:49:00 (12:49:00 p.m. EDT) Lunar Orbit: 21 May 1969 Returned to Earth: 26 May 1969 UT 16:52:23 (12:52:23 p.m. EDT) NASA was preparing for the Apollo project. When NASA were preparing for the Apollo project, some of the training of the astronauts took place on a Navajo reservation. One day, a Navajo elder and his son were herding sheep and came across the space crew. The old man, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question that his son translated. "What are these guys in the big suits doing?" A member of the crew said they were practising for their trip to the moon. The old man got all excited and asked if he could send a message to the moon with the astronauts. Recognising a promotional opportunity, the NASA folks found a tape recorder. After the old man recorded his message, they asked his son to translate it. He refused. The NASA PR people brought the tape to the reservation, where the rest of the tribe listened and laughed, but refused to translate the elder's message. Finally, the NASA crew called in an official government translator. His translation of the old man's message was: "Watch out for these guys; they have come to steal your land." Nearly a true story that (well at least the first bit was true anyway and the second part could also have been true to be fair) Stay safe; keep well and look after yourself Regards THJ

KKS

Sorry there are a few pages, but you can see who was discussed, and because of incomplete information, it isn't 100% accurate. It is a few years old, so there may have been some changes since. Apologies for the long-winded link, but it isn't easy trying to do certain things on my phone. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php%3F/topic/39407-speedways-most-travelled-riders/&ved=2ahUKEwiQ7azx-8DpAhVRQ80KHUKKBqcQFjAAegQIBhAB&usg=AOvVaw2bTcTdaIU72OGcO2XxAgKV

As at 19/05/2020, tickets are still on sale, via the SGP web site, so by all accounts, everything is just fine and dandy, so what's everyone in a flap about? https://speedwaygp2020.seetickets.com/event/2020-adrian-flux-british-fim-speedway-grand-prix/cardiff/1435110?utm_source=Direct&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=Cardiff_SGP_2020&utm_content=23092019_BRITSIHSGP_BUYTICKETS It's going to be great. Don't miss it. No brakes, no fear and all that. Have a great day out in Cardiff. Always assuming that the Heddlu (Welsh Police) actually allow you to cross the border into their country. And with Ryanair cancelling all flights to and from the continent until August, there won't be any of them pesky Poles, or drunken Danes, or spaced-out Swedes there. The Welsh can have the stadium to themselves. That should make social distancing easier, isn't it?

I think that may be Tommy Jansson's Brother, Bo, on the right?

He is probably one of the least remembered Americans, Steve, along with one of my personal favourites, Buddy Robinson.

Yes Lee beat him from the back in his last race to win the title in 1980.

Not sure where you got that idea from, but I will give you some stats. 91,000 Americans have died from Covid-19. 640,000 Americans die from cancer - every year. 647,000 Americans die from heart disease - every year. The vast majority (over 90%) of deaths from Covid-19 have been over 65 and/or suffering from underlying health conditions. These are not indicators of a disease that is likely to threaten civilisation.

We had this very discussion a few years ago. I'll see if I can dig out the list we came up with...

A one-day World Final - what an excellent idea World Champion crowned on the day Why has that never been thought of before? Let’s go for it

BIRMINGHAM V BERWICK 2019 BIRMINGHAM'S 2019 fascinating home finale with Berwick will be broadcast this Wednesday night (May 20, 7.30). After a testing first year back in professional league racing, the Brummies were desperate to finish on a high in front of their home supporters. In association with ReRun Productions, the link to view the meeting will be posted on the club's Website, Twitter and Facebook pages on Wednesday at 7.30 prompt - so make sure to refresh your feeds at that time and see how the final fixture of the season panned out!

Your last point is totally spot on if those five named were still around that could of changed some part of history but that is how it goes.Going back to Erik one of the things that i admired about him was that he adjusted to the new tapes ruling ( something Lee never did).Erik had a nightmare with that new rule at first but conquered it which took a lot, great rider Erik great temperment and had a great personality to.

I wouldn't disagree...... ....unless I am trying to sell a book about Tom Farndon.

I think Erik Gundersen had a brief spell at No 1 for Cradley, but I seem to recall him being at No 3 most of the time. Most times, he would met Hans Nielsen at least twice during the night. PS And I think Belle Vue had Mort at No 3 and PC at No 5, so both were out in Heat 13 of meetings at Hyde Road.

Which is another reason I've always maintained Hans was even more impressive in 1987. He was riding for a struggling team, still recorded a 11.73 BL average, which would have been 11.87 but for a seized engine at Hackney in late October. PS Two T/S rides for Nielsen for Oxford in the 1986 BL - at Cradley Heath and Reading. Oxford still won the two meetings 45-33 and 43-35.

For me it was the same, but different . Ronnie Moore and Tommy Jansson had a sort of aura about them. Both were sort of different to the others with a wonderful relaxed friendly character. With Ronnie you just felt as if you were standing before a real champ and obviously the crowds of people around him and Tommy gave you that feeling as well. And nobody would ever be so spectacular as Peter Collins

I have to admit before I used to attend speedway I remember watching on, I guess, "World of Sport" a televised meeting that featured Barry Briggs and being impressed with his full face helmet. Never saw many of those then not even on the roads in the UK. The name Barry Briggs just trips off the tongue. However the two names that I found iconic were Roy Trigg and Eddie Reeves who always evoked memories of speedway before I became a regular as my brother would constantly refer to them...John Bishop was another bizarely!

It is strange that players from the period when England were arguably the best team in the world never seem to get a mention. But that is what I was trying to show. It is also quite interesting to see how a worlds top 20 can change significantly according to which country does the poll, at least with football

If for speedway promoter, when on transfer list. Click on your team name before clicking the riders name.

Sorry, but that's rubbish. Obviously we are constrained by our living memory, but any list of great British riders would include the likes of Craven, Collins and Lee all who rode well before your 1990 cut off.

They used him at no.5 at Hull in 1975 I think it was, obv before Ivan signed to lead the Vikings in 1978. That would have been to repel the twin attack of Hull's Bobby Beaton and Mitch Graham which was an, er, exciting pairing....

Yes, only 11 teams in the league that year, riding home and away once (preceded by a League Cup, also riding home and away). So that would have been a maximum of 20 matches, although Oxford were unable to ride their remaining two home matches as they ran out of time. It's also not really fair to compare different eras with different heat formulas and different gate selection rules. Oxford were also so dominant in 1986 that Nielsen was probably rarely used - if at all - as a tactical sub, so would have only ridden against the other No. 1s a limited number of times. Nevertheless, Nielsen only dropped 12 points (all at home) during that league campaign.

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.

Dedicated to the late Gordon Day - great gesture. After meeting Zoom reaction to feature, Middlo, Magic and Shamek!!

Been past the stadium today. Whilst all locked up and only basic viewing from the canal toepath: The front car park is completely tiled and looks impressive (anyone remember the moon craters) No BMR sign as you enter the car park from the road The outside of the gym seems completed (where chip shop was) First and second bend terracing levelled with slight gradient, (should prove a spectator viewing point). Pits and Tempstand as before

Just been updated by distribution company ... copies will be on sale today as they did not arrive into wholesale until yesterday.

NOT that we know of... will enquire

When you look at the money available I Poland for top men ,they are making a good living.(if the money gets paid).Signing on fees cover most of their initial outlay.