steve roberts

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!

Simmo tells the story when they were out riding trials for fun rather than buy a £2 carbuettor slide Dave chose to bodge a dodgy one together with Araldite hoping it would hold it in place. Apparently the throttle jammed open as it broke and he fell off the bike and broke his leg forcing him to miss the start of the season...all for the sake of buying a ne £2 carbureetor slide!

I remember Malcolm Simmons saying that Dave was 'tight' where money was concerned and would do anything to save a few bob!

Was it being shown live on ITV?

They were riding a perfect line for a couple of laps and then Lance King decided to ride a tighter line allowing Erik a clear run where the dirt was. Again, it was something that Sam Ermolenko touched upon in his book.

Yes I was there...took a while for the meeting to come alive. I've always been a bit suspicious of the ride by Erik when he passed both Lance King and Shawn Moran a point that Sam Ermolenko covered in his book incidently.

That's the one.

I had an autobiography (?) of Ole Olsen I recall sometime back during the eighties (?) but obviously didn't cover his whole career either side of the fence.

All very amusing comments but has anybody actually read the book?

Unfortunately it was one meeting that I never made. One of my greatest regrets!

While checking Ian's record I didn't realise that he passed away in 2015?

Yes supporters often get somewhat engrossed with the 'star' riders but it's often the bread and butter riders who made the sport what it was/is. RIP

Yes we got Gledhill at Oxford soon after (as Cradley's sister track) and he proved to be a big disappointment after once being somewhat of a Cowley track expert...he may well have got the track record when riding for Mildenhall?

My first 'hero' Garry Middleton always used to make a great deal digging his heels into the track as he prepared himself for each race. His favourite trick was once the green light came on was to roll into the tapes and often the rider next to him would charge thru' the tapes and being excluded for his troubles!