norbold

Very sorry to hear the news about Bryan Elliott. He added the romance to speedway in my first year of watching, 1960. Even though he was only a Coventry reserve, he qualified for the World Championship Final. Sadly, something that could never be done these days. R.I.P. Bryan.

As I said, Tommy Price topped the qualifiers for the 1949 World Final. In the Championship Round (semi-finals) at Bradford he scored 14 points compared to Graham Warren's 11; at West Ham he scored 13 points to Jack Parker's 9. So no home advantage in either of those but still managed to beat them both.

Like Freddie Williams, Tommy Price often suffers in the "who was the greatest" discussions through being a Wembley rider and therefore somehow their World Championship wins (including Price's 1946 Riders' Championship win) are to some extent discounted as they were on their home track. However, it should also be remembered that Price qualified for the 1949 final in top place with the highest number of points from the Championship Round (semi finals). Tommy Price was a great rider of his era, there is no doubt about it.

Cripes! That's before even I was born! A good memory though. Tommy Croombs's son, Bobby, later rode for New Cross of course, though very rarely managed to finish four laps as he always seemed to fall off.

I was there as well. Another brilliant memory, indeed. For about a month, Split almost returned to his form of the early 1950s when he was one of the greatest riders of the age. Although still just about heat leader class following his return to racing in 1960, he was nothing like the rider he had once been. Suddenly, towards the end of the 1961 season, the old Waterman reappeared. On 28 June, in a league match against Norwich, he beat the current World Champion, Ove Fundin twice. New Cross was one of Fundin’s favourite tracks, he was track record holder at 57.0 seconds and was very rarely beaten there. Not only did Waterman beat him twice in the match on his way to a paid maximum, but he also beat him in the second half in a Gold Cup qualifying heat. The following week, Waterman won the New Cross qualifying round of the World Championship, beating the likes of Nigel Boocock, Bob Andrews and Ken McKinlay in the process. A full maximum against Coventry came next and then he top scored for the winning England team in the World Team Championship qualifying round with 13 points, For the New Cross fans, it was a real privilege to see Waterman recapture the form that had made him one of the greatest riders of all times, albeit for just a short period.

Sorry, not 1972 to 76 as I don't agree with your premise that they were the great days! But, yes, looking through old programmes is great for bringing back the memories, Sidney, As I've said on here before, my greatest memory, and one I can still recall vividly, much better than any recent matches, is the afternoon West Ham beat Wimbledon at Wimbledon in the Knock Out Cup Quarter Final replay on 14 August 1965 without Sverre Harrfeldt or Norman Hunter. The night our five point second string Malcolm Simmons suddenly became a star.14 points in the match, including the three fastest times of the night, a victory over Olle Nygren in the 2nd half and then, to top it all off, beating him in a special race with Malcolm giving 10 yards in a handicap! Oh yes, it also saw Tony Clarke's debut. It was an unbelievable meeting and the start of West Ham's total dominance for the rest of that season, remaining unbeaten, taking the League, Cup and London Cup treble.

He was never really very close to qualifying for the final. His best year was 1953 when he scored 18 points in the Championship Round, with the lowest World Final qualifier scoring 23, but there were 13 riders between Miller and Graham Warren the lowest qualifier. He did reach the Championship Round on three other occasions but wasn't really very near qualifying for the World Final.

Yes, I kept getting emails from BT saying, "As a valued customer I could get BT Sport free, click here." So when I clicked here, it said that this free service was going to cost me £49.......

I'm not sure why Tommy Miller didn't fancy his chances in the higher league, but as far as the other two go, Jack Young really had no alternative as he was World Champion. It would have been very strange for him to have stayed in the second division. Bob Leverenz moved up because Norwich were promoted. P.S. From Dick Barrie's Web Site: "TOMMY MILLER They called him "Atomic Tommy" and he came from nowhere to zoom right to the top in a year and less. I first saw him as a second-half wobbler at the end of 1949, but he was a reserve when 1950 came around, in the team proper within the first month - and had bagged a couple of maximums and the track record by June! For the next three seasons, wee Tommy was the league's brightest star, succeeding Jack Young and Ken LeBreton (both also with Scottish tracks, of course) by the end of 1951. His mastery was total, it seemed - if he dropped a point, it was big news -- but after being sold on (to Motherwell, the club of his choice) in 1954, his descent was as sudden as his coming. Never accepted by the Eagles' fans, he moved to Coventry, then Oxford - but the new tyre regulations, and failing finances within the sport, saw Tommy out of racing by 1956. Plagued by ill-health, he died in the late 'sixties, having served one year (1964) as a referee, during the "black" PL administration's year of glory."

Peter Craven won the World Title in 1955.

You don't surprise me.

Thanks for the info, BL. I believe (if I remember right) that Bob Leverenz also made a very impressive transition to the First Division, being one of only four riders - along with Young, Ronnie Moore and Alan Hunt - to record a 10+ average in 1952.

According to the 1952 Stenner's Annual, Jack Young easily topped the Div 2 averages with 11.68. Tommy Miller was second with 10.53. These are not CMA's, it is just the total number of points divided by the number of matches. Incidentally, it is interesting to note that in the 1951/2 Stenner's rankings, three of the 15 were Division 2 riders, Young, Miller and Bob Leverenz. Also that Tommy Miller made the rankings for three consecutive years as a second division rider.

That's not really very surprising given the dates of their respective careers.

Very interesting, thanks, Bob. The only thing I find slightly surprising is no Jack Young. I think it was generally agreed that Mirac was the best rider technically. It was his "hunger" to win Individual titles that probably prevented him winning more. He always said himself that he was more interested in helping Wimbledon win than winning for himself. This is somewhat borne out by BOBBATH's post above.

Not forgetting Moore 14 finals, ----2 wins, ---- 3 seconds.

He had the best record against Ove of the "Big Five", that's true. Nevertheless, I don't think he was ever dominant in the way my top five were in their day, as, indeed, the rankings show. I couldn't include Craven as I really can't see how I could leave any of the others out. As a secondary, though important, consideration, I was a regular speedway goer from 1960 onwards and my own experience of seeing the Big Five was that Craven was the fifth best (I won't say the worst!) I even had the privilege of seeing Jack Young in his comeback year (1961) at New Cross and although not the rider he had once been, he still managed to beat the Big Five in two individual meetings towards the end of the year, winning the King of the South Cup and the Tom Farndon Memorial Trophy. I saw both meetings and he was simply superb. It gave me a real insight into what he must have been like at his peak. As for Duggan, again apart from statistics, my dad and two uncles used to go to speedway just after the War and they all raved over him and they all thought he was the greatest ever. Actually one of those uncles is now 91 and still goes regularly to Lakeside and Kent. It would be interesting to ask him who his top five of that period would be....

In the period we are talking about mine would be 1. Fundin 2. Duggan 3. Young 4. Briggs 5. Moore

I've just found this list in the old archives as well. It is my "Champion of Champions" list from 1946 - 66 taken from the yearly rankings (including my two made up years, 1954/55). It was produced by giving 20 points for each no. 1, 19 for no. 2 etc.: 1.Ove Fundin 209 2. Barry Briggs 199 3. Ronnie Moore 173 4. Aub Lawson 142 5. Peter Craven 140 6. Bjorn Knutson 127 7. Olle Nygren 114 8. Ken McKinlay 108 9. Jack Young 107.5 10. Jack Parker 107 11. Rune Sormander 96 12. Gote Nordin 90.5 13. Tommy Price 86 14. Norman Parker 79 15= Vic Duggan 77 15= Ron How 77 17. Split Waterman 75 18. Igor Plechanov 66 19. Fred Williams 64 20. Wilbur Lamoreaux 60

Ahah!!! After a diligent search of the Jacobs Archives I can now reveal that I have found my own rankings for 1954 and 1955, as I say based on League & Cup averages, World Championships, other big individual meetings, Test matches, etc. And here they are: 1954 1. Ronnie Moore 2. Jack Young 3. Brian Crutcher 4. Olle Nygren 5. Geoff Mardon 6. Eddie Rigg 7. Arthur Forrest 8. Eric Williams 9. Barry Briggs 10. Split Waterman 11. Fred Williams 12. Aub Lawson 13. Trevor Redmond 14. Alan Hunt 15. Arthur Wright 16. Peter Craven 17. Ove Fundin 18. Ron Johnston 19. Jack Biggs 20. Tommy Price 1955 1. Ronnie Moore 2. Jack Young 3. Brian Crutcher 4. Peter Craven 5. Ove Fundin 6. Arthur Forrest 7. Barry Briggs 8. Olle Nygren 9. Arthur Wright 10. Alan Hunt 11. Billy Bales 12. Ken Sharples 13. Ron Johnston 14. Ron Mountford 15. Phil Clarke 16. Ken McKinlay 17. Eric Williams 18. Ron How 19. Fred Williams 20. Tommy Price

Just a few "interesting" points... 1. This is for the Peter Craven fans. Between Stenners and Speedway Star all years between 1946 and 1966 are covered with the exception of 1954 and 1955. Peter won the the World Championship in 1955 so it may have been his year to top the rankings? I did once compile my own rankings for those two years, based on averages, World Championship results, other big individual meetings, Test matches, etc. though I can't find them now. I think I had Ronnie Moore top in both years, but not sure. 2. Interesting to see Ron Johnson at no.2 in 1948/49, more than 20 years after first riding. It would be the equivalent of say, someone like Greg Hancock being ranked no.2 this year.....oh.....er..... 3. Jack Biggs down at no.10 for 1951, the year he so nearly won the World Title. So, in spite of the events of that night, justice was probably done with Youngie and Split finishing first and second. 4. Double World Champion, Fred Williams, never reaching higher than 4th.

Up to 1948 they are included at the end of an article discussing the merits of the top riders written by "The Editors", i.e. Tom and Jim Stenner. From 1949 onwards they are included in an article by Jim Stenner on his own.

Stenner's Rankings: 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 P.S. The reason the rankings are over two years is because they took into account the Australian season as well.

Indeed, gustix, the experts chosen to compile the ratings were from all over the world. Just one thought did Eric Linden, Angus Kix, James Oldfield and Danny Carter all get one vote each!?

They were the only years the Speedway Star issued the rankings. They were compiled by asking speedway journalists to rank their top 20s and then add them all together. It wasn't done on results or averages or anything sophisticated. I have all the Stenner's rankings. I'll see if I can post them on here.