fatface

Thanks for that. I must say, I don't dismiss Davis as a nobody. He was decent enough and actually, I'd have him down as someone who got the maximum from his ability. But when I see that list, its main thrust is that he could do well at Wimbledon. That doesn't mean he was an elite rider. The Master of Speedway is probably the best of that list. The 1977 WTC, well, that was a time when England's biggest opposition would be England B or England C. The Czech Golden Helmet is also a great one to win, but was he beating a keyed up Nielsen, Gundersen, Sanders, Knudsen, Moran, Morton, Wigg etc? Stancl doesn't quite cut it for elite.

Surprised John Davis being mentioned as a top rider. I just never saw him that way at all. I'm sure I read somewhere Mavis himself suggesting he could have been world champion under a GP system, which is laughable. Stick him on a slick dust bowl and he could be competitive with his gating and good equipment, but talent wise, he was never in the world's elite. He couldn't hold his line effectively like a world class rider can. Most races in which he features on YouTube, he is getting overtaken by better riders. That he managed to reach the 88 World Final was more an indication of the loss of so many big names in a short space of time. As for Larry Ross, I'd concur with Waiheke1. He lost his edge from 83 when he was on the way down. But in 81 & 82, he did everything and more that could be expected of him. He filled the boots of PC well in 81 and was the key man in winning the title in 82, outperforming Mort and PC away from home as well as stepping up and delivering in umpteen last heat deciders, especially at Reading and Coventry to give the Aces title winning 40-38 wins. He brought the happiness

Easy. That's my era you are talking about there! Seriously though, as much as I was into the sport then, I'd be kidding myself that the sport didn't fall behind badly in that period. Some of it bad luck, some of it external factors, but plenty of it through poor management and lack of foresight. The 80s started with a host of household names....PC, Mauger, Olsen, Lee, Carter, Penhall, World Finals in front of packed crowds at Wembley, Gothenburg, regular terrestrial tv coverage, national media interest and some iconic stadiums like Hyde Road and Plough Lane. By the late 80s/early 90s all of that was gone.

Well, you can't please everyone all of the time. I've been to around 75% of Cardiff GPs. I've seen incredible racing there, poor racing there and mostly, some pretty passable decent stuff. But every single time I have found the atmosphere in and around the stadium to be fantastic. Of course, everyone's different, but the consistent 40k crowd suggest I am far from being alone in my experience.

I agree with some of this. But I think it's telling to look at where the BLRC (or today's incarnation) is. It's a perfect example of what happens when a sport doesn't evolve and move forward. Today's Riders Championship is light years behind the occasion the BLRC was. The World Final was heading the same way at Norden, Vojens, Pocking and so forth. Without the evolution of the GPs, there is no doubt the World Championship would have been a pretty tepid occasion, untelevised in some British, Swedish or Polish backwater. Anyone who thinks the continuation of World Finals would have meant massive Wembley occasions is kidding themselves. I got to a few World Finals....Norden, Bradford, Amsterdam, Bradford and Wroclaw...I can honestly say that all of them have been bettered by GP occasions I have attended in Cardiff, Torun, Bydgoszcz. Agree. Some of the modern day racing in the GPs is staggering. You could spend hours scouring footage from the 70s, 80s on YouTube and you wouldn't find anything to beat some from the stuff served up by Zmarzlik, Woffinden, Janowski, Laguta, Sayfutdinov, Doyle and Lindgren. I admit to not be as invested in today's racing as I was in the 80s/90s...perhaps that's more to do with my age and other life commitments taking precedent? But I couldn't squarely look a modern day fan in the eye and tell them all the racing was better in the 80s/90s, it simply wasn't.

Ah Taffy. Taker of my weekly pocket money throughout the 1980s in exchange for finest speedway merchandise. Gone, but never forgotten. Condolences to all his loved ones.

and Larry Ross and Andy Smith aren't too far off mine either.

Great stuff. I frequently dragged University mates along to Powderhall in early 90s. Friday night, student discount, close to city centre, it was a great place to start the weekend. On a car related theme, travelled to the Latvian GP once and had to make that terrible drive from Riga to Daugvapils. I contrived to forget my driving license for the car hire company. No problem though. It was though when pulled over the local police for breaking the pedestrian speed limit of 60km/h on the road across Latvia. Still, a few crisp notes popped (about £50) into the policeman's top pocket and we were (less swiftly) on our way again.

Raced there myself...in a cross country run...not in a 1928 motorcycle racing meeting! Utterly oblivious it was the same hallowed turf at the time though

Yep. Cradley is a real gap...just never got down there. Perhaps it was to do with it being a Saturday night track like Belle Vue. Still, I got to Coventry umpteen times. More recently based in Devon, I certainly had a few chances to get to Trelawny and missed that one too. Doh!

Trelawny, Cradley, Wembley, White City, Long Eaton

Hyde Road Sheffield Somerset Hackney Torun

He was everything that was good about the National League. Not the most professional, not the most talented, always approachable, often chaotic, but always exciting and 100% effort.

Surprised to read that about Per Jonsson. From an outsiders perspective, he seemed to have a great partnership with riders like Dave Mullet. There were a lot of top riders prematurely lost to the sport in that era, but I always thought in pure speedway terms, he still had the most left to give before his career was cut short.

Chris Morton, Peter Collins, Richard Green, Shawn Moran, Les Collins

Very sorry to hear that. Obviously he was a huge supporter of the sport and a talented writer. In many ways, it is incredible a weekly magazine of the quality of Speedway Star is still going....no doubt his passion for the sport was a huge, huge part of that.

Is it really that different? I was in Bydgoszcz a month ago working at an athletics event. People speak English, drink beer, eat meat and two veg, same music, same fashion in a relatively affluent Western society. It's a lot different from when I was there in 1992 and I'm sure older fans will concur a lot different from the 70s and 80s. Non-Poles have spent years riding (and in some cases) living there with Polish clubs, not to mention sponsors, mechanics and plenty of people they all know.

You're on safer ground with Muller and Szczakiel of course. I don't think anyone would question that they would never have won in another country or in a GP format. Both victories owed something to elements beyond their own ability, be it track preparation, mechanical, questionable officiating or team mate assistance....and the opposition being in unfamiliar territory. Can't really say that of the GPs. When you list PC's route, it sounds straightforward. But it needs context. This was a time when the UK was the epicentre of world speedway. PC was no more at home than Mauger, Olsen, Crump and all the rest where...it was all of their bases and where they rode more than anywhere else...just as Poland is today. I'd also add that in PC's route, three world finallists and WTC/World Pairs winners (Betts, Wilson, Jessup) were eliminated in the British Final and the two immediately previous World Champions (Olsen and Michanek) were eliminated at the Intercontinental Final. "Easy" is not a word many would use. It's rather more the opposite...you'd be hard pressed to find a more cut-throat World Championship qualifier ever than the 1976 Intercontinental Final with 8 eliminated in a deep field. Yes, we'd all like to see the GPs spread around a bit, but given COVID, we have a very credible series on tracks not unfamiliar to the whole field.

In PC's case. almost certainly. He was head and shoulders the best rider in 1976 and Poland's wide tracks suited him perfectly. A year later (injured) he top scored in the WTC in Wroclaw and a year before (1975) he scored 17 and 18 in two test matches in Poland. Whilst not quite as dominant, Havelock was brilliant all year in 1992. They won because they were the best. Just as Zmarzlik and the rest are doing now. You could make a case if these were unfamiliar tracks to the non-Poles, but they are not.

Sorry I missed that.

Before my time, but Jim Airey stepped away at his peak. Definitely worth an inclusion in any list.

Not really. A solitary crime of passion cannot be equated with a systematic lifetime of calculated abuse of scores of children.

Ouch. Can't argue with that.

Keith Millard and Rob Lightfoot, two guys that won the British Junior Championship and had retired within a year or two. Also, one I hadn't really clocked, but read in the Star in one of their features around past teams - David Tyler. Emerged from novice to key man for Long Eaton in 1984 and retired a year later.

Tricky one...it's not a sport anyone should dabble in. If anyone's having doubts, then they are safer out. Penhall is the obvious name. But the older I get, the more I see how he got his timing spot on. He was never going to top winning the title at Wembley and defending it in his home city. He got out healthy, wealthy and with a rare career opportunity in front of him. Anyone with half a brain would have done the same in his boots. Ron Preston was a quality performer and seemingly had a fair few years left at world level. But I understand he had good reasons too. Lewis Bridger, I think everyone can agree, could and should have done much more if he hadn't kept retiring! Also, not the same level, but Jamie Luckhurst was a quality rider at NL level when getting out quite young.