norbold

No, the rankings were the sole work of the editors of Stenners' Annual - Tom & Jim Stenner.

1946/7 1. Vic Duggan 2. Jack Parker 3. Tommy Price 4. Lionel Van Praag 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Bill Kitchen 7. Eric Langton 8. Ron Johnson 9. Norman Parker 10. Eric Chitty 11. Alec Statham 12. Malcolm Craven 13. Ray Duggan 14. Cordy Milne 15. Jack Milne 1947/8 1. Vic Duggan 2. Bill Kitchen 3. Norman Parker 4. Jack Parker 5. Tommy Price 6. Bill Longley 7. Alec Statham 8. Ron Johnson 9. Wilbur Lamoreaux 10. Eric Chitty 11. Malcolm Craven 12. George Wilks 13. Max Grosskreutz 14. Eric Langton 15. Bill Rogers 1948/9 1. Vic Duggan 2. Ron Johnson 3. Jack Parker 4. Aub Lawson 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Alec Statham 7. Norman Parker 8. Bill Gilbert 9. Oliver Hart 10. Eric Chitty 11. Graham Warren 12. Split Waterman 13. Ernie Price 14. Tommy Price 15. Bill Longley 1949/50 1. Jack Parker 2. Aub Lawson 3. Tommy Price 4. Vic Duggan 5. Wilbur Lamoreaux 6. Graham Warren 7. Jack Biggs 8. Norman Parker 9. Bill Gilbert 10. Dent Oliver 11. Split Waterman 12. Oliver Hart 13. Ron Clarke 14. Louis Lawson 15. Ken Le Breton 1950/51 1. Graham Warren 2. Jack Parker 3. Aub Lawson 4. Tommy Price 5. Ken Le Breton 6. Fred Williams 7. Cyril Roger 8. Norman Parker 9. Cyril Brine 10. Eric French 11. Jack Young 12. Wally Green 13. Bert Roger 14. Alec Statham 15. Ron Clarke 1951/2 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Aub Lawson 4. Ronnie Moore 5. Olle Nygren 6. Fred Williams 7. Jack Parker 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Alan Hunt 10. Jack Biggs 11. Cyril Roger 12. Norman Parker 13. Tommy Miller 14. Bob Leverenz 15. Eric Williams 1952/3 1. Jack Young 2. Split Waterman 3. Ronnie Moore 4. Fred Williams 5. Aub Lawson 6. Bert Roger 7. Alan Hunt 8. Eddie Rigg 9. Dick Bradley 10. Cyril Brine 11. Henry Long 12. Ron Johnston 13. Bob Leverenz 14. Tommy Miller 15.Olle Nygren 1953/4 1. Jack Young 2. Ronnie Moore 3. Split Waterman 4. Fred Williams 5. Olle Nygren 6. Aub Lawson 7. Geoff Mardon 8. Arthur Forrest 9. Alan Hunt 10. Basse Hveem 11. Tommy Price 12. Eric Williams 13. Ken Sharples 14. Dick Bradley 15. Tommy Miller

OK. I'll have to think of another way of sharing them.

There was also a nominated riders' heat for some of Ove's time.

Does for me.

SPEEDWAY STAR Rankings.docx

Stenner's Rankings.doc

Or if it had been held at Ipswich, Savalas Clouting could have been World Champion.

Well, the comments on the photo seem to suggest it is Geoff Woodger.

Who started that one then? Seems very silly to me....

http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/87529-10-favourite-new-zealand-riders/&tab=comments#comment-3246706 Ok, not quite the same as "favourite" rather than "great".

Or possibly Jimmy Gooch, Leo McAuliffe, Eric Williams, Derek Timms and Reg Luckhurst.

Can I ask you stay away from Ipswich please?

Ron How definitely. Also Dave Younghusband, Reidar Eide, Jim Airey and Gote Nordin

Tom Farndon. I understand there are still a few people who don't consider him the greatest ever!

Shame I spelt topic and the wrong. I might have to start a new one now, so I can get it right.

Have I made it?

Yes, won by Michael Lee. And it was freezing cold!

Yes, Alan Sage made his debut with First Division West Ham in 1971 and then moved on to Ipswich. He rode four consecutive seasons without missing one single match. He then moved to Second Division Crayford and carried on the record through 1975 - 1978 completing an incredible 327 consecutive appearances in official fixtures before breaking his leg in July 1979. Even then, when he returned to the saddle mid-season in 1980, he never missed another match for Crayford; and was ever-present again for Arena Essex in ’84 and ’85 and then for Canterbury in his final season of ’86. So, in 16 seasons from 1971 to 1986 Alan was ever-present in 14 of them. An incredible record!

Alan Sage rode for West Ham when they were in the First Division not the Second Division.

Tom Farndon! I'd go for 10-5-10!

I've never come across that - that's not to say it didn't happen, but I have no knowledge of it.

And we must never forget Stan Stevens.

My understanding of what happened to Knutson was partly as you say, also that his form suffered in 1966 because he was getting too involved in his business interests and unable to concentrate as he would have liked on speedway so he decided he couldn't continue with both and it was speedway that had to give.

Yes, I find this speculation on who would have won under Grand Prix v. one-offs endlessly fascinating - especially as we can never know the answer. It has always been my opinion, for example, that in the era of the Big Five, taken over a season of Grand Prix, Ove Fundin would have won more titles than the five he actually did win. He was the best and most consistent rider around for something like eight years at least and would have definitely been in the running for a further four . Maybe Briggo might have stopped him once or twice, but I think we could add at least another two to Fundin's tally of wins and I don't think three would be out of the question. So possibly seven or eight titles.