martinmauger

Think Muller was persuaded to ride speedway by the German authorites, as they had very few actual speedway riders. Though as he showed briefly at Hull in 1976 and the numerous Briggs/Mauger World Tours he could been a very handy speedway rider indeed if he applied himself, he prefared Grass/Longtrack. While some of the temp tracks are far too rutted and slick tracks do cope better with rain, most riders simply want to jet out of the gate and disappear into the distance on a speedway bike set up perfectly to F1 standard. Listen when they are interviewd, they nearly always say a track is patchy and talk about set-ups rarely about actually racing this or that rider. As they are so used to smooth, slick tracks once there is a bit of dirt or slight imperfections in the surface many struggle to cope....

Sure was and though I don't say Mauger ever walked on water, well not very often (!), the world saw him and the entire field ride on it that year. Gotta be the dampest World Final or Important meet ever....

Don't think the 1977 World final wasn't shown live but is was shown on the following Saturday by both BBC Grandstand & ITV World Of Sport. Inevitably there was some repetition of heats but I think nearly all were shown between to two programmes. In fact, I filled in the meeting programme printed in the Speedway Star as I watched the two transmissions....

Tricky one as both have their merets. My gripes with the SGP are under the old system every rider in the world had a theoretical chance of becoming World Champion, or at least ridng in the competition and there a very few "pressure races" where a rider simply has to win to ensure an overall victory. By the nature of a grand prix system riders "simply" have to keep scoring well, making the competion more of a marathon, whereas in the old World Final there would nearly always be such a high pressure/high drama "must win" heat. Like I said, tricky to choose....

My copy arrived yesterday, can't wait to get stuck into it....

Cheers for that, makes sense a rider like Olsen wouldn't be there just for a 2nd half. For a long time I thought any speedway competiion was called a tournament. It's true about the so-called Golden Age of Speedway, Wembley was used for loads of diff meets: European Final, test matches, Inter-Continental Final as well as World Finals and there was nearly always a huge crowd. By huge I mean 10's of 1,000's....

Dunno, would there be a 2nd half?...

Finally got to see England v Sweden at Wembley on a DVD I got off t'internet. Finally? When it was initially shown on the box it was on too late for me to stay up, something like that can seriously mess a kid up. Query: What was Ole Olsen doing in the pits all suited and booted? I know riders often pop in various meets to watch, help their mates, catch up on goss (!), but Olsen was in his Wolves leathers wearing his red neckscarf like he was ready to ride: a possible international guest? Curious....

Cheers for that, Tony can't wait. Hope Sandman gets his tenner....

Yeah the Mick Fiedling piece was great. Anyone know when Backtrack is out next?...

Very good; interesting, exciting, fast edits & plenty good clips. But (here it comes!) I would change the "former world champion" caption to "a speedway world champion". "Former" sounds so yesterday, ok we all know it refers to 1997, but a speedway champion states what Greg is but doesn't infer he is the current champ. Otherwise great effort, good stuff....

Thought it may could been Louis who lost his bike but my mind said Briggo for some reason. Dunno any more about the financially challenged rider as at that time, in the late 1980's, there wasn't any speedway in my area as Hull & Scunny were no more I just vaugely remember reading about it in MCN or somewhere like that. Not being able to find out anymore about the guy in question, though I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it....

Seem to remember reading about another rider having a bike "mis-laid" during a World final at Wmebley and it turning up behind a hot dog stand; Briggo? Also an alledged financially-challenged rider who nonetheless progressed at quite a surprising rate was dealt a life-long ban and actually jailed for both stealing and receiving stolen speedway bikes and equipment, sometime in the late 1980's, I believe...

The official pay rates in speedway have been relatively paltry for many years. Read somewhere, Ian Thomas' book Wheels and Deals I believe, that Thomas made more money in 1979 than Mauger did when Ivan won his last title. Mauger received £500 for merely winning the meeting but Thomas pocketed £600 for backing him to win. Gotta be a moral in there somewhere....

Cr*p have we been, shafted are we. Hope Team Brit make the final if only to give the likes of Wuffie a ride out. Though the good ol' USA were eliminated ages ago, anyone know why Hamill & Herbie didn't ride?...

That's right, in fact the only "speedway bits" left are a bit of dirt/shale outside the touchline on used to be the straights and the pits behind turn 4. Well the pits were still there last time I looked a few months back....

I have Vol 5 of this series which is very good, but any chance you have anything of Hull Angels, Hedon from 1948/49? (He asks without much hope!)...

Dunno about the 2nd "towers" film but I'm sure I read the track in Brittainia Of Billingsgate was especially made for the film and - wait for it - consisted of only a straight and one bend. I've seen the excellent Once A Jolly Swagman but, briefly, what is "Brittainia" about; aside from the obvious?...

Seen a few but one that sticks in my mind was at Hull in 1977; Birmingham team manager Graham Drury and the late Mike Curoso who happened to be Viking teammates at the time. One minute they were sat in their bikes at the pit gate ready to be pushed off then, literally within seconds, they were rolling around on the deck before being separated by riders and officials with Drury holding the upper hand at the time. This was in the days before fixed starting positions and it turned out one had lent across to the other saying "I'm having gate such and such, ok?" before the more thorough and physical discussion took place on the track, literally. Also remember James Beaton Snr waving a fuel can and chasing an opposing rider through the Hull pits due to feeling agrieved over tactics meted out either to son Bobby or James Jnr (Jim) Beaton. Don't recall the identity the rider he was less than pleased with however. Regarding Gresh, there was the time he kicked off in the Belle Vue pits v Reading in 1982, Ian Thomas' first meeting as Aces team manager. It was reported the Gresh laid Bobby Schwartz spark out, kicked Thomas where it hurts most with his steel shoe and decked another rider. "An action-packed 30 seconds" as my brother said at the time when I passed on what I'd read....

Well he defo rode in Thorpy's at Hull in 2004. He also rode in an individ event at Hull in 2005 and was booked primarily because he was available, to add spice to the line-up and he also wanted to test some equipment. He rode really well, was competitive and banged in some points end of you might think? Not a bit of it. Being Johno he put himself about in the pits, got involved with any rider having probs, spoke to others about set-ups and riding the track even after the meet he was helping and advising juniors & 2nd halfers having a spin. I spoke to him and what you see is defo what you get: a really positive, enthusiastic guy who happens to ride speedway and you would be proud to call him your mate. Hope he has great day....