E I Addio

Barry Briggs won Six British Finals.

I was agreeing with that post until I got to the last word. Neanderthal would be more accurate.

Not quite sure where you are coming from with this. In any form of business there will be some people who don’t like you, for whatever reason. That is a long way from saying someone is an unpleasant character per se. I know some who find Cook frustrating, others who find him distant at times and some who don’t like him because they don’t agree with him, but you could say that about a lot of people. I have expressed the opinion that Cook is no PR man, as as a promoter he would do,a better job if he was. However for someone who is a genuinely unpleasant character, look towards Scunthorpe.

I don’t agree that Cook has always been an unpleasant character. In many ways he has a lot of good qualities as a promoter. IMO Jon Cooks “ problem” if I can call it that is that he is not a “people person” , and an absolutely hopeless PR man. I do know riders who hold him in high regard as a promoter, but he doesn’t communicate well to the general public. He should be kept in the back office as an organiser, not let out in the spotlight .

I like Morris. He is very professional, and has been knocking at the door of the next level for sometime. It will be tough on Wolves if he doesn’t have the right head on, but he is still young and has definite talent. I like Scott as well , but without being unkind , his best days are a long way behind him now and has been inconsistent for years. The problem with riders of Scotts age is that when they lose it , it often goes very quickly.

Yes.

A lot of respected speedway historians say that Ronnie Moore was the most naturally gifted man ever to sit on a s speedway bike. I am not in a position to judge, as I only saw him once or twice when he was approaching 40 years old and obviously past his best but he still sticks in my mind as an immaculate stylist. I would love to have seen him round Wimbledon at his peak.

Olle Nygren . I chatted to him in the pits at Lakeside a few years back when he was 87 years young. He didnt deem to have aged, or changed at all. Still the Sam old Olle , full of opinions, and would talk to anybody . Great bloke. Gentleman George Barclay was also one I often saw and spoke to at Lakeside. Lovely man always keen to help the young riders and ran the training school for a while.

I think that you are right about Ivan’s extraordinary dominance in those years Sid, but the thing that always intrigues me is what if Ivan had been born 5 years earlier or the “Big Five “ Of Ove , Briggs, Moore , Craven and Knutson had been born 5 years later. The thing is when Fundin, Briggs , Craven, Moore , and later Knutson were at there peaks they always had each other to have to beat.. In the years you mention Fundin Craven and Knutson were no longer around , Moore was just coming back from a six year retirement and both he and Briggo were in their mid to later thirties and just starting to be past their best . Ivan though, in those years was in the age range 29- 33 , just about the point when most speedway riders were at the peak of their powers. Its all speculation of course, but I don’t think Ivan would have been as dominant if he had to deal with the other 5 at their peaks on a regular basis. Good though Olsen was, I don’t think he was in the same class as Fundin etc. What are your thoughts on this?

Yes it was. According Chapman it was going to take three days to change a fuse.

Not a massive difference from my own background, except that I lived about 100 yards from the main gate of West Ham, so had no real problem with allegiance, but even after Custom House closedHackney never really felt like a “proper “ speedway track to me, but oh boy what I would give to have it back now ! You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone...... Look forward to seeing thevDVD.

What happened then ? I never saw Arne Ride but obviously his accident was well known. I never knew anyone else was involved.

Don’t recognise the faces, maybe a bit before my time but I remember racing at Rayners Park which was just like the video in that they were all men driving up in their own cars and we were still at school , aged around 15. Right bunch of posers they were too, never had the bottle to graduate to proper motorcycle sport but able to whop teams of school boys. Tolworth Tudors were even worse. They were great days and I enjoyed them but I got fed up with being knocked off by men poncing around in what was basically a schoolboy sport. Most teams were pretty equal though , especially around East London.

The biggest attendance ever is generally regarded as the ‘73 WF at Katowice , estimated at 130,000.

Just checked. He did actually make two WF’s in 73 and 77. He also did a number of World Pairs and Team cups.

Martin Piddock and Peter Bradshaw . Two massive talents taken from us in the Lokkoren disaster. How Bob Kilby never made a World Final I shall never know. Not sure if John Boulger made one but he should have done. Ivor Brown was a hard man who was possibly on the cusp of big things before he was seriously injured. By and large though, I think under the old style single WF most who should have made it got there at least once as opposed the the GP system where for some it depends on whether your face fits.

The Sverre Harrfeldt thread got a bit side tracked by a discussion about Christer Loftqvist andReidar Eide so rather than spoil that thread I thought I would start a separate one as both were involved in two of the most memorable races I have ever seen. I say memorable rather than great because we can have different opinions on what is a great race but sometimes you see a race or races that just seem to define everything you love about speedway. The two races in question took place in a West Ham v Wembley match 13th October 1970 . There was a great build up to them . Reidar went out and won heat one over a second faster than anyone else rode that night, and inflicted Olle Nygrens only defeat of the evening. He was back out in heat 5 and whopped Tony Clarke and Barry Crowson. Two heats later he came out on a tac sub to beat Christer Loftqvist. He was looking invincible and the fans resigned themselves to him going through the card. Then came a fabulous heat 11 , when Loftqvist and Eide were programmed against each other. Reidar made the gate (just) but with Christer scraping the fence as only he could , he slowly edged in front , but with barely half a bikes length lead he locked up sightly coming out of bend two lap 3 allowing Reide back in front by a matter of inches. I think Christer had the throttle hard against the stop for the rest of the race and came back to win by about half a bikes length. Heat 13 was a repeat of Heat 11 except that this time Christer was round the line unusually for him and Reidar round the boards. Christer again locked up a bit, same place ad before, but being on the inside, he recovered more quickly and again won by about half a length. Speedway at its absolute best. Anyone else remember it ? One of the few programmes I still have. West Ham closed down for redevelopment soon after and I felt bereft. I continued to Hackney for a time but it was never quite the same to me and eventually I drifted away for many years until returning to Lakeside, which for me somehow captured the mood of Wets Ham in a way that Hackney never did, not for me anyway.

Looking back over old programmes it is surprising the number of riders that my memory tells me were very good weren’t actually all that consistent, it’s just that I have been judging them on the basis of a few great races I remember and one tends to forget the ones they don’t do so well.

They are to all intents and purposes, the public face of speedways administrative body. They are by far the worst leaders the sport has ever seen. Both are totally inarticulate, totally unimaginative , totally unable to project themselves or the sport, totally unable and unwilling to comunicate with the fans in a meaningful way, and totally unable to seriously consider any outlook on the sport but their own. Other promiters may have simialar flaws but these are the two front men who should be selling the sport. Quite seriously, what progress has the sport made since they have taken over the reins , despite Chapmans bluster at the outset ? They are the worst of a bad bunch. Beyond useless.

So if we say, in general terms, the quality of the racing is roughly the same as it's always been, some good meetings, some not so good, then as long as there are not too many bad meetings, we can say it's not the quality of the racing that turns people away. Obviously there are a lot more ways to spend your leisure time today than there were 30 or 40 years ago, and less and less people want to stand around in stadiums all evening because it's not just Speedwáy that has suffered. Dog racing has suffered heavily and stick cars are not doing as well as they used to. So if we say that is not the on track action that had turned fans away, at least not in great numbers, it has to be the off track issues like presentation and the cheating which to my mind is a major factor , even though it was probably always there to a point. If it is the off track issues that are the problem then that falls back in the lap of the BSPA. Unless and until the likes of Godfrey and Chapman take a long look at themselves and take their share of responsibility, nothing will change.

If the future of the sport is in the hands of Godfrey and Chapman we might as well shut up shop now . Godfrey behaviour last season was beyond the pale. As 50+ year follwer of the sport since knee high to a grasshopper, I now find motivation to see another meeting ver difficult, and it’s almost entirely due to Godfreys machinations last year. The sport can’t afford to lose a single fan yet Godfrey has just turned thousands away. The man is a complete and utter plonker. As one promoter said to me last season, the way things are going we will finish up with the same two teams facing each other eeek after week, nothing else left.

So let’s get this right. You start a thread asking a question you already know the answer to, and which nobody has the slightest interest in, and when challenged you try to tell us your reason for starting it was to see if Iris 123 would trail you . Of course you didn’t expect him to catch you out by pointing out that it was just another of your attention seeking scams. Take notice of what Chunky says and stop making a complete fool of yourself.

Jack Young, Adam Shields, Dave Watt, Nick Morris, Geoff Mudge , Aub Lawson, Leigh Adams, Jason. Crump,

A excellent choice, if I may say so Mr Bold, although I have liked to include the Hurri-Ken himself, namely the immaculate Mr McKinlay.

The duplicity of the BSPA general and Rob Godfrey in particular knows no bounds. My utmost sympathy to Worky fans. It was Godfreys interference in the fixture list that created the problem.You can bet your bottom dollar that if Scunthorpe were in Workys situation acw@y round it would have been found. Still more money in the BSPA coffers and another promoter who loves the sport forced out.