steve roberts

Interesting article!

...Odsal that "big hole in the ground" as John Berry once described it! Been to the old Wembley three times (never for football) and even did the tour which was a magical experience! Went to Cardiff once...found it underwhelming if I'm honest.

Having decided to buy the book I can honestly say that I'm enjoying reading it. There are even listed what riders were earning per ride during the World Championship Meetings early 1980's.

Just checked the 1985 Speedway Year Book and they are listed as follows: Perth 26/12/84, Tom Price 30/12/84, Tom Price 1/1/85, Port Hedland 4/1/85, Mount Newman 5/1/85, Broken Hill 12/1/85, Newcastle 18/1/85, Brisbane 19/1/85, Mildura 27/1/85, Melbourne 2/2/85, Shepperton 9/2/85 (Australia), Neuenknick 7/4/85, Landshut 4/5/85 (West Germany), Gniezno 24/8/85, Leszno 25/8/85 (Poland), Edinburgh 20/9/85 (Scotland), Bremen 28/9/85 (West Germany), Belle Vue 3/11/85 (England) No trace of the NZ rounds I'm afraid.

I've just skimmed thru' Ivan's autobiography and it appears a Farewell to Australia tour kicked started Ivan's retirement from speedway taking in places like Mildura, Liverpool and Melbourne. He did two farewell meetings in Poland, three in Germany, one in Scotland, one in England before heading back for the 1985-86 New Zealand series. Apparently there were 16 meetings in total.

...that's why I think that it was "Blue Peter" as I rarely watched "Magpie"!

I'm sure Larry Ross appeared on some kid's programme ("Magpie" pehaps?) because all I recall is that he talked about how a speedway engine, tuned to perfection, always ran the risk of blowing up!

Looks like Peter Duncan when putting the helmet on but doesn't sound like him?

I've never seen the Shay clip before...thanks for posting! Can't place the presenter though? I've met Ian Cartwright a number of times at his "Mouseman" works in Kilburn. Nice unassuming bloke!

Does anyone recall the occasion when the then Wimbledon rider Larry Ross appeared on the children's TV programme "Blue Peter"? I'm guessing that it would have been during 1977/78 but remember very little about it except that he took his bike to the studio?

Especially fascinating what goes on behind the scenes...the riding part is the 'easy' thing! Thanks for posting the clip!

I recall reading about it in Cyril May's book and was there talk that this form of racing was the origin of speedway and not the generally accepted date of 1923 in Australia?

Forever grateful to Tony for locating Garry Middleton's grave.

Enjoyed reading the interview with Brian Larner...tells a slightly different story to Ian Thomas as regards their parting of ways.

There was apparently numerous instances behind the scenes in speedway that the average fan, thankfully, was/is unaware of...Mitch Shirra tells some interesting stories!

...give over! Hans was the overal master whether it be gating, passing or that long lost art of team riding. I place Hans in the top five of riders of those that I had the good fortune to see in all my years going to speedway.

Absolutely. I've never taken that much notice of track records or indeed winning times in general.

Apparently when Erik was team manager of the Danes during the 1991 Pairs Semi-Final Ermolenko (that man again) claimed that Erik lied to him when he said that the Danish pairing wouldn't throw the race (against the German Pair) thus denying the Yanks progress to the Final...which they then proceeded to do.

I recall the occasion that both Nielsen and Gundersen were desperate not to cross the line first in one World Championship qualifier as it would've given them a less blessed draw in the next round. Ivan was another who blew one race on purpose to give him a better starting option when the numbers were pre-determined! Why it was decided that the starting positions were already known depending on your finishing order in the previous round beats me!

I'm not suggesting for one minute that this is the case here but I remember the speedway journalist John Chaplin once saying if you don't want your illusions spoilt keep your side of the fence. My uncle who was track photographer at Cowley during the seventies saw money change hands during a British Semi-Final at Leicester in 1974 (confirmed by John Berry incidently) in the pits...it's naive to think that it didn't happen in speedway circles.

Good luck!

If I was King I would feel aggrieved that Ermolenko went to print and I would have made a point of refuting the claim if there was nothing untoward however in an interview in "Backtrack" some years ago when it was put to him was he team-riding with Moran to try to aid Ermolenko he replied "No, I wasn't trying to do that. It was an individual meeting, so I was out there racing as an individual. It may have been different in Shawn's case, I don't know, but I was riding for myself" Does seem odd that Ermolenko felt the need to make the comment though?

To quote from Ermolenko's book "...We were watching the race and Shawn Moran and Lance King were beating Erik Gundersen, then before you knew it, Erik pulled off a big swoop round the outside of them and took the lead and won the race. It was felt that King didn't try that hard to prevent him from doing this as they used to be team-mates at Cradley Heath" An interesting observation all the same however it's a question I would have put to King given the opportunity even if only to dispel Ermolenko's comment in his book.

Funny but my mind sort of relates to time in that respect. When Hans last rode for the "Cheetahs" it was 29 years ago (1992) and only seems like yesterday...however in 29 years time I will be 90!

...apparently Dave was also 'drill happy' and drilled so many holes into the jubilee clip to make it lighter (?) which subsequently broke during that all important World Final race in 1978!