norbold

Peter Craven was the wizard of balance, does that mean he was the greatest?

Norwich won the National Trophy in 1955 and 1963.

That's a good point, Sidney. In "my" era, Briggs and Fundin were known for being ruthless and out for no.1 and not really interested in team riding, whereas Moore was known for being a team man who thought more about his team than he did himself. And, although, many would regard Moore as the most gifted rider, he was less successful in individual events than Briggo and Ove. I'm sure there must be a moral there somewhere.....

Most of it can be found on the Speedway Researcher website. It would just be a matter of extracting whatever stats you want from that - closest matches, no. of maximums etc.

All of this does beg the question, why the number of automatic qualifiers was reduced from 8 to 6. Even when it was 8, it was usually the case that numbers 9 & 10 got a pick. With only 6 qualifiers, it makes it even more likely that nos. 7 & 8 are going to be two of those picks.

No, I think you sound like me. Which just goes to show what a fraud you are.

Of course, from 1936-1994, 100% of the rounds were held in one country!

If you weren't such a fraud, chunky, I'd get my programmes out and have a look....oh, ok, I might do it anyway.

Just to keep you happy, I'd argue with it. I'd put Nicki ahead of Greg!

About a month or so after my book, Speedway in London, came out, I looked in on Sportspages (a specialist sports book shop) In Charing Cross Road to see how it was selling. They told me that it was going quite well and that Mark Loram had been in and signed all the copies they had, which had helped sales. I had no idea he had done this. We never spoke about it, he just did it. I thought, as Terry said, what a great bloke. There was nothing in it for him; it just helped me.

No. His started his British career with Wimbledon.

Of course you are right, E I. Rocky Marciano was very lucky to become world champion in the first place. Jersey Joe Walcott outboxed him easily for 13 rounds and then just one sucker punch and he was out. As for speedway, yes I absolutely agree with everything you have said and I agree that we could now be talking about Bjorn Knutson being the greatest rider ever (even better than Tom Farndon!) if he hadn't retired so early. I had the privilege of seeing him every week at West Ham and he was definitely the classiest rider I have ever seen. He could beat anybody and frequently did. I also saw Sverre every week as well and, good as he undoubtedly was, I don't think he was ever quite in that "super" class of Fundin, Briggs, Knutson, etc. Mauger's only rival really was Ole Olsen and Olsen managed to get three World Titles during the period of their rivalry, so certainly not outclassed by Mauger.

During the early sixties, Nordin was definitely on a par with the Big Five. I definitely think, given his ability, that he did underachieve in the World Championship which tends to make him a forgotten rider today.

Of riders I've seen, definitely Ove for me. Even during the time of "The Big Five", which of course included Briggo, Ove was definitely the guv'nor. I would agree that Mauger and Nielsen come a shade behind Ove, and also Tony Rickardsson.

And you would replace them with who?

The first match I ever saw resulted in the score New Cross 48 Norwich 42. Ove Fundin scored 18 and Aub Lawson 16 for Norwich, so 34 out of theIr 42 points. Of the other 8, Reg Trott scored 4 and Derek Strutt 3.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Funnily enough, that was the only time I ever saw Southampton. For some reason I had missed them in both 1960 and 61. The score was P.L. 30 Southampton 46. PL Select: Colin Pratt 11, Ivor Brown 8, Les McGillivray 5, Ray Cresp 3, Trevor Redmond 2, Danny Dunton 1, Pete Jarman 0 Southampton: Bjorn Knutson 11 (beaten by Colin Pratt), Ross Gilbertson 8, Chum Taylor 7, Colin Gooddy 7, Reg Luckhurst 6, Peter Vandenberg 5, Alby Golden 2

Just out of interest, following your post, Split, I looked up the end of season Southampton averages. After Knutson 10.6 and Briggs 9.7, they went: Peter Vandenberg 6.0, Alby Golden 5.9, Cyril Roger 5.5, Reg Luckhurst 5.5, Dick Bradley 4.3. Which very much bears out what you said.

10 September 1976. Peterborough 40 Oxford 0 (National League) All the Oxford riders, Carl Askew, Brian Leonard, Mick Handley, Jim Wells, Phil Bass, Roy Sizmore, Kevin Young scored no points! Oxford refused to ride due to the conditions and the match was called off after 8 heats but score stood.

I can't think of anything worse than a fraudulent pedant from Pedantarctica.

Pedant.

Ronnie Moore represented Australia, New Zealand, Australasia and Great Britain. And that's just one generation. Does that count?

During the last six months, with not much else to do, I have been spending some time sorting out old boxes, files, etc. that have been lying around at home for years, shoved at the back of cupboards etc. Yesterday, I came across a notebook with a number of things in, including some speedway notes and records. It dates from 1962 and one of the things I had noted was the number of times speedway was mentioned on TV and Radio. So here goes....: BBC Grandstand 17 February: Grandstand Television Trophy 1st leg at Cradley Heath; 24 February: Ditto, 2nd leg Today's Sport 8 September: Report on World Championship ITV Sportscast (No dates): Film of European Championship, Wimbledon (? Don't know what this refers to), Film of Internationale; 8 August: Rye House; 5 September: Preview of World Championship. News 9 September: Film of World Championship London This Weekend (no date): Preview of Internationale; 7 September: Preview of World Championship Saturday Sportstime (no date): Mention of John Burton, son of Squib Burton, famous speedway rider Radio Sports Parade 8 September: Mention of interview with Ove Fundin in Sports Report Sports Report 8 September: Interview with Ove Fundin Children's Choice (no date): Request for "When the Red Red Robin" requested by Swindon supporters; 8 September: Request for Flight of the Bumble Bee from Coventry supporters, wishing best of luck to Ron Mountford, Ken McKinlay and Nigel Boocock in the World Championship Final Housewives Choice (no date): A record requested for a Mrs Hart, Robin Richmond muses, "I wonder if she is any relation to Oliver Hart, one of the last of the leg trailers." Here's hoping things get back to normal soon and I can get out more!!!

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