lucifer sam

Steve, I agree that his riding for the second half of 1986 was his peak. I remember the Midland Riders' Championship at Oxford, which had an awesome line-up that season. Cocker finished third behind Knudsen and Nielsen, but ahead of the likes of Gundersen, Wigg, Ermolenko, Pedersen and Tatum. He was on fire in the closing months of that season. On paper, the Cheetahs had a weaker line-up than 1985. The unbeaten run in 1986 came about because Nielsen, Wigg & Cox were all at the top of their game. Even when a team picked up a lead against us, it was impossible to maintain it in the closing stages of the meeting. All the best Rob

Fascinating stuff Waihekaces. Where did Marvyn Cox come in 1986? I'm guessing he would have been handicapped by a poor World Final performance, while his amazing run in the Golden Helmet (beating, amongst others, Gundersen (from the back at Oxford), Morton (from the back at Belle Vue) and Doncaster) wasn't enough to drag him up? By the end of that season, Cocker was one of the form riders in the world. I recall him and Hans passing Erik on either side at Cradley, as Oxford pegged back for a draw at Dudley Wood in the KO Cup Final. All the best Rob

No, you can have your fifth highest rider at No 5, if you like. I think Scunny did that last season, with Leigh Lanham. All the best Rob

Yes, World Championship trophy between 1936-1938, the National League championship trophy in the fifties and sixties (last won by Oxford in 1964) and then the British Championship trophy. It's got quite a history. All the best Rob

More up-to-date, I sometimes wonder just how great Todd Wiltshire would have been, without the shattered pelvis that took him out of the sport for 5 years. He spent all that time out of racing, yet got back into the Grand Prix within a couple of years of starting again (rode Germany in 1997, rode for Oxford in 1998, qualifying for GP by winning 1999 ICF at Poole). Reached his first two finals in the GP in 2000, as well. How good would Todd have been if he hadn't been injured in 1992? A multiple World Champion? All the best Rob

It just shows how times have changed - can you imagine a meeting continuing in snow these days? I remember a couple of meetings at Oxford when I was young, around 1980 or 1981. The final meeting of 1980 was an Inter-League 4TT, right at the very end of October. Towards the end of the meeting, the temperature hit zero, and the final few races were completed, despite the fact the track was starting to freeze over. I was stood on the terracing, freezing over. And they cancelled the opportunity for kids to go around on the back of their favourite rider's bike (I ended up going around on Mick Fletcher's bike the following April, for my 8th birthday). Also, for another meeting, there was a really heavy thunderstorm at start-time. The riders simply waited for it to stop and then started the meeting. Times were the opening races were about 15-20 seconds more than usual. But by the last few heats, race times had returned to normal. Different times. All the best Rob

Gollob had an amazing career and was top value to watch, but I think both Crump and Pedersen are ahead of him. It's arguable as to who is best between Crump and Pedersen (I'd say Crumpie, but there was definitely a spell when Nicki was on top), but Gollob doesn't really come into the argument. Too inconsistent, compared to the other two. Gollob had one year he was on it throughout (2010), but otherwise he's struggled to maintain his momentum throughout a whole season. Mind you, if it was a last-heat decider in the World Cup, he's the rider I'd want ahead of any of them. All the best Rob

Big news for the 2016 season: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=4784 All the best Rob

Jason Doyle, Robert Lambert and Josh Auty confirmed. Shaping up to be a cracking meeting. All the best Rob

Great piece of investigative journalism in today's Oxford Mail: http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14264547.INVESTIGATION__Oxford_Stadium_owners_under_attack_after_revelation_it_was_making_profit_before_closure/ All the best Rob

Major announcement regarding the 2016 Scunthorpe Scorpions to be made tomorrow morning: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/ All the best Rob

Nicki had two very good seasons in 2007 and 2008. But when judging the overall record over the 5 seasons, it's Crumpie for me: World Championship: Crump Pedersen 2006 1st 3rd 2007 3rd 1st 2008 2nd 1st 2009 1st 6th 2010 3rd 10th All the best Rob

Humph, again I feel you're wanting to change things for the sheer sake of it. Personally I think having a scoring system of 2-2-0-0 for some races (for a 5-1) or 2-1-1-0 (a 4-2 or a 3-3) is only going to confuse things for the casual observer. 3-2-1-0 is simple and it works. If it ain't broke, then don't fix it. Speedway's challenge is persuading the general public that a night of speedway is good entertainment and a good night out, compared to all the counter attractions. It's all about the show and what can be done to improve it, not about re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, by making pointless changes to averages and the scoring system. All the best Rob

Steve, Lukas's home average was in excess of 9.00,so he was no slouch around Cowley. But it was an oddity that Martin Dugard could guest for him. There were other anomalies as well across the EL, with second strings and reserves being covered by heat leaders. It didn't work, and that's why it only lasted one season. All the best Rob

Steve, Cocker was fourth in our averages for most of 1985 (he even spent one month at reserve, during which he broke the track record in Heat 2, because Hans had been shepherding around Mel Taylor in Heat 1 to a 5-1), so a guest couldn't have been used for him. Facilities for only available for the heat leaders - at Oxford in 1985, that was Hans Nielsen, Simon Wigg and Andy Grahame. Riders 4-7 in the averages had to be replaced with riders from the National League, which is how Alastair Stevens and Nigel De'ath had their spells in the limelight towards the end of that season, after Klaus Lausch was injured. As for having home and away averages for guests, the year it was used was 2001. It enabled Oxford to use track specialist Martin Dugard in place of the injured Lukas Dryml. Not surprisingly, the Eastbourne No 1 romped to a maximum around his favourite track. It was one of these rules brought in with about five minutes thought, which was then dropped after a year because it clearly didn't work. The current rule used for the last several seasons, average + 5% for guests for home meetings, works much better. All the best Rob

I agree. No point in changing things for the sheer hell of it. It doesn't need fixing. All the best Rob

Looking forward to my first trip to Assen since 2012. All the best Rob

For someone who claims to be anti-PC, you're doing a very good impression of doing exactly the opposite here. I can't put it better than Ben Jones (Cooter) from the Dukes Of Hazzard: That flag on top of the General Lee made a statement that the values of the rural south were the values of courage and family and good times. Our beloved symbol is now being attacked in a wave of political correctness that is unprecedented in our nation of free speech and free expression. activists and politicians are vilifying Southern culture and our heritage as being bigoted and racist. We know that this is not the case. And we know that in Hazzard County there was never any racism. We are not racists. We despise racism and bigotry. and we think the people who are creating this 'cultural cleansing' are the real bigots in this story. When we say our flag stands for 'heritage, not hate' and 'pride, not prejudice', we mean it. And we believe that old saying, 'you can't know where you are going if you forget where you came from.' I'd say someone from the Southern States has a better idea of their values than someone from South Wales. Why do you want to take the heritage of these people away from them? All the best Rob

But comparing the Confederate Flag with the Nazi flag is ridiculous and shows your desperation. No-one in their right mind would use the Nazi flag from the outset of the second world war. On the other hand, the Confederate flag was plastered everyone in the 1970s, a hundred years after the American Civil War. Even over in the United States. Dave Lanning was/is a highly intelligent man. Would he introduced a flag if it had any connotations? Of course not. In fact, the whole '72 Oxford programme had a theme - a cartoon of Lanning in Southern uniform, etc. The flag was never the problem. The problem was the people who have perverted it, in recent times. Most notably, last year. Fair play to Somerset for changing it, but there was no problem to anyone using it in 1972 or 1976 or 2000. All the best Rob

Typical Shawn But it's interesting the lack of response he gets - people were hardly clamouring on board asking for the Confederate Flag to be removed from the Somerset race-jacket, were they? All the best Rob

Iris, thanks for that one. No I didn't realise. In which case, that's one nickname that wasn't randomly picked from the air. I should have guessed, due to the lack of alliteration. Apart from the flag didn't have those connotations until mid-2015. Until those murders last year, did you see a single complaint about Oxford, White City or Somerset using the Confederate flag? If so, please provide me the link to the thread. Ta. All the best Rob

I suspect it's as simple as alliteration: Brandon Bees. Same as Poole Pirates, Leicester Lions, Reading Racers, (Middles)Boro Bears and so on. All the best Rob

Oxford Owls sounds awful to me Most speedway teams are nicknamed with something appropriate to the fast and/or extreme nature of the sport. Many nicknames have nothing to do with British culture e.g. Vikings (Scandinavian), Tigers (mostly Asian based), Cheetahs (mostly in Africa), etc. Oxford were after updating their image in 1972 (a new start after poor seasons from 1966 to 1971), and as you say, there was a bit of a craze on for the American South, so Rebels was adopted. All the best Rob

In that case, I think we pretty much agree. Sadly, people with extremist views have perverted the flag. However, my argument was with rmc's assertion that: "it was stupid and irrelevant to use it on a British speedway race-jacket - in Oxford in 1972, White City in 1976 and Somerset now." How can you retroactively lay out blame for using a flag four decades ago for what stands for today? It's bizarre logic. Oxford Speedway was not racist, nor was White City Speedway or Somerset Speedway, nor was the Dukes Of Hazzard. It was just a flag, which had no connotations at the time. All the best Rob

rmc, nice for you to brand me 'stupid' and 'pathetic'. However, maybe I've done something you haven't and checked the facts and the history. BOTH sides, the North and the South, had slaves. The Confederate Flag was not about slavery or racism. Yes, slavery may have taken place in the southern states, but it also did so in the north. Racism in the US was still widespread, until and beyond Martin Luther King. So are you suggesting the US flag should also be banned? I can understand Somerset's decision, given last year's tragic events. The flag isn't racist, however last year's murders were, and no-one wants to be associated with those. But if there was such an issue with Oxford (1972), White City (1976) or Somerset (2000) using it, how come no-one ever mentioned a thing about it until last June? That's where the PC brigade have gone daft, with comments such as The Dukes Of Hazzard was racist. Don't be so bloody daft. All the best Rob