chunky

Yeah, I've been wondering about that!

Overwatered yet again...

Are you suggesting that Vicar comes down to the Waitrose to see Rob?

Never saw a race at Ullevi, but... I was in Gothenburg for darts, so I decided to have a wander. The place was wide open with nobody around, so I managed to walk the entire track!

Plus, the GP's are designed to have the best riders in the world. The World Final was designed to qualify riders based more on nationality, and every year, there was a least one rider who SHOULD have been there that wasn't.

Yeah, he's got Piotr Protasiewicz by a couple of years...

There was a lot more than that few that had bloody disappeared...

Yeah - and they used hair spray on the tires to help with grip. Honestly, that South African track made Wembley look big, but at least it had dirt.

You're probably the only person who missed Les Collins' entire career!!!

Seven Englishmen have won the World Championship, compared to six Aussies, five Danes, and five Swedes.

See below...

That's why I mentioned it! I knew that not everybody would know that...

Ouch!!! True though... Funny enough, did you know that England has provided more individual world champs than any other country?

Well, the OP stated "other than England, Australia, Sweden etc" (which I would take to include Denmark), so I think we should just focus on the minor speedway nations...

Arnold Stolting and Fritz Niemeck came over in 1930, although I don't believe either made the team, but Gustav Kellner did make a few appearances the following year.

Talking of Eastbourne, let's not forget the fantastic Polish pair of Jozef Kafel and Jan Puk, who rode together against Sheffield in 1980. Wilbur Lamoreaux and Miny Waln rode together a few times for the Dons in 1937,

Wow... You really think you are something special, and think that your opinion is remotely important - including your view of me and my life. That is not on - seriously. You reckon I'm not worth talking to? Look in the mirror... I am not the tw*t that you clearly think I am. My wife is seriously ill (I've almost lost her a couple of times), and hasn't worked in over two years. She has NO income. I work two jobs, and both have been greatly impacted by covid. The one good thing is that I have been able to spend more time with my wife. And you reckon I should put in a year back in Britain? I come on to the BSF for fun, not to deal with ignorant trolls like you. I'm done...

You really are a pr*ck then? All the f*cking years - and money - I've put into speedway over the years - including the time since I've been gone - and you just think I'm a worthless piece of sh*t...

You need to stop digging for excuses... My last year in the UK - 1989. I emigrated to the Netherlands in early 1990, and was still a regular. I moved to the US in 1992. My first trip back (during the season) was in May 1994, and as I said, making two or three trips a year back after that, my dad and I still travelled around the country as much as we could.

I don't... Then again, it's a little difficult when I live 4000 miles away. However, if I could, I certainly would. When I was making regular trips back to the UK, I was taking in as much speedway as I could. Even though I haven't been in a few years (I haven't been back in a few years), I still follow the sport. I watch it live whenever I can, and I spend a lot of time watching stuff on YouTube. Despite having a lengthy career in another sport, speedway always was - and still is - my favourite sport. While I was still in the UK, I would drive all over the country to take in meetings. No, speedway is not what it was - nothing is - and particularly in the UK, we have ALWAYS had a tendency to shoot ourselves in the foot. Having said that, a lot of our major problems aren't actually speedway-related. Not owning our own stadia has obviously been an issue, and unfortunately, what was very much a city-centre sport (visible to everyone) has now been forced out into into the sticks. Plus (and we have discussed this on here before), speedway is no longer "cool". I have always been a very tolerant person (idiots excepted), and can overlook the niggling things that apparently seem to drive fans away, like tac doubles, helmet colours, kevlars, gardening etc. I still view it as four blokes racing, and just because it isn't always fantastic (it never was ALWAYS fantastic, a fact borne out by watching YouTube vids), it is still worth it.

That's very sad. Another one from my childhood gone...

So it's not just me that feels that way?

...but they'll give you a thousand "reasons" not to...

If only the mob on the BSF could remember that...

Well duh... Just remembered Jan Gravningen and Ove Olsen at Brum in 1976.