21st century heathen

Hell yeah!!! Bruce is the first rider I can remember, but only bearly. '83 is the first year I have any particular memories. The only exception is seeing Lance King practice at the end of '82 before joining us. Strange I remember that very clearly. (I was only 6) I seem to remember Phil Collins as much as anybody.

Sounds like fun, as long as someone else is counting I work with figures so I don't think my brain would cope if I had to do it at the weekend as well.

Remember that one too. Only the last 2 heats were shown on tv. Now that was what they used to call nudging the tapes Sensational first corner by Shawn only to suffer an ef. I can remember being gutted because when I was a kid I never liked the English rider, but did like the Americans and Danes. Before anyone gets on my back I was 7. Will have to put some thought into this for you. I can remember Greg and Billy turning a match on its head for us at Wolves. I'll see if I can find the details.

Oh yeah

Currently on offer by William Hill (taken from ther website) T Rickardsson 5/2 J Crump 5/2 R Sullivan 13/2 L Adams 13/2 N Pedersen 10/1 That's worth a couple of quid M Max 16/1 So's that G Hancock 16/1 T Gollob 20/1 and that...how's his form? S Nicholls 20/1 R Holta 33/1 Great outside bet at that price L Dryml 33/1 H Anderson 33/1 B Pedersen 33/1 A Jonsson 33/1 J Hampel 40/1 M Loram 50/1 Very tempting L Richardson 66/1 P Protasiewicz 100/1 P Ljung 125/1 J Jensen 125/1 If you fancy a real outsider then why not F Lindgren 125/1 K Laukkanen 150/1 B Brhel 150/1 A Dryml 150/1 Realistically you have to look at the usual suspects. 1) Leigh 2) Jason 3) Tony 4) Nicki To just miss out in no patricular order. Hans Greg Rune Ryan Good luck if you're having a flutter.

No prob's So would having my e-mail addy open to all and sundry help me get a more in depth answer?

Yes it is. Before the last race Ole was fuming with Steve B having an ef while leading. When interviewed he was adamant Tommy and Gary would get the 4-2 to win the match 40-38. The first defeat of the season for Cradley, but just a minor glitch. It's the only time I've ever seen two riders excluded for touching the tapes at the same time, although they did do it twice. There was a cracking race between Grahame and Guglielmi mid match. Shoulder to shoulder racing, no funny business, and total respect for each other. Ahhhhhhhh the good old days. (mixed feelings)

Sadly Cradley lost this one. Details as follows... Ole Olsen 3 - 1 1 5 Sam Nikolajsen xfell 3 2* 3 8+1 Tommy Knudsen 3 3 xtapes 3 9 Steve Bastable - - 2* ef 2+1 Gary Guglielmi 2 2 2 1 7 Kevin Hawkins 2 - - 2 Rick Miller 1* 3 3 - 7+1 Lance King 1* 2 1 4+1 Simon Wigg 2 1* 1 - 4+1 Phil Collins 2 1 - 3 6 Alan Grahame 1* 3 2 2 8+1 Erik Gundersen 3 2 xtapes 3 2* 10+1 Peter Ravn 3 1* - - 4+1 Jan O. Pedersen - 1 1 2 Heat 1. Olsen, Wigg, King, Nikolajsen (ex. fell) 3-3 Heat 2. Ravn, Hawkins, Miller, Pedersen 6-6 Heat 3. Knudsen, Collins, Grahame, Bastable 9-9 Heat 4. Gundersen, Guglielmi, Pedersen, Hawkins 11-13 Heat 5. Knudsen, King, Wigg, Bastable 14-16 Heat 6. Nikolajsen, Gundersen, Ravn, Olsen 17-19 Heat 7. Grahame, Guglielmi, Collins, Hawkins 19-23 Heat 8. Miller, Nikolajsen, King, Ravn 24-24 Heat 9. Miller, Bastable, Pedersen, Ravn 29-25 Knudsen & Gundersen ex tapes res. Miller & Pedersen Heat 10. Nikolajsen, Grahame, Olsen, Collins 33-27 Heat 11. Gundersen, Guglielmi, Wigg, Miller 35-31 Gundersen t/s Heat 12. Collins, Gundersen, Olsen, Bastable (ef) 36-36 Heat 13. Knudsen, Grahame, Guglielmi, Wigg 40-38 Think that covers it. May I ask what you need this particular match for?

I think I might have. I have got a match that was televised. I am almost certain it's the right one. Give me a day or 2 to find it out, and make a note of the details.

DD - I certainly have no problem with you personally, and welcome anyone's opinion (in general). I did feel that "This thread is a load of old cobblers" and "What sad people you are" was unnecessary and a little disrespectful to tmc, who started the thread, and those who posted answers. I believe the purpose of the thread was to promote answers such as my original post. (particularly re Pratt, because I really would pay good money to see him ride) If I got the wrong end of the stick I apologise.

So why bother to contribute to it. If you're not interested, and have nothing of value to add then don't waste your time here.

Well here's what the bookies thinkWilliam Hill You have to say the smart money would be on Jason. I'm not entirely convinced he can change though. I don't think the hot headed Jason can keep it togehter under pressure. Has Tony passed his peak? It's hard to say that the young guns have passed him yet. Surely he's still in with a genuine shot at it. We all know that Nicki won't hand over the tittle without a fight. Leigh is good enough to get in everybodys way but never has the consistancy in the gp's that he shows in the league. Greg will do about the same as Leigh. So who does that leave. For me the only others who will push the top two all the way will be Ryan and Scott. Gaters tracks don't suit the racer, Scott, so with all that in mind I'll stick my neck out and go for Ryan.

The Americans, Danes, and Cradley were always good value for team riding, and brilliant individuals. In the 80's at least...my memory doesn't go back as far as some of you. (and as much as you'd like to condemn me for a biased answer it would be soooooo hard to argue with me on this one ) I'd love to travel back in time to see Pratt ride. It's just so hard to imagine him ever completing 4 laps. Ohhh...and Briggs, and Mauger.

Fingers crossed. I mentioned some time ago that my bro had seen a display in B-ham library being erected that had speedway pics on it. Obviously the council are behind the idea. Can you imagine having the Midlands teams all back in action. Cradley, Wolves, Coventry, B-ham, even Leicester. I'll keep dreaming if you do.

I've been to Malmö a couple of times, and I have to say that it's not the most exciting city in the whole world :-( so why did you go back

The holiday is booked. Now all I need is any info you guys think will be useful. I plan to go over to Sweden for a day aswell so any info on Malmo would be gratefully recieved. Thanks in advance.

The best way to get around (I found) was to pre-book your transfer straight from the airport to the hotel, and back. This way you have a price up front. Never let the driver put your cases in the boot and get in the car before you. I was told they have been know to drive off if they take a disliking to you, or there's any arguments about the cost. After this getting around is no problem. A stroll around the tourist areas is never too far for even the least fit. The only exception I can think of is the walk up to the castle. Just catch the tram. Be warned the majority of the tourist areas, old town and Charles Bridge particularly, are cobbled. No high heels ladies, or gents!!! The tourist travel card is a must. You can get a 1, 3 or 7 day pass (if memory serves). You can use it as many times as you like from the the time you get it to that time however many days later. It's very, very cheap and it allows you to use any public transport within the city centre. Be advised plain clothes officers may be around looking for anyone trying to get a free ride. Always carry you travel card. The officers will flash a metal disk as ID. Just show them your card. On the subject of money. It will certainly last if you're smart. Obviously the tourist areas can get away with higher costs. Just go round the corner instead. A lot of people sit around in the old town square at night. Rather than going to one of the bars, get a drink from one of the fast food 'stalls' (they sell burgers, chips, soft drinks, bottles of beer) and park yourself with everyone else. There are benches, but they are taken pretty quickly, everybody else ends up sitting on the floor in groups. There's a great atmosphere there, and never any hint of friction between the wide variety of nationalities. (Police armed to the teeth helps) Word to the wise again. If you're on the floor watch out for the presents left by the horses. I took Thomas Cook travellers cheques. There are two offices in the city centre. The one is by the Tesco in the main shopping area, and I can't think where the other was off the top of my head. All you'll need is a photocopy of your passport to prove you're you. Enjoy!!!

I went in 2002. I faxed my request for tickets, and got the 'voucher' faxed back to me for pricely sum of nothing.

Well I'm shocked. I can't believeanybody genuinely thinks Penhall was at fault.

Can't believe I've only just spotted this thread I think this must be the kid my Dad told me about. If so the story goes that he didn't want his Mom to know he was riding so he rode under a false name. This was only because his Mom read the paper, and she would have seen his name in the post match report. His Dad drove him to and from matches. If memory serves he was only found out when he got injured and had to come clean about what happened. As for the best team then you can't beat the '83 side for an actual team. If you're looking at fantasy teams made up from the best of the best then the following aint too bad. 1) Bruce 2) Erik 3) Jan 4) Greg 5) Billy 6) Simon C (pre injury) 7) Peter N (brilliant in his short spell) ...and I can't believe the names that have to left out when you narrow it down to just 7. Somebody listed the number of champions but what about Alan in the '84(?) world final. 2 rides as a reserve, a win and a second. Bloody good hey If you need any facts the Cradley site is packed full of them. Cradley Speedway

It would be fantastic to have airfences at every track, but sadly it's just not practical. I do feel that there must be some middle ground to be found though. Obviously some fences are better than others. Monmore, for example, is very forgiving compared to say P'brgh, for example. Doing something to improve rider safety is preferable to doing nothing. Any chance the powers that be will put their heads together, and find the best solution on a track by track basis? (no? didn't think so )

paulr - It's worse than you thought. You can only have one rider from the top two bands.

Lupus - You'll be shocked to hear that I do agree with you on at least one point. The fact that everyone starts even (on paper anyway) is one of speedways greatest strengths. It's a points limit that gives us this though. The grading system may back fire big time and produce some very uneven teams. Obviously I could be completely wrong on everything I've said, but the potential for things to go t1ts up really scares me. The future is very unsure. Is the grading here to stay? If so I think we are going to have huge problems in '05. '04 will produce a lot more grade A and B riders as the league will be much easier. Riders who underacheived this year through injury particularly, and the up and coming riders such as BJ and David H could be the ones to suffer. Using those two, and lets say Mark, Joe, Jason L, David N, Dean B (perhaps with easier rides could get into the top two grades), where are they going to ride? If grading disappears for '05 then, as someone has suggested, riders on inflated averages next year will be dropped for riders such as Lukas, PK etc who are clearly better riders, but will be on similar averages. Like I say none of us know how things will turn out, but I think a lot of us are just recognising the early warning signs.

If we take your arguement as correct then such tactics the EL would soon be run with only the 3 or 4 richest teams running. Sport doesnt reflect life in so much that if fans dont believe they have a chance of winning or at best being competitive they wont support you. Thats a fact of life, look at the numbers of man u or arsenal shirts you see in Coventry. Not necessarily the case. Look at Wolves FC. Everyone knew before the season started they would struggle, and they have. However, they can sell out every match. Fans will support their team. (in any sport)

That's what scares me. I don't have that much faith that they'll be changes for the better, have you?