iris123

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Sep 16 2009, 02:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> As for Argentina, I know that speedway has been running their but not in massive (ie having teams in World Cups or other major International competitions) for many years, and long may it continue I say. Funny you mention this,because there was a rumour on the net a few days back that Argentina have applied to enter next years SWC.Whether there is any truth or whether they have much chance of being accepted i don't know.

You are right about the 5 man teams.Of course it depends on the make-up,but i prefered the 6 man teams they used to use.At least then you could have Nicki and Puk in the team against Kenneth and Jesper B for instance.Now if you get Nicki against Ulamek you can tell the outcome of all their encounters.Teams without 'A' category riders probably produce better quality meetings,but then there are no stars for the crowd.But with little variation you will generally get one or two riders that are much better than the rival they meet so often in the meeting........Saying that,i have seen some good meetings this year.And i am already looking forward to seeing Mikkel Michelsen,Mikkel B.Jensen next year,alongside LiGlad and Lasse Bjerre.....

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Sep 16 2009, 11:08 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He may now have his critics with regards to the speedway GP series, but you can’t dispute his overall influence to Danish speedway for the last forty-odd years. Is anyone disputing that fact?Certainly not me.I was just stating that i thought Danish speedway would exist without Olsen,just nowhere near the success they have had.You then asked for names of top Danish riders and i gave them to you.I think if someone was ranked no.4 in the world,that enables them to be classed as "top" Up to that point how many "top" riders did Russia have?But speedway still existed.And how many "top" riders has Argentina had?But speedway has existed for donkeys years there as well.

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Sep 16 2009, 01:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You say thar there was a number of top class Danish riders before him, I wish you could would name them. Just two for the moment.There is an excellent Danish speedway history site.But this early in the morning i can't find it I'll try later for you Morian Hansen Denmarks first World Finalist.....and look at the World Rankings for 1960 here

I agree with all that has been said about Ole...apart from the statement that speedway in Denmark might not exist without him.I am fairly sure it would,just not anywhere near the level of success it has had since Ole made it to the top. That is all i was saying .............

QUOTE (Robbie B @ Sep 15 2009, 10:48 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That’s a terrific tribute to Ole, who was a brilliant rider in his day. He made an enormous contribution to speedway, especially in home land. Without him Danish speedway might not exist. Think you are going a bit too far to suggest that.Ole was as everyone has said a terrific rider.Great to watch around Plough Lane and i was at Wembley in 75.But there were a few top class danish riders before Ole came on the scene and no doubt there would have been a few come along if Ole hadn't had the success he did.But his contribution to Speedway in Denmark is never the less imense.He was always one of my favourite away riders in his colourful leathers.........but to me he is more a Wolves rider.All my pics of him are in his Wolves bodycolours,i think

Still can't believe they trott out the old "The track was totally different in practice" stuff.Did anyone last night?But the riders know what to expect.Emil showed that you can race on any track with the right attitude.Or do we still think he has something extra power wise that enables his to pass like that?The Danish riders should be used to those sort of tracks anyway.But look at Hans.He is following in Bjarnes footsteps in being fairly crap in the GPs.He is performing way below his potential.Olsen can't be blamed for that surely?And Nicki should have won from the outside against Walasek.Just Walasek's slight loss of control blocked Nicki.So it wasn't all so biased as it seemed.But then the livestream failed and i couldn't be bothered to find another.........so how the meeting panned out after heat 10 i don't know.But Emil looked favourite from those early heats and so it turned out.Crump is probably suffering from jitters,as he looks totally different lately to the early and middle part of the GP series.Olsen can't be blamed for that either

Interesting theory about Crump not even being in the 75 series.He was out injured in 73,but did comeback for the 73/74 Aussie season.But his scores against the British Lions were nothing to shout about and he didn't win the Aussie Championship.So maybe he would have missed out in the 74 quali series He flunked it in the British semi final that year big time

Sorry Norbold.It was early.But yes i agree at the time speedway was more cosmopolitan than the period just after the war and into the 50s.Not really sure when Poland got into speedway in a big way though.But Morian Hansen showed that the continentals could get amongst the points and speedway was being held in big stadiums in big cities to large crowds.Like i mentioned before somewhere,the Hamburg Dirt Track was the venue for the largest ever crowd at a European boxing match,when Max Schmeling fought there.

Yes,i agree.Great little track.Not much in the way of facilities though.But i was there back in 2005 or so for the Sweden U21 v Denmark U21 meeting with riders like Klindt,Madsen,Hougaard,Forsberg,Kling.....Not much in the way of a crowd either.I think there couldn't have been more than a 100 people for this meeting!.Always meant to get back there.....But it isn't the track that held the World Final back in the 60s.Where was that?

And i think Paris would have had a good chance of a GP.It was running it's own World Final during the 30s.I think back then in the 20s and 30s speedway was pretty international.The riders would travel around Europe.Then after the war it seemed to because of the war that all went until the 50s again.Ginger Lees,Eric Langton,Max Grosskreutz and Dicky Case are among the riders that raced in Hamburg and presumably also in Copenhagen

Ok.Sorry.You have your moans already prepared regardless of whether you see the GP or not

I think Copenhagen and Hamburg have a good call for hosting GPs in the 1928 onwards season.Hamburg was accomodating 25,000+ crowds at the time and being run by the Preston promoter,who was also running Copenhagen.Local rider Alfred rumrich must have been in with a chance of a WC

I have a visitor on sunday and if i play my cards right i hope to be on the red button after an hour

Emphatically yes Beat Emil by 45 years to the title

Every cloud has a silver lining then You won't know what to moan about will ya?

Nice bit of film put together from Krasnogorsk 1998 and Balashov celebrating

But you were assuming Jack Young would have been in the 51 GPs.How many British riders were in the series and would he have been in with a serious chance of a WC? To say he would have qualified is putting to much trust in stats maybe.I reckon if we do something else.....pretend we didn't have a GP series and look at stats we would probably be saying Gollob and/or Adams would have won a GP series because of their constistency looking at league averages and all.......but it didn't happen.I'd say it is very risky to assume Young would have been in the 51 series........anyway,i only wanted to know where these GPs were being held back in the 30s,40s and 50s

I think Briggo would have taken a couple of titles under a GP system.Don't know what years,but Ove would have faltered and Briggo would have given it a hell of a go.He was pretty focused i'd say,talented enough as well and a born winner.I can't see Briggo's name not being on the World Championship list once or twice at least no matter what system.And that has little to do with one of my family spannering for Mirac and Briggo

Yes,maybe 1960/61 were his peak years,but.......what you are attempting to do is re-write history,but without the consequences.You can't change one thing,but keep everything else the same as it was.What i am saying is if there was a GP system then maybe after winning the title 3,4 or 5 times 1960/61 wouldn't have been his peak years.Maybe he would have found it hard to get so motivated and stay on top of his game over such a long period,like Crump,Rickardsson and Nicki have found.

In a way, i am not sure that is the right question?Were Rickardssons opponents as good as him is more relevant.I'd say Fundin had far better opponents than Rickardsson so would be at least as likely to lose a title or 2 even in a GP series.It isn't easy to keep up the same level of motivation if you win 3,4 or 5 World titles on the trot.I'd say the fact Fundin lost a title or two along the way kept him motivated over that length of time

Me too,but not every week and from Tooting Junction Stn.Plus i used to use it a bit to see Stan Bowles,Phil Parkes,Terry Mancini Dave thingmybob and the other players in that super QPR team of the early 70s

The 220 must have been one of the longest routes ever back then

Missed that bit.I read about the pre-war years and then thought the consensus was Jack Young was about to dominate.......then nodded off Good on you.I agree with that bit at least

I remember once when i was in my 20s and ready to take on the world walking down there,only to get as far as the spot where it narrowed right down,to find it blocked off ......