waiheke1

emil and darcy are good enough to win it.g laguta at a push could be in contention for a rostrum spot. The other three are very good riders, but would be exceeding expectations if they made the top 8.

Kk would be my pick - or he could finish 10th! Nki and greg would be my picks to join him on the podium. cant rule out tai, nicki, holder or hampel. Add zagar thats my top 8.

Have to say I'm tempted by this (and also the mort and shooey ones). Is there any footage of his blrc victories? KC was the best rider I saw round hyde rd in the 80s bar none, but certainly a polarising figure. If social media had been around in the 80s he may have broken the internet.

Scores (20 heats): Gundersen 13, s moran 12, tatum 11, wigg 10, morton 10,l collins 10, mckinna 8, n collins 7, thorp 6, ravn 5, doncaster 5, king 5, phil collins 3 (4 rides only), blackbird 2, smith 2, hornby 0 (reserve, 1 ride). 6 lap final: s moran, wigg, morton, tatum, gundersen, k moran. match race: penhall beat peter collins 3-0.

Not everyone agrees that every rider in the world needs to be included. None of the old world finals did. most of the countries you mention would go through the continental quslifiers, as they did historically. south africa as far as im aware dont have any riders of anywhere near top standard, so like canada may miss out. I beleve mike ferreira of zimbabwe used to go through the British rounds so maybe that would be an option. 150 isnt meant to be definitive. If there was a rider roughly in this range, then there should be an attempt to ensure that his country had at least one spot in the quarter finals. Would be down to individual governing bodies how their national qualifications worked.

British riders I'd imagine you would have as per the 80s, with qualifying rounds, semis and final. Australia I'd imagine the aussie championship in jan would be the qualifier, ditto nz (who I would see getting just one slot in the overseas final). Had given no thought to Canada or argentina tbh - do either have any riders of sufficient merit? Possibly one slot in the overseas final, but personally I dont believe it that important that EVERY rider in the world has a chance to participate - the top 150 or so I think is fine. id imagine the overseas final would always be held in Britain, with the ic final rotating between britsin denmark and sweden.

National qualifying rounds. Four quarter finals (overseas final, nordic final, two continental semi final). Inter continental final and continentsl final with 8 from each to the final. Host nation guaranteed one final berth (if didnt qualify, top placed in qualifying meeting through at expense of 8th place).

not unless we're allowed six riders in our top five...

The other two riders were lance king and jeremy doncaster. I mis-remembered the final though, it was actually won by shawn moran (gundersen was top scorer in the heats). Penhall beat pc 3-0 with times only 2-3 seconds slower than heat winners in the meeting itself - pretty impressive when you consider he hadnt ridden a competitive meeting since 1982! Will post full results later

was one of the last meetings I went to at hyde rd (we moved back to nz a few weeks later), and its one of the relatively few programmes I kept, so stands out.

I went 81-86. Memories are carter blitzing the fields in 81&82, mort winning a three man run off in 84 (erik touched the tspes and got excluded, then mort did nielsen from the back), pc rolling back the years to finish on the podium in 85, then nielsen destroying the field in 86 (mort having an engine fsilure which cost him second, and then finishing last in a four man run off for 2nd/3rd).

Penhall and pc had two or three match races, penhall won all convincingly. Will dig out the programme tonight, from memory gundersen won a six man final. Off the top of my head there were six aces (mort smith blackbird mckinna thorp ravn), two moran brothers, three collins brothers (les niel phil), gundersen, wigg, tatum dont recall the other two riders.

Agree it should have no bearing on the verdict.but I think most would agree that 12 month ban would be sufficient, in which case ward would be available. That being the case, it would be surely a no brainer to give the Melbourne wildcard to darcy.

You dont have 83 also do you daveallan?

Bollocks. Plenty were cynical BUT I dont believe a single person wanted this to fail.in fact most of the cynics were at pains to point this out, as the accusation of them "wanting it to fail" was consistently and erroneously aimed at them.

Brilliant many thanks

Anyone able to provide heat results for these meetings? Thanks

briggs and mauger also, but no way in hell does it make them Australian!

How many of last year's GP top 3 rode full time in all three leagues?What about the previous season? or the two before that? I make it two out of 12 (holder in 2012 and nki in 2013). Would suggest if you want to concentrate on winning the gp, it makes sense to limit yourself to two leagues. Doyle isnt going to be in the hunt for the title, so can see the logic in him riding (and earning) as much as he can

Clearly it doesn't make it all right. My point was a that darcy isn't unique in offending and b that attitude towards darcy is different to that of others who have done the same.I've been pretty consistent in saying I think a 6-12 month ban appropriate.

According to his recent biography, kelly moran rode on many occasions while still hungover or drunk from thr previous night. But most consider him to have been good for speedway, and a real drawcard...

Going WAY back - Jack Young, the only rider to win the world title while riding second division?

As good as any on his home tracks. But never proved himself on the world stage in events which are typically viewed as the yardstick of greatness - world championship (individual and team) and the british league (which contained most of the world's top riders). Maybe he could have been an all time great - but as he didn't test himself against the world's best away from us soil, personally I'd rank his achievements below those of not just American world champions, but also the likes of autrey sigalos and the morans. Id add that the riders I mention were mostly just starting out as basts era of domestic domination ended. Autrey the exception, but didn't he get banned for not going back to the states to race in some of those championship s? Much harder for any one rider to dominate in the 80s when the number of quality American riders had increased.

If u stretch this back to the old national League, then joe owen at Newcastle must be up there.

What sites are you going on your laptop on while on the toilet twk that you're ending up stuck to the seat?!?