Terry

I feel your pain. I'm still mourning the loss of my beloved Hawks/Kestrels 28 years on

To be fair Sidney, the five above him were better riders and Thommo will always be my number one.

Hawks Kestrels 1. Barry Thomas 1. Barry Thomas 2. Bo Petersen 2. Andy Galvin 3. Bengt Jansson 3. Mark Loram 4. Dave Morton 4. Paul Whittaker 5. Zenon Plech 5. Alan Mogridge 6. Finn Thomsen 6. Steve Schofield 7. Garry Middleton 7. Trevor Banks

According to the 1980 speedway yearbook.. 1. Finn Thomsen 8 2. Bobby McNeil 3 3. Barry Thomas 6 4. Bo Petersen 6 5. Keith White 0 6. Vic Harding 4 7. Sean Willmott 5

If I remember correctly Louis could've missed out in a run-off for the last few places if Doncaster had let Screen through. I think Ermolenko and Hancock gave Josh Larsen a 'leg up' in that meeting also. I always thought it all added to the excitement of those qualifiers, trying to work out who's going to help who in the last round of heats..even though it was basically cheating!

The Mortons' were great to watch. I appreciate the great stylists like Mauger, Olsen, Simmons, Adams and Woffinden. But I'd rather watch the 'blood and thunder riders' like The Mortons', The Collins', Plech, Thomas, Gollob, Loram and Zmarzlik any day!

Another race that sticks in my mind was when those two great characters Andy Galvin and Alan Mogridge got a 5-1 over my favourite Dane (after Finn and Bo of course!) Erik Gundersen, in our BL season of 87. You could tell that Erik was getting more and more frustrated as they covered just about every inch of the track in what must've been the slowest display of team-riding ever! I remember on the slow-down lap Erik looking at them and pointing to his head, as if to say "you're crazy!" Though being the decent chap he is, he still shook their hands..which is more than Ole Olsen did when he was twice soundly beaten by a young Dave Morton in 74.

Hackney v Exeter 1977 for me. The Falcons needed a last heat 5-1 to grab a draw and Ivan Mauger and Scott Autrey gated and team-rode perfectly with Barry Thomas and Keith White trying desperately to find a way by. Off the final bend Thommo went for a tiny gap between Mauger and the fence and squeezed by to win the race by the width of a tyre. Probably the most famous race at Hackney and one that I'll never forget...It even had a snippet in the Daily Mirror the following day!

I guess it's not out there then. I didn't go either. The only one I went to it rained all night..82 I think.

I've often wondered if the classic 1980 test was televised. I've never come across it on youtube.

Tom(my) Knudsen

Andy Galvin was a hard but fair (mostly) rider. He used to fall foul to a lot of refs who automatically reached for his exclusion light when his opponents got blown off by the breeze of Andy overtaking them so quickly. He also managed to orchestrate the odd 5-0 when we needed it!

I've got all the Hawks/Kestrels books and dvd's. I'll have to buy this.

You were the lucky ones! We got Christer Lofqvist as a replacement for Dag but he was a big disappointment. Missing meetings and refusing any offers of help with his equipment. Len Silver said that Christer took an instant dislike to him for some reason, although Hackney team-mate Ted Hubbard said he could've been suffering from his illness at that stage. He died a couple of years later.

The first Scandinavian I remember was Dag Lovaas in 74. My first speedway memory is of a rider in yellow leathers gliding effortlessly around the Wick. I remember how sad I was when he wasn't there the following year.

Barry Thomas, Zenon Plech, Mark Loram, Tomasz Gollob, Darcy Ward, Andy Galvin, Chris Harris, Bartosz Zmarzlik, Alan Mogridge, Erik Gundersen.

Darcy Ward - The most naturally talented rider I've ever seen. Gutted he's not entertaining us in the gp's. Craig Boyce - Livened up a boring '95 British gp. Leigh Adams - Superb stylist who wasn't hard enough to be world champion. Jason Crump - Son of the animal! Phil Crump - the animal! A strong bloke who won a lot of 16 lappers. Jason Doyle - The most worthy world champion ever. Todd Wiltshire - Fastest alive over the first 25. Garry Middleton - The only rider who packed a revolver in his kit bag. Ryan Sullivan - Smooth as silk around the EOES. Should've beaten Crump to the world championship. Dave Hamnett - A fast gater. He should have achieved more. A Hackney favourite r.i.p.

Plech, Jankowski, Gollob, Zmarzlik, Protasiewicz, Cegielski, Kolodziej, Huszcza, Skornicki, M Drabik.

Finn Thomsen, Bo Petersen, Erik Gundersen, Jan O. Pedersen, Hans Andersen and Nicki Pedersen-although only the last few years, as he's been the only rider to interfere with the nauseating Monster 'love-in' in the gp's.

Tony Rickardsson (the guv'nor), Roland Danno, Henka Gustafsson, Bengt Jansson, Richard Hellsen, Peter Karlsson, Erik Stenlund, Christer Lofqvist, Freddie Lindgren, Antonio Lindback.

Kelly & Shawn...I'm with Carter on the rest of 'em. Too much whooping and yee-hawing for my liking. Oh Randy Green, even though he was hopeless.

Barry Thomas, Andy Galvin, Mark Loram, Alan Mogridge, Dave Morton, Paul Whittaker, Steve Schofield, Kelvin Mullarkey, Peter Collins, Chris Harris.

No doubt declaring the highest scoring pair after 42 heats the winners, will prove to be too sensible an idea and the final will once again finish with the two novelty races.

Done

'Good old' Bernie Leigh as he was known. A Reading institution. RIP