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steve roberts

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Everything posted by steve roberts

  1. I've said it many times before. I just wouldn't consider traveling to a meeting (York my home town to Sheffield for example) that consisted of only 15 heats. Can't see how that's value for money. Unlike some on the forum I used to enjoy the old second half/junior match etc as it gave a chance to relax after the main event chewing the fat with mates.
  2. Ivan Mauger and Ivor Brown. Ivan talked of a deep hatred in his book "Triple Crown Plus" without naming the rider although years later he did.
  3. Remember the incident at Cowley well. Karger just took Dugard's front wheel away and Martin, after the race had been stopped, gave him a right hook and knocked him off his bike! I think that I may have it on a DVD? I did think that there was something between Gordon Kennett and Steve Gresham but when I put the question to Steve he denied it.
  4. ...when I used to go to speedway the music played was more often than not contemporary chart music and something that I personally couldn't equate with. However whatever music was being played was often lost on me as we were too busy discussing the last/next race pre-empting the next move by the Team Manager (when they had an input!) Agree with much of what you say however.
  5. Jack 'The Villain' Millen and Frank Auffrett. Their 'dust ups' were apparently legendary!
  6. ...I would have thought having to listen to Wham and Duran Duran would pretty well put off anybody anywhere anyplace! Some good old 'Rock 'n' Roll' is what's needed! I used to watch American Football on Channel 4 when it first transmitted (1983/84?) and used to enjoy the highlights programme. I decided to go to Wembley on a couple of occasions to watch the pre-season matches and I have to say all the off-field distractions used to irritate me (never mind the mexican wave that was all the rage back then) and it struck me that it was the event rather than the game that used to excite the fans. The constant stop/start of the game (to take in the adverts back home in 'The States') also proved a personal annoyance. I went back to watching highlighted matches...watching live either at the actual event or on TV was a massive undertaking and I eventually grew tired of the spectacle with all the hype involved and over analysis by the 'experts' pontificating over the game and moves.
  7. Never saw him ride but tragic news...seems especially poignant in that a number of Polish riders have taken their own lives over the years. RIP
  8. I was fortunate at Oxford that during the middle late eighties we had a team that was chasing honours and that was reflected in good crowds at Cowley. However the winter of 1984/85 whereby Newcastle, Wimbledon, Eastbourne, Poole and Exeter dropped out of the British League decimated numbers operating although when travelling away with 'The Cheetahs' I didn't notice that crowds were necessarily down overall. However from the late eighties early nineties it started to become noticeable in my experience. Attendances fluctuated at Cowley during that period with highs and lows. Whenever Oxford operated in the lower league attendances were never very good whether it was during the seventies, eighties or nineties.
  9. Briggo mentioned it in an interview he gave in 'Backtrack' some years ago.
  10. Trouble was/is with 'fixed gates' is that they allowed an advantage to whatever team when gates didn't alternate (successive inside or outside gates) and as dirt moved outwards it proved advantageous or disadvantageous or those with successive early inside gates before the dirt moved out...whatever the scenario. I seem to recall that a team were programmed to ride three inside gates out of four and which obviously worked the other way.
  11. ...never like fixed gates. Took away a certain amount of tactical ploy. It was also a bit of a myth that top riders always took the best gate because when one reads accounts and/or interviews it wasn't always the case as many would have us believe.
  12. The League Cup was a good competition in my opinion also...except some teams used it to manipulate their averages before the league campaign started. Oxford headed the League Cup table in 1987 but suffered once the league started...and I agree, why was final held during October? Oxford missed out on a clean sweep of trophies during 1986 because they ran out of dates and the weather closed in...although they morally won in my view having done the hard work at Cradley having drawn and won in the KO Cup and League Cup first legs!
  13. ...Personally I always felt that it was a bit of a Red Herring. In reality most fans realised that race 'manipulation' was always present going right back to probably when speedway first became known. 'The Sunday People' always used to thrive on gutter/smutty journalism and/or articles and then by writing an article supposing to be investigatory journalism they then assumed that we should all sit up and take notice and take the paper seriously. Ivan Mauger once said when asked what he thought about the stories (and some were quite laughable) by one of their journalists he replied "Who f**king cares...nobody reads your paper!" I guess those not familiar with speedway having read the stories saw the sport as being flawed but then many sports before and since have had uncomplimentary articles published regarding many issues (drugs in particular) and don't appear to have been damaged to any great degree within the public eye.
  14. ...nice to see 'Mad' Malc Ballard in your list Sid! Wonder whatever happened to him? Retired far too soon after a move to Leicester via Poole in 1974.
  15. Interesting article in a recent edition of 'Backtrack' when one-time SRA Secretary, Colin Gear, referred to the rising drug problem in speedway. He invited a representative of the Sports Council to attend an SRA AGM to talk about drugs in sport and speedway in particular. It was met with negativity by some of those in attendance but Hans Nielsen said "About time". Colin quotes that "Hans actually had words with an American star over it, telling him: 'If you're not taking drugs, you won't have anything to worry about'. Of all the world class riders around in my time, I found Hans one of the most supportive".
  16. ...I would add the disappearance of speedway in the capitol generally which must have affected it's stature within the mass media outlets.
  17. I have to base it riders I have seen Mauger, Olsen, Briggs, Fundin, Moore, Michanek, Collins, Lee, Nielsen, Gundersen...but tomorrow the list may be different!
  18. Many systems have been tried. During 1979(?) no guests or R/R were allowed in the Knock-Out Cup competition if I recall. My personal option would be a guest for a missing number one or second heat leader (second averaged rider). Rider replacement for the third, fourth and fifth (with differing replacement criteria depended on the average within the team in question) and juniors and/or loanees (as in the old days) at reserve. Not worked out all of the implications as I'm sure there would be problems...and no doubt someone will highlight same!
  19. ...I would agree although Jens Rasmussen (one of Rye House's foreign signings) was a favourite of mine at Cowley but he was one of those middle order riders who were continually victimised and/or sacrificed because of varying points limits and found himself without a team place. The flood gates then opened and many mediocre foreign imports began to infiltrate the National League depriving opportunities to British riders which was one reason why the Old Second/National League was first implemented. That.of course, diminished over the years and one could argue that Mervyn Stewkesbury didn't help matters during his tenure.
  20. Sad news indeed. Was fortunate to see him ride in his last full season in Britain and he was still a major force. Get well soon.
  21. ...there lies the question? A real dilemma that the sport faces. Personally I think that youngsters (potential new fans) are too obsessed with technological innovations (sweeping generalisation I know) and it's a difficult process in trying to avert/engage within that scenario. I'm sure speedway could take on board certain initiatives as regards engaging with technology (as have often been highlighted on here) but my personal experience working within tourism I see the effects of trying to engage with people more and more challenging whilst attempting to grab their attention and concentration. Bikes going around in circles perhaps just doesn't grab them enough?
  22. ...Interesting views and I have watched speedway via you-tube and/or DVDs from the so-called Pioneer Years and it seemed so much rawer back then and less refined. Perhaps modern speedway is too clinical and less 'dirty' but I guess that would be a backward step in this modern age? I'm just glad that I followed the sport during it's last "Golden Era' which is commonly accepted as being the seventies but even then one could see changes taking place as the decade advanced towards the eighties and beyond.
  23. ...I think that it's more complex than that although Promoters and/or fans only have themselves to blame for part allowing that scenario developing with the demise of the second half depriving riders of extra income (something that Phil Crump commented upon at the time) and the fans reluctance to support traditional Individual/Best Pairs/4TT Meetings etc. Who could blame riders looking elsewhere for extra income to subsidise their British takings? Malcolm Simmons had been quoted as saying that riders didn't need to look abroad for rides because riding in Britain gave them a full programme of meetings and means of a pretty good level of income. Speedway's decline is commonly accepted as taking place during the middle/late eighties (well before the foreign leagues took hold) and started to gain momentum with attendances dropping off as we entered the new millennium. From a personal perspective I can only relate to where I used to stand on the pits bend at Cowley and with each passing year it was noticeable how the crowds dropped off with mini-revivals interrupting the general decline. The introduction of the GPs was always going to cause issues with the domestic programme with some riders prioritising their race commitments but more importantly clubs no longer benefitted from the 'lump sum' that a Wembley and/or Bradford Final would generate. There were many concerns made public at the time by observers within the sport how dramatically it would change the face of British Speedway and the BSPA just sat back despite it affecting their business and/or assets an/or race nights etc etc. allowing the GP to dictate it's own terms. The Play-Offs were introduced (SKY's insistence?) in an attempt to re-construct the league programme but the agenda was very different to other sports (football, in particular, as has been highlighted by a number of posts) of which many enjoyed far greater media interest to which speedway just could not compete with. The question that begs answering is where did all the SKY money go? There are assumptions and/or opinions but speedway's lack of re-investing should be questioned but I am not, obviously, aware of the facts behind the 'lost' money. Perhaps someone could enlighten? It's a real conundrum but the sport really needs to re-invent itself but where to start is the real problem. Does four riders encircling an oval track over four laps grab people's imagination now or would it be the case that race length's/number of riders per race/handicapping/deeper and/or slicker tracks...or indeed tarmaced tracks.../standardising engines and/or bikes solve any of the problems and re-ignite people's expectations? Is it viewed as being un-environmentally friendly by the population at large? Personally I doubt it but what do I know.
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