speediebee

Sorry about the late reply "HarryA". Yes Ron was either blind or had very poor vision in one eye. I understand a workshop accident in the mid 60's resulted in a shard of metal or steel splinter penetrating his eye. I seem to remember he was a long time recovering and sadly I don't think he ever regained full vision and consequently the form of earlier years. The early 60's were in my opinion his best years for the Bee's particularly his partnership with Ken McKinlay in the GB team, the second test at Coventry vs Soviet Russia was particularly memorable.

Why not? I too miss the one off World Final with all its unpredictability. I think to run both would be a great idea and I don't necesarily see any conflict. One would be a "Grand Prix World Champion" the other could be an "Individual World Champion", or would that be too confusing?

1960? Are we talking about a different Ron Johnson here?

Coventry is the only team to have operated continuously at the same venue, Brandon, since the war. Poole did not operate in 1957, although Rayleigh staged two meetings at Poole that year. Additionally having opened in 1928, there was a Coventry team racing at Brandon up until the start of the war, which was then comandeered by the army for the duration.

Yes you are, like it or not, if your English then you are a subject of the United Kindom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, in other words, British! Who are the few more? PK, yes he finished above Harris in the qualification and he is unfortunate not to be included, but after PK one else has an argument, Harris was the next rider after PK in the qualifiers and deserves to be there on merit.

And in my opinion that is exactly how it should be viewed! You get invited to a Grand Prix circus and you qualify for a World Championship. Two different things really, one is to market the sport and raise its profile particularly in historically non speedway nations, the other is to determine the best rider (riders) in the world solely by qualification and their endeavours on the track.

Nothing wrong with that, infact I would agree its an noble objective and I genuinely wish you well with your quest. But you dont say how this injustice can be eliminated, I mean under the present format, part qualification part invite, its inevitable. If we go to 100% qualification you should get riders there on their own merit, but do you think that BSI would want to lose that degree of comercial control? As things stand at the moment, on merit alone, you would probably end up with a field of predominantly Poles, Swedes and Danes, Im not sure BSI would be too happy with that. Maybe the answer is that we have an old style one off World Championship based upon qualification and merit, together with a Grand Prix series made up of invites/nominations from each country. In my opinion the real problem is that the FIM have sold the rights and therefore control, of their greatest asset, the World Championship, to a third party comercial business enterprise.

Why does a mongol choose to live in a second rate nation?

Whilst its an invitational there will always be riders who, in some peoples opinion, are not there on merit, the alternative is 100% qualification. The question then is on what basis do you do it? A totally open draw, no seeding, no regional qualifications, riders can be drawn on any track anywhere? Or do you use the national championships of each country as a filter with an open draw for semis? Or do you rank countries by their world ranking and proportion their qualifiers or representatives into the final by that method? I dont know the answer, Ive seen all the above methods used over the many many years Ive followed speedway, all have their merits but non are completely 100% fair, if your the rider that misses out.

Nothing to do with integrity, he will be there because we, British Speedway, have no one better or more deserving and comercially BSI need him.

As far as international speedway is concerned he is inexperienced, and compared to some of the established GP riders he is still young. I just happen to think he needs to consistantly prove himself in the league before he steps up. Winning the British Championship, albeit on his own track, might be a start. QUOTE(Bagpuss @ Sep 24 2006, 11:30 PM) I believe there will be two Brits seeded through to next years series and they will be Nicholls and Bomber Loram too old, Richardson lost it, Stead not ready Agree with above, although I dont think that BSI would dare have two Bees representing GB much as though Bomber deserves it.

Nicholls is the best we have, if he dosnt merit a place next year then no other Brit comes close. The GP series is for the best, the finished article, not as a means to bringing on and developing young inexperienced riders like Stead and the others that have been mentioned. I suspect Scott will be in the GP series next year, not because of his begging bowl but because BSI will have got theirs out and persuaded him, for their own self interest, to take part.

The correct decision was the one made by the referee, everything else is opinion. Last night Scott got one decision and lost the other, however there does seem to be something familier about last nights two incidents. Both involved Danes, both had been, or were about to be passed and both dropped their bikes! Maybe we Brits have something to learn about track craft from the World Champions?

Yes we did Ron, right up to the early 1960`s, so unfortunately it need not be as old as is hoped for.

Puma, There was also an Austrian called Fritz Dirtl who rode in the the UK when the old World Championship Qualifiers were staged here in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I do not think he was ever attached to a club, he just rode in World Championship events, I seem to remember seeing him at Leicester early 1950s. Regards.

Thanks Two Minute Warning. Part of the story was that in later life he became chairman of UKBMX, thanks to your info I now find that there was once a chairman of UKBMX named Woods, in the early 1980s.

Is there any old time Belle Vue fans that remember Louis Lawson? Louis rode for Belle Vue in the late 1940s and early 1050s and was world number 3 in 1949. I heard a story some years ago that Louis was not his real name, but because at the time he was in the RAF it was not possible for him to compete using his real name. I only saw him the once, riding for BV at Birmingham in the early 50s, but would be obliged if there was anyone out there that can shed any light as to the truth of this story? Thanks in anticipation