Ivan Admits That Tony Is The Best!

[iris123]

Interesting what he says in Backtrack.Would congratulate Tony if he wins this year,but after this year as there isn't anyway of qualifying he doesn't consider it to be a World Championship and shouldn't be called one.Just an invitation series.

[Subedei]

Does it really matter?

 

No, it doesn't really matter. But it does provide for a vibrant debate and exchange of views.

[iris123]

Of course you can never say for certain,but i would go along with the idea that the GP's has taken a World title from Gollob.

[tiger74]

i believe that Ivan Mauger is still the greatest he had alot more top rivals to beat than Rickardsson has now + ask anybody without any knowledge of speedway and even now the name Ivan Mauger will be mentioned

[shaky]

Tony is the best in my opinion,Ivans day was pretty primitive,rule-wise with regards to 1.rolling starts 2.no two minute rule 3.not having to ride given tyres from one big batch 4.all having to ride on the same fuel on the night. i think with the 9 GP'S there are 9 pressure cooker events instead of 1. I've seen the stuff goin on behind the scenes with tony and he has pushed and pushed for that extra edge,while doing over 100 meetings all over the world!

My ten cents worth anyway!

 

LOL

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well said LOL Ivan was the king of rolling at the start.

[shaky]

As we all know Ivan won six world titles which meant having to win one big meeting in that year,in Tonys case he has won four big meetings this year already [should of been five if it wasnt for you know who's mad antics]and let alone all the gps tony has won over the years and his world final win in 94.I know who is the best champ.

[Grachan]

Well said LOL Ivan was the king of rolling at the start.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm sure Tony would be too if was still allowed.

[tigerblues]

OK, let's build a time machine, and get the following riders from the peak of their powers to fight out a GP series:

 

1. Ivan Mauger

2. Ove Fundin

3. Tony Rickardsson

4. Hans Nielsen

5. Barry Briggs

6. Ole Olsen

7. Erik Gundersen

8. Bruce Penhall

9. Jack Young

10. Ronnie Moore

11. Peter Craven

12. Peter Collins

13. Jan O. Pedersen

14. Bluey Wilkinson

15. Vic Duggan

16. Jack Parker

 

That'll solve all the arguments!!! :D

 

All the best

Rob

 

P.S. Good to see Lol on here.  Hope it's going well mate.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Wouldn't that be a cracking old meeting? Rickardsson miles in front, and all the older riders struggling to get round the bend? I hope you were being sarcastic Rob

 

BTW, older riders wasn't an insult.

[stevehone]

As we all know Ivan won six world titles which meant having to win one big meeting in that year,in Tonys case he has won four big meetings this year already [should of been five if it wasnt for you know who's mad antics]and let alone all the gps tony has won over the years and his world final win in 94.I know who is the best champ.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ivan made sure he qualified first and foremost, right down to finishing certain meetings in a certain position so he got a favourable draw in the next round.

You have to remember that back then it wasn't a closed shop and it only took one bad meeting and you wouldn't qualify for the next round.

As it is now, TR is basically in the world final every time because he doesn't have to qualify.

Imagine if TR has a bad day at the office in a GP, he then goes on to the next one to get those points back ... in the earlier days if you had a bad day at the office you were out, simple as that.

 

Ivan had that 'X factor' that so many didn't have and don't have now, the ability to up the performance to win when it mattered.

If it was a GP system in Ivan's day, that 'X Factor' would have shown through in each GP round i can assure you of that.

Edited July 2, 2005 by stevehone

[shaky]

I'm sure Tony would be too if was still allowed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you really think so he doesnt need to he can do it from a standing start tony doesnt cheat.

[Grachan]

Do you really think so he doesnt need to he can do it from a standing start tony doesnt cheat.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Don't be so naive. If rolling starts were still allowed and part of the game then a rider like Tony would take advantage of that and probably be brilliant at it.

 

You can't say one rider was better than another because of the rules of the day. It's an irrelevant argument. It's like saying Ivan was better because they didn't have air fences in those days or the bikes were apparently more difficult to ride.

[shazzybird]

Interesting what he says in Backtrack.Would congratulate Tony if he wins this year,but after this year as there isn't anyway of qualifying he doesn't consider it to be a World Championship and shouldn't be called one.Just an invitation series.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

So what the Speedway governing body are doing then is........

 

Ivan Mauger 6 times World Champion (Individual Championships)

Tony Rickardsson 6 (tempting fate here) times World Champion (GP Championships)

and

A N Other 6 times World Champion (Invitation Series)

 

Yes? which goes back to the arugment who's better Mauger or Rickardsson and like I said, each are Champions in their own rights.

[Subedei]

Do you really think so he doesnt need to he can do it from a standing start tony doesnt cheat.

 

It's just plain silly to suggest that Ivan Mauger couldn't have coped with the present tape-touching rules. Like TR, the guy was a total professional and he'd have adapted, just as Neilsen and Gundersen adapted and flourished. In fact, Mauger would probably feel that the present-day rules would have suited him more than his contemporaries.

Edited July 2, 2005 by Subedei

[AndyM]

As we all know Ivan won six world titles which meant having to win one big meeting in that year,in Tonys case he has won four big meetings this year already [should of been five if it wasnt for you know who's mad antics]and let alone all the gps tony has won over the years and his world final win in 94.I know who is the best champ.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not so. Ivan had to go through all the qualification stages each year, often winning stages en route to the final. You didn't qualify for anything by right in those days.

[sjw ministerofport]

Every World Champion should be honoured, and not be pulled to pieces to try and make another champion appear superior. As for Ivan and Tony they are both great.

[Trees]

You are so right sjw. How can anyone compare the two, what with the advances in the sport from Ivan's day to now, who knows what Ivan would have won if he'd been riding these days same if Tony was riding back then. They were/are greats of their time as Fundin was a few years further back and Nielsen in the 80's.

[LOL]

firstly i feel they are both the greatest in their own day,but suppose Tony wins 7th? well 7 is greater than 6 so i guess its game set and match! after all why hasnt anyone mentioned ivan vs ove fundin in a head to head-cos ivan's won more than fundin!! (c'mon who are we kidding,Ivan's never gonna say it's Tony that's number 1 is he,and it's his privalige not to! )

as for rolling starts we'll never know and i hope we never will as they were ruled out as deemed to be unfair,like the other stuff i mentioned

and even if is is a kind of invitational series,we are watching the best every week-who else would you put in? you put the next best 8 qualifiers in when the worst 8 in this series meet the next 8 challengers in a race off and who would be prepared to dump a hefty bet on any of them lifting the title?

no thanks i'd rather see a quality field rather than the old finals (which i can remember!) where you had a few absolute "no hopers" usually from obscure countries who got in through the "back door" with easier qualifying rounds.There were really only 4 or 5 favourites in the one-offs,not unlike now,would anyone disagree?

someone brought up Loram and Pdersen winning on being consistent but who would argue that either didn't have the abiity to win a one-off?

Another thing,would egon muller or jerzey wotshisname ever win a grand prix series? my guess is they'd have people wishing they could "invite" someone else in,i wonder who Ivan would have in? Tony may well come out on top whatever

Tony has also gone from uprights to lay-downs,and race times are so much quicker demanding quicker reaction times and more aggresive "do or die" moves.

i'm sounding biased maybe,but i've heard of many tricks used in days gone by that simply are denied now-looking back you say to yourself "my god how naive!" Look at when tyres were changed a few years back and people sofened them,the match results spoke for themselves and rules chaned and we all had the same tyres given to us on the night

Like i say if Tony wins 7,then he'd re-write the history books and go down as the greatest,except for those who feel the "good old days" were best and to them it'd be Ivan,and to those who feel the "vintage era" was best it's Ove for sure,each to their own,total heroes all of them,total respect,total admiration,

anyway that's my next ten cents

'nuff said

LOL

[stevehone]

as for rolling starts we'll never know

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

well if you read Backtrack magazine you would ... Ivan has stated that rolling at the tapes was outlawed on the Continent but he STILL beat all the top riders out the starts to win big meetings, this being at a time when Ole Olsen, Peter Collins etc were riding abroad at weekends ... quality will always shine through.

 

Fundin was a master in his era, Mauger a master in his, and Rickardsson a master in his.

there is no 'game, set, match' about it ... it's about how they get on in their own surroundings, and has been mentioned earlier, Fundin and Mauger had far more quality to deal with than Rickardsson has now.

 

another thing ... the 'upright/laydown' thing you mention, with TR having riden both ... with Ivan openly stating how easy they are to ride compared to what he was on, just how well do you think Mauger would have done on those?

all you have to do is ask people that have seen Ivan ride a laydown just how good he looks (and still does when he jumps on a bike at the age of 65).

 

the 'good old days' to me is when it was a cut-throat business and riders had to qualify for meetings and earn their places against tough opposition ... not a closed shop of coming last in one meeting but being able to still ride in the next round whatever happens.

just what sort of incentive is there now for youngsters coming through?

when riders start riding to become world champion but know they'll only get that chance if they have a long enough tongue and they are the right nationality.

[iris123]

Maybe they could do the same as the Longtrack GP's.If you come last you have to qualify against nominated riders in a sudden death run-off before the meeting.

[Liontamer]

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