OveFundinFan

Peter was indeed a very clean rider, I cannot remember him doing a dirty on anyone. Despite his short height he wasn’t an easy pushover though. Fundin, on the other hand, was considered to not ride cleanly all the time. Having said that, I never saw Fundin do anything dirty to PC. I think he had great respect towards Peter. PC was a man for the fans, always willing to sign autographs and have chat when he could. I remember the shock and sadness in our household when we heard Peter had passed away.

Peter did indeed have a great talent. We know his nickname was “the wizard of balance”. I think he was 5’ 2”, so small. We see many photos of him with his head as low as the left handlebar. Not always his riding style, more when he was riding the inside line. Remember that in the 50’s/60’s handlebars were wide and often upswept. This made it the more incredible his style of riding. Getting his head down low would put centre of gravity low, which no doubt helped his balance. Whilst a great talent, and one of the famous five ( Knutson came good 1959/60), his performance in the world finals was perhaps not as consistent as the others. For example 1959 9th, 1961 10th, and 1963 10th (his last world final). Fundin, Briggs, Moore and Craven were pretty much same age…. All born 1933 or 1934, so they were all rose to their peak at the same time, and about to start their decline (the Mauger years staring in 1968). Whether Peter would have won any more world titles we will never know, but I would say it was not a cert. I never heard Fundins eulogy at Peters funeral, but I don’t understand where it is said Ove said he would not have won as many world titles as he did if Peter had lived. Ove won in 1963, Peters last final (Wembley). when he finished 10th, and Ove only won one more world title, 1967, meaning Fundin had already won four. This is taking nothing way from Peters record, it’s just a fact.

I would be hapy to leave the points the way it is at the moment, concentrate on 1) decent race tracks, and that includes GP Challenge where 3 of the following years riders come from. 2) cut out time wastage ie a restart due to tape infringement, riders go direct to start.

I agree Zmarzlik is more spectacular in his riding style then Fundin, Moore, Briggs, Craven and Knutson. But I prefer the riding style of those 5 (and others of there era) then Zmarzlik. The 5 made winning look easier, though I sure it wasn’t. I do wish development of laid down high revving engines had not happened. I still prefer to watch racing from the 70’s

If the world championship was decided by one meeting Doyle would never be world speedway champion. Only championship he would win would false start-tape breaking.

Seems reasonable. I would just tweak the final to 25, 20, 17, 14. Makes it worth fighting for every place. A 5 point gain is worth fighting more then a 2 point.

Re Sczakiel, I think it was in one of Ivan Maugers books where he was praising JS as a top rider that was underrated by the many. Yes, Ivan spoke highly of him. Maybe he would have done well in a GP series. Muller was a fantastic long track rider, and a very good speedway rider, capable of being a spoiler.. I would expect him to finish about 10th-12th in a GP series though.

So you missed the interesting bit of the meeting…… they did show a comparison part way through…… Laguna would have been leading by about 5 I think it was.

My rider of the night...... got to be Anders Thomson. He was in places he hasnt been before and looked comfortable.

Nothing wrong with the effort from the racers last night, they gave 100% as usual. Track was to blame.

Already wiped this meeting off my BT recording. It went the same way as the GP Challenge last Saturday. It was a foregone conclusion this meeting would be rubbish.

Will Vojens but much better?

Biggest bore I seen for a long time. I give the commentators 11 out of 10 for sticking enthusiasm. Anything less and they would get the sack.

Is it time the two children should be in bed.

Don’t think it’s going to work this time. It’s rubbish. Same for GP Challenge and SON final in past few years. It is after all an ice speedway track, long straights and they don’t broadslide.

Think it was the GP Challenge final there a few years ago, and also SON final…… was not impressed as a racers track.

Sad to hear. I remember him starting off at Belle Vue, a steady rider, and outstanding with his machine preparation.

Sorry to hear this, was only reading a Backtrack mag about him remember the other week, I remember him in his early years at Belle Vue, steady rider, and his machine were always immaculate.

Grass track racing on a speedway track is a good way to introduce grass track riders to speedway, with the hope they will take it up. Crewe used to do Saturday mornings where grass trackers could roll up with their bikes and have a go…….. one of my regrets was I didn’t go along when I was grass tracking.

My opinion is Tai should be in the team, no doubt about it. He is currently 6th in the world championship, that’s a big qualification factor, on top of all his experience. Its a toss up between Dan and Robert. Dan has more experience on the track, but Robert more experience at the top level. Think I would go with Dan. pis it stil an under 21 for the reserve? Who is in consideration?

Thanks for the posting R&R but life is too short to watch it all again, must move on. Might be some cricket on tv today…whoops, I can’t believe I just said that.

Well, if you want a job doing right then do it yourself, so I did. Thanks for your help to get today’s GP Challenge. It was rubbish but that wasn’t your fault, and I would have been frustrated not to have seen it. Not even any MotoGP this weekend.

If Marcin Gortat wants to be Tungates mechanic….. if I was Tungate I would let him, no arguement.

So if Fricke manages top we stuck with Kolodziez. I hope Fricke doesn’t make the top 6. Panic…… Fricke is only 12 points off top 6, which is Woffy!

Worse track I seen a meeting on for years. They got the space there to redesign that track, shorter, but some gradient into, but assume it met FIM criteria. Hardly any passing, just rubbish. If I was a rider I would be a bit miffed having to travel lots of miles to ride that rubbish. Glasgow should have had the final instaed, that track was a lot better then what the riders got. I was sweating there…… thought Smolinski and Kolodziez would be in next years GP, still, that would have sorted 14th and 15fh. Still, they were the oldest in the field at 36 and 37 respectively.