Reviresco

Indeed, the GM was to prove to be the engine to be on from then on. (Some of us tried to persuade a certain Australian rider to switch to GMs for the 1984 World Championships, but he went with his special, trusted 'out of the box' Weslake which was shown to be outdated by then. It would have been good to have seen him on one at the Overseas Final at Bradford in 1985, but it was not meant to be.) By the by, in my previous post I didn't mean to denigrate any of the British (or Wembley) riders who qualified for, but failed to win, any Wembley World Final. All speedway riders hold my utmost respect and qualifying for a Final was a fantastic achievement.

Muller certainly flew at Norden that year. Also remember seeing him scoring 6pts from 5 rides in the World Pairs Final at Ullevi that year. A score bettered by all but 2 other riders in that meeting. I just feel that Muller would not have won in 1983 if the Final had been held in any other country that year, whether he was flying or not. (On the old 3 year rota system, of course, the World Final would have been due to have been held in Ullevi in 1983.) As regards all those British (and Wembley) riders who did not win at Wembley. They most likely wouldn't have won wherever the World Final was held. Only my opinion of course. History is history though and it will always tell us that Muller won a World Championship, Gollob won a GP series and, to date, Hancock and Pedersen have won more than one each.

Just goes to show, imo, how much advantage Muller enjoyed on that day in Norden.

Muller's title may not have been a fluke and he may have been a (very very) good rider but, imo, he would not have won the 1983 title if it had been held in any other country than Germany. Witnessing his performance in the World Pairs final that year against Sanders' and others, shows the home advantages he enjoyed that day in Norden, again imo, had a huge impact on the result. One of the factors that, I think, is overlooked in Gollob's GP performances was the immense pressure he was under from his fellow countrymen to bring a World Championship back to Poland for the first time since 1973 - more so, imo, than any other rider in the series and, just maybe, having more than one GP per season in Poland was more of a hindrance than a help. I feel very privileged to have watched Gollob ride on all sizes of tracks, be it in the GPs or during his spell with the Witches. As for Darcy, if he gets back into the series within the next 5 years - probably he will win one, but another rider who may have had a better chance under the one off system than the GPs.

Thank you for confirming my 'Kiwi' friend.

Not Hampel? IMO, surely a regular, loyal, contributor to the GP series who has been runner-up twice and also finished third and was placed third in this year's series before his injury deserves to be considered in the current top 15 in the world and 'deserves' a wild card for 2016 ahead of any of Ward, Emil, Lindback or Kildemand? But I see that you have Lindback in twice - from the GP Challenge and as a wildcard, so maybe you meant Jarek and not Antonio as a wildcard.

Ah, so you are saying now that Auty was overriding and out of control before he hit Tungate and that Auty took him out at the end of the 2nd bend in the first running of Heat 10. A very good case for an exclusion then. So, the referee was in fact not correct in allowing A4B and, as has been said previously on this Thread, if Auty had been excluded from the re-run, he wouldn't have been on track for any incident to occur in the re-run.

No, he said that an Australian rider has won every heat that an Australian rider has been in - and he's correct. Doyle won the heat that Holder finished last in and Batchelor won the heat that Doyle retired from.

That was one of the worst decisions I've seen in watching speedway for 40+ years. Totally agree that, on that basis, there should never be another All 4 Back again.

Liked the tribute on the back of Tai's kevlars - 'This one is for Rob, Daz & Shaz'. Having just watched my recording of the meeting, this didn't seem to be picked up by Pearson & Tatum unlike Greg's tribute to Darren Boocock - but I may have missed it.

Even more remarkable considering that he, Covatti, was knocked out in the qualifying round at Abensberg where he finished 12th on 5pts. Not quite sure how a rider can fail to qualify in a previous round and then be given a wildcard for a later qualification event and be allowed to qualify from that.

National Hunt Racing, Rugby Union (Northampton Saints & Super Rugby Chiefs), Tennis, Boxing, Moto GP - used to love Superbikes when Aaron Slight & Fogarty were racing, Athletics when it doesn't drag on too much.

And agreed with you too '51', and '"tirade" was a poor choice of words - far too harsh, but the best my old befuddled brain could come up with at the time, please re-read as: "launch your sarcastic comments at" as I appreciate that most of the comments are meant in a jovial rather than personal insults. Yours Speedway, Neil

As an ex Ipswich Witches fan from 1972 to 1980 & again from 1983 to 85, and a Witches follower these days - as I don't go and watch them ride that often, I tend to agree with this comment as CL does appear to come across as whingeing quite a lot of times (and certainly nowhere near in the 'put down' league of the late John Berry) but, that said, if it wasn't for Chris and, more importantly, his Dad John, there woud most likely not be a speedway team in Ipswich and therefore on balance I can accept the often immature comments as, I would much rather have an active Ipswich Witches and not just one that we remember from the archives of our brain. And, let's face it, you Monarchs fans(and others) would have one less to team to launch your tirade of sarcastic comments at. Yours in Speedway

I didn't get down that far, but will try to remember to take a look next time With Regards

I enjoyed last night's coverage. The two of them seemed a lot more relaxed, which suited both of them. Speedway, as its nature, revs itself up - you don't need the commentators doing that too. I felt that I was in Scott's front room watching the meeting with him. Keep it up lads and thanks to Eurosport for picking up the international speedway. Best Regards

Pedersen is 666 - absolutely love it. Best Regards

Thanks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated. All the best

Yes, thanks again Sidney. You summed Bill's career up perfectly there. Not many 16 year old lads arrived from Australia in those days and went straight into a top league side. Bill survived his first two years well. I think I remember his first heat at Foxhall was as a Reserve replacement in Heat 1 and he won it beating the then current World No. 3 Bengt Jansson. Then came out and won Heat 2. Bill's riding style was awesome, pure natural balance and when the full face helmets came in, it added to his image on a bike. Poetry in motion. He was equally as good on water skis. As you say, lost his way a bit in league racing in 1980 and '81 - despite coming 3rd in the '80 World Final, but came back strongly in '82. I remember Bill was asked to guest for the Witches three times in '82 when John Cook went AWOL and, I think, got maximums in each. I was at his house in Werrington County in February '83 when he took a call from Ole Olsen trying to persuade Bill to ride for Coventry as he saw him as his replacement, but Bill was set on returning to Foxhall. I thought it wasn't a good idea, but he had re-learnt how to ride the white line at Liverpool during the Australian season and his riding in '83, '84 and for 1mth of '85 was a delight. His ability to team ride, gate, pass inside or out, cut back were brilliant and he was an honour and a joy to watch. Was at Smallmead when the Witches clinched the league title in '84 and the delight on his face captaining his Witches team was brilliant to see. Then up to Hyde Road for the 1st leg of the Cup Final against the 'unbeatable' Aces. Bill got a maximum on a track that was so frozen it was almost unrideable. Then back to Foxhall for the Sunday afternoon 2nd leg and more joy on the Rooty Hill Rocket's face. Won the Aussie title at the beginning of '85 but sadly never rode at Bradford in the Overseas Final with Stan Bear taking his place. Think Bill was on a 11.5 League Cup average at the time of his death. He had won the Golden Helmet at home riding Richard Knight's bike and then lost it to Bo Petersen at Blunsdon, but we never got to see him try to regain it at the return fixture at Foxhall on the Thursday as, after being withdrawn from the meeting at Monmore on the Monday, the awful news came through on the Tuesday. So many good times, so many stories and memories. Happy Days. Bill winning the Daily Express Spring Classic at Wimbledon as a complete outsider, his ready smile, the '80 and '83 World Finals, the '83 World Pairs Final, his sense of humour, his walking round the Foxhall track on his hands, his passion for speedway, his captaining of the Witches at Eastbourne when John Louis wasn't available and his '84 captaincy will live in the memory forever. Sad that he never made a Wembley World Final - in '81 I was at Brisbane when he won the Austrailian title and in the pits at Liverpool for the Australasian Final when he missed qualification by a point, after being excluded in one re-run heat on the 2min rule after having laid his bike down to avoid Mitch Shirra who had fallen in front of him. Needed to win his last heat to be in a run-off, but Gugliemi wasn't keen to help him, after all that Billy had done for Gugliemi and Gugliemi gated and Bill couldn't find a way past. Both Billy and Phil Crump ended on the same points, but Phil decided not to contest the run-off to decide who would be reserve for the Overseas Final at White City. Think Jason was about 5 years old at the time, running round the pits during practise, never knowing he would one day be a 3 x World Champion. Of course, sadly, Billy's son Dean also took his own life a few year's after Billy. I would be surprised if Billy didn't record double figures at every track he rode at the last time..... Sorry to have gabbled on, particularly on a Michael Lee thread. With Best Regards

Lets hope Emil can handle the National pressure as well as Mr G has done most of the time. Carrying the expectations of a nation, particularly when you have 2 or 3 SGPs in your country each year is not an easy task. I'm sure Emil can as he seems well grounded and a lovely lad. With tghe emergence of more Russian riders this may help Emil. Tomasz virtually had to do it on his own for many years until Jarek came along. Maybe Russia will win the Team Cup as many times as Poland some time in the future? Whether speedway in Russia will ever be as big as it is in Poland is open to debate. Totally agree with your Day & Nicholls comments. Nice and relaxed, chatty and imformative, not many Umms and Arrrs and - no Woahs! With Regards

Enjoyed the meeting and the coverage tonight, despite the track. Great stadium, great crowd and Day & Nicholls were very good even with Day getting riders wrong a couple of times and Scott politely correcting him. I too enjoyed the Tai and Hans clip and, as TheReturn says, would be good to see more items like this of the riders away from the track - though maybe not Darcy Ward Always will remember Julia Bradbury interviewing Ryan Sullivan in a swimming pool in her bikini - Julia, not Ryan. More of that type of filler would be enjoyable..... Now, are the Lada girls better than the Monster girls..... Best Regards

Thanks again Sidney. Phil's home tracks, Mildura and Swindon, were neither of Bill's favourites and I even remember being in the pits at Bunsdon when Bill pulled out of the meeting as he thought the track was too dangerous. You couldn't reason with him when he was in that mood. And the incident when he finished behind a Swindon rider, possibly Martin Yeates, in a heat and a Robins fan came on to the drog track and threw the w*nker sign at Bill. Billy being Billy and an ex amateur boxer waved the fan over to the fence and then threw a right hook whilst still sitting on his bike. The security guys then escorted the 'fan' from the stadium. I'm unsure if it was, but it might have been the '83 Australian Final in Adelaide when Bill got booed by the crowd after Phil was excluded in one heat and Billy did his famous 'get stuffed' acceptance speech on the rostrum. Good times. JB may have said that the best was yet to come and I do not believe in speaking ill of the departed, but I do hold JB responsible in many ways for Bill's sad early departure at the age of 29. JB thought Bill only rode well when he was wearing an Australian race jacket, advised him badly financially and should never of let Bill miss his last programmed meeting at Monmore Green the day before his death, let alone leave him unsupervised on the Tuesday. JB treated Bill badly with his Benefit meeting too, especially considering the service that Bill gave to Ipswich Speedway. I'd written to Bill in Australia and tried to talk with him when he came back for the start of the '85 season, but not living near Ipswich, I never had a chance to stop him doing what he did. Ipswich Town were playing at home that night and friends said that there was a horrible in take of breath in the stadium when the announcement was made. I remember receiving the phone call and then being contacted by his mum and sisters to try and find out why and what had happened. JB didn't even pay to fly Bill's ashes home. Trevor Harding (Uncle Ghost) and I did. Now don't get me on Finn Thomsen, now that was a rider Bill did not get on with. There weren't many, but Finn was definitely one. With Regards.

Thought the meeting came over well tonight, despite the track. Cracking stadium and crowd. Thought Steve & Scott did very well, despite Day calling the incorrect rider a couple of times. A popular home winner. Laguta, Pedersen & Tai riding well and Mr G being his frustrating best 0,0,3,3,3 beating Emil in his 4th ride. Best Regards

And he's riding well again in Russia tonight. Good lad.

They'd be the only ones then. Not popular down Ipswich way Mr Carr. Talking about JL, it's about time he was recognised for his contribution to the sport as a rider and then a promoter. IMO, JL would have been an individual World Champion if he'd started the sport at a younger age. Saw him ride at Brooklands, I think in 1970. Won all his heats by half a lap. Dave Jessup was equally as dominant around that time in the National League, or whatever it was called then. It's probably a myth, but I heard he did a commercial for Castrol and was asked to drop the clutch late so he could be filmed overtaking the other three riders. Without JL, there may not be any speedway in Ipswich. The Council at least should recognise his efforts and achievements. With Regards.