norbold

Except as it turned out it wasn't!

There was a thread on this some time ago: http://www.speedway-forum.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=49387

So that's where you've been. I wondered why I hadn't seen you this year!

Tr3mm0r You talk as though this is the only time a rider has lost out on the World Championship because of injury and another rider is fortunate enough to cash in on that. It's happened many years in the past, going back I would say to 1937, when Bluey Wilkinson missed out on qualifying for the final because of injury. In fact, go back two years earlier to 1935 when Tom Farndon was red hot favourite to win the Star Riders' Championship (the equivalent of the World Championship then). The night before the final he was killed in a track crash at New Cross. Sadly,it is part of speedway, a very unfortunate part maybe, but these things happen, always have and always will.

Very arguably. My money would be on Jack Young and Jason Crump. Though I do agree with your general point.

Well at least they couldn't say that when Vic Huxley, Frank Arthur, Sprouts Elder, Billy Lamont and Charlie Spinks were lining up to fight it out for the early trophies!

I don't know why the name was changed yet again to the Rangers. The New Cross management made the announcement at the beginning of 1937 that henceforth the team would be known as the Rangers. As far as I know they didn't give a reason. I've always assumed the Maltese Cross was just a pictorial depiction of a new cross. It always seemed very appropriate to me.

There were also some colourful nicknames of course: Little Boy Blue - Nigel Boocock The Red Devil - Mike Broadbank(s) The White Ghost - Ken le Breton

New Cross were originally called The Lambs. After a couple of years, the management announced that they were changing the team’s nickname from the Lambs to the Tamers. They felt the name Lambs gave the wrong impression, as in “lambs to the slaughter”, and that the Tamers would be more appropriate so they could tame the Wembley Lions and the Harringay Tigers, etc.

Slider Shuttleworth Acorn Dobson Riskit Riley Broadside Vic Huxley Cyclone Billy Lamont

Yes, I have photos of Dons' teams and riders with the star in late 1930s photos. 1937 sounds right to me based on my own collection.

The yellow star on red was certainly used by Wimbledon in the 1930s.

Just thought I'd mention that, 18 months after it first came out, my book is back up to #31 on the Amazon Kindle best sellers list.

It's Dirk Bogarde playing a speedway rider in the film, "Once a Jolly Swagman".

The unluckiest rider I ever saw was Trevor Redmond in the final of the 1961 Provincial League Riders' Championship. With four rides completed, he and Reg Reeves had 12 point each and were due to meet in the last round of rides. Trevor shot off from the gate and had an unassailable lead going in to the last bend when his chain came off on the crown of the bend. He was easily the best rider on view that night, but that chain cost him the title.

I think he had them for the whole of his career.

So sad to hear that. He was one of my favourite riders back in the 60s. A great team man and a top class individual rider as well.

As I remember it, it was a 15 year old Dave Jessup and a 16 year old Barry Thomas. Barry Thomas won but I thought Dave Jessup looked the better rider and I adopted him as my "protege"! Good choice I'd say!

Precisely.

And did he ride for a league team later than 1946, which is what iris asked?

According to Who's Who in Speedway, 1949, the two oldest riders at that time were Norman Evans and Charlie Spinks, both born in 1904. So, if Colin Watson was born in 1899, it does seem quite likely it was him.

'A date and venue have not as yet been announced but Exeter are hot favourites.' This might have been news to Exeter as the only reference to the August challenge was in their programme for the meeting on 23rd August, which included the following: 'BRIGGS v BOOCOCK World Champion Barry Briggs (Swindon) defends his Sunday Mirror sponsored Golden Helmet British Match Race Championship against Coventry's Nigel Boocock in the August challenge. He won 2-1 at Glasgow on Friday, August 13 with the second leg due at Hackney this Friday.' Surely if Exeter had been chosen as the venue for a decider the possibility would have been detailed in the programme. Yes, but Exeter hadn't yet been chosen. The Wolverhampton programme just says they were hot favourites. Maybe Exeter preferred to wait until a final decision before getting their fans too excited about the possibility and then have to let them down. Anyway, this is all fascinating stuff BL65 and a fantastic piece of research.

It could well have been captioned 1928, Joe, but if it was the caption is definitely wrong.

Except the difference is that Rickardsson, Crump and Pedersen did regularly finish ahead of him. Only Tai has done that recently.

I'm not really sure other than Tai has been the only rider over the last 3 years or so that has been Greg's match. And, of course, Hancock has not had to face possibly two of the best riders around over that time - Emil Sayfutdinov and Jarek Hampel - for various reasons. I don't know what the answer is but the whole subject has been one that has interested me for along time, that is comparing riders from a different era and historically you can only go on what they won and their records etc. But that always depends on the opposition. For example, Peter Craven was a great rider by any standard but only won two World Championships. If Greg wins four does that make him better? No, because we look at the opposition Peter had - Fundin, Briggs, Moore. Did Mauger win six titles because he really only had one other rider - Ole Olsen - who could match him over a period, or would he have won six against any opposition? I just find the case of Greg Hancock fascinating because here is someone who won the title in 1997, but couldn't win another until 2011 when the main opponents had either finished altogether or had themselves begun to suffer from old age creeping up? The fact that Greg Hancock is currently the best rider in the world at his age though of course shows he has to be counted amongst the all-time greats, but I just wonder........