martinmauger

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....

Just adding my 2P's worth, re: the GB v Australia Test Match at Glasgow. The stadium capacity was quoted as 2,500, don't think the meeting was a sell-out but there was a more than decent crowd with many fans from other tracks. The novelty of an international & seeing Woffinden + the full GB squad (less Lambert) were draws, but had only the 'usual' Ashfield crowd numbers showed up, or even less as some fans didn't attend such meets at Hull as 'it isn't / wasn't Hull Vikings', then speedway as a whole surely IS in big trouble. I'm not saying the sport without it's problems, but the fact a healthier then normal atttendance watched the meeting means perhaps there is hope for the future afterall....

Sadly I never saw Mirac ride, but Ronnie Moore was a legend for sure. RIP....

Such things are no joke. Once came across a totyally unexpected flood around a blind bend I knew well, you can tell it's deep when twigs area at window level. Don't reccomend flood driving but I knew the road rose up and it was literally a matter of life or death: arranging the funeral of a dear friend. Punctures are quite rare but getting one can make one paranoid for a while afterwards. Another time I discovered the 'hard way' what one does when copping one then a 2nd puncture in the middle of nowhere, 25 miles from civilisation, no mobile phone signal or call boxes. Firstly one can drive for 12 miles at 10MPH on a 100% flat tyre thereby destroying it unitl one gets one glorious bar of phone signal. Then one gives much praise and thanks to recovery service membership and the arrival of that lovely truck with the yellow flashing lites. The funny bit was explaining to the car rental company how I destroyed 2 tyres: "because they went down". I can look back with a tad amusment but both incedents were pretty stressful at the time. If not already: join a recovery service. Finally, like the majority I log on t'net and forums to share info and for fun, not to argue who is right and who is wrong. Everyone is right: apart from actual facts it's all just opinions....

I do like that, though I have a weird sense of humour. Or so I'm told. In Hull it was absolutely lashing down, wind, thunder & lightning (actually it was pretty cool) though no fun and probably a bit scary for those caught out in it. Circumstances dictated I was never going to make it last nite but at my usual setting off time of 6ishPM I could easily have been tempted. Then the weather changed 180 degrees and then some....

That is exactly what I thought, was waiting for the guy in white shirt and tie to appear with a hose pipe on turn 1. Not a good impression with plans for the new stadium still apparently not 100% finalised and the need to demonstrate to the new local residents that speedway won't cause any problems....

Should point out that circumstances meant myself & the 2 passengers I brought had to leave after main match. We expected the car park to be empty but only few cars had left, so the majority stayed to take in the junior 250 / 500 event....

This ^^, riders battling the heat as well as the opposition, also met up with ex-Hull Viking Bobby Beaton. Didn't try the pies but I'm assured they are very palatable....

Hull's Frank Auffret beat both Bruce Penhall & Bobby Schwartz in an England v USA test match at the Boulevard in 1980 ( yea it was), now THAT brought the house down ....

Just been told Cardiff GP & Woffenden were mentioned on BBC Look North, I'm stunned & need a lie down . That said, Look North do mention speedway from time to time though....

Crikey, as I expected Kelv to say. Keep it going Cookie !...

This guy ^^^ is keen ....

I don't have any issue with Cook riding in the GPs, good luck to him, any professional rider should have the opportunity to qualify for and compete at the highest level. Not keen on a few too many permanent wild cards IMO. Adding up the points and counting the pennies at the end of the year will be the deciding factor of continuing or not....

"Tell them about it and they may come, keep it a secret and they surely won't since they don't know about it"....

Yea interesting pics thanks, I've spent many a moment (hour !) perusing such images on Google Maps. The great Barry Briggs said he learnt stuff about the Wembley track which had previously puzzled him when he looked down on it from the stadium roof prior to the 1972 World Final....

As above, much respect. RIP....

S'right, I know folk who travel to watch live darts in a packed room where you can't actually see the action but watch on a TV screen. Like you would at home. Can't really knock the arrows game as it is very popular though it does absolutely nothing for me...

True. This ^^ would almost double my hypothtetical fortune. Sigh....

" My next door neighbour asks, "What's speedway?" ". Like many others no doubt, if I had a pound for everytime I've been asked this, I'd have an awful lot of money. A true tale I've told before: not one person I've 'actively encouraged', not exactly forced (!), to watch speedway - either in the flesh or on the box - has said "what a load of rubbish". The only semi-negative comment, ever, has been "it's just motorbikes going round a track". One fine day a lady at work and her family chanced upon beach racing, at Mablethorp I believe it was, and she and her family (husband, 1 boy, 2 girls) stayed until the very end. She even asked when telling the tale "was it the speedway you are always going on about, it was very exciting. we'd love to see it / that beach racing again". Not exactly extensive market research but, again, many could probably tell smilar tales.....

This ^^, plus meetings dragging on for too long. At Hull in 1970's / 80's non supporters club members could travel on supporters club coaches but paid a bit more. Join the club and your next coach trip discount pretty much paid for membership so quids in. Well prob 1 quid in. We took 15 coaches to the league decider at Coventry in 1979 and 7 to the 1981 World Final at Wembley and we didn 't even have a rider to support as the late, great Ivan Mauger sadly DNQ. Signing Ivan in 1978 certainly helped with away support, mostly there was a coach to every match anyway but Ivan's arrival guarranteed at least one and more often 2 coaches. Best visiting support to Hull at that time was probably Coventry, often bringing 2 coaches for a mid-week match. Think a few away coaches ran when Hull retuned in 1995 but fans made their own way to away fixtures. I miss the camaraderie of those away trips....

This ^^....

Adding my 2p's worth: the competition went better than I thought, Polish crowds didn't necessarily agree, flippin' brilliant watching GB battle all the way to the very last race. Agree it the final heat was more about who didn't finish last than who won the race, sadly some might say, but it was a pairs comp so probably 4, 3, 2, 0 scoring might have been better for the final heat, if not the entire compeition. And I enjoyed the tension/ excitement of the 'absolutely, positively must get a result' so-called pressure heats, and only have the one Final. We don't know the GB thoughts / tactics before the last Fnal 2 heat, but possibly riders aren't used to others slowing down in front these days to block and / or the charteristics of modern engines don't permit it safely. We saw the Zagar / Manzares incedent and in Final 1 there was an almost a repeat with GB v Smolinski, we could debate forever. I will say GB as a team rode the best they could and should be proud. Rossiter did the right thing using Lambert as much as he did, while there was no guarrantee Cook would have done better, Rosco couldn't risk maybe using a heat to risk it. He had 2 riders going good, so use them. I don't buy '2nd is the first of the losers', you can't win all the time and 2nd is still very good': use the silver medal as motivation to turn it into gold next time. Finally, Tai is obviously the more experienced at this level of the 3 GB riders, and it showed, and was on his own track for the Finals the others will no doubt learn from the SON, but whether some like him or not: he rode freakin' brilliant....

Speaking as a neutral, apart from GPs & SON, it matter waaaay more when you have someone to follow. Ok, competition of 2 halves, another meet to go then go to last heat, whatever, who cares some awesome racing & GB ARE LEADING !!!! Not often we can say that, enjoy it is my advice....

Oh and forgot manged to view the clip; a mystery as I watch speedway on Youtube all the time. Anyhoo; not perfect, as mentioned some framing & sound issues, but a good first effort. TV, &video filming and production is nowhere near as easy as many folk think so much to think about and remember, the OP asked for some feedback and got it, looking forward to the next one....