iris123

Well i did start a list on the Farndon thread of the best England-Australian pre-war riders.It might have been that list that was the inspiration for this thread.In reality you would only add the American riders to the best English and Australians.I could only see maybe Kilmister of NZ and Gibbs of Canada as outside contenders.Though as i mentioned previously would someone like Rye make it because of one great season or do you go for someone who had a number of decent seasons?All a matter of opinion Unlike cyclone,who put up a good list i do feel the test meetings between England and Australia were some of the big big meetings pre-war and should also be taken into consideration I thought he rode for Birmingham in 1949? At least on Speedway Researcher he is included in the NL averages for Birmingham that year and is not in the 1950 averages.Maybe you have made a mistake?The excellent site has Lammy riding for the Lions in 1948 http://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/docs/1950/nl1averages.pdf

But they do seem to get a decent track down that doesn't break up like indoor speedway meetings that i have seen.As a one-off it is quite exciting,but overtaking is pretty tough

As i mentioned before,i would question the inclusion of Lammy who rode 1 year over the likes of say Michanek,who qualified for a couple of world finals in that period and say Göte Nordin Always hard to decide if 1 good season counts more than a few not quite so good ones.Then we could say should Claude Rye be chosen for the pre-war period as he had a pretty good league season finishing i think around 3rd in the averages and also won a world title in Paris...plus another one a year later.But i think he did beat Wilkinson one year as well as another who could be included,Billy Lamont

Absolutely.Doesn't matter who sues who if at the end those to blame end up paying up.Maybe it will bring and end to passing the buck and thinking they can get away scot free from poor organisation

Bit strange i would say to include Lammy in 1949-1968 period when he only rode in the first year and ok he qualified for the world final,but 4 other riders finished ahead of him in that final and 3 others in the NL averages

If you read what happened back then(and not only then but up to the 80s at least) then there was a lot of "Wheeling and dealing" going on..Olle Nygren i think is one that has talked about it.If you listen to what Ronnie Moore said about some of the old riders like Jack Parker and Tommy Price then it was like a little mafia that tried to keep newcomers out of taking their share of the pie away from them,even with threats and dirty riding,

Oops,made the same mistake, only other way around, those Breakfast TV people did when having a speedway rider as guest and thinking he was a car racer.

Don't diss Swarfega......at least right on their front page they give speedway a mention http://www.swarfega.com/

Que?

That is the problem with talking to a couple of people from a country and taking it as gospel what they say.Can just imagine talking to one or two on here and taking that as gospel about england/speedway etc

There is currently a little campaign i see of speedway people nominating 5 others to post a speedway photo on Facebook......seems very easy and spreads like wild fire.Whether it will have any effect is due to how many non speedway fans it reaches and interests

All seems strange if Langton should have been excluded and then was let back into the race-off by LVP demanding such.They would have shared the money and LVP would have been world champ.By demanding Langton was let into the race-off LVP was really showing it was more than just the money,but the honour of being WC and he didn't want it handed to him on a plate.Anyway if Langton was honourable he would have let LVP win.Maybe that is why he didn't keep his side of the "deal"

Sounds like E I Addio might be an expert on that subject

I don't know how i missed out Stevenson having already mentioned him!!! But yes,Frank Charles had a great series in 1936 and the others you mentioned also done well in both the tests and the league averages as i think Wal Phillips.All at least had one very good year.Whitfield it seems had a good winter season in Australia not just winning the "world title" but not much else back home it seems

Reminder of what happened last year.Lindgren did make it into the final https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oub23b8uwk

Thanks Norbold.I did find some,but not all.1934 + 1935 were missing.So Tom had 3 good seasons where he was up with the very elite. One of the riders of the time who seems to be often forgotten is Harry Whitfield.Won one of the unofficial world titles in Australia.Mentioned on wikepedia as one of the first home riders to challenge the dominance of the Australians What would be interesting looking at the Test results from that period is to name the best England test team of the 1930s as there seem to be an amazing number of riders who were in those tests.Also looking at the 1931 test v Australia at Wembley both Fandon and Whitfield got 2 points from 2 rides,but 21 riders were picked.Obviously horses for courses and local riders to help boost the crowd.Even Australia named a fair few.What seems to be noticeable is the Australians have a couple of riders who are very constant with their good scores,whilst Englands riders are hot and cold with say the exception of 'Ginger' Lees and Eric Langton/'Tiger' Stevenson.On the face of it it looks like the competition was fairly even and there were a lot of riders at a similar level,rather than today with a few elite riders I'd say just looking at the England v Australia tests i would pick from the 1930(first official series)-1939 England F.Varey J.Parker E.Langton Ginger Lees j:Abbott T.Farndon B.Kitchen an other....hard to find another candidate that done well really Australia V.Huxley M.Grosskreutz F.Arthur D.case Bluey Wilkinson R.Johnson L.V.Praag B.Lamont(probably a bit of bias there)

Trying to get this thread back on topic,does anyone have the averages of Tom Farndon and the top say 10 riders in the leagues at the time we are discussing?How many years was Tom at the top?

Apologies if it wasn't meant to be negative,but your comments about this not doing the credibility of the sport any good was taken by me to be a negative comment on the project.I guess it wasn't

Ah,i see you really are interested and need to book your holidays to take in the fixtures........

Well i don't see anything negative about this,so maybe i am right.I really don't see a problem,so maybe that should be "they say" rather than "you" i.e me? TWK was included as well as the other one

Er,maybe your question about the name?The fixtures?The team line-up?Who is financing this?All questions you seemingly can't wait to be answered

Be fair,it is just a few people who probably wouldn't go anyway

Maybe The Wanderers,like the old football team or the Globetrotters like the very successful Basketball team or maybe we just wait for the announcement?Doubt they are expecting you to turn up,so don't see why you worry so much about it all.......

We could move on,as i have attempted to do or just carry on going round and round.Doesn't really bother me either way,but i know which one i prefer

Are you actually going to go and support this team?I guess not seeing you're so negative about it,so not sure why you are so worried how it will happen.I guess someone has a plan and it seems to have passed first post seeing as the project has been announced.Why not wait until more details have been put in the press before commenting on who or how much is being pooled........