lucifer sam

It didn't take too long in the end (well, apart from 1983, when the Speedway Star didn't publish a final set of BL averages and I had to work out the final Halifax & Cradley averages myself!). The below averages are from British League matches ONLY. I've listed down to 9.00 for 1980-1987, and down to 8.00 for 1988 & 1989 (as the top averages came down, due to the introduction of both fixed gate positions and a nominated heat). British riders in BOLD. 1980: PETER COLLINS 10.70 Hans Nielsen 10.70 DAVE JESSUP 10.52 Bo Petersen 10.46 Bruce Penhall 10.35 MICHAEL LEE 10.17 CHRIS MORTON 10.11 Jan Andersson 10.08 Scott Autrey 9.97 Bobby Schwartz 9.95 Ole Olsen 9.70 JOHN DAVIS 9.54 GORDON KENNETT 9.50 Dennis Sigalos 9.41 Phil Crump 9.41 MALCOLM SIMMONS 9.40 KEVIN JOLLY 9.18 Larry Ross 9.12 Richard Hellsen 9.22 Ron Preston 9.09 1981: Bruce Penhall 11.08 KENNY CARTER 10.50 Phil Crump 10.39 MICHAEL LEE 10.34 Erik Gundersen 10.26 CHRIS MORTON 10.26 Jan Andersson 10.02 GORDON KENNETT 9.95 Kelly Moran 9.83 Hans Nielsen 9.83 Bo Petersen 9.81 DAVE JESSUP 9.59 JOHN DAVIS 9.34 Tommy Knudsen 9.27 ALAN GRAHAME 9.26 Ole Olsen 9.12 Bobby Schwartz 9.09 Larry Ross 9.06 1982: KENNY CARTER 11.05 Erik Gundersen 10.72 Hans Nielsen 10.49 Bruce Penhall 10.39 Dennis Sigalos 10.21 Bobby Schwartz 10.11 CHRIS MORTON 9.98 Kelly Moran 9.97 Billy Sanders 9.93 Shawn Moran 9.88 Ron Preston 9.87 Jan Andersson 9.78 GORDON KENNETT 9.62 Larry Ross 9.59 ALAN GRAHAME 9.49 Phil Crump 9.44 MICHAEL LEE 9.42 Tommy Knudsen 9.17 PETER COLLINS 9.10 LES COLLINS 9.07 1983: Dennis Sigalos 10.99 Hans Nielsen 10.77 Erik Gundersen 10.59 MICHAEL LEE 10.43 Mitch Shirra 10.38 KENNY CARTER 10.34 Billy Sanders 10.27 CHRIS MORTON 10.17 Phil Crump 9.85 Jan Andersson 9.61 Shawn Moran 9.38 Ole Olsen 9.25 Tommy Knudsen 9.20 PAUL WOODS 9.18 DAVE JESSUP 9.17 SIMON WIGG 9.15 Bobby Schwartz 9.14 Lance King 9.11 1984: Hans Nielsen 10.69 CHRIS MORTON 10.65 Jan Andersson 10.30 Phil Crump 9.94 SIMON WIGG 9.91 Bobby Schwartz 9.73 PETER COLLINS 9.73 Billy Sanders 9.73 Shawn Moran 9.66 John Cook 9.36 Lance King 9.19 Mitch Shirra 9.18 Erik Gundersen 9.16 1985: Hans Nielsen 11.42 Eirk Gundersen 11.11 Tommy Knudsen 10.37 Shawn Moran 10.26 Bobby Schwartz 10.00 SIMON WIGG 9.70 JEREMY DONCASTER 9.60 Jan Andersson 9.57 CHRIS MORTON 9.53 John Cook 9.40 Bo Petersen 9.33 PETER COLLINS 9.08 JOHN DAVIS 9.04 1986: Hans Nielsen 11.83 SIMON WIGG 11.01 Erik Gundersen 10.91 JEREMY DONCASTER 10.19 Shawn Moran 10.14 CHRIS MORTON 9.74 Sam Ermolenko 9.66 John Jorgensen 9.66 Tommy Knudsen 9.57 Jan Andersson 9.46 Bobby Schwartz 9.23 Phil Crump 9.17 1987: Hans Nielsen 11.73 Tommy Knudsen 10.90 KELVIN TATUM 10.42 Erik Gundersen 10.22 Jan O. Pedersen 9.84 JEREMY DONCASTER 9.83 SIMON CROSS 9.77 Jimmy Nilsen 9.73 Mitch Shirra 9.66 Shawn Moran 9.58 Sam Ermolenko 9.47 Per Jonsson 9.35 SIMON WIGG 9.17 Peter Ravn 9.01 1988: Hans Nielsen 11.00 KELVIN TATUM 10.41 Tommy Knudsen 10.23 Erik Gundersen 9.96 Jan O. Pedersen 9.75 Shawn Moran 9.52 Sam Ermolenko 9.32 JEREMY DONCASTER 9.32 Per Jonsson 9.11 CHRIS MORTON 8.98 Jan Andersson 8.96 Kelly Moran 8.74 SIMON WIGG 8.66 SIMON CROSS 8.44 GARY HAVELOCK 8.30 Mike Faria 8.21 Mitch Shirra 8.18 1989: Hans Nielsen 10.97 Jan O. Pedersen 10.39 Sam Ermolenko 10.00 Erik Gundersen 10.00 Shawn Moran 9.75 KELVIN TATUM 9.49 SIMON CROSS 9.32 JEREMY DONCASTER 8.51 Jimmy Nilsen 8.33 Ronnie Correy 8.12 Brian Karger 8.05 Kelly Moran 8.00 I'm off to reconsider my list. It looks like I need to get Gordon Kennett somewhere in the lower reaches, while Les Collins needs to come down a bit. I'll post my final top 20 later today. All the best Rob

Parsloes, surely it is more the fault of the league administrator, who should be ensuring that clubs have reserved dates put aside for the play-offs. If have to have play-offs, the aim should be for a mid-October completion, with proper reserved dates, this could happen quite easily. I just hope that the one leg can go-ahead today and some sort of result can be declared. It would still be a hugely unsatisfactory outcome, but some sort of result is better than no result at all. All the best Rob

Main Man, thanks for replying. Something certainly needs to be done for 2011 (if the play-offs continue. I really don't see the need for them in the National League). My suggestion would be each club setting aside reserved dates throughout September and the first half of October. E.g. this year, the deadline for the play-offs was Sept 12, so each club should have reserved dates during Sept 16-22 for the first leg of the semis, and Sept 23-29 for the second leg. For the final, each club, should have reserved dates of Sept 30-Oct 6 & Oct 7-13 for the two legs, depending on which they end up staging. Clubs can only put other meetings on in these weeks, once they are out of the play-offs, or was its known that their home leg is not being staged that week. The aim has to be finish the play-offs by mid-October. The second half of October should be for emergencies only. All the best Rob

Main Man, but come you took so long to get on with your play-off matches? And why didn't you restage the meeting in the afternoon today?? All the best Rob

I looked through the Complete History of the British League, but the averages are team-by-team, rather than a summary of the top averages. I'm still going to go through the Stars, all I need is one from the end of each October. And sorry, but IMHO the No. 1 Brit has to be an individual World Champion - a rider who never finished above eighth doesn't cut it for me. The No. 1 has to be a winner, not an World Final also-ran. All the best Rob

Any chance of a restaging tomorrow afternoon? How long does it take to drive from Newport to Rue House - could the riders do both? I can't believe that this situation has been allowed to develop. There's no way the play-off final should be taking place in the final three days of the season. The deadline for the NL play-offs was 47 days ago. All the best Rob

I'm after a quick summary of the 1980s 9.00+ BL averages as well, but they don't seem to be readily avaiable in one location. I guess I'll have to plough through the Speedway Stars and post them here. And personally, I can't see how Chris Morton can No. 1. He never finished above eighth in a World Final. He was a very good rider, but not quite there at the very, very top level (i.e. Individual World Finals). I've got 20 names (which I will change around after studying the averages), but I've got a firm idea who my Nos 1 & 2 will be - and they will be winners, not eighth placed riders. The No. 1 has to be a World Champion, not nearly men such as Carter and Morton. All the best Rob

Great to see the Hitmen having such a great season. They've already taken the National Trophy and KOC, could the league title be about to follow? Buxton Speedway is a credit to the Moss family and all involved. A terrific little club, who have brought on so many youngsters over the last 16 years. They are the perfect example of how speedway should be run at this level. All the best Rob

Given that the NL cut-out date for the play-offs was September 12, how on earth did we get into this situation in the first place? All the best Rob

Well, I would say that he is fault, because you can only get grit thrown up by a competitor's rear wheel is if you're getting beaten. Kolodziej did blow it under pressure in the GP challenge, but he showed enough at Bydgoszcz to show that he should be in the GP. All the best Rob

Cheers, Conkers. All the best Rob

Now he isn't in the 2011 GP series, I assume Tai will be entering in the 2011 Under-21 mini-GP series. Good luck to Tai in his quest to become World Under-21 Champion. All the best Rob

Just call me Mystic Rob. All the best Rob

There's six key meetings to fit in the next two weeks: NL Play-off Final: Newport v Buxton - date TBA Buxton v Newport - Sunday, October 31 (date from Buxton official website) NL KOC Final: Buxton v KL - Sunday, October 24 KL v Buxton - Wednesday, October 27 (both dates from BSPA website) NLRC - date & venue TBA NL Fours Final - date & venue TBA Any ideas when the three other fixtures will be arranged? Is there anywhere which could stage the NLRC on maybe Saturday, October 30? It's a bit unsatisfactory that so many important meetings have been left so late in the season. All the best Rob

Steve Lawson would definitely feature in the Top 20 National League riders of the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, I would place him third behind Joe & Tom Owen. All the best Rob

Phil, that's a shame, any chance of the meeting taking place early in 2011? All the best Rob

I would like to see the Czech GP shift to Pardubice, which is one of the best racetracks in the world. It's true that Pardubice probably needs a little improvement in a couple of other areas to be able to stage a GP, but if the carrot was dangled in front of them, I'm sure that they could make the necessary amendments. Prague has been a rubbish meeting for too many years now. All the best Rob

I was surprised at JD in someone's top three!! I'm working on my own top 20 (got a list of sorts, but want to check it with the lists of BL averages first, because at the moment, my list is decided largely on honours). JD is likely to feature, but at the bottom of the list rather than the top! As for Carter's honours, OK maybe Halifax can't be pinned on his door (although sometimes an inspirational No. 1 can propel a team to success), but how about the fact he never won a single international round of the World Championship? All the best Rob

I can't agree with Carter as No. 1. Away from domestic British Speedway (couple of British Finals and couple of BLRCs), he won the 1983 World Pairs with Peter Collins. And that's it. Never finished on a single World Individual Final rostrum either. Carter flattered to decieve at the highest levels of the sport. He never inspired Halifax to win anything either. Carter's talent alone places him in the top 5 British riders of the 1980s. But he lacks the roll of honour to push himself into the top couple of positions, which should be reserved for winners. All the best Rob

This one is tricky. For starters, who should be the No.1? Unlike the 1970s (where everyone plumped for Peter Collins), there isn't an obvious candidate. Michael Lee was our only individual World Speedway Champion of the decade and could mix it and beat the best, but as an effective force, he was snubbed out with his ban in early 1984. Kenny Carter didn't fulfil his potential (his list of honours is quite short, especially on the international stage) and again he rode for little than over half the decade. Chris Morton did last the decade, and he won a few things, but never finished above eighth in a World Final - so he never shone at the biggest stage of all. Simon Wigg won four British League titles (with Cradleay Heath and Oxford) and also won two Longtrack titles during the decade, but should someone whose main focus was away from speedway be the best Brit of the 1980s? Peter Collins won more World titles (three Pairs and one WTC) than any other Brit in the 1980s, but while still a great rider, he was past his best in the 1980s (largely due to a painful injury sustained at the conclusion of 1980). Kelvin Tatum is another under consideration, but I don't feel he's quite the Best Brit of the entire decade. Hmmmmm, this one needs a little more thought than the 1970s. All the best Rob

This was always going to be a very tough season for young Tai Woffinden. The loss of his father during the winter would have been a devastating blow to the young man. To cope with that, the responsibility of being given the Wolves captaincy and a full year in the GP series - well, it must have been a bit of a strain on him, to say the least. In the circumstances, 49 points from 11 Grand Prix rounds is not too bad a haul. Although he hasn't sustained it across a full round, he has had his moments, when he's been able to beat the world's best. But Grand Prix rounds are very tough and he's only reached 1 semi-final in 11 rounds. But what now? Would another full year in the Grand Prix be of benefit, or would it be better for him to have a break of a year or two before he gets another chance? I tend to go with the latter. I would like to see Woffinden returning to the series in either 2012 or 2013, by which time he will have had the opportunity to build up his machinery, his confidence and hone his skills. I still think he is a major talent (he is the cream of the crop, as far as young Brits of his age are concerned), but for that talent to blossom, maybe a couple of years away from the spotlight, would help him. I think another full year in the GP series in 2011 could damage his confidence. All the best Rob

After tonight, I think the four seeded riders for 2011 should be: 1. Nicki Pedersen 2. Emil Sajfutdinov 3. Andreas Jonsson 4. Janusz Kolodziej All the best Rob

BFD, there's no doubt that the racing has improved this year - but I still regard 1998-2000 to be the best years of the Grand Prix, with 2000 as the best individual year (the year that Loram won the championship). Replacing Ole Olsen with Tony Olsson has improved the series no end, now all we need is a return of the cut-throat KO format. All the best Rob

You're starting to show your obsessive tendencies, old chap. All the best Rob

Gollob as captain please - cheers Ballinger. All the best Rob