chunky

Yep, at Tommy Knudsen's Testimonial.

Nothing like making a clear decision, eh?

Never seen a rear engine bike...

Then again, John didn't know Igor Plechanov, so - and no disrespect to Terry here - that isn't surprising...

If you were there, I'm sure you would remember it! As Terry said, Dave was really trying to calm everybody calm down, and this was the closest thing I've ever seen to a full-scale riot. And it was a "friendly"!!! Bleedin' Galvin...

Yes it was! I have the video of it, and you can hear Dave pleading with everyone!

Yeah, the injury stopped him in his tracks, and it was another case of, "What if?" To come back after the layoff and do as well as he did was an incredible achievement.

Were you at Plough Lane the night of that "friendly" (the London Pride Challenge) when two last heat exclusions (which I can only describe as total b*llocks!!!) gave the 'awks the win???

From a darts point of view, I can tell you that it is often the mixture of ego, alcohol, and p*ssy that does it!

Of course, getting Todd AND Ray at the same time was fantastic! That was a great time in our history, and I even flew up to Glasgow to see us win...

I love how people have always gone on about the need for opportunities and events for youngsters, and how important they are for the production of the future British superstar. The British Junior Championship was a prime example. There were some incredibly talented - kids that competed there. However, how many of them actually went on to have a reasonably long, and genuinely successful (at the top level) career? Very few... I'm not sure why, but generally (certainly in the UK), youth and Under-21 events don't seem to provide the quality of competitors that they should (and certainly not the quantity), and that applies to most sports. As far as speedway, most of the riders who rode in the Under-21 went on to have some kind of career, but so many of them never got past NL level, or perhaps a BL second-string level. In darts, I know it is exactly the same; most of the really good youngsters never went on to a top-level career. Same with football. The truly promising youth players usually don't develop into the top senior players they should. I don't really understand why...

Oh, I didn't realise you were a local! Yeah, we played at the Duke for many years; one of the few pubs where we played that's still standing...

Well, The Doctor named him not long after the original post, and I confirmed it...

"El Diablo Rojo"...

I remember the first time I saw Andy. I drove over to Hackney on a cold and miserable winter's day to watch the Hawks take on the Aces in a junior match. He was 16... Seems like a lifetime ago!

That's my point. People often concentrate on what happens at the very end, but that really was a defining point.

That's cool! When and where did you play him?

Don't know if you remember the incident in 2000 (I can't remember what round it was) when Loram lifted and put Rickardsson in the fence. For some unknown reason, Rickardsson was excluded, and ultimately, that had a HUGE impact on the final standings.

I don't think you'll find too many out there who would disagree with you...

Okay, I managed to get there too! It was coming up differently on my phone to what it does on my laptop! Thanks for your help.

I didn't want to quote your whole post, but I agree 100%. You sound just like me!

I just did that, and it was blank! The same as when I have tried the pages for individual teams. Perhaps it's an issue as I am trying to access them on my phone. I'll try on the laptop. Thanks for the confirmation.

Do I actually have to be logged in to view them? I can access the pages, but when I click on them they come up blank.

Dave ALWAYS like to stir things up! I'm sure you agree, but watching some of the stuff from the 70's, there are so many things you couldn't imagine happening now. Some crazy refereeing decisions, races continuing with bodies sprawled across the track, and as for the starts... Plus, speedway was a very different beast in Eastern Europe. Look at the reactions to the World Final incidents when Samorodov and Klementiev were excluded.