Dave Jones

Top quality rider, have some great memories of his time a Brandon. Just sad that he didn't manage to lift a world title as i always thought it was within his capabilities.

Ah yes Wolves on a Friday. Perhaps my long term memory isn't as good as I imagined. Michanek was a rider who always seemed to be a thorn in the side for Ole.

Back in those times I regularly did two or three meetings a week. Coventry on Saturdays, Wolves on Monday and Long Eaton midweek. I had the pleasure of watching OO at Wolves most weeks, and remember well the tussle that the CO had getting him to brandon after Ole asked for a move away from monmore. His second world title win is still etched in my memory A great time to be a speedway supporter.

I know he wasn't your cup of tea, but I always admired his natural ability. To have him at the bees was the icing on the cake for me. He pulled the team together IMO.

Back on topic, my favourite has to be the O O . I first saw him ride in a world title qualifier at Owlerton in 1966 , his first official outings in UK I think. He won the first heat of the night against three other Scandinavians and created an immediate impression. I followed his progress firstly at Newcastle, and then got to watch him on a regular basis when he moved to the Midlands. Had some great moments watching & supporting Ole, and always liked listening to what he had to say He had then & still has a wonderful personality.

I amaze myself sometimes, I can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago, but 30 years ago is clear in my mind.

Oh yes Roman! I remember an evening at Brandon when he was riding a new " all singing & dancing" GM. I'm sure it was Bees v Reading and Roman was " lined up" & passed by Jan Andersson on his dilapidated looking old Jawa. Roman wasn't impressed, after the race finished he rode up alongside Jan & gesticulated towards the engine. I thought WW3 was about to start, Andersson took offence , believing that Roman was accusing him of having a "large engine" and there were ructions in the pits area. I think Andersson insisted that the engine was examined there & then and if my memory serves me Tommy Knudsen took the top off the engine and measured its capacity. Everything checked out fine and we all moved on.

i suppose it depends where you consider "a touch of luck" finishes and a huge chunk of luck begins really. i will say that such was my intense frustration with the result, & for the one and only time in my life I found myself at the back of the room during the riders press conference heckling the winner during his speech .

I think you will find that the major criticism of this particular silencer was that the power from the engine didn't come in progressively. It caused the riders difficulties as often they would pick up drive unexpectedly, usually in the turns, and the bikes would lift dangerously. As a result riders were reluctant to get too close in case something untoward happened which indirectly caused a deterioration in the quality of the racing. IMO

Is that a serious question? I don't get the impression you are that naive .

I had it in my mind that it was a well known issue, but it was a long time ago and my memory isn't what it once was . Thanks for the info.

I don't worry about that. I've encountered plenty of posters like him in the time I've been on the forum. Most don't hang around too long usually.

I agree with that. IMO it was also a point where the quality of racing deteriorated as riders were complaining that" the engines didn't react to the throttle as they had prior to the new silencers being introduced ,and close racing was more difficult due to the way that the power came in".

Frank Ebdon.... No idea why, but it was a topic of discussion for quite a while as I recall edit Upon thinking about this a little more, I'm sure that I heard it first at a "talk in" in Coventry where Hans was guest speaker. He mentioned then that He and Ebdon had issues but didn't expand on that.

A very debatable heat result in the end. I was there in Pocking for this meeting and I remember this race well. In the re-run after Han's exclusion Sam knew his bike was in trouble on the startline and he attempted to leave the track but was forced to go back on by the stewards, as the 3 riders entered the 1st bend ermolenko's bike stopped causing Hamill to fall . The race should have been run with two riders only but Sam was allowed back in on another machine and we all know the result. A very controversial decision given the meeting referee's well known intense dislike of Hans Nielsen.

You might think that you've "asked the right questions" , but , judging by your recent posts you don't appear to have arrived at the right conclusions. Writing off posters who no longer attend (and there are plenty of them from all tracks) is hardly the correct way forward IMO . The fact that they still read the forum suggests to me that they still have enough interest in speedway and would love to see something positive happening. I know I would. i think everyone knows someone who "used to go to speedway" but are now lost to the sport, those who still read and post on here are still reachable if ever the sport can rebuild .

It will be a lot easier for me if I stop reading the garbage you are posting.

I think the dog in question certainly did.

At the very least, " Guilty by Association".

That's fair enough, but a lot of the stuff i commented on in my previous post happened on "your watch" so as co-promoter I would imagine you would have been aware.

Really!! In what seemed no time after the takeover we saw a perfectly adequate management team dismantled . Rosco moved out and Colin Pratt pushed sideways. Then we had Colin's service dispensed with as team manager to be replaced by a series of " ragamuffin type characters" called team managers in his place , none of whom appeared to have a clue what Coventry Speedway represented. During all of this time we were getting messages from Mr Horton about making up our minds whether we wanted top class speedway at Brandon, and his guarded threats about running at a lower level. While all of this was going on he was attending BSPA meetings complaining he couldn't afford to run. I wouldn't call that well a run club , and I won't even get involved with your comment about still being there had the stadium been available.

Deja vu at its height. What you and your pal inherited at Coventry was a top class club, which had been very well run for many many years, and look how that finished up. Also, on reflection, you and Mr Horton didn't make Colin Pratt feel too welcome after you moved in to Brandon either.

Surprised you had the courage to ask that, given the "strokes" pulled by Ford over many seasons.

It doesn't take "more than one rider being injured" to cause these meeting delays though. Often , when the medic feels the need to accompany one injured rider to the hospital then everything grinds to a halt. I understand why the promoters don't provide the extra cover but given the precarious state of british speedway currently, long delays are not going to encourage fans to attend again. I don't believe there are too many other sports where competitors are so vulnerable to injury that would provide such basic medical cover and risk not completing the meetings, thus denying the fans value for their entrance fee.

Not a great deal of choice I'm afraid...Monmore isn't in the most salubrious part of town. The closest , I would imagine is the Novotel in Union St..Not too far from the stadium.