Sidney the robin

Fixed gate positions were brought into action in both the BL and NL in 1988.

Great stuff from Chunky Steve , interesting reading Nielsen 84/ 92 ( his peak ) ——— 102 max —— 53 paid max - total —- 155. Olsen 1970/ 78( his peak) ———- 116 max———18 paid max _total ____ 134. that does tell you something.

A different level i know Steve , but Hume rode twice at Owlerton in 2019 he rode in the Top Gun individual meeting.Jordan Stewart won that meeting Hume scored 9 points ( from four rides with two wins reaching semi) beating Flint twice.He also rode for the Tigers guesting against Birmingham winning heat 2 scoring 3 points from three rides.

If you look back Steve, Hans from 1984- 92 averaged over 11 points a meeting four times in that time .He scored 102 full maximums and occured 116 B/ POINTS .It just shows from such a dominant points machine that he occured all of those B/POINTS for the TEAM the stats surprised me somewhat.

Per who i saw alot of from 1984 onwards really upped his game in 1987, showing us the rider that the great Bob Radford had always predicted.His partnership’s with Holloway and Andersson was quite solid but later in his career he certainly was one of the better riders from the back.Per was cruelly struck down and the sport was robbed of seeing him approach his peak his benefit meeting just showed us all how much he was loved by the Reading fans.

I do agree with all of this, we all know Palin really enjoys riding the NSS and he rides it very well.But what i did learn was that Jordan who has had plenty of lean nights in both leagues is really learning quickly.More importantly he is still believing in his own ability which is easier said than done.

No gentleman George Barclay WK ? you have probably missed endless others that you admired.For me i admire any rider of any ability that has the guts to ride a speedway bike.

Going back to yesteryear Doncaster, Tatum, Loram, Screen, Wilson all made it eventually after going full time in the BL because as you said Mike they had the ability.Some others come through and had reasonable careers with struggles along the way and ENDLESS others fell away and failed.An interesting point as you said about the two leagues being similar have a look at Rowe, Palin, Flint, Hume, Kemp there averages in both leagues.

Great post do you also believe the weaker reserve should always be in the no 7 berth Fourentee?.I did see at Ipswich the other night that Sheffield swapped Hume and Nielsen at 6/7 nothing wrong with that but in both leagues the number 6 berth away is really tough.

You beat Wolves on Thursday Charlie a tough ask ( Wolves are my title winners hope not) regroup the Tigers still have alot to race for.

Schwartz was a terrific rider not the quickest but he had eyes in the back of his head he had brilliant trackcraft. Like you said Mirac was awesome have to say probably the Grahame/ Collins. P/C / Mort and the Moran brothers were the best partnerships i ever saw.

If not Belle Vue could sign Hume short term anyway for Etheridge can’t see Batchelor being replaced.

Cox, Butler, Rasmussen, Dugard , Sorensen says it all Steve.

Jan Andersson an ok guy Steve was a terrible team rider , an inside rider who could cut back but that was it.He cost Malcolm Holloway a few points over the years by being just selfish out for himself only never thinking of the team.I see that in later years at Reading where he was not always getting the best gates he later got exposed.

No news yet on the Sheffield front concerning the one reserve berth, remaining Hume has done well .No way will a fit or unfit Josh Bates do any better and with Nielsen Hume/ looks to have a lively pairing can the Tigers look to replace Batchelor?

The club should of made Jordan follow the path of Dan Bewley i have only see Jordan ride three times live.He has a great style and by going to Peterborough he has come out of a comfort zone and is progressing fast.The last few nights at Premiership level the likes of Wells getting rides is a joke.As for local riders getting a bit more slack never seen that myself Mike being local brings a pressure

The obvious four in your list speak for themselves Falcace .But i did see Richard Green twice at Exeter and by god he was exciting to watch.

On another day, Lee, Kilby, Crump ( jnr), Tommy Jansson, Ashby.

Did you ever think custom, that Bjorn would become a World Champion ? and would he have won more titles.

That is what it is all about shippy,, all your favourites terrific value never going to be World Champ but gave you great pleasure over the years.

A very difficult question to answer but it would be very interesting to hear, what five riders are there alltime favourites on the forum.( No order) Barry Briggs, Clive Hitch, Scott Autrey, Malcolm Holloway. Phil Crump.

To have four points as your lowest scorer says it all, a good team effort. And 11 points away from home from your two reserves was very useful indeed.

The Speedway star kept on going through some really tough times but Philip had the vision to keep on track.The longevity of that magazine is outstanding, a great tribute to Philip and his hard work and having great staff with him at the speedway star.The biggest thing for me was he always listened and always wanted to move the magazine forward.He will be a huge loss to speedway and he for for me was in the John Berry mould , people had huge respect for him but he had his own view as well.RIP Philip.

Yes you are totally right and yes i do moan about the tedious rules now , but there were some bad mistakes happening in yesteryear.The two that come to mind was a Mauger/ Olsen being aloud to come in as a tactical substitute in heat 8 .Also yes the top stars had big averages but 80 per cent of the time they had the best gates when often the lesser rider was stuck out on the crappy gates.

It does not matter Chunky i also did not know that facility ran all year.I just remember being disappointed because they had R/R for Egon at the Abbey in 1977.