stevehone

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300 Kelly Moran? 298 would guess at Kai Niemi but i don't think it is

Mr BilaHora, You forgot to mention what a nice bloke he is too Regards Steve Hone

feel lucky that i have some fantastic memories from years gone by ... i remember September 1982 when when we lived in Raynes Park near Wimbledon .. we had a new gas heater fitted by British Gas, and when he was finished the bloke who fitted it saw on the sideboard (had em in those days ) the programme from the Los Angeles world final we'd been to and mentioned he did a bit of grasstrack ... we got chatting about stuff and the bloke turned out to be Steve Schofield. my journeys across London to Hackney in the Friday rush hour traffic were always eventful for one reason or another ... having cyclist ride into the car door as it got thrown open, running out of petrol on Whitechapel Road, getting hit by a Volvo ... twice... same one ... within 5 minutes ... lots more as a kid watching speedway bikes being cleaned on the driveway and wondering why when you pulled the clutch in, the back wheel would move ... but on the track you had to let the clutch out to make the bike move ... baffled me for years that one. also riding up and down the road racing my brother on our push-bikes with playing cards in the back wheel (held in with pegs) to give our engine noises, and with one of us wearing a New Zealand bodycolour, the other wearing Exeter ... had arguments who wore what. i remember working for Phil Pratt engine tuning and would get all the riders coming over ... Kenny Carter (one of the nicest and funniest blokes ever) with his mechanics Richard & Ollie, Mitch Shirra, Rod Hunter (boy could he chat ) many many more ... great fun ... and listening to Radio 1 with Steve Wright in the afternoon, and Simon Bates and Gary Davies in the mornings .... the 'good old days'

it wasn't me honest, whatever he says, i didn't do it

strange that really, as i was brought up with Wimbledon, Hackney, Eastbourne, Rye House and totally longed to be near a big fast track ... i always wished i had a track like Hyde Road or Odsal local to me

or rather the 'fabrication' of size Norbold

Bradford was an awesome track ... and sorely missed in speedway if you can get other videos well worth it ... world finals on video from there are a must

280 looks like Cook, Schwartz, Carter 281 ??, Collins??, Davis?? 282 Dave Bargh??

Ivan rates his win in Poland 1970 as his greatest achievement due to the dominance of Poles on their own circuit and as you say, the practise they had beforehand. also that year, things were made totally uncomfortable for Mauger with regards to where he stayed, where he was in the pits, and problems given to him by the Polish officials. this was a meeting that was going to be won by a Pole no matter what ... Ivan just showed his talent again

hey, Szczakiel was a superstar (well for one meeting he was anyway ... think he was booed off the track in the WTC)

hehe ... Ivan Mauger it is then 6 individual titles 3 runner up 3 longtrack titles 2 runner up 4 world cup winning medals 2 world pairs winner medals 4 x European Champion 1 x Intercontinental Champion 4 x British Champion MBE OBE Man of the Millennium etc etc etc and i still think Kenny Carter was my favourite rider ... too many times having to give your bed up to Ivan knocks just a little bit of the shine off

but riders are still happy to put British speedway as 3rd choice in priorities

with what he's said after, i reckon Mung

i think the point is that the number of real challengers for the title differed from era to era .... when it was Gundersen/Nielsen there were those two as hot favourites ... after that there was maybe two or three that could be considered good enough to win. when you look back a few years, there was possibly 10 that could have gone and won a world final

especially if Gundersen was still around and riding

the argument could go on for ever as everyone will have their own theories ... all i go on is what i have seen and the stats. Ivan's individual record is pretty good ... in 70 world final races (not counting run-offs) he actually WON 45 of them ... that's not bad when up against the best. he only had 3 x 3rd places, 1 x 4th, 1 x fall, and 1 x EF ... that record speaks for itself ... out and out consistency add that to 3 world longtrack titles, and i'd say he was pretty good

when i see you on MSN i'll tell you ... bear in mind there is ONE jawa importer in the UK

can't really go on match races as these are all for show, but if times are faster, then fair play. have had more than one good chat with Ivan and Vaclav Verner about the merits of laydown engines compared to the older Jap/2-valve etc, and both agree whole heartedly that the laydowns are just far too easy to ride. when you put that together with slick tracks you have both ingredients required to look good. opponents for both eras is a little harder to call ... Mauger (without the 'i') era ... he 'only' had to contend with the likes of Briggs, Olsen, Michanek, Peter Collins, Mike Lee (at his best), Fundin (although at the end of his great career), Harrfeldt, Ronnie Moore (once again leaning towards the end of his career), the Poles on their own tracks were unbelievable, and the list could go on ... Rickardsson era ... Jason Crump, Hamill, Hancock, maybe Loram, Gollob, Leigh Adams the list could go on here too ... sometimes i feel had GP's been around in Mauger's era he would have won more titles, and had one-off finals stayed, Rickardsson may not have won so many... swings and roundabouts really, but something everyone has to agree on is that both were/are (Ivan can still get round a track pretty sharpish) fantastic riders.

"Where Are They Now" thread ... at least it answered a question for me ... 'where's all my dirty washing'

thought i was going mad (again) at least i know who plays on my pc while i'm at work now

made my NL debut at Berrington Lough in 1986 ... nice little track but still managed to fall off 3 times in 2 races still won my 2nd half race though http://community.webshots.com/photo/77513670/116107559FIHOuF thought the people there were really friendly and had a good time before and after the meeting chatting and having a laugh i seem to remember Dick Barrie was on the mic at the time too, which was a good laugh too

i've got no idea!!! don't remember editing that post ... and so long after posting originally

Spellchecker,Steve <{POST_SNAPBACK}> just making sure you were paying attention

and has the weirdest Norweigan/Irish accent too!