lucifer sam

How's that not letting things go? I was just making a comparison to another similar meeting. Maybe it's time to remove that chip from your shoulders. All the best Rob

Blimey, that was a bit long-winded. Nearly four hours to stage 25 races - it nearly took as long as the infamous 2005 CL Pairs at Wimbledon. All the best Rob

Parsloes, I filled in my first-ever programme during an Inter-League 4TT round at Oxford in 1980. I think it's the day I become a real fan of the Oxford Cheetahs - until then, it was somewhere my dad took me several times during the season. By the end of that season, I was a speedway maniac, something that hasn't been cured some 30 years later. The dominant rider on show that day as Mr. Gordon Kennett. Six rides, six wins (including two in the second half). I remember him pulling a huge wheelie as he won his final race. As a National League club, we didn't get to see wheelies, since it wasn't in fashion for the lower league riders to pull them. Most of the NL riders still had bikes stuck together by gaffer tape. I also remember a much larger crowd that usual than the NL meetings. Gordon Kennett, previously of the Oxford Rebels, was a big drawcard and he didn't disappoint. It's the second meeting I distinctly remember. The first was the Pip Lamb Benefit Meeting at the end of 1979, which was the first time I saw Bruce Penhall, a rider who became a hero to the young Lucifer Sam. However, I do have a keen interest in Speedway during the 1970s, for a long-time my collection of speedway books was mainly books on the 70s (in the 1980s, the number of speedway books dried up for a while), so the old Peter Oakes Speedway Yearbooks were picked up and read from cover-to-cover. It's why I feel qualified to comment on speedway in the 1970s in the same way I wouldn't on previous eras. All the best Rob

But Gordon Kennett was the highest scorer in the 1977 British League, scoring 466 from 36 matches for White City. He was an ever-present, and led the Rebels to the league title. And Kennett was a stalwart to his team, but it just happened his team moved from Oxford to White City to Eastbourne. 13th is too low. He should be in the top ten - JB got that one wrong. All the best Rob

Tony, I think the lack of reaction is maybe down to the fact that John Berry's selection was an uncontroversial one. Not quite sure how he managed to get Gordon Kennett as low as 13th though, he achieved more in the 1970s than the four riders above him (McMillan, Morton, and the Boococks), all of whom peaked outside the 1970s. I can't recall any of those riders finishing second in a World Final, as Gordon did in 1978. All the best Rob

As a three-time World Champion already, I doubt if Crump considers that much of a "demon". Theoretically a rider could end up winning the World Championship seven times without once successfully defending it. On the other hand, Gollob will struggle to win it once, if he continues to let the pressure get to him, as he has in the last two GPs. He had a much bigger lead in 1999 with three rounds to go (including one to come at Bydgoszcz) and then managed to let that one slip. I can see history repeating itself. All the best Rob

The "Rider Of The Night" second halves were rubbish - half the riders didn't bother, and those who did were testing machinery. Far better was the second half junior match from 1985 to 1992. Used to be some cracking racing in these. I once remember a lad called Daz Santos, who made a few appearances for the Oxford Cubs. He was a bit wild, once got his handlebar jammed in the fence, but kept going, and managed to rip down half the Oxford safety fence. Parsloes, straying from the subject, but I know you're a huge Buzz fan, so I would suggest getting a video of the Scunny vs Buxton match yesterday. Heats 13 & 15 are both classic Buzz, he came from 4th to 1st in Heat 13 whilst wearing the silly hat, and then won a photo-finish with Simon Lambert in Heat 15 after 4 of the best laps that you're ever likely to see. All the best Rob

Two belting meetings at Scunny today. After a high-octane Scunny-Sheffield derby, the Buxton NL match threatened to be an anti-climax. Enter two riders at the opposite ends of the spectrum, Jason Garrity and Buzz Burrows to ensure that the meeting ended on a high. Garrity went from fourth to first in Heat 12, Buzz did the same as a tactical ride in Heat 13, then Buzz & Simon Lambert were involved in the mother of all battles in Heat 15, with Buzz snatching the verdict in a photo-finish. Great stuff - I was cheering the old geezer on. All the best Rob

Just to clarify the rules in such a situation. It's true that a ref cannot award an FIM race if the four laps have not been completed, before the race has been stopped. However, if a race is completed, then the referee does have some powers in terms of awarding the race. If for example, the rider in second place crashed into the rider in firrt place on the final corner and they both fell, and then the riders in third and fourth crossed the line in first and second, then the referee can still award first place to the rider who was brought down, and then give second and third to the riders who actually crossed the line in first and second. The rules were set up like this after an imfamous incident in the 1973 World Final, which denied Zenon Plech a crack at the run-off for first place. Yesterday, as the rules stand, the referee could have excluded Gollob and awarded third place to Holta. As I said before, places can only be awarded for completed races, incompleted races must be re-run. It's all in the FIM rulebook. All the best Rob

Greg Hancock: well done to the old fella. Seriously great stuff from Greg - he doesn't look like someone who is nearly finished with the Grand Prix series. Chris Harris: that's more like it. I hope he can carry on in that vain and get a top 8 place. Jason Crump: I reckon he'll end up the year with his fourth world title, as the pressure gets to his rivals. Tomasz Gollob: I wanted him to win this year, but after the last 2 rounds, I've changed my mind. Emil was in no fit state to deck him, but Rune should have done a Boycey. All the best Rob

If King Emil is left out of the GP series, then I won't watch it. I don't think there is a chance that he wouldn't be given a place. Phil Rising, who is high up in FIM circles, more-or-less said in the Speedway Star last week that Emil will be given a seeded spot. All the best Rob

Well, that's the point, isn't it? In Poland, the top riders are spread between two leagues, whereas in Sweden, they're all in one league. Have you seen Dackarna and Elit Vetlanda's teams. They have got to be the best two club sides in the world. All the best Rob

Cheers. So two Brits in the top thirty - Richardson (14th) and Harris (17th). The other British riders are shocking though. All the best Rob

But the Swedish Elite League has most of the good non-Poles as well, whereas a few of them are missing from the Polish scene. I don't think there's much in it, though. Sorry, haven't read every single post in this thread, didn't realise that the peformance of our riders in Sweden had already been brought up. All the best Rob

Henry, do you have the positions for our riders in the Swedish Elite League averages? All the best Rob

Authorised, it wasn't supposed to be a direct comparison, which is why I didn't provide 2010 averages, because they aren't that comparable. It was more to show how far we've fallen down the totem pole since 1977. You have to remember in 1977, that the British League WAS the best league in the world. The vast majority of top riders rode in this country, so if they were 11 Englishmen in the top 20 of the BL averages it also means that there were 11 Englishmen amonsgt the best 30 or so riders in the entire world. These days, it's the Swedish League which is the strongest, closely followed by Poland, with the British Elite League a poor third. Look at the top 30 riders in the Swedish League, and we might have one (Scott Nicholls). All the best Rob

Ali Stevens was one hell of a prospect, he was brilliant at the age of 16/17. Unfortunately he suffered an industrial accident early in 1986 when he fell through a roof (which cost him a place in the 1986 Oxford Cheetahs, with Nigel De'ath taking the place he was earmarked for), and then suffered a nasty injury at Oxford on Good Friday 1987. He showed flashes thereafter, but didn't realise his potential. It didn't help that he was mechaniclly hopeless, I remember him once suffering four engine failures in one night. The following night Oxford went to Swindon, Ali borrowed a bike from Martin Dugard and Ali put in a match-winning performance. But his own bikes were rubbish. All the best Rob

Top Brits in the 1977 British League averages: Michael Lee 10.64 (top of averages) Peter Collins 10.49 Gordon Kennett 10.41 Malcolm Simmons 10.22 Dave Jessup 10.20 John Davis 9.82 Martin Ashby 9.80 Terry Betts 9.70 John Louis 9.64 Doug Wyer 9.21 Chris Morton 9.05 That's 11 Englishmen with a BL average in excess of 9.00 - and all 11 in the top 20 of the averages. And there's a further 9 Brits (I need to say Brits rather than English, since Jimmy McMillan is one of them) with a BL average between 8.00 and 9.00. All the best Rob

Max Dilger was crap. Why do we want crap riders like that taking up valuable team places that could be given to British based riders? All the best Rob

Cox, Wigg & Smith were all British, whatever license they had at the time. And all rode with the British flag on their breastplate in the Grand Prix series. But yes, the record of British riders in the Grand Prix from 2001 onwards is pretty awful. And you've missed out the main rider who came back from GP failure to greater glory: Mark Loram. Not qualifying for the 1999 series really got him to buckle down, and resulted in him being the deserving 2000 World Champion, he was the most consistent rider in the world that year. All the best Rob

WadyWuck, I notice how you're now calling him Laguta. But you've made a good point. Assessed averages are far too low. As far as the PL is concerned, any non-Commonwealth should come in on a 9.00 point average, and in the EL, it should be 6.00. And BFD, I welcome the Aussies riding in our leagues, because the Aussies show commitment to riding in the British Leagues. They treat us as their surrogate home country, and ride in British meetings with passion. The problem isn't the Aussies, it's the Poles, Swedes, Danes, Germans and so forth who treat us as a third-world speedway nation and have British Speedway as thier bottom priority. It's these sort of riders we could do with getting rid of. All the best Rob

I don't think 7th & 8th in the world (Loram & Louis) was that bad at all. And Havelock was looking a possibility for a top three place that year, before the back injury that halted his GP career and left him never looking like quite the same rider ever again. If only we had riders like that these days. No of permanent Brits in the GP between 1995 & 2002: 1995 - five out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Cocker, Havelock, Smith 1996 - six out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Screen, Havelock, Smith, Cocker 1997 - four out of 17 - Loram, Louis, Smith and Wigg 1998 - three out of 21 - Louis, Loram and Smith 1999 - three out of 22 - Screen, Louis and Smith (Loram won GP as wildcard - and indeed finished fifth in world as wildcard) 2000 - five out of 22 - WORLD CHAMPION Mark Loram, Louis, Screen, Stonehewer and Smith (plus Martin Dugard won British GP as wildcard) 2001 - five out of 22 - Loram, Stonehewer, Smith, Louis and Screen (although Screen was injured for entire series) 2002 - four out of 22 - Loram, Nicholls, Stonehwer and Smith. None of the above Brits were seeded. They all qualified. Around 2001 is probably where it all started to go wrong. Loram had a disappointing defence as World Champion and wasn't a contender again, whilst both Louis & Screen suffered from injury. And the next generation, headed by Scott Nicholls, then failed to deliver. All the best Rob

In the early days of the Grand Prix you could hardly move for British riders - in the 1996 series, there were SIX British riders amongst the 17 competitors. And when seeded riders were first brought at the end of the 2001 season ready for the 2002 season, there was no need to seed in any British riders. But three, yes three, Poles were amongst the six seeds. How times have changed. All the best Rob

Fair enough. All the best Rob

Henry, yes I watched the whole meeting. Kolodziej looked the class act for his opening 4 riders, but you could tell the pressure was on in that final programmed ride. He was all over the place even before his started to slow, and he looked more likely to go backwards than forwards. But he's a great prospect and today's tough medicine may prove a blessing for him in the long run. All the best Rob