E I Addio

He had a good innings and kept the sport going at great financial cost to himself. Lived and breathed Speedway. Former Provincial league riders champion but as others have said he really came to the fore as a promoter. Inextricably linked to Hackney and Rye House, particularly the latter where the sport only existed because of him and his financial input. One of the best if not the best GB team managers in his day despite backstabbing from other promoters with half his ability. Throw in the fact that he was a top rate track curator and we see there weren’t many areas a of the sport where he was wasn’t a powerful force. The sport is now a poorer place without him

He certainly looks super fit. I’m pleased for him, because speedway wasn’t particularly kind to him and I think he could have done better if injuries hadn’t come at the wrong time. Good rider.

Does anyone have any news on what retired riders are doing now? Adam Shields seems to be doing well as a personal trainer in Oz and as far as I know Dave Watt was working as a carpenter of shopfitter. Last I heard Robert Mear was still digging up roads but doing quite well on continental grass tracks. What about the likes of Stuart Robson , Hans Andersen, Steve Johnson, or Tony Rickardson and those like them? Anybody know what they are up to these days ? I think we all take a bit comfort from knowing that various old favourites are doing ok in their retirement.

To some extent a team managers job is as busy or quiet as you want it to be. A good team manager is usually kept pretty busy in the pits. Riders are kept pretty busy with their bikes and often have no idea of the time or the score. A team managers job is first of all to get everyone together for a track walk then make sure the riders are ready with to go on parade and you would be surprised how many riders arrive an hour or more before the meeting and still have to be chased up to be ready. He has to make sure his riders are ready for each heat ( although the pit Marshall also does that). If a rider is on two minutes and has to sort his bike our with minor repairs the manager has to make sure the time warning is not exceeded. He has to think ahead and have another rider ready to go in case someone touches the tapes, decide on things like reserve swaps and when to use a Tactical Ride , and of course use a bit of psychology to motivate riders and see every race in case he needs to speak to the ref. I would say it varies from meeting to meeting but team managers are kept busier than most people think at times although of course there other times when it all runs like clockwork.

I forget where I read this,but it was probably in Classic Speedway, and it was on the lines of “ you didn’t need to leave a on gap for Ove , he would come through whether there was a gap or not and whether he needed to or not”. By all accounts it seems Ove had to win every race even if it meant knocking his own team mates out of the way ! Somewhat surprisingly the same was said about Nigel Boocock- by his own brother Eric !

From what I have read about Briggs’s early says, and from the man himself on the DVD, it seems to me more of a case off sending someone out to pick up fallen riders that the young Briggo had knocked off !

Well that’s another moot point. I always say you can only judge the best of their time., Different attitudes, different standards of professionalism, different bikes , different tracks , different standards of opposition, all play into a riders success or lack of. How would Tai Woofinden handle a dirt Douggie on cinders ? We don’t know, but doesn’t stop the discussions being fascinating.

Thanks Norbold and CHR. We are of like mind and I think you are the only ones I’ve spoken to who share my view of Mauger. Not that I am knocking him but I always kind of felt that he never had quite the same intensity of opposition that the “big five “ had. Olsen was , for example a big name alongside Mauger and admittedly you can’t argue with Olsens three World Championships he also had some World finals where he wasn’t really in it, and I don’t think that could be said about Fundin. I think Ivan was robbed in ‘73 on that dodgy gate but was a little lucky in ‘72 as Briggo had already beaten him before his crash and really looked unassailable. However, we can opinionate forever on this. Jack Young , Norbold. Yes.To come from the second division, even back then and take the world title was phenomenal.

Personally I don’t think the record books tell the whole story . For one thing records tell us that Jerzy Szczakiel was almost on a par with Ivan Mauger if judged purely on the occasions that met but I would suggest that anyone who put them in the same bracket had taken leave of their senses. Ivan IMO was probably the best ( or shall we say most successful ) rider of his generation if judged on w week—in week-out basis, assuming we say Fundin, 5 or 6 years older belonged to a previous generation, as finished his 5 World Championships before Ivan won any of his. How would you guys match those two ? Then we have Briggo. More erratic on form but at his absolute best I don’t think there was a rider so far ahead of the opposition except arguably Fundin who I didn’t see at his best so can’t really comment. My outstanding memory of Briggo is winning the last of his British finals at West Ham. The No. 2 gate wasn’t working and nobody did better than third off of it and even Ivan ran a last from it . Then. Briggo came out off No2 and a made it look like it was the others that weren’t working as he waltzed to a 15 point maximum. Then we’re does Ronnie Moore fit into all this? I have seen him described as the most naturally talented rider that ever sat on a speedway bike . I only ever saw I’m at the back end of his career when he came back from retirement after 6 years was past his sell by date , but still better than most could ever hope to be, and probably one of the most stylish riders I’ve ever seen. Where does he fit with the others ? Great Sport to have us all talking like this years later.

I am 99% sure the “ pungent odour “, ( if I can express it that way) came from the Boake-Roberts Abrac Chemical works in Carpenters Road . We used to cycle up from Stratford along Carpenters Road to the Stadium, getting lungfuls of the vile pong as we urged our bikes up the incline. My goodness it was vile, and it was exactly the same smell , albeit in milder form drifting across the stadium when the wind was in a certain direction. Apparently it was well known in the area ( the smell that is ) when my dad was a boy growing up in Bow. As for the Bovril connection, I had an uncle and aunt living in Hackney and I understood the factory manufactured Branston Pickle ( Branston and Bovril were the same company so may have both been made both there) . Anyway the place did pen-and -ink quite a bit but not as bad as Abracs in Carpenters Road. Uncle Fred and Auntie Flo were always coming out with tales about dead mice and things being found in the pickles so with that inside knowledge I’ve always avoided the stuff ! Them was the days in the East End. A great place to grow up in those, days. Wouldn’t change it for the world but wouldn’t want to live there now !

Personally I would prefer the 20 heat formula but even that has its downside because four riders get the worst gate twice with no second chance of a semi final. However the nature of speedway is that you need a slice of luck to win anything, and that’s the way it goes.

I am not saying that there is NO home track advantage, but I question whether there really is much in the point particular at high level, bearing in mind the number of other factors that come into play, one of which, we now know, choosing when to change tyres. Track conditions change as the evening wears on and even if the riders knows the track he still has to adapt as conditions change. For example in heat 8 Howarth rode the best race of the evening up to that point, the beat Woffinden, so he obviously knew the track well. Then there was a track grade so when Howarth came out for heat 9 it was a completely different track and he was last all the way, and that was off gate two which had been by far the most successful gate position up to that point. Hero to zero in two races. Then look at gate positions in the final . Bewley the “ track specialist” picked gate one but got a dreadful start, which really shows how fickle track conditions can be. Bewleys pass of Woffinden in the final was IMO a fine piece of riding, not track conditions. As far discrepancies between Home and Away league performances any track curator worth his salt would be able to prepare a track to suit 7 specific riders in his home team but as far as I know, and I hope, it doesn’t go on in individual meetings, particularly at championship level

Is there really much in the “ home track advantage “ thing ? Speedway is such a fickle sport depended on so many unforseeable and unquantifiable factors that I would have thought that the higher up the order you get the more you should be capable of riding anywhere especially if you aspire to becoming a champion. There used to be a Swedish rider you may vaguely remember, Norbold, a chap by the name of Fundin. His famous comment was “ I want someone to build me a bike to get me to the first bend first, then I’ll do the rest “ . Surely the sign of a true champion is that as long as he has a decent bike he can “ do the rest “? I thought it was a pretty decent meeting last night. Incredible to think that under the old 20 heat formula Tom Brennan would be British Campion now. I

I think six man teams would be another nail in the coffin of the sport especially as we are already seeing riders fairly regularly having to come out six or seven times a meeting. Your point is well made though. Where is the next Rory Schlein coming from or riders of similar ability? Who is going to fill the gap Scott Nichols leaves when he eventually goes ? Even in his mid forties there are not that many 20 years younger who can give him a run for his money . It doesn’t look good for the future when these older guys eventually bow out.

Obviously the racing at ‘Ackney made less of an impression on you than Stan Stevens beating Briggo at the wonderful West Ham !