norbold

I think the ? Timms who rode one match for Middlesbrough in 1946 is not Derek. Derek Timms was a Rye House discovery who first rode at Rye House in 1953.

Derek rode for New Cross in 1960.

I thought your teenage idol was Sprouts Elder...

1-2-3-4 5-7-6-8 10-11-9-12 15-14-16-13 13-1-5-9 14-10-2-6 11-15-7-3 4-8-12-16 6-16-1-11 12-5--15-2 8-9-3-14 13-4-10-7 7-12-14-1 2-13-8-11 16-3-10-5 9-6-4-15 1-8-15-10 9-2-7-16 3-12-13-6 5-14-11-4

I guess it depends what you mean by the "best". Certainly in the immediate post-War period, the crowds were enormous and speedway was getting extensive coverage in the press. This is also true for the early days in the late 20s and early 30s. There were at least three sets of speedway rider cigarette cards issued and the top riders also found their way in to sets of "leading sportsmen" and the like. There were also hundreds of postcards of speedway riders. I don't think speedway had that sort of following and publicity even in the 1965-1980 period. Being the age I am I have lots of acquaintances who went to speedway in the 1946 - 52 era, but never went again, not even in the 1965-80 period. When, as I frequently do (!), talk to them about speedway they will remember names like Vic Duggan, Jack Parker, Tommy Price and many others from the immediate post War period. Some will mention hearing of Ivan Mauger and possibly Barry Briggs, but that's about as far as it ever goes. I would say that speedway's greatest era was 1946-52.

1956 was the first Saturday final.

Incidentally, I think Louis Lawson is 86, therby putting him in second place.

I believe Split Waterman was born in 1924 making him 84 and therefore younger than Cyril Roger.

Was he the tallest ever though?

Fred and Cyril were no relation. Fred is a Rogers with an 's', Cyril is a Roger without.

It's true that in general, Cyril outscored his brother, Bert, but Bert's best year was 1952 when he topped the New Cross averages ahead of Cyril. Sadly, this was the year Bert qualified for the World Final but was unable to take part through injury (see star ghost's post above).

One is £28.26; the other £28.29. I bet Parsloes wishes he'd bought one now while he had the chance!

Apparently the price of "Out of the Frying Pan" has actually gone up! Having sold out the first printing, which cost £12.99, in about a month the cheapest you can get it for on Amazon is £28.26. It must be the scarcity value...: See here

Careful, Dave. You don't want me to have to take away your signature, do you?

Do you mean desist rather than persist???

I can't work out whether that's supposed to be an insult or not. You're obviously not as good at that sort of thing as Subedei. He leaves you in no doubt.

What happened to Gollob? Outwitted by Crump and the referee. He can't have been very good, can he? Crump is a titan of speedway history, Gollob a footnote.

The correct term is Trotskyist, but then I suppose someone who thinks he is a medieval Mongolian wouldn't be too au fait with modern terminology.

The most notable thing in your list, Sir Lunchy, is that Tsunami and I agree. In my view that proves it! Still, you have to laugh at Subedei calling other people pathetic...

Send them all to the Welsh gulags, Sub. If they disagree with you they must be quarterwits. It's obvious, as you are the fount of all knowledge and wisdom. And anyone who dares to disagree must end their days in the gulags.

100% agree, Star Lady. I came on here this morning to see the comments on last night's GP and I can't believe what I'm reading from some contributors. Like you I have no bias towards any of the three riders involved, but the incidents were quite clear. How anyone can think that Crump should have been excluded in either of them I find totally baffling and completely inexplicable. The shot of Pedersen kicking out at Crump was actually a disgrace. Exclusion was the minimum penalty he should have received for that.

There is one way of finding out...Has anyone ever seen John Hyam with a pipe in his mouth...?

So the big remaining question is: Was Eric Linden really John Hyam, former editor of Speedway Star & News, as well?

Yes, Eric or Angus Kix or Danny Carter or James Oldfield is still around.