Ivan Admits That Tony Is The Best!

[AndyM]

Arnie was a fine example of a rider who should have retired earlier than he did. He embarrassed himself when he made a comeback for the Aces.

[mark cox]

As entertaining as it is, this thread wasn't about who is the best, but whether or not the sports most famous and greatest rider (as defined by number of World titles) had given an opinion on Rickardsson, the man who is about to join him on 'the greatest throne'.

In the last month, one of tennis's all time greats Rod Laver was reported as being honoured to be compared to Roger Federer, whilst this week Jack Nicklaus the greatest in golf, has acknowledged Tiger Woods as one of the greats.

I'm sure when Rickardsson officially gets number six, that Mauger who never shies away from giving his honest opinion, will give say the right thing.

As for it being easier to win a world title these days because you don't have to qualify, I wander what the likes of Leigh Adams think of this.

It is a fair point though about the invitation aspect, as riders after the first eight qualifiers will now be chosen by committee, rather than doing it on their own merits.

All in all, a good debate.

[21st century heathen]

Just to argue the point for a minute.

 

Were Loram and Pedersen the best riders in the World the years they were World Champion?  If you ask me, over the last 10 years Tony and Crumpy have been the best 2 riders in the World but Loram and Pedersen have interloped and stole 2 World Championships off them and all credit to both guys for having the ability to do so.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

In the last ten years Hans was the best rider in '95, Billy in '96, and Greg in '97. After that Tony became the dominant force, challenged first by Gollob, and then Crump came along to finaly nick one. I agree that Loram and Pedersen 'stole' one in a sense. Loram more so than Pedersen. He didn't win a round, and I think the unfair exclusion Billy got when knocked off by Jimmy Nilsen in Sweden (?) cost him the World championship that year. Pedersen won because he held his nerve, Crump had a bit of a flap on and cracked under the pressure. You could say Crump is a better rider overall, but Pedersen truely deserved to win it.

 

 

The other thing to bear in mind is that the standard of competition was possibly higher in the 60s and 70s, and possibly even the 80s.  Granted that machinery is three times quicker so it's hardly a fair comparison, but it seems to me that there were many more quality riders - those with a realistic chance of success - than in more recent times.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Is that really true? Could it not be that in the 60's to 80's no one rider was good enough to dominate in the way that Tony is doing now, and in the late 90's? Could it not be that the riders were more evenly matched back then? Is it possible that Tony is the greatest rider because he can totally dominate? You certainly can't say that there's been no competition for him. He won his first title after overtaking Hans in the run-off. He took on Greg and Billy at the height of their careers, and lost a couple to my personal delight , he has taken on riders of the calibre of Gollob, Adams, Sullivan/Dryml (when they were in with a shot), Crump, Pedersen, Nilsen, Knudsen. As well as all those top riders there are the likes of Loram, Nicholls, Jonsson, and the new breed of Andersen, B. Pedersen, Hampel, and the list goes on of riders who have the ability to knock him out in the semis. The point is that there is stiff competition from very, very good riders but Tony makes them look average.

 

Personally I'm with the majority who say you can't make a fair comparison. Both riders are truely brilliant, and deserve praise for their achievements.

 

[AndyM]

With respect, 21CH, I strongly believe there were far more riders of genuine world class capability around in the 60s and 70s. Granted that the qualification process meant that we got some stinkers into World Finals, and therefore a lot of brilliant riders were eliminated en route, but the volume of quality riders who could on their night defeat the best was much higher. The cream of 2005 are great, but there's a far greater differential now - particularly since the GP circus seems intent on cutting itself off from its league racing roots.

[21st century heathen]

I was playing devils advocate more than anything Andy. As I said at the end of my post they're both great riders, although I didn't see Ivan. Nothing should detract from their achievements.

[AndyM]

And so say all of us. On which note, time to close this thread?

[TonyMac]

Having interviewed Ivan at great length to cover his words in both issues 8 & 9 of Backtrack Magazine, I can confirm that he has full respect for Tony Rickardsson.

 

Indeed, in challenging BSI's right to call the SGP a genuine 'World Championship' (he regards it as an invitational event and therefore not a legitimate WORLD Championship), Ivan impressed upon me after the microphone was switched off that he didn't want to be seen to in any way underestimate or disrespect TR's skills and achievements in any way. He was clearly being very diplomatic but his regard for TR is genuine.

 

What Ivan did say, and which cannot be disputed, is that there were far more world title contenders for him to fend off in his day than the relatively weak opposition Rickardsson faces now. Which, in a way, is a little unfair on Tony because he can only beat those he comes up against - it's obviously not his fault that there are few real challengers to his supremacy and no-one at all this season.

 

Ivan says in Backtrack that both he and Fundin would have won at least 10 individual world titles had the GP system been in place then, and, again, I can't argue with that view.

 

Incidentally, many thanks for the many kind comments about our Mauger interview and Backtrack in general.

Edited July 14, 2005 by tmc

[LOL]

Tony has given so much in his reign,there have been equally as many challengers,anyone in the GP'S can take a race from him,as for IVAN winning 10 GP'S,why not call it 20?no,not in my opinion,it's definateley far more brutal now-i've also seen much of the older footage,there is far less time to think now and still some of the moves amaze me,the bikes are far more complex now with so many combinations and set-ups,nothing is standard anymore,its not just a case of putting a bigger sprocket on and voila! some guys go smaller-work that one out?? lookat machinery from the 70's and you'll no doubt see the same clutch lever etc on virtually every bike,far more goes into it now,an enormous amount behind the scenes.My mind is made up for sure,ps did IVAN commend TONY etc when the michrophone was on? my apologies as i have only has e quick look at the article?

[Subedei]

There's an argument for saying that Ivan Mauger played a huge part in creating the speedway world in which Rickardsson has dominated. It was Ivan Mauger who brought ultra-professionalism into the sport.