martinmauger

Indeed he did, I recently watched the 1982 Final from LA (the Carter v Penhall one) and Les was really on it, actually taking Penhall from the back, must have been gutting to lose out in that one comparitively easier race. I read somewhere it took him ages to sort his 4V JAWA as apparently they coud be well tricky to set up and he got it running 'just so' in the qualifier, which I believe he won, before the final. Comparing competitors, in any sport, from different eras is interesting but really just for fun as ultimately it isn't resolved: different times, conditions, mindsets, equipment, venues and in speedway different competition rules: World Finals v GPs. But the cream always rises to the top so winners in one era would almost certainly be a winner in a different time....

Pretty much spot on ^. Mostly about the fastest cars, the rest making up the numbers, racing at 200MPH knowing you have zip chance unless 3/4 of the field drop out, gotta be soul-destroying. A few peeps told me that for each race there should be a ballot so everyone gets a chance in every car. Back onto speedway, maybe promoters should mix things up from time to time with handicap racing, 12 or 16 lappers, etc....

He came across well love to know how he managed to wear his Monster Energy gear, maybe the Beeb thought the green 'M' was his speedway club logo. Other energy drinks are available....

More like "we're hoping to be quicker than the other teams at the pit stops", little comment about passing them on track....

I've said this before but I enjoy most forms of motorsport, F1 can be a high-speed procession and the recent GP in Japan made the Suzuka circuit appear quite dull, which it sure ain't; many incedents have occured deciding many titles there. But surprisingly as an ex-biker I can't abide MotoGP, BSB, Superbikes, whatever, though I love the IOM TT, or be bothered to work out the different categories of bikes or watch them queueing in single file up for lap after lap waiting for a mistake, EF or fall, after a few laps or so I change the channel,. But, getting to the point, I can watch F1 from beginning to end. Boring for us to all like the same things; pinching another poster's punchline, "I'll get my coat"......

Me too, support your local team if you possibly can....

I thoroughly enjoyed Saturday nite's GP, went down to the wire, loads of pressure, almost like a World Final....

I pointed out Muller that on reflection Muller wasn't necessarily the surprise winner 1983, if GP system was in operation back then he may well have won a German round. Old World Finals and modern GPs totally different of course: almost sprint vs a marathon. It could be argued Tai was a surprise winner in 2013, doubt many expected him to turn his form around in such dramatic fashion from his previous GP series appearences though obviously he's more than proved his consistency....

Don't agree that Muller winning in 1983 was a huge shock. On a German track he described as "like a mini longtrack", he admitted later he'd practiced on it all he wanted, appeared to supervise track grading and watering as the meeting progressed (!) and everyone knew he'd turn up with super-quick machinery, which he did: just the one GM such was his level of confidence. Granted his main area of interest was longtrack / grasstrack / sandtrack. He wasn't a contender on 'conventionial' speedway tracks but he was a more than handy speedway rider when he really wanted to be, he averaged 8.75 over 8 matches (I think it was) for Hull in 1976. Think he also stated the German authorities more or less forced him to ride speedway else he wouldn't be permitted to ride his preferred longtrack, etc. One off winner on a track suited to him; for sure. Shock winner at the time; not really. Well done to Woffy by the way....

This ^. Also applies to Greg these days, they only did or do what they needed to or need to, sometimes you're not gonna win a race but need at least get a finish to win overall. In addition to being brilliant at what they do, consistant winners in any sport make it look oh so so easy, which it ain't obviously. Hope Woffy brings it home tonite....

Yeah all the best Robbo. He, with brother Scott, rode just the one season at Hull in 1997 but 21 years on I still recall his never give up race to the chequred flag attitude. Nice guy too, nice family in fact, from the few briefish chats I had with the Robsons. In the Hull proggie his name varied from Stuart, to Stu and on at least one occasion Stew Robson, someone was having a laugh there methinks....

Recently saw an interview with Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham he was wearing a speedway hoodie, couldn't fully make out the design but it had 'Speedway' or 'Vintage Speedway' with the picture of a rider on the front....

Seem to recall the owners of the site / land, Imery's I believe, only guarranteed a few years availability for speedway after which they would likely mine or dig the area where the speedway track was sited. Think they pretty much stuck to the agreement, even perhaps allowing a further season's racing due to delays in preparing the area. I never made it to St Austell but seen videos: the 'stadium' was a bit basic, similar to the Mountains Of Mars, but no one cared. The promotion and riders made the best of things, in fact the unique nature of the venue was somewhat of an attraction. The smallish well-shaped & well prepared track provided brilliant racing though, the St Austell Gulls and especially the Trewlany Tigers were competitive and exciting opposition which are the most important things afterall.....

And me, either that or they would need to rebuild the pits . Depends on what the ref said at the riders' briefling and whether he adhered to it....

I somehow missed the match, was at folks' place so could easily have watched (aarrgghh!!). But Ht13 was out of the top draw, if every race, and racetrack was like that, stadia in the UK wouldn't be big enough. That heat alone shows why we all follow speedway, still a brilliant sport. Mostly. Know what, gonna watch it again ....

Saw the Zielona Gora v Tarnow match, great stadium / track, good racing, big crowd, great atmosphere which came across on TV, made you wish you were there....

Personally I watched the Touring Cars & support races from Knockhill. A good distance from Ashfield though not a big surprise the Scottish Speedway Derby was off as it literally poured down . 'Dreich' I believe the good folk North O' the Border refer to it....

Hope I'm not too late but probably the most memorable Czech rider to race at Hull, the Boulevard, would have been the late Vaclav Verner. In an era when Exeter were reffered to as Czechxeter for tracking 3 Czech riders ( Vaclav, brother Jan & Ales Dryml Snr). In 1978 Vaclav took out Hull's annual individual meeting, the Yorkshire Television Trophy, with 13 points winning from Mike Lee & Bruce Penhall. On another occasion at Hull, Vaclav caused the odd issue for former Exeter team mate and skipper, the late, great Ivan Mauger in that he wiped Ivan out ! Vaclav picked loads of drive mid way between turns 1 & 2, Ivan was minding his own business, easily leading the race, when in a split second he was collected big style and finished up on his hands and knees half way along the back straight. Verner was obviously exluded following the unintentional take out of his great pal Ivan who went on the win the re-run. An interesting note was it was reported in the local paper that Vaclav literally 'canonned' off the fence on almost every lap, I can confirm he gave it a real clout on the exit and thought surely he had to have done it on purpose. I later read in Ivan's book 'The Will To Win' that he (Ivan) would often deliberatley clip the fence on the bends at Exeter to gain a quicker exit, maybe Vac was trying the same at Hull. Either way he was certainly spectacular which is why I recall his rides 40 years on....

Did, only Ivan won the World Championship & WTC in 1979 as a Hull rider, see post #246. Of course Belle Vue with their long history will prob trounce everyone's 'Club's World Champions stats', prob Coventry too due to all the Danes who rode for the Bees, and also Cradley with 'win everything in sight Yanks', at one time the Danes & Yanks seemingly won everything over and over again at one time. Still, was surprised at the Hull stats and it's all good fun...

Guess what: 10 Hull World Champions (!). Just kiddin'. Could be time for the 'Lego' buildings and stands to moved on site and then assembled. Hopefully....

Same here, mostly to cheer on Woffinden in the GPs. His image / look helps as they are bikers, but they enjoyed GB in the SON (The Woffy & Lambert Show).....

Hull Vikings had 9 World Champions, missed one; Shawn Moran (longtrack 1983). ...

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Hull Vikings had 8 World Champions . Read 'em and weep folks: Ole Olsen (3x, 1 longtrack, 1WTC, 1 World Pairs), Barry Briggs (4x, 2x WTC), Egon Muller (3x long track, 1983), the late great Ivan Mauger (6x, 3x longtrack, 2x World Pairs, 4x WTC), Dennis Sigalos (World Pairs 1982), Joe Screen (U21 1993), Sam Ermolenko (1993, World Pairs, 1 WTC), Paul Thorp (WTC 1989). Ok, Olsen refused to sign despite being allocated by the 'interest generating' rider control system and it really has to be said only Ivan Mauger won titles while actually a Hull rider but, hey ....

My point (in a round about way as I was tired) was if folk don't rurn out to watch a special or at least different high-ish profile meetings then the sport is in a worse state than thought. E.g. my first ever meeting was a World Champs Qualy at Hull in 1974, when I told regulars I was going that nite quite a few said they weren't going as it wouldn't be as good as a match but that I would still enjoy it. I did ! It was the same when Hull staged England v Australasia or USA, some locals gave them a miss but more fans from out of town attended and so the crowds were bigger anyway. The GB v Aussie match showed that folk ( more folk? ) will still attend such meetings if they feel they are worth watching & value for money, Cardiff GP being the most obvious example. Seen that too....