neil_L

A work m8 of mine went along last night, his first ever speedway meeting. He took his step lad. His verdict ... he loved it! So much so he was looking at upcoming meetings. I attended the bees select last year and also enjoyed it. My unexpert opinion is that the track would benefit from more banking to create more lines.

My first meeting since cov closed and my first visit to leicester. Really enjoyed it. My first post on this forum in a few years. Well done to everyone on putting on this meeting, we will visit leicester for sure next year. Despite the negative comments over the years I thought the track is not far off being a very good race circuit, nice and wide perhaps just requiring some more dirt out wide. My old work colleague who lives in Leicester attended this meeting, his first ever and says he'll be back, he added he never knew about the track. Best wishes to cov and Leicester speedways.

Well, I don't get to see or read that much on speedway these days, however, KT was truely fantastic during his spell with the bees. I read the interview last night after returning from Bees victory over Eastbourne and became so engroced I got a bollocking off the wife for ignoring her! Whatever the personalities or politics, the "friendly" rivalry at Coventry between KT and TK was "the reason" Coventry were so successful. Oxford and Cradley also had powerful top pairings and I still believe to this day that a powerful top 2 forms the basis for good solid team.Other thing to note was that not long before the CO died(if I recall correctly), I remember reading a rare interview with the CO, probably in the local Coventry Telegraph, in which he names 6 or so all time coventry greats,and the CO paid tribute to KT saying he was brilliant in his time with Coventry, which he was. Most interesting to read that KT went to CO and said get a replacement for TK after he was hurt but was ignored. KT clearely could see what was about to unfold. Sad really. I was really sad to read KT's wife was verbally abused by some morons, whom there'll always be an element of. I'm sure the vast majority of Coventry fans would love to see KT and his lovely family come visit coventry and talk of the good times we saw him at his finest. In fact it would be great to see a reunion of that great team of the '87 and '88 seasons, we can hope! I wouldn't say KT was the most spectacular or the best at team riding, but as he says, he was one of the very best out of the starts and very fast, he came a wisker away from getting right the very top, and when you look at quantity and quality of riders from the mid to late 80's, he should feel hugely proud of himself. Lastly, I hope one day in the future we see something along the line of an intertesting book by KT.

I stood outside gate 6 and 7 pre-meeting, great atmosphere, sad that time and time again we watched drunk polish fans chucking bottles and cans off into the river yet there was a big bin right next to us, in fact the center of Cardiff around the stadium looked like a dump post meeting, I actually felt embarrassed, I think the speedway GP organizers need to communicate to polish speedway fans that this behavior is unacceptable. Great meeting on track though.

Great night for CH. First GP I've watched in 18 months, very exciting with some very high quality entertainment. We are lucky at Coventry to have such a gifted racer in our team. CH serves up breathtaking passes on a weekly basis. Never doubted his tallents. I think the 2 main factors in CH's fantastic showing is that he hasn't been phased by the GP, indeed the guy is oozing confidence when talking to the cameras las night. The 2nd reason he is going to do very well in the gps is that he has an excellent pit crew and in Brian Andersen a very experienced man on board. I'll have to try and get to see more GPs this year.

Can't see 250cc engines as the way to go. You could probably get a 250 to rev like a flymo but the power will be peaky and probably dangerous. There would be big costs to already cash strapped families. If we seriously wanted to collectivity help reduce costs whilst maintaining safety then I'd say look at having a standard lower compression ratio on all junior 500 machines. The cost of lowering the compression ratio should be minimal . The engines will run with less power and thus lower the stress / wear. Engines would last much longer and less likely to drop pistons and snap rods. It would also be interesting to run experiments with Pump grade petrol. Ok, the compression would need knocking right down and smaller jets in the carbs. But this again would have the desired effect of reducing power with minimal costs. There's also the saving in fuel costs. And crude refined petrol doesn't corrode like methanol. why go to the trouble of re-equipping all juniors with totally different engines when just some simple retune mods could be the way to go.

Just read this copy last night. All I can say is that my house insurance policy should be void when I read this mag because it's so interesting that if the house caught fire and the smoke alarms went off it I wouldn't stop reading to put the flames out. WRT evitts interview. I remember the Tatum knocking off Evitts British final '88. It started the "booing" of Tatum for yrs to come. Don't think it was dirty riding if I remember correctly. I'm sure there was 3 riders abreast heading down the back straight and something was to give. Hard riding in a British final that was in those days a great day in the speedway yr. To sit in a sell out Brandon crowd as a 14yr old at the british final is something very special in my speedway memories.

I would love to see an anterview with Tommy Knudsen as he was my favorite rider when I started following the sport in the late 80s. Best rider never to be world champion is my opionion. Suffered terrible spinal injuries and then made a comeback. Never quite got back to his old self. Inspirational skipper who despite being Danish was Coventry through and through. I remember his April Fools joke in '88 that hit the UK national papers when he said he was changing his nationality to British as he was fedup with being in the shadows of Nielsen and Gundersen.

sorry I should add that the night loram won the world crown was a truely magical moment for all British Speedway fans. Now here was a a true racer but it was so sad that the national press didn't give him the full deserved credit. we all love him though

we're back to same old ban the foreigner argument and all will be great in British speedway ... crap. Fact, losing teams in speedway attract only diehards like all us who read this forum. The result is that crowds drop, income drops and poor old promoter wants out. In an idle situation we would love to see far more home grown talent packing British teams thus saving travel and accommodation expense etc. It wont happen because a massive proportion of those attending speedway meetings want to see a winning team. Look at AE, quite a few established British riders. Poor run of results = very poor crowds = cash injection to keep afloat. Those who say ban foreigners perhaps pay double at the turnstiles. back to the question. I reckon Scottie can do it. I have no doubt he's a massive talent but seems to struggle with mechanical setup. Sad though that for the yrs I followed the sport since '87 everyone in the speedway press would say it would be a massive boost for British Speedway to have a World Champion. didn't make any difference to the sport at all when havelock and Loram were world champs.

love him or hate you to credit him. He's simply the best. I just can't recall a rider who can go 80-90 % through a meeting and like push a button when it's needed to 100% and take home th bacon. That last race first bend was truely awsome. Adams, Gollob, sullivan, Hancock ... to me they have perhaps had their best yrs and some of "racer" instincts have wained somehat into "grafter" status. Adams especially just seems to look so phased and he just can't raise his game to that required at this level. I only see one GP a yr on TV and last night was an excellent advert for the sport.

Sorry Hazzman, Leicester was before my time. Generally I thought the Ochilltrees did a good job some things I thought were not done so well. In particular they had an admissions policy of charging 15 yrs full adult price which was crazy. The meeting presentation was 50yrs out of date as well which was pretty embarrasing to younger fans. The new promotion have more exciting ideas and there appears to be more young people through the gates these days. Perhaps you can tell us what the Ochilltrees did to Leicester for us not so oldies.

Out of interest I was wondering what happened to the Ochilltrees since departing from Coventry 3 or 4 yrs ago. Wonder if they ever make an appearence at Coventry. Generally they did a very good job in keeping speedway and stocks at the Brandon stadium for so many yrs.

some of this discussion is relevant to the laydowns discussion. What no-one has paid attention to is that speedway riders come in different shapes and sizes. Standard low power engines will mean the lighter guy wins every time as they can pull a tall gear. The racing would be extreamly dull. I would argue the only way standard engines would work would be to go to bigger more torque engines. Thus riders of all shapes / styles can use the right amout of throttle to give them drive. Bigger cc engines would need less revs to pull and thus the engines should last longer and still give those riders with skill to ride the dirt plenty of drive. In conclusion though standardisation appears good it just wouldn't work. As I've said many many times I believe modern speedway is still exciting. Better track prep is a higher priority.

Since I started following the sport proper in '87 I've seen this discussion over and over many many times. back in the late 80s people blamed the decline of the sport of foreign riders, then it was lack ot TV, then it was lack of wemble and a British world champion. All these arguments have proved rubbish. Face facts the sport is as big as it's going to get. I love this sport and it's a big part of my life so I'm not being over negative, just realistic. But look on the positive side we still have the sport 20 yrs on from when people said it would be dead. In my opinion it is still a great night out and the entertainment value is still good. The sport does well considering. There are plenty of people who knock promoters but I'd say most do it as a hobby and we should be grateful. The costs involved in running a speedway team on crowds that can be as little as 500 must turn any promoter's underpants brown on a daily basis ! As to the future the sport needs to consolidate, keep costs down and keep the entertainment value high. The sport may never be "big" again but that's not to say a few extra people through the turnstiles doesn't go a miss.

Even though I was only what 15 or 16 I went to see the Goldern greats at Coventry in '88 (?) .... and I remember Ivan doing some demo races on Han's bikes .... and the crowd was silent when Peter York said "who thought that was slow ?" I remember reading a article about him about that time and he said he cycled miles and miles every day and was still fit enough to win a world long track title. On Han's machines he was full gas and very impressive. I think he had a race against Barry Briggs and I remember Barry taking off into the 2nd bend fence on one of Kelvin tatum's bikes. I remember at junior school late 70s some of the kids who went speedway would argue who was the best ... collins , Mauger or Olesen ... who was the best in this period ??? I still have vauge memories of world of sport with what's his name dicki davis ? Riders like Ivan were clearly privileged to have been around when the sport was at the hight of popularity.

A few comments in no particular order ... My m8 Gary (a Cradley fan) still has a laugh because he reckons Cradley sent RM in Coventry's direction because he was rubbish .... now let me tell you Gary that RM was a damm good 3rd heat leader who had his average of 8+ in the late 80s. RM was rarely absent, a true TEAM man. He was often the rock of the team. So sad when he left the sport after a ultra successful testimonial ... especially as he could have had another 5 yrs in him. If I remember rightly it was about the time the payrates were introduced. The whole country was a mess at the time and although painful looking back I suppose that the payrates kept the sport going through a difficult time. Anway back to the point ... can't recall ever seeing RM fall off although he had a mixup with Andy Smith at some point. RM was very safe and he could team ride with just about anyone. With John Jorgensen there were very successful, JJ on the inside line and RM on the out. I still see JJ by the way when he stays with his lodger in Coventry he has a beer down our social club!!! Now, one funny story ... when RM was racing for the Bees I was only a very young man and like Rick off "the young ones" .... I would call RM "prick miller" .... and so I was shouting on the Brandon backstraight this one meeting when RM was in 2 nd place "up his arse prick" .... like repeatly and very loud (being I get very excited watching speedway) . It was only when the race ended and my m8 said "do you know what you are saying" ..... and there were all people looking at me ! embarrassing or what but very funny.

A few thoughts in no particular order (I'm at work you see ) ... kelvin's time at Coventry was very successful to both rider and club. His British Final win in '87 even made the front cover on the coventry evening telegraph ... those were the days when the British final was one gr8 day out with massive crowds, beer in the Brandon bar and sunshine Sunday of hard racing. Kelvin seemed to get a lot of booing in the late 80's (something to do with knocking off evitts in the '88 british final !) but he was rightly British no1 at the time and no-one likes a winner ! His move away from Coventry in Winter '91 was sad but perhaps not unexpected. Perhaps he felt stale who knows ? One thing for sure the late 80's were golden times at Brandon and the Bees boasted a TK / KT top pairing. Mr Charles Ochilltree must have been a very proud man. Kelvin had a reputation as a gater but he could also line up some great passing manouvers. He could be pretty hard ..... even on his own team riders when they got in the way ! But speedway is a hard sport and you don't get paid for coming last. very much an individual rider he struggled to team ride when taking the no 1 jacket in the team. He was much better suited out with a reserve in his trusted no3 position. Ironic that his last meeting at Brandon for AE I think he got 0 0 3 3 3 and won them the match ... after going on strike midway through the meeting because the track was tricky ! KT got the ref to order the track to be graded, KT then gated his way to 3 consecutive wins ... what can you say ? love him or hate him you can't deny that KT had a very successful speedway career. I hope he stays involved in the sport and as per my other forum discussion I'd love to see one day a reunion of the gr8 Coventry Bees side of '87.

Some great posts on here now. Obviously the late 80's were a very special time for fans and riders alike. I've emailed Coventry Speedway with a suggestion that they explore the possibility of having a reunion of some of the winning teams perhaps as part of a Home meeting this yr. I believe it would be a massive boost in terms of local press coverage and more importantly get some of the old fans back. I know speedway never gets out of the blood and sometimes fans of old just need a wiff of the castrol-R and they are hooked again. Ok so I'm biased but the championship winning team of '87 / 88 .... Knudsen , Barge, Tatum, Miller, Jorgensen, Clarke and hacket. What a top 5. It's amazing, talking to stangers in the Coventry area and people still remember TK. There is rich heritage of speeway in Coventry and it's a potential that needs to be tapped into to bring out some of the oldies. A couple more gr8 memories ... Miller in 4 laps of wheelies and 3 starts 3 exclusions. Miller - great team man and great entertainer. A good reliable 7-8 point man. Another TK moment was when he pulled a massive wheelie full speed (not many riders can do a full gas wheelie) and promply fell off over the line. He still got the 3 points though.

Some other stories from the late 80's of interest ... Remember TK being put in the fence by Paul Thorpe in '87 ? TK stalked Thorpe and made a typical blast around the outside only for Thorpe to spear TK into homestraight fence and he spun round about 2 or 3 times. David Barge had to make an emergency exit onto the infield. The crowd went wild. TK not only got back to his feet a short time later but came out later in the meeting and skillfully returned the complement to Thorpe. I remember walking out of the stadium after the meeting an hundreds of cov fans surrounded Thorpe's van and gave him a good sending off!!! Also looking back it's been quite amazing how many riders have complemented TK over the yrs. I remember reading David Barge interview when he was at Newcastle saying he was happiest when riding along with TK. Lots of others as well and TK was great with the reserves like dave clarke and andy hacket. I also remember TK doing a April Fools joke saying he was fedup being overshadowed by the other Danes and was applying for British Citisenship ... it made the Nationals in the UK and apparently went down badly back in Denmark ! It was only a joke and to drum up support for his testimonial. To be fair, the Danes and overseas riders back then were totally commited to their UK clubs. The riders lived in this country and put a lot into their British clubs and even helped nurture British junior riders. TK when out injured even put his weight behind Kelvin Tatum's bid to win in the 1989 world final by tunning his engines. that's a different story though. Anyway, keep them stories and memories coming. No prizes for guessing who is my no1 all time rider !

My good friend gary lent me his copy of the '81 world final recently. It was the 1st time I'd really watched the Wembly world final. I started following the sport properly in '87 and of course was spoilt to follow a very powerful bees team led by TK and KT. But going back to the '81 world final I was amazed at just how good TK was at such a young age. Of course TK was an insperation at Coventry in the Championship winning yrs and '87 and '88. If it hadn't have been for his dreadful accident just before the '89 season he surely would have landed at least one world crown. It was also a massive blow to Coventry who have never since had such a powerful top 2 riders (both KT and TK were averaging over 10!). It was very much a case of what might have been. Anyway, what does TK do these days ? It would be great to have TK make a special appearence at Coventry one racenight this coming year as I know a lot of Coventry fans still have massive respect for him. A lot of ex-riders make visits like rick miller but I don't recall TK ever being a Brandon in recent yrs. One last mention of the video again, I've often wondered what all the fuss was over one Bruce Penhall ..... (being I was too young to remember seeing him ride) ... and now I know why ! My god this man could RACE a speedway motorcycle. Come on you oldies on the forum ... lets have your interesting stories as the forum gets a bit dull this time of yr.