lucifer sam

Got it for Christmas and now reading it. All the best Rob

My "Backtrack" arrived this morning - excellent read as usual. I notice John Berry has gone for the slightly controversial angle of not giving Erik Gundersen a single win under the GP format - I reckon he would have at least one championship, the most likely year being 1984. Erik would also have been not far from Hans in 1985 - although this was the year Hans stepped up his game even further. But I think both would have been way in front of Kenny Carter, Tony Mac's surprise choice for that particular year. Had Carter won a GP series it would have been in 1982 and not 1985. Shawn Moran (who beat Carter in the Overseas Final and enjoyed the best season of his career) had more chance of pushing Hans & Erik in 1985. I'll have to craft together that letter... especially after Ivan Mauger had 2 to 3 GP championships stolen from him in the 1970s All the best Rob

Parsloes, I'm not sure if anyone has suggested that at all. Why should the book not be written? In my humble opinion, Tony Mac did a very good job with the book. After all, the book is not written in a sensational style and doesn't delve too much into the sordid details that led to the "Tragedy" of the book's title. I have a tendency to read bits out of factual books, rather then everything, but I read the whole of the Kenny Carter Book. It was a good read. And it pretty much left your to draw your own conclusions. Some of the interviewees were sympathetic towards Carter, others certainly were not. It means the book can be read by those in both the pro-Carter and anti-Carter camps (Carter was like Marmite, you either loved him or hated him, there's few with a neutral view of him). As someone who grew up in the anti-Carter camp (I was a firm Bruce Penhall fan), the book went someway to explaining why Carter ended up as a such as an arrogant, unlikeable character. The guy had it tough. He was, no doubt, behind all the bluster, a hugely insecure individual - and maybe these explains why such a talented rider ended up winning so little on the international stage. The one thing, however, that I can't get my mind around is that final act. However, tough things have been, there's no justification for taking the life of another, in this case the mother of two young children. This was a story waiting to be written - at some point, a book about the turbulent life of Kenny Carter was going to be published (look at the way this thread has kept on going - Carter is still a hot topic for debate). Just be thankful that it's a sensitive, well-written telling and not a sordid, sensationalist and cobbled-together one. All the best Rob

But how is that different from the 1972 run-off, when the "British" rider (Mauger) got a flier. Szczakiel beat Mauger at his own game - fair play. All the best Rob

What a disrespectful post. Szczakiel, may I remind you, was actually a DOUBLE world champion - he scored a maximum in the 1971 World Pairs Final. He wasn't a one-off fluke by any means. And he did qualify for the 1971 World Final, despite your claim he didn't. I've seen a video of the 1973 Final and Szczakiel was a deserving winner. The Russian virtually pushes him off his bike in one race and Szczakiel shows fighting spirit to move from 4th back into 2nd. And he beats Mauger at his own game at the start in the run-off - remember Ivan did exactly the same in the 1972 run-off to get a flier ahead of Bernie Persson. Lanning's commentary of the '73 final is highly biased - yes, there was Polish team-riding in one heat, but that was to help the golden boy Plech, not Szczakiel. Szczakiel earnt all his points that day (he beat Mauger in the heats remember), then outwitted Mauger in the run-off. A deserving World Champion. All the best Rob

Blimey, there are some snobs around here. What's wrong with King's Lynn? Great track, vastly improved facilities. Given that Peterborough is unavailable on the given date, I reckon the Norfolk Arena is the next best choice. All the best Rob

Ok, it'll sort out the Swedes then. All the best Rob

Excellent choice. The Norfolk Arena is one of the best race tracks in the country. Hope they remember to make the track the deepest it can be - that'll mess up the Poles. All the best Rob

And here's a bit of a odd stat. Colin Ackroyd scored a double maximum at Oxford in a double header in 1981 - his only two maximums of the season. All the best Rob

Hans Nielsen did it against Reading and Swindon at Oxford on October 16th 1985 and succesfuuly defended the Golden Helmet twice into the bargain. Hans also scored two maximums against Reading a few times on the same day, when we used to meet them home and away on bank holidays. On August Bank Holiday 1991, Hans scored an 18-point maximum at Oxford and a 21-point maximum at Reading. 13 wins out of 13 on the same day - I would imagine that could be a record. All the best Rob

England in the World Cup is a different matter. Or Scotland or Ireland or, in 1982, Northern Ireland when they beat the Spanish in Spain. 'Tis about the only time I watch football, apart from the odd European Cup game (I won't call it the Champions League becuase it isn't it, what exactly are e.g. Arsenal currently the champions of??). And one thing I wouldn't watch, even if England were in it, would be a highly pointless game to decide who finishes 3rd in the World Cup!!!! All the best Rob

Paulco, I'm not convinced. I watch every ball of the 1990 semi-final when Bobby Robson's boys took on those those jammy Germans (who were thoroughly outplayed, only to scrap through on penalties), but couldn't give two hoots about the 3rd placed play-off against Italy. Who cares about 3rd place? All the best Rob

Paulco, I'm not convinced. I watch every ball of the 1990 semi-final when Bobby Robson's boys took on those those jammy Germans (who were thoroughly outplayed, only to scrap through on penalties), but couldn't give two hoots about the 3rd placed play-off against Italy. Who cares about 3rd place? All the best Rob

Not if they've already bought a ticket for Cardiff. What does the 3rd place play-off mean? It's like having a run-off at the end of the GP series for 4th place. What's the point? All the best Rob

Nobody watches the 3rd place play-off. It's the most pointless game of the entire tournament. All the best Rob

Norbold, is that one of Brian Belton's books? All the best Rob

Parsloes, I thought were PC's No. 1 fan? He was not allowed to ride in the 1981 British Championship by the British speedway authorities as he had opted to spend the year riding on the continent whilst he recovered from the shoulder injury he sustained at a rain soaked Cradley Heath in the cup final at the end of the 1980 season. Hence he also missed out on the World Championship that year. I believe he still was in the World Longtrack Championship in 1981. All the best Rob

Falcace, thanks, I know the rest but remember Leicester closed at the end of 1983 and Oxford didn't move BL until 1984. I'm normally a bit of a nerd too (as seen previously on this thread when I reeled off the five major championships that Carter did win from memory) but there was a slight gap in my knowledge there. All the best Rob Tony, But apart from one World Pairs, it's all at a British domestic level. On the international stage, Carter won just one FIM inscribed meeting (the British rounds of the World Championship do not fall under the juridstiction of the FIM). Michael Lee was anoher British rider who burnt himself out too early and yet he won the following on the international stage: World Champion (1980) plus two more on the rostrum in 1979 & 1983 World Longtrack Champion (1981) World Team Cup Champion (1977 & 1980) Inter-Continental Champion (1979) Commonwealth Champion (1979) Six international wins to Carter's one. For some reason, Kenny Carter did underachieve when it came to the highest level. I'm still not sure if constantly telling people how much you believe in yourself is the same as actually believing it. Penhall was so driven to win and yet we rarely heard him saying this. He just got on and did the job. Penhall was one of the highest profile speedway riders of all-time. Hey he even got onto TISWAS and raced Chris Tarrant (Penhall on a tricycle, Tarrant on a Speedway bike, Tarrant was leading but fell off and Penhall won) which I considered fantastically cool at the age of 8. But there was little "I'm the best" bluster from Penhall when he faced the media - there didn't need to be, because he was the best. Penhall hated losing - as the tears at the 1980 World Final proved. But he didn't need to tell us - we just knew. It makes me wonder if Carter's outward bluster was a front and whether that self-belief was actually quite fragile. This would explain why he faded during World Finals - his self-belief went missing at a crucial time. But, as you've already said Tony, what this thread is proved is impact that Kenny Carter had on British Speedway. He was a guy who could get onto the back page of the tabloids. And now we're still arguing about him two than decades onwards. There probably won't be a character quite like Kenny Carter in speedway again. He was a one-off. Which is just as well really. All the best Rob

Falcace, since when has the Golden Gauntlets (not even sure which track staged it!!) been regarded as a big meeting? And Olsen's Farewell was a testimonial. You seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel trying to find meetings that Carter won. As for the World Pairs, I'd already brought that one up myself. England were pretty lucky that day to say the least, whilst the Aussies were most unlucky. The World Pairs always reminds me of Carter's awful performance in the '82 final. World Of Sport covered both the '82 and '83 finals. All the best Rob

Falcace, you're missing the point. No-one is doubting Carter's bravery. However, his resistance to pressure was less good. Kenny Carter didn't win a single big individual meeting in 1983. He didn't have a broken leg that year. What stopped Carter from going out and winning the big events in a year where he should have cleaned up. I think the answer is psychological. All the best Rob

So how come Muller only got a maximum because of someone else having an e/f? And Olsen wasn't as good in 1983 as 1981 - he did well to qualify for the final in 1983. Muller was beatable - and IMO Penhall would have beaten him. But again it's pure conjecture. All the best Rob

Falcace, he was brave, no doubt about that, but when the chips were really down, did he really believe in himself, despite all the outward bluster? Carter won so little - there has to be a reason for that. All the best Rob

But had Bruce Penhall been still riding, I think he would have won in Norden in 1983. After that, I think Bruce's motivation would have slipped, but IMO he would have been up for Norden and won it. All the best Rob

Tony, but the 1985 British Final wasn't the hardest meeting to win, especially given the absence of the likes of Simon Wigg and Michael Lee from the meeting. England wasn't in the best shape in '85 - remember the meagre 13 points at Long Beach? So winning the British Final wasn't that hard that season. It must have been a weak final - Mavis came second. I agree entirely with that statement. Carter was box office, if not always for the right reasons. And that's what made your book so compelling. All the best Rob

Falcace, the above quote just shows why Kenny Carter was never World Champion. Such a defeatist attitude. Every track is there to be ridden. Carter should have concentrated on his own peformance, finished with 14 points and see if Muller crumbled once placed under a bit of pressure. But instead Carter gave up the fight and didn't even finish in the top three in what was a very weak final. All the best Rob