chunky

Must admit, that is probably one of the most even for GP venues.

Definitely...

Yeah, he came up with a bunch of nicknames and monikers - usually alliterative - just for effect!

As was Buddy "The Bud Man" Robinson...

Thank you for that! I was thinking back, and I was sure that the Ace of Aces was on a hill. You couldn't see the top bend from the bottom of the hill...

And I still haven't found anything about 'Onandoff' Johnson... Perhaps there's something about him in the "Speedway Museum" thread???

I thought we'd covered this before...

Blah, blah, blah... He wasn't THAT bloody old!

Oh, come on... How could you leave out 'The Polka Dot Kid' - Chris Pusey?

Plus... Derek 'Tink' Maynard Maurice 'Slant' Payling 'Lemon-Drop Kid' - Pete Jarman Les 'Red' Ott Rob 'Five Flavors' Pfetzing Mark 'Buzz' Burrows

We had a few at Plough Lane. 'Smiling'Jim Kempster 'Salty' - Cyril Brine 'McGinty' - Dom Perry 'Piccolo' - Peter Moore Mike 'Zoomer' Coomber 'Slim Jim' Tebby 'Haggis' - Bert Harkins 'Hedgehopper' - Trevor Hedge 'Soapy' - Nigel Leaver 'Gentleman Jim' Dormer

Yeah; home favourite John Bostin won the meeting. He beat Nathan in their first ride, but after that, Nathan was by far the best rider on show. Had they met anytime other than their first ride, Nathan would have gone through the card.

Yeah, scared the hell out of me!

Let's not forget that Andy Grahame qualified for both the BLRC and NLRC the same year...

I always enjoyed my visits to the Groveway, but I thought that the track was usually a little bumpy. I went up there for a junior meeting, to watch Nathan Simpson - and Steve Hone!

I know we touched briefly on the subject some years ago (based largely on a SpeedwayPlus article), but does anyone have any memories - good or bad - of Elfield Park? Of course, the place was reminiscent of a post-war Flanders battlefield, but I loved the place. The track could be a little iffy at times, but I thought the racing was okay. Being set down in a bowl, the first time I started a Dons war cry there, the whole effect sent shivers down my spine! Unfortunately, all the problems they had there, particularly with the vandalism and arson, meant that it was never destined to become a truly established venue. I felt bad for Terry Cheney and all the efforts he and his crew made to make it a success, but they were always fighting a losing battle. Even though it wasn't around for long, I went there quite a few times, and always enjoyed my visits.

That is my point exactly. When somebody is placed at a certain stage without competing, that is "seeding"; that certainly doesn't apply to the GP's - unlike the old World Final system. The ONLY time I can recall an attempt at that was when Greg Hancock was offered a wild card after having a year off.

The problem is that you can't get your head around the fact that it is not "seeding". Look, let's take darts. The bulk of the World Championship field is made up from the rankings. In other words, players battle it out over a number of tournaments during the year, and get points based on their performances. Fair? The GP is just the same. Riders compete not only tp be World Champion, but to QUALIFY for the following year. When you have a series lasting several months, it os virtualli impossible - and unfair - to introduce various qualification systems on top of the main qualification system You are making a common mistake. As a speedway fan, you are still thinking, "Well, this is the way we've always done it, so it must be the best!"

No. "Seeding" is qualifying without competing, which is NOT what the GP riders do. They qualify from their performances the previous year, which is by far the hardest means of qualification, particularly for riders like Lambert, Fricke, and Thomsen. They are up against the very best the sport has to offer several times a year. Coming through a handful of qualifying meetings against mediocre riders is a lot easier than QUALIFYING from the GP's themselves.

Several times, Ole Olsen was seeded directly to the Nordic Final, and a couple of times, he reached the World Final after riding in only two meetings.

I'm sure Olsen was the same one year? Plus riders were seeded to different stages of their own qualifying rounds too... It annoys me when I hear people complain about the top guys being "seeded" these days. They are NOT seeded. They have to qualify by competing against the world's top riders for a whole GP season the previous year.

Sadly, that is the way of the world these days. Everyone is "entitled" to say whatever they want, to whoever they want, and anybody who complains about their language is a snowflake...

Of course it's not. Crowds are nowhere near the size they used to be, and that results in lost atmosphere...

Shut up, gustix...

He passed away in December 1991.