lucifer sam

Ron, this is a speedway discussion forum. Therefore we're free to discuss Andy Galvin's situation, which is a topic relating to a former rider. If members of his family are not comfortable with this, then they don't have to come onto this forum - nobody has forced them. It's called free speech. It's as simple as that. All the best Rob

I nominate Paulco and Midnight Lady as joint managers. Seriously, I don't see any harm in Scotland having their own team in the World Cup. Can you imagine if they got through the World Cup preliminary round and got through to ride in the competition proper against England? Would be a great ocassion, nothing like a bit of England/Scotland rivalry. All the best Rob

Steve, because the "New Year Classic" was the invention of the former Newport promoter and this meeting, along with the post-Cardiff Welsh Open, help to keep the track going. All the best Rob

Wasn't that a Boxing Day meeting or something - and was therefore the "December" meeting instead of the "January" meeting. Held in the mid 1990s I think - we were there. All the best Rob

Paulco, I wasn't that cold yesterday - I was wearing a T-shirt, three sweaters, a leather jacket and my bright yellow SRBF gear on the outside - a total of 6 layers. All the best Rob

Yep. Dietbowers, nice to meet you for the first time yesterday - and thanks to your contribution to the SRBF collection around two seconds later. All the best Rob

Wanna, I looked out for someone wearing T-shirt and shorts, but couldn't see you. All the best Rob

Parsloes, blimey we must stop agreeing - I can't get used to it. In the meantime, I must stop hi-jacking threads every time there's a mention that 2009 is the final year of the decade (which it is not). All the best Rob

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! How many times? The new decade starts in 2011 not 2010. Was there a Year AD 0? No. Millenniums, centuries and decades all start in years ending with a "1". All the best Rob

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