iris123

Seen a photo of Kenneth Hansens tyre totally destroyed after 3 heats and he states that the old tyres never looked like that.....

Think i am right in saying Wimbledons traditional night for many years was monday,then they changed to thursday. Over the years many teams have changed.I remember Eastbourne and Rye House being sunday afternoon,but they have since changed.Not sure though what their race day is now

Trotting tracks have a long history of "Track racing" in Germany,Generally Longtrack.Back about a decade ago Matten Kröger and i think Stephan Katt had a try out on the Hamburg Trotting track near me.Nothing further happened though.maybe the tracks or the development of modern bikes makes it unsuitable now.Maybe it was too costly But today we had an interesting development.Huskies v Horse trotters or whatever they are called.This is the preview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax6OKbP0H8s Maybe it would be an idea for Flat track racing as an added crowd puller?

My one and only visit to Cradley was to see a Cradley v Oxford clash that was preceeded by a Gundersen v Nielsen racing for the Golden Helmet.Think from memory Erik won both heats and then went on to have a bit of a stinker in the main meeting,only getting about 6 points

Yes

Good site.I see i get a credit for some help with New Cross Can't even remember

Lee really was on fire.Not the PC that we were used to seeing at Plough Lane.But great days

1979 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgS5iLNoo1o

To an extent i would agree with Steve.Stop being a stepping stone and training ground for foreign riders and prioritise our own.If it means Aussies getting shut out or having to try another country so be it.It would hopefully push them down the world ratings and push us up.All for that.The trouble i do see is that some of our riders might also turn their back on our league if they get an offer from Poland

I like to think he would have Sid.I watched him make steady progress over his time with Wimbledon,but he did seem to make a great leap over the winter from 1975 -1976 and was really starting to look like he would become one o the worlds best.You have to say Michael Lee was rocketing up the world list at the time,but i think Tommy was far more set up for a long career at the top rather than the troubled career that Lee had.Lee was you have to say brilliant.A one off,but his mental weakness let him down in the end.I don't think Tommy had that weakness

Lets be honest,with the strength of the Polish squad they should win even if someone like you was in charge

We know many races were fixed back then and even after.The fact is they were both cleared.I do wonder why this was investigated,but many other cases weren't?Or where there many other "fixed races" that were investigated around this time?Even seen a claim that Jack Parker thought other riders fixed races to keep him out of things,all ganging up on him.But i thought Ronnie Moore in his interview with Briggo was hinting that there was an old clique who wanted to have things for themselves.And if my memory is correct i think he hinted that Parker and Tommy Price were part of this clique

Tommy did win in 1975.In 1976 Martin Ashby won.Both managed to go thrugh the meeting unbeaten.I think it was a good way to finish that sad season with Martin winning seeing as he was almost a Wimbledon rider the amount of meetings he did for us after Tommys tragic death And talking of the Laurels,the only rider ever to win 3 on the bounce was,guess who?Ole Olsen

Was thinking about this today and do wonder what it was that made Duggan give up the title.Think it well known that Parker was a bit of a dodgy character and was wondering whether there was any pressure put on Duggan in this to maybe lose or take on Parker again relatively soon.Does seem rather quick that Jack got to have another pop at the Helmet as soon as Duggan resigned. One thing is fairly certain and that is if Duggan had carried on it would have been very difficult for anyone to take the title off him.Jack Parker would have had to wait until the next season sometime before he even got a chance and you'd have t go for Vic to have seen him off yet again.So the chances of Parker having so many wins to his name were very small Laurels was normally the end of season meeting Sid

So that does put a bit of a damper on the Parker record imo.The best rider in the world beat him,then didn't want to keep on riding for the title.Say what you want,but i am not sure that was the case when Olsen won the Golden helmet almost 40 times

Just going back to Norbolds post stating the best rider in the world might not get a chance in the Olsen era.Seems like Duggan didn't get a chance when he was way ahead of the league averages in 1948.Guess he was being punished?Or did he refuse a nomination? This post by Norbold makes it even more interesting to think Duggan only got the one chance as he was for a preiod the dominant rider according to Norbold

.I guess Duggan wasn't too interested in the Golden Helmet or was he being punished for resigning the title,because despite being the top rider in the league in 1948 he didn't get a nomination to challenge for it.In fact he never again got a chance to race for the helmet

You can though say that Olsens record was amazing.Nobody else came close really,at a time when a lot of very good riders were about And nobody seems to be able to answer the Vic Duggan question?

No,but as i say Parker lost the title to Duggan and seemingly because Duggan couldn't defend the title got another chance.....But as i also point out Olsen not nly won a fantastic number of Golden Helmet match races he also won World titles and 7 Golden Helmets at Pardubice.Whereas Parker is really mainly known for his "pension"

Parker had i think 19 wins in the golden helmet.Seems to have been beaten by Vic Duggan but then Duggan must have been injured and never had the chance to keep the title? On the other hand Ole Olsen won the helmet 33 times between 1970-1972.He also won 19 times on the trot from the back end of 1972 -the start of the 1973 season.Quite some record,but then again Ole was also a multiple world champion,so the golden helmet wasn't the main title to his name As an extra to Oles string of titles you can also add a record number of Zlata Prilba wins.The Golden Helmet meeting in Pardubice.Ole won 7 times,compared to Tony Rickardsson who won 3 times or Igor Plechanov who won twice and then Ove Fundin won only once.To put it into perspective Briggo and Ivan Mauger never managed a single win.Briggo finished runner-up twice and Ivan came second 4 times!!!!

Aren't these questions that should be asked of your Hot Rod friends on the Hot Rod forum? Anyway,i think the end of the Dons was dealt with quite thoroughly on another thread.Was it the one you were arguing with your mate Parsloes for weeks and months on end?

Brings up the question of what was the better system,the one-off race or the home and away best of 3 heats i think it was? The one off best rider of the night challenges the golden helmet holder was imo not as good as the nominated rider of the month challenging.Was often difficult to even know if the rider who had the helmet the week before had retained it and was coming to your track or had maybe lost it at a meeting the previous night or so.

Very touching statement from Peter Johns

I thought it wonderful to hear with what affection some of the riders(probably all) hold the Dons and the stadium.Gordon Kennetts speech was very touching and i saw a wonderful statement from Peter Johns as well saying what a super stadium it was and even now run down is still better than a lot of speedway stadiums.Just gets to you when you hear the riders talking like fans and in some cases like the Johns family they were

Video of the speedway https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0uW-5PQ3s0&t=216s&app=desktop