lucifer sam

Freddie would be No1 for my Welsh team. I decided to start with seven World Champs as my England team. If Havelock or Loram didn't come up to expectations, they'd be replaced pretty quickly by Jack Parker and Eric Langton / Tom Farndon for the second match. All the best Rob

In a ENGLAND team? :D All the best Rob

Blimey, this one is tough, having to leave out three World Champs from the first choice seven!! First team: Ove Fundin Hans Nielsen Erik Gundersen Ole Olsen Tony Rickardsson Bjorn Knutsson Anders Michanek Squad members: Nicki Pedersen (can’t believe I’ve left out a three-time champ, but I want both Knutsson and Michanek in their prime!!) Per Jonsson (such a great rider, but no room) Jan O Pedersen (ditto) Bengt Jansson Olle Nygren Tommy Knudsen Arne Pander Gote Nordin Sverre Harrfeldt Niels-Kristian Iversen could break into the squad at some point over the next two or three years!! Sorry to England, Australasia, America and East Europe, but this is the strongest subsection!! All the best Rob

First choice team: Ivan Mauger Barry Briggs Ronnie Moore Jack Young Jason Crump Bluey Wilkinson Vic Duggan Squad members: Lionel Van Praag Chris Holder Leigh Adams Billy Sanders Phil Crump Vic Huxley Graham Warren Aub Lawson All the best Rob

First choice team: Peter Craven Peter Collins Michael Lee Tommy Price Gary Havelock Mark Loram Tai Woffinden Squad members: Jack Parker Tom Farndon Eric Langton Split Waterman Ray Wilson Malcolm Simmons John Louis Simon Wigg I wouldn’t have Dave Jessup. His machinery was not up to scratch. All the best Rob

First choice team: Jack Milne Bruce Penhall Sam Ermolenko Billy Hamill Greg Hancock Dennis Sigalos Shawn Moran Squad members: Wilbur Lamoreaux Cordy Milne Bobby Schwartz Kelly Moran Scott Autrey Lance King Eric Chitty All the best Rob

I'm starting to edge to replacing Plech with Wyglenda in my starting seven, as Wyglenda outscores Plech 4 to 0 in terms of FIM Gold Medals, and was very much a leading light in all four of those. All the best Rob

I’m going for: Gollob (no reason needed) Plechanov (twice World No 2, and rubbed shoulders with the likes of Fundin & Mauger) Szczakiel (1973 World Champ, and 1971 World Pairs Final paid max) Hampel (three times in the top three of the world, and often the star for the Polish World Cup squad) Plech (World No 2 in 1979, World No 3 in 1973 and a quality performer over a period of time) Sayfutdinov (maybe 2013 World Champion but for injury) Kasprzak (2014 World No 2) On stand-by: Wyglenda (the leading light of three Polish World Team Cup successes, and 1971 World Pairs Final paid max) Woryna (twice World No 3, and another crucial member of Polish WTC successes) Waloszek (1970 World No 2) Samorodov (almost caused a sensation at Wembley in '64) Jancarz (1968 World No 3) All the best Rob Well, he's going in mine, because I need someone who can beat the mighty Ivan in a sudden death run-off, if we finish 39-39 against the Best-Ever NZ team at Katowice. All the best Rob Yes, the race is on YouTube. It should be pointed out that Georg Traunspurger's decision to allow the race to continue was FIM policy at this time. For example, in the 1974 final, a race was allowed to continue, despite the fact a stricken (and injured) Ole Olsen was on the track. The ref in '74 was Tore Kittelsen. Races were only stopped as the last resort after a rider fell. Unthinkable these days, but that's how it was. All the best Rob

Things have drastically improved in recent years. In 1999, Oxford went to Ipswich in a top-tier match with a single week’s notice. I think the meeting was on March 18th, so the fixtures came out that year in around the second week of March. Likewise we knew about a CL match at Wimbledon in early April 2003 again with about a week’s notice i.e. the third-tier fixtures for that year came out at the end of March. It’s now mid-January for the EL & PL, and early February for the NL – that’s actually a big improvement. All the best Rob

What no Jerzy Szczakiel yet? The rider who beat the legendary Ivan Mauger TWICE in the '73 World Final (the only other rider to achieve that feat was John Louis in 1975), and scored a paid maximum in the 1971 World Pairs Final, as he & Wyglenda overcame the might of Ivan/Briggo. Mauger-to-Szczakiel head-to-head between 1971 and 1973: Mauger 7, Szczakiel 6. How many riders were capable of going head-to-head with Ivan over a three-year period? Mauger said he thought Szczakiel was a massively under-rated rider in his biography - I agree with that. Or are we only including riders to have competed in British Speedway? All the best Rob I didn't think he had a British club until Wimbledon in 1977. All the best Rob

Indeed. Sending out the Press Releases on behalf of Oxford Speedway, I've tried to avoid giving anyone false hope. I have to say there were points where I thought it was pointless. Standing out in the cold outside the Kassam Stadium on a cold winter's morning collecting signatures, wondering what the point was. Fortunately, the likes of Ian Sawyer and Rob Dunn ploughed on (I dread to think how many phone calls Ian has made), to bring us to where we are now. They've worked hard to make sure we have complete support from the local council. Now there is a chance that it could happen. Of course, it might not either. But there is at least a chance. Things do look better than at any time since 2008. Fingers and toes and other bodily parts crossed. All the best Rob

O'Sullivan is wildly inconsistent, and a number of players such as Peter Ebdon knew how to grind him down. O'Sullivan has never achieved anywhere near the level Hendry maintained from 1990 to 1996. I stopped watching snooker at one point, because it was so boring with Hendry just winning everything time after time after time. I disliked Hendry with a passion because he kept on beating Jimmy White, but I still admit he's very easily the best of all-time. Snooker's an easy one to determine the all-time great. All the best Rob

Nope, Hendry by a country mile. O'Sullivan has always been erratic, whereas Hendry was almost unbeatable for most of the 90s, winning tournament after tournament, year after year. Jimmy White played brilliant snooker in the '92 and '94 world championships, but still couldn't dislodge the impossibly-consistent Hendry. As for speedway, much harder to judge. How on earth do you separate Wilkinson from Duggan (never World champ but won the '48 equivalent) from Young from Fundin from Mauger from Nielsen from Rickardsson from Hancock? The machinery has changed too much to tell. All the best Rob Muller was deserving champ in '83, but it was only Nielsen's e/f in Heat 19 that allowed him to score the full maximum. Mich in 1974, Olsen in 1975, Nielsen in 1989 and Jan O in 1991 were all more dominant performances in finals that exist on video. All the best Rob Some research 3 or 4 of us did a few years ago. Highest-ever top-flight league averages: 1. Nielsen 11.83 (1986) 2. Nielsen 11.73 (1987) 3. Fundin 11.60 (1958) 4. Michanek 11.55 (1973) 5. Duggan 11.54 (1947) 6. Mauger 11.53* (1969) *widely reported as 11.74, but two tapes exclusions were accidentally excluded from the figures. All the best Rob

Good news. Tyler and his dad are smashing people. All the best Rob

With Danno, it was eights months from the offence. The offence was at the end of September 2000, he could ride again from the end of May 2001. All the best Rob

SCB, the only previous case of a speedway rider failing an alcohol test before an FIM event that I can think of was Stefan Danno, who was banned for 8 months. All the best Rob

SCB, I'm not really sure who I've ended up agreeing and disagreeing with - unlike some, I don't come on here just for a good argument, but rather to make my own point. But I do disagree with anyone trying to place the place solely at the door of the BSPA and the promoters. It's quite clear, after doing minimal research, that other sports have had similar problems e.g. Rugby League, which had to get its house in order. It's just taken UKBA/UKV&I a bit longer with the less high-profile sport of speedway. All the best Rob

Here's proof this is not a unique speedway problem: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_league/super_league/celtic_crusaders/8207827.stm http://www.superleaguefans.com/rugby-league/2011/04/28/ukba-to-work-closer-with-super-league-clubs.html Every sport has to comply, and every sport has misunderstood the regulations at times. All the best Rob

SCB, I see what you're saying, although I would say EL and PL are both at a very similar level... as many riders compete in both. There are many riders in the PL who have competed at international level (e.g. Speedway World Cup, wildcards in the GP, etc), so I would say it's higher than League 1 or 2. The only football division with lots of international players other than the Premiership is the Championship. Since 1997 and the current the league set-up, the PL has been a cosmopolitan league, consisting of riders of many nationalities and not really like Leagues 1 and 2 in football at all. It's set at a higher level (if only the riders were paid at a higher level!!). But yes every sport has to comply with the guidelines. It's clear speedway isn't alone here, and the problem does seem to be education rather than deliberate avoidance, hence the need for workshops before the Sponsorship Certificates are reinstated. All the best Rob

BWitcher, your stats are impressive. However, I don't quite see what League 2 has to do with it. In terms of level: Elite League = football's Premiership Premier League = football's Championship The National League is then at a much lower level, maybe on par with the Blue Square Premier/Conference in football. So, the obvious question is, non-British players in football's Championship? In particular, players on a visa. How many are there? Even then, any comparison is just that... a comparison. As every sport is unique. Some are easy to play, with e.g. just a pair of boots. Others require far more equipment, skill, etc. All the best Rob

What odds can I get on: "Before the end of January" i.e. before Darcy's verdict. All the best Rob

When ages of riders are taken into consideration, it's the age at the start of the year. If a rider is 21 on January 2nd, then they can still compete in the Under-21 events for that season. All the best Rob

Hi all, It's been really interesting to read through this thread. Just a reminder of the meeting at the Warren Lodge tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7.30pm: http://scunthorpescorpions.co/?p=2319 All the best Rob Peasley

In the meantime, you could use full editor and edit your OP All the best Rob

I forgot: Pawlicki and Janowski All the best Rob