waiheke1

You are correct rob

Sorry I'm in Rio for work for two weeks, so speedway list is quite far down my list of priorities! maybe complete on my flight home, for 88 in just need to input dome meetings which are unlikely to impact on the top 10/20. From memory that list is scarily close, though I think Jan o did finish ahead of Erik.

Yet again I think there is only one person in any way confused by the post...

you are right regarding the 84 ic final, thought that is far less remembered yhan Bruce's efforts in the 82 overseas final. when you look at the list of riders to win back to back ic finals, it's a pretty exclusive list. That zero point BLRC is a bit of an aberation, i don't recall him ever having had another such a disatrourous meeting, on fact he had a very good BLRC record. I agree regarding Bruce in 82, riders like Bruce, Erik, Sanders , who lifted their performances for world final would likely haver done so for GP events too. It would have been a helluva battle though. in absolute terms, no doubt the 83 Cradley side was stonger than the 86 Cheetahs. Nielsen and Wigg (86)would have been a better spearhead than Gundersen and Wigg (83), Cox may have matched Alan Grahame, but King, Collins, Ravn, Pedersen would have demolished Grahame, De'ath, Sorensen, Surnam.Your point is valid thoughm and you can;t beat the 100% record that 86 Cheetahs side had. 1987: 1 H Nielsen 12.22 2 E Gundersen 10.98 3 S Ermolenko 10.37 4 J Pedersen 9.98 5 K Tatum 9.84 6 J Doncaster 9.69 7 P Jonsson 9.59 8 T Knudsen 9.54 9 K Moran 9.50 10 J Nilsen 9.43 11 S Cross 9.25 12 M Shirra 9.13 13 S wigg 9.08 14 S Moran 8.79 15 J Andersson 8.75 16 P Ravn 8.64 17 C Morton 8.57 18 R Knight 8.31 19 N Evitts 8.29 20 R Miller 8.13 The year of the two day final in Amsterdam, and the first year where 1-2-3 in the rankings exactly match the world final result. Chirs Morton slips out of the top 10 for the first time since 1982 (for the first time since 1980 he is not the top ranked Ace) and Shaun Moran likewise for the first time since 1983, the season being the first since 1981 in which Kelly finishes ahead of Shaun in the rankings. Kelvin Tatum the top ranked Brit for the first time, Simon Cross arguably the most improved Brit climbing to 11th. Young Brits outside the top 20 include Paul Thorp (22nd), Andrew Silver (top Nl rider in 27th), Martin Dugard (29th) and Gary Havelock (31st). For the first time in the decade no Collins brother is in the top 20, with Neil the highest ranked in 35th. Andy Grahame (25th) ranks above Alan for the first time since 1982, as Alans battle with illness sees him slide outside the top 100. Per Jonsson and Jimmy Nilsen continue their improvement, both making the top 10 for the first time, for the first time in the decade Jan Andersson is not the top swede. For the yanks Ermolenko is top for the first time while Rick Millers efforts in Coventrys title winning season see him enter the top 20 for the first time (Bees partner John Jorgensen is 24th, meaning all the Coventry top 5 rank inside the top 30), with John Cook (21st) and Lance King (23rd) narrowly outside the top 20. Mitch Shirra is top kiwi for fifth consecutive year (Dave Barge climbs to 28th, his top spot to date), while with Phil Crumps departure from the BL no Aussie makes the top 50 (Steve Regeling top in 52nd). Armando Castagna is top continental rider in 41st. Gerd Riss the only other rider from the continent in the top 50 (45th), no coincidence that both had good seasons in the BL. GP series: Hard to see past the top three finishing in the same order, the real battle would be for the top 8 spots, where I see Shaun Moran edging out Wiggy despite the former finishsing narrowly ahead of Shaun, as both riders have disappointing seasons. Wildcards , Wigg would likely be a shoe in (despite it being the 2nd consecutive wildcard), the debate would likely be over which of Moran, Shirra, Jankowski and Castagna miss out, Cross perhaps in with an outside chance but unlikely to get one unless Wigg had edged into the top 8 (in which case he would likely pick up one ahead of K Moran). Top three: Nielsen Gundersen Ermolenko Top eight: Pedersen, Tatum, Knudsen, Nilsen, S Moran Qualifiers for 1988: Jonsson, Doncaster , Cook Wildcards for 1988: Wigg, K Moran, Shirra, Jankowski

Cox is 19th if u remove the world final performance. Interestingly, if u remove the world final results gundersen finishes 2nd in the rankings only in 86 (for years completed so far). 84 &85 s Moran overtakes him and 83 siglos does. 82 is the only year the top rider would change, Carter ranking ahead of pen hall.

Sid. Don't quit, just step away from the keyboard when you feel the red mist descend. You have a lot to contribute to the years gone by threads in particular, just not when you're threatening to punch people out

Was a little surprised myself he didn't scrape into top 20, he was 23rd. Golden helmet races weren't included in my stats. I suspect excluding the world final he may have finished a few spots higher, will check later.

What do u reckon the shay was as a %? Every time I went there I was amazed how steep it was

Is the banking as pronounced as at the old shay track?

86: 1 H Nielsen 12.40 2 E Gundersen 11.08 3 T Knudsen 10.02 4 S Moran 10.02 5 S Ermolenko 9.84 6 J O Pedersen 9.64 7 S Wigg 9.58 8 J Andersson 9.40 9 J Doncaster 9.37 10 C Morton 9.34 11 K Tatum 9.21 12 B Petersen 9.17 13 V Kuznetsov 9.10 14 N Evitts 9.08 15 K Carter (late)8.83 16 K Moran 8.82 17 J Nilsen 8.40 18 J Jorgensen 8.36 19 L King 7.86 20 Phil Collins 7.83 Hans-Erik yet again, though this time Hans well clear, with the highest “average” of the decade to date. Knudsen and S Moran swap positions, as Knudsen moves top three (by a whisker!), to give a Danish 1-2-3, the first time in the decade a nation had occupied all three top spots. Jan O Pedersen continues his progress towards the top, into 6th, in a year the Danes were unsurprisingly dominant. Simon Wigg wasthe top Brit, narrowly ahead of Doncaster, Morton and Tatum. Evitts progressed from a decent rider to international quality as he moved into top 20 for the first time. The season also marked farewell, in horrific circumstances, to Kenny Carter while Mike Lee ended his last BL season down in 35th spot and Peter Collins bowed out in 50th – a sad way for England’s brightest talents of the previous decade to end their careers. A couple of other veterans calling time on their BL careers were Bobby Schwartz (27th) and Phil Crump (39th) , both ranked in surprisingly low position, with Steve Baker (37th) overtaking Crump as top ranked Aussie. Mitch Shirra in 32nd was the top ranked kiwi, for the 4th straight year. Young Swedes, Nilsen and Jonsson continued their progress into 17th and 24th respectively, while arguably the big surprise of the top 20 was Viktor Kuznetsov, the veteran Russian, in 13th on the back of his surprise 5th in the world final. The other surprise (for me) in the top 20 was Bo Petersen in 12th, based on a handful of international appearances after skipping the BL season. The NL was arguably the strongest it had been, certainly within the decade, with a number of ex England internationals (Jessup, Simmons, L Collins,Kennett) dropping down. This was reflected in 10 NL riders ranked in the top 50, Jessup top of those 28th, while Paul Thorp’s world individual championship progress was rewarded with 3st place. Other young English NL stars to progress were Andrew Silver, who made his full international debut, in 33rd, Martin Dugard in at 43rd while Gary Havelock was at 60th. One point to note is that after the shrinkage in 1985 to an 11 team BL, while the “scores” of the top riders remained relatively unchanged, the scores of those on the fringes of the top 20 dropped by around half a point – this reflects (imho) the fact that the talent in the BL was more concentrated, and as a result the weaker HL suffered declines in averages, which with BL averages being the “base” measurement for wighting other events, then flowed through to those events also. GP series: Hard to argue with the top five finishing in the same order as the rankings, though the battle for third would be tight, leaving Andersson, Tatum (into the series to replace Carter) Morton, King and Shirra likely to battle for the remaining spots on the top 8 (Kelly Moran in the mix too until his off track injury in Poland ended his season). Top three: Nielsen, Gundersen, Knudsen Top8: S Moran, Ermolenko, Andersson, Tatum, Morton Qualifiers for 87: Pedersen, Nilsen, Evitts Wildcards for 87: Wigg, King, Shirra, Dolomisiewicz Wilcards – for Britain an equally compelling argument could be presented for Doncaster, but I think England skipper Wigg would edge it -. King I think would be a shoe in for another spot, while the “token” continental wildcard may go to Dolomisiewicz, the first Pole to emerge in some time, even if the likes of Castagna, Kasper, Maier ,Kuznetsov have more compelling cases based on results. The final spot also a tricky one. K Moran likely to have been well in the mix for top8 before injury, but would the fact he would only be in the series due to a wildcard, allied with the circumstances of his injury, count against him? Mitcxh Shirra to be a sole Australasia rep, or perhaps Baker, his world championship run gave indications of fulfilling the potential highlighted in his 1983 Euro U-21 champs victory. Maybe two Brits would be given spots, given that both Doncaster and Wigg outperformed any of the other candidates over the season, but perhaps unlikely that two wildcards would be given to the same nation. In the absence of a clear cut candidate, I’ll plump for Shirra on the grounds that I’ll pick him finishing 10th in the 86 series, and picking up a wilrdcard along with 9th place getter (King).

1985: 1 H Nielsen 11.74 2 E Gundersen 11.15 3 S Moran 11.08 4 T Knudsen 10.75 5 K Carter 10.40 6 B Schwartz 9.80 7 L King 9.67 8 S Ermolenko 9.62 9 C Morton 9.53 10 K Tatum 9.49 11 J Cook 9.35 12 J Andersson 9.21 13 S Wigg 8.87 14 J Doncaster 8.79 15 B Petersen 8.74 16 J Davis 8.59 17 Peter Collins 8.56 18 P Ravn 8.02 19 P Eriksen 7.99 20 J O Pedersen 7.95 A repeat of the 1984 top three, with Hans and Erik one-two for the third successive year. Slight surprise that Kenny Carter - who had an excellent season until injury - was only 5th, as he would have been a favourite for the World title at Odsal had he not been injured in the inter-continental final, but Knudsen had a season often overlooked for its excellence - Nordic champ, top Dane in the test series, maximum in WTC final, dropped just one point in the World Pairs - a welcome return to form after a couple of injury plagued seasons. The Danes actually contribute 7 of the to 20, with Jan O Pedersen making his worlfd final debut and soaring up the rankings reaching the top 20 for the first time. Bobby Shwartz somewhat of a surprise at 6th in the rankings, while Sam Ermolenko charged up the rankings to 8th on the back of his upset world final third spot. For England, there World Cup woes are illustrated in the fact that three of their top four riders in the rankings were unavailable for the world final - Carter injured, Morton in dispute with team manager John Berry, and Simon Wigg banned. Add in that Belle Vue pairing of Peter Collins (7th Brit) -like Mort also making himself unavailable- and Andy Smith (9th Brit in 22ns spot) was unable to make the WTC final due to short notice, and of course the most talented Brit of the generation, Mike Lee (still only 26) was languishing at 38th in the rankings, after he made a mid-season comeback when his ban was reduced from 5 years to one. At least for Kelvin Tatum it was an excellent season, arguably the most improved Brit, John Davis had his best season since 1980, while other youngsters like Doncaster, Smith and Knight all impressed. Billy Sanders started the year in fine form before his tragic death, he would have slotted into the rankings in 6th had he ridden the required number of meetings. It meant for the first time in the decade there were no Australasian riders in the top 20, with Phil Crump (23rd) and Mitch Shirra (37th) the best for their respective nations. Young Swede Jimmy Nilsen showed promise in his first BL season entering the rankings in 40th, World U21 champ Per Jonsson was just outside the top 50, and in fact the highest ranked young swede was Tommy Nilsson in 26th. Egon Muller was top continental rider in 27th, while Joe Owen was pick of the NL riders in 33rd. A 16 year old Gary Havelock made his NL debut, though ended the season well outside the top 100. Grand Prix series: Would have been a superb battle between Hans, Erik, Moran and Carter. I lean towards Erik, on back of his winning both World and BLRC titles, but certainly a subjective call: Wigg's ban, and Sanders premature death, would have opened up places in the series for the two orginal reserves, possibly Karl Maier and Alan Graham, neither of whom would likely have made any real impact on the series. Top three: Gundersen, Nielsen, S Moran Top eight: Carter, Knudsen, King, Morton, Andersson Qualifiers for 86: Ermolenko, Nieme, Cook reserves: Tatum, Pedersen. Wildcards for 86: Lee, Shirra, K Moran Castagna (or Kasper or Muller?) Hard to call, suspect Shirra would get one on basis of a season where he started terribly on his comeback from injury. Tatum to get a British wildcard, or would it be handed to Lee as one final chance? Or maybe Wigg or Doncaster? three Danes and three yanks already in the series, would they be gven another spot - if so Schwartz be rewarded for his consistency with a place? K Moran and Bo Petersen likely to finish not far off the top 8, would they be more likely to get a pick? Or Crump to give the Aussies a spot? Or Jan O, finishing maybe just a couple of spots outside in the GP challenge, and the youngest of those candidates? The continental spot equally up for grabs. I'll go K Moran and Castagna, a mix of old and new, on the grounds I'll tip Moran to have finished 9th in the serie, and on box office appeal.

If it is barker, still think kl have a comparable side to wolves and bees, so maybe still a sniff of scraping top four.

On his day Finn was better than any of those (bar Erik and hand obviously ). Remember him coming to Hyde Rd in 84, a season where the aces were utterly dominant at home, and racking up a double digit score from reserve. I also remember some pretty rubbish displays!Finch was always excellent around Hyde Rd and the shay - never saw him on the smaller tracks, assume he was a big track specialist?

It's a bit like pc vs Mauger and Olsen. Collins was the better racer, but when you look at their records it's hard to argue he is anything but third.

Not really any more sense with the 13 heat format. In that format u had two reserves with only three rides, under the modern format you have two hl with five rides.

Schwartz was a quality rider (though not round Hyde Rd!), consistent, thought without any one truly outstanding seasons. Based on performance across all 5 seasons (rather than best three) he rises to 16th place. Whiel Schwartz was the only one of the top 20 not to make a final, there were a number (S moran, Knudsen, Crump,Petersen, L Collins) who made only one. And some years (192 and 1984) had 4/10 of the top 10 riders not making the final each year. That said, the highest ranking anyone got in this period without making the world final was 5th, by Shaun Moran in 1982, so to finish top three in the rankings it would seem you would have to have a truly amazing season in all other respects if you didn’t make the final. In terms of rankings, obviously a poor final could have a significant impact. However, to make the final you normally needed to have had at least three decent meetings to get there, while conversely to miss out you needed to have had at least one poor meeting. Additionally, I added a small negative multiplier to riders who failed to make the world final, to partly offset the impact a poor final could have. As an example, Gundersen had a pretty disastrous world final in 1986, but still emerged (rightly) in second place in the rankings in that season. Morton, as another example, was consistently poor-mediocre in world finals but finished top 10 most seasons, and his best seasons in this era were those where he made the world final.

With 1980-1984 covered, a reflection on the top riders of the first half of the 80s. The list below shows the top 20 performers, based on their top three seasons in that period. Penhall and Nislsen had both finished top of the season rankings twice, with Jessup top in the other seasons. 1 B Penhall 11.59 2 K Carter 11.19 3 H Nielsen 11.09 4 E Gundersen 10.78 5 M Lee 10.72 6 D Sigalos 10.62 7 D Jessup 10.26 8 S Moran 10.17 9 C Morton 10.06 10 J Andersson 9.84 11 O Olsen 9.77 12 B Sanders 9.72 13 T Knudsen 9.66 14 P Crump 9.63 15 B Petersen 9.39 16 K Moran 9.35 17 Peter Collins 9.32 18 M Shirra 9.23 19 L Collins 9.19 20 B Schwartz 9.16 Penhall predictably emerges clearly as the top rider, though perhaps surpirsingly Carter takes 2nd spot ahead of Nielsen – underlying though that Carter in his prime was arguably as good as anyone of his generation. No other major surprises in the top 10, and in the top 20 Shirra the only surprise inclusion for me. Bo Petersen and Jan Anersson ranked higher than I would have anticipated , while Billy Sanders, Peter Collins and Bobby Schwartz all ranked lower. A little disappointed that Larry Ross (24th) fails to make the cut off, while the dominant rider of the 70s, Ivan Mauger, came in at 27. Egon Muller (23rd) was the top continental rider, followed by Karl Maier (41st), with Edward Jancazr and Jiri Stancl the only others to make the top 50 (49th and 50th respectively). Steve Lawson the top ranked rider to ride exclusively NL (53rd), though Joe Owen and Simon Wigg both include NL seasons in their rankings and come in at 29th and 42nd respectively. The period was also notable for 4 Collins brothers all raning in the top 50, with Phil (32) and Neil (46) joingin Peter and Les. The top 10 consisted 4 Englishmen, 3 Danes, 2 Americans and a Swede, while the top 20 comprised 6 Englishmen, 5 Americans, 5 Danes, 2 Aussies a Swede and a kiwi – indicating a fairly even match between the three powerhouses of world speedway at that time. Certainly a WTC with sides of England: Carter, Lee, Morton, Jessup (P Collins), Denmark Nielsen, Gundersen, Knudsen, Olsen (Petersen), and USA Penhall, Sigalos, S Moran, K Moran (Schwartz) looks pretty evenly matches, and you could throw in a Rest of the World side of Andersson, Crump, sanders, shirra (Muller) to make up four teams. Similarly , test teams adding the likes of Les Collins, Grahame bothers, Autrey, King, Cook, Thomsen. Eriksen to the mix, would see pretty closely matched line ups. A world final line up, or GP series, consisting the top 16 riders on that list would certainly be a pretty tasty line up, even if you replaced numbers 12-16 with 5 “token” continental qualifiers – namely the four listed above, plus Ales Dryml (55th). Expanding to a top 50, you have 20 brits, 9 yanks, 7 danes.4 aussies, 3 kiwis, 2 swedes, 2 poles, 2 west germans and one Finn, indicating that Britain still had comfortably the greatest strength in depth , if not neecsarily at the top end (and also perhaps reflecting the Anglo-centric nature of the stats used). Was their evidence that the Danes were going to dominate the rest of the decade? The Americans had lost Penhall, and as it turned out Sigalos, while the Moran’s were indicating that perhaps they would never fulfil their talent – conversely, the Morans still had time on their side, while King and Ermolenko were emerging talents. From England, Jessup and Peter Collins were past their peak, Lee’s future uncertain,and Morton as it it transpired had peaked as well from 80-84. But few would have foreseen that Carter would never reach another a final, and in the likes of Wigg, Doncaster and Tatum it seemed there was plenty of emerging talent. For the Danes Nielsen and Gundersen were world class, but Olsen was retired, Petersen ageing, Knudsen's progress had been stalled by injury, while Jan O Pedersen (84th in 1984) and John Jorgensen (72nd) were showing potential but still far from world class. Changing the criteria to get a top 20 on performances across all seasons ridden in the decade doesn’t change things markedly – Penhall still top, though Nielsen moved ahead of Carter into 2nd, and Lee ahead of Erik into further. Most other changes are minor swapping fof positions, with only S Moran dropping out of the top 10 (into 17th) to be replaced by Olsen, while Shirra and Les Collins would drop out of the top 20, to be replaced by Alan Grahame and Scott Autrey.

1984: 1 H Nielsen 11.32 2 E Gundersen 10.82 3 S Moran 10.38 4 D Sigalos 10.08 5 M Lee 9.95 6 L King 9.91 7 M Shirra 9.72 8 S Wigg 9.68 9 P Crump 9.60 10 C Morton 9.52 11 K Moran 9.49 12 J Andersson 9.44 13 K Carter 9.41 14 B Petersen 9.28 15 B Sanders 8.96 16 B Schwartz 8.79 17 Alan Grahame 8.77 18 J Cook 8.67 19 Peter Collins 8.56 20 Phil Collins 8.43 Hans once against top of the rankings and I doubt any would dispute the top three (though possibly the order). Sigalos and Lee both started the year in fine form, but had their seasons curtailed (by injury and ban respectively), and in fact 84 marked the end for both of them as world class riders. King had an excellent year, and perhaps a little surprised that he ranked only 6th. Morton had a superb season in some ways (2nd in BL averages, world pairs and BLRC champ), so I was surprised he was only 10th, but his early exit from the world individual championship, and some disappointing (comparitively) performances for England lowered his score. Kenny Carter slipped out of the top10 in a season curtailed by injury, Tommy Knudsen slid to 23rd in an injury hampered season, while Dave Jessup slumped out of the top 20 all the way down to 35th. Bo Petersen, Billy Sanders and Peter Collins all finished lower in the rankings than I mighthave anticipated, with Shirra and Crump finishing higher. Karl Maier (21st) the top of the continentals, while Steve Lawson (45th) was the top NL rider. Several young Brits started to emerge in the top 50, among them Jeremy Doncaster (27th), Neil Evitts (39th), Kevlin Tatum (43rd), simon Cross (44th) and Andy Smith (47th). A couple of future stars also had their first full seasons in the BL, with Sam Ermolenko ranking at 59th and Per Jonsson at 62nd. Ipswich, Belle Vue and Cradley all had their top five riders ranked in the top 50 (Aces had all seven within the top 67 riders), with Cradley also having four riders on the top 20. Grand Prix Series: Early doors it may have shaped as a five way battle, but Sigalos and Lee would have dropped out of the series early on, leaving Nielsen, Gundersen and S Moran to battle it out. Removing BL and BLRC, where Erik suffered a huge number of tape exclusions, from the figures it narrows the gap between him and Nielsen to a mere 0.0002. Given the World Championship had not embraced the tape touching rule, that’s close enough for me to plump with Erik as world champion. In the battle for top eight, I suspect Kenny Carter may have withdrawn from the series once it was no longer mathematically possible to finish on the podium, while King (likely in as series reserve to replace Sigalos) would have had time to cement a comfortable top 8 position Top three: Gundersen, Nielsen, S Moran Top eight: King, Shirra, Morton Crump, Sanders. GP 85 qualifiers: Wigg, K Moran, Petersen, Maier (reserve) Wildcards for 85 : Carter, Kundsen, Andersson, Muller ? Assumed uncertainty over Sigalos’ injury status would have seen him omitted from the picks.

For weighting meetings I used the following: X1: BL, NL, unofficial international meetings, misc individual meetings (not specified otherwise below) X 3: Official test matches, World Team Cup/World Pairs qualifying rounds, European Under 21 final. X 5: BLRC, World Individial qualifiers (from National final onwards, or from Quartyer-final onwards for Contintenal riders), WTC/World Pairs finals X 10: World Individual Final Certainly you can argue for or against particular weightings, for example is the World Final too high? This is one area that is really subjective, and while I am happy with the balance, certainly open to feedback - and relatively minimal work to see what the output is if these are changed. However, if you reduce the weighting of other meetings, my thoughts are that you end up with a ranking where domestic form bore too significant an impact on the final ranking. Under the above system an international rider reaching the world final would have roughly even weightings attached to domestic league, international team and individual events (e.g. ride 30-40 league matches, six tests plus WTC campaign would equal 29 “meetings”, reaching the world final plus BLRC would equal 30 “meetings.”) I converted all events to a BL type CMA (i.e. based on 4 rides), so the world final was the equivalent of 40 not 50 rides. In terms of weighting scores in meetings to reflect difficulty, the method was quite simple. BL averages were taken as the “base.” So an average rider would expect to score 6.5 in a meeting where bonus points were earned, 6 points otherwise. If in an individual meeting the riders participating in it had a mean BL average of say 9(i.e. the total of all the 16 BL averages of participating riders was 144), that is 3 pts (or 0.75 pts per ride) more difficult than the BL. So I would add that number of points to the riders score for that meeting (in above example rider scores 10 points from 5 rides in individual meeting, add 3.75 "difficulty" pts to this, gives 13.75 points, then divideby 5 multiply by 4 to get into BL CMA format, converts to a "score" of 11). For riders not racing BL, I gave them an “assessed” BL average to use in calculating weigint to use for meeting,s based on their performances in other meetings relative to strength of competitors. The other thing I did, was that for individual finals, bearing in mind the aim is to win, was to give a 10% "uplift" for the winner, 5% for 2nd and 3% for 3rd. For "qualifier meetings" , the uplift was 5%, 3% and 2%, with 1% for qualifying in a non-rostrum spot. The above means it is possible for a rider t average more than 12, Jessup's 12.00 average is a co-incidence rather than indication of perfection. The alternative to the above approach was to use a % multiplier/divisor for meetings (and this was what I used in earlier versions). However, I found that that skewed averages too unfavourably for riders in weak National finals for example (so someone like Billy Sanders could score a 15 point maximum in the Aussie champs, but have his average dragged down significantly), and too high for those who had tougher meetings (riders were coming out of the BLRC with an 18 average). The multiplier/divisor approach would arguably have worked better if I was having a "total score" output (and was the original approach, but I really wanted to have the output in an average format, being something a little more "tangible". Valid point, and as per above, the weightings are subjective. I'd note that it wasn't just the two engine failures, I also assumed that Jessup would have done better in his final rider had he been sitting on 11 points rather than 6 going into ir, and with everything still to ride for. The drop is also exacerbated by the closeness of riders in that points range in that season. Another example would be that Plech in 1980 who I felt should have ranked far higher, or Egon in 85 lower. Chris Morton suffered through having consistently rubbish world finals record. But, the World Final was the ultimate goal for riders, and I didn't think that making I the equivalent in importance of 10 domestic meetings was unrealistically high. But would welcome feedback on what weightings others would propose. BLRc certainly included, and given quite a high "weighting" Sid. I don't have complete results for all individual meetings, but did however have the top three for most UK based individual events, so riders were awarded points for finishing top3 in such events (PotE being one such event). tbh, that was the "sanity check " I used - do these look roughly right is I were to rank them myself. Some riders, such as Petersen and Alan Grahame, seem to consistently rank higher than I would have expected, but that reflects their consistent BL form, and some variations are to be expected, given natural bias from watching speedway mostly at hyde rd for example.

1983: 1. H Nielsen 11.45 2 E Gundersen 11.08 3 D Sigalos 10.97 4 M Lee 10.97 5 E Muller 10.92 6 K Carter 10.90 7 B Sanders 10.42 8 C Morton 9.96 9 M Shirra 9.94 10 O Olsen 9.80 11 S Moran 9.77 12 T Knudsen 9.36 13 P Crump 9.36 14 B Schwartz 8.94 15 Alan Grahame 8.82 16 Peter Collins 8.79 17 D Jessup 8.74 18 J Andersson 8.72 19 B Petersen 8.71 20 S Wigg 8.70 1983 was in a way a year without any true stand out, though in the end one rider was comfortably more consistent than the others. Where it was really close though was the battle from 2nd -6th, where 5 riders were separated by 0.18, and a miniscule 0.001 seperating 3rd from 4th. Perhaps a little surprisingly, Billy Sanders was not one of the top 6, despite his world pairs heroics and 2nd place in the world final. No huge surprises in the top 10, thoug Shirra at ninth surprised me a little. The dominant Cradley team had all of their top 5 ranked in the top 23 in the world (King at 22nd and Phil Collins 23rd), with their reserves chiming at 35th (Peter Ravn) and 64th (Jan O) respectively. Joe Owen was again the top NL rider, in 37th place. In a GP series. Well it’s still very much up for debate. To my miknd, Hans’s consistency would have seen him crowned champ. But behind him, I would lean towards Lee in 2nd, with Sigalos 3rd, Erik just missing out along with Carter. Sanders, Morton And Muller would have rounded out the top8, but per the 82 results I’m not convinced they would all necessarily have been part of the line up. Top three: Nielsen Lee Sigalos Top nine: Gundersen, Carter, Morton, Olsen, Crump, Andersson (Olsen retiring at the end of the season, place goes to Andersson) GP Challenge qualifiers for 84: Sanders, Muller, Shirra: Reserves: King, Phil Collins, Karl Maier (this will become important in 84!) Wildcards for 84: Knudsen, S Moran (both missing top 8 though injury), Plech plus another Brit (Jessup? Peter Collins? Wigg? Phil or Les Collins?) or an American (K Moran or King?). I’ll go with Jessup, not a popular choice, but given he was likely to have finished top 2 in both 80/81, probably the way the call would have gone).

1982: 1 B Penhall 11.64 2 K Carter 11.60 3 D Sigalos 10.81 4 H Nielsen 10.51 5 S Moran 10.37 6 K Moran 10.16 7 E Gundersen 10.08 8 B Schwartz 9.68 9 L Collins 9.40 10 T Knudsen 9.24 11 C Morton 9.19 12 P Crump 9.00 13 J Andersson 8.99 14 R Preston 8.98 15 Andy Grahame 8.98 16 B Petersen 8.94 17 D Jessup 8.94 18 Alan Grahame 8.89 19 M Lee 8.80 20 G Kennett 8.78 The closest battle of the decade for the number on spot, but THAT decision ultimately provided the difference in giving Bruce the number one spot. The year of the Yanks, as they occupied 4 of the top 6 and 5 of the top 8 places. Surprises - again Dave Jsessup was lower than I anticipated, Tommy Knudsen a little higher, while also slightly surprised that the Belle Vue pair of Peter Collins (22nd) and Larry Ross (23rd) were outside the top 20. Lee had arguably his worst ever season at that stage, but still scraped into the top 20. Olsen (27th) dropped out of the top 20, a couple of places ahead of that other great Mauger. Joe Owen (33rd) was the top NL rider, while Ales Dryml. (43rd) was the best of the continental contingent. England continue to have the most representatives in the top 20, with 8. A couple of promising English youngsters, Neil Collins and Simon Wigg, both moved inside the top 50 for the first time. GP series: I'd have to say the top three as they are, ut the top 8 very hard to call. Penhall's retirement in the rostrum would of course mean that nonth place would be seeded through to the following year's GP. Top three: Penhall Carter Sigalos Top nine: Nielsen, Gundersen, Jessup (nailed on) plus Knudsen, Morton, Andersson,? - but equally Sanders, Peter Collins, Olsen, Lee could all have scraped in instead. GP qualifiers for 83: L Collins, K Moran, P Crump Wildcards for 83: Lee, S Moran, Olsen, Jancarz ? No room for Sanders, PC or Ivan? I assume one spot (minimum) would have had to go to the continent, and also that this would generally be a Pole, given they were still a "major:" nation, if not in strength at least in terms of hosting world finals and attendances at those. Kasper was probably the most promising continental youngster (45th), while both Druml and Stancl (48th) woere arguably more deserving than veteran Eddie. Edited: Change my mind, Kasper as u21 champ to get a wildcard.

1981: 1 B Penhall 11.58 2 K Carter 11.09 3 T Knudsen 10.36 4 E Gundersen 10.26 5 M Lee 10.12 6 J Andersson 9.97 7 C Morton 9.97 8 P Crump 9.92 9 D Jessup 9.85 10 O Olsen 9.58 11 H Nielsen 9.55 12 B Petersen 9.12 13 Alan Grahame 8.93 14 B Schwartz 8.81 15 G Kennett 8.76 16 B Sanders 8.75 17 L Collins 8.69 18 L Ross 8.65 19 S Bastable 8.63 20 D Sigalos 8.52 Penhall a clear top, though with a lower average than I expected, given he was clearly the best rider in the world. Knudsen’s 3rd spot indicated that perhaps he wasn’t such an upset world final medalist, particularly given his performances in the Nordic final and test series vs England in particular. Evidence perhaps that Carter and Knudsen were just as talented as Erik and Hans, and with better luck with injuries and decisions could have been regarded in the same light. Slightly surprised that Morton, Jessup and Olsen were not a little higher, with Lee, Andersson and Crump may have been a little lower, the latter rewarded for consistent performances over the BL season . Jessup would have finished higher but for his two world final engine failures, without those he would likely have taken 3rd place in the rankings. Lee’s year as World Champ, while below the standards of the preceding years, was perhaps not as bad as was made out. The view that the 81 World Final line up was the strongest of the decade is supported in that of the top 11 riders in the world (11 being the number of inter-continental final qualifiers) , only one did not make the world final – Phil Crump (8th) being replaced by Larry Ross (18th). The year England dominance came to an end, though still accounting for 4 of the top 10 and 8 of the top 20 places. The year perhaps notable for the emergence of the young Danes, while of the young Americans Kelly Moran (22nd) and Shawn (33rd) both improved their rankings. Ivan Mauger dropped (just) our of the top 20 into 21st. Egon Muller (23rd) was the best of the continental riders, while Mike Ferreria (71st) was the top NL rider. Edited to add that Knudsen is the only teenager to make the top three of the rankings in any year in the 80s, while Bastable at 19th is the lowest ranked Brtitish champion, which aligns with the fact that he was almost certainly the biggest "surprise" winner of the British Championship in this era. GP series: Penhall to win comfortably, but behind him? Defnite doubts over whether Carter, Knudsen or Gundersen would have been in the series. Presumably PC would have been entitled to enter , though can’t see him making an impression without regklar BL racing.. I’d lean towards Jessup in 2nd and Olsen 3rd. Top3 : Penhall, Jessup, Olsen Top 8: Lee, Andersson, Morton, Nielsen, Sanders GP qualifiers for 82: Carter, Knudsen, Gundersen Wildcards for 82: Mauger, Sigalos, Peter Collins, Muller

Being a stats geek, I’ve been playing around for some time with a rider rating system for historic seasons, and finally come up with something I’m happy with. As with any such system, some elements of subjectivity come into it (e.g. should some meetings be treated as “more important” than others, and it so, how much additional weighting should they be given), and with speedway there are also some constraints around availability of information. Obviously one balance is “sanity checking” that results are roughly in line with what you would expect, though of course in doing that you run the risk of tailoring a system to match an expected output. I've taken into account BL matches (inc League Cup/Ko cup), Nl matches, Test matches, World Team Cup/World Pairs, World Individual Final (and qualifiers), BlLRC/NLRC, Euro U21 individual champs and other individual meetings. All meetings (or where applicable series of meetings) were given a statistically calculated "multiplier" based on the calibre of riders participating. Additionally a "weighting" was given dependent on importance of meeting, ranging from "1" for a league meeting to 10 (for World Final), meaning performances in world final counted for the equivalent of 10 league meetings. Anyway, for those interested I'll be inputting year by year the top 20 performers, and then finally a top 20 based on performances over the decade. 1980: 1 D Jessup 12.00 2 B Penhall 11.56 3 M Lee 10.96 4 Peter Collins 10.47 5 C Morton 10.25 6 S Autrey 10.17 7 J Andersson 10.12 8 H Nielsen 10.04 9 O Olsen 9.93 10 B Sanders 9.77 11 B Petersen 9.76 12 D Sigalos 9.63 13 J Davis 9.62 14 L Collins 9.47 15 K Carter 9.23 16 I Mauger 9.13 17 A Michanek 8.94 18 B Schwartz 8.85 19 L Ross 8.79 20 G Kennett 8.71 Comments: The last year in which England truly ruled the world, the only year in the 80s where an Englishman topped the rankings (I suspect it would be the last year pre-Tai where this was the case!), and 4 Englishmen in the top 5. No real surprises/anomalies in the top 20, I suspect this would have been the first season in over a decade where Mauger ranked outside the top 10, while Michanek was placed in the top 20 based on performances in a handful of meetings. Top “continental” rider was Zenon Plech in 35th, though if you exclude his disappointing world final display he would have finished 27th which is arguably a truer reflection of his standing that year. Top National League rider was Dave Perks in 37th. Outside the top 20 were emerging riders included the Danes Tommy Knudsen (25th) and Erik Gundersen (27th), while the Americans had Ron Preston (30th), Kelly Moran (38th) and Shaun Moran (74th). GP series: In a GP series, I’d argue the top three would probably have finished in that order. Outside that I suspect the likes of Olsen, Sanders and Mauger would all have performed better than their rankings, while of the top 10 I don’t believe Morton would have been in the series. Top 3 in GP series: Jessup, Penhall, Lee Rest of top 8: Collins, Olsen, Autrey, Sanders, Mauger GP challenge qualifiers for 81: Morton, Nieme, Davis (have based on performances Inter continental/Continental final and World final for those not likely to have been involved in 1980 series) Wildcards for 81: Andersson, Nielsen, Sigalos, Plech ?

Isn't it generally a condition of entry to sports events that technically you aren't allowed to do that?

Do rolling averages apply to the reserves? Either way it is quite possible reserves will end up as hl. But agree unlikely you will have a number one dropping to reserve, or teams shedding huge number of points off their total average.