rami Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 (edited) I was gutted when I heard what had happened at Birmingham. I found it incredibaly ironic that a rider who fell off perhaps twice a season should have his career ended in such a way. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Same thing could be said for Erik Gundersen - probably one of the safest riders ive ever seen, i followed eriks career from day one and can count on one hand the amount of times i saw him crash. Edited February 3, 2008 by rami Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 Same thing could be said for Erik Gundersen - probably one of the safest riders ive ever seen, i followed eriks career from day one and can count on one hand the amount of times i saw him crash. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> IMO the safest rider i ever saw was John Jackson only saw him fall off once in his time at Elle/port ( I was in his pit crew) and I believe he had NO serious injuries during a very long career .He was one of the few riders the Owen brothers feared I remember Tom saying to a team mate that if Jacko gets in front you will never catch him!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parsloes 1928 nearly Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 In 1976 I was convinced Joe was going to be a world champion. I think you're right. When - as if often the wont on the BSF - there's a list compiled of best riders never to be World Champ, Joey never appears on it: but he should do, because make no mistake about it, he was a superb racer; and only injuries stopped him becoming a world beater... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FAST GATER Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 I think you're right. When - as if often the wont on the BSF - there's a list compiled of best riders never to be World Champ, Joey never appears on it: but he should do, because make no mistake about it, he was a superb racer; and only injuries stopped him becoming a world beater... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> IMO Joe had one of the best riding styles I have ever seen i believe this was put down to exceptional physical strength but sadly this may have made him a little to brave for his own good.As has been said would have been an even more successful rider only for injury . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dantodan Posted February 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 In my opinion Joe Owen was as good around Brough Park as anyone and that includes Newcastle’s greatest ever rider Ivan Mauger. Ivan was far better on other tracks and obviously his achievements speak for themselves. Both Ivan and Joe won their Brough heats by similar distances and with such ease when they needed to overtake. Others in this little game are Anders Michanek, Ole Olsen, Nicki Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre. Joe would have been beaten by these at times but I think he would have headed them home too. We can only wonder how Joe would have done against world class riders had we been seeing them week after week at Brough. He certainly knew how to ride Brough Park Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff. Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 You won't get team averages like that these days given how weak the product is. I've compared it with Belle Vue's team last year, and six of Newcastle's team had higher averages than the highest Belle Vue rider! Simon Stead 6.90 Joe Screen 6.62 Kevin Doolan 5.57 Adam Skornicki 4.89 James Wright 4.85 Billy Forsgerg 4.41 Laukkanen 4.39 Antonio Lindback 4.15 Ryan Fisher 3.00 <{POST_SNAPBACK}> What are you talking about, then as now, disregarding who the riders are, the average rider average is still 6.00. Then as now for every rider in the league on a 10 point average there is one on a 2 point average, for every 8.00 there is a 4.00 etc. There are 3 main reasons why few riders acheive 10 + averages, race formula, heat 15 and fixed gate positions, but equally there are fewer 2.00 average riders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subedei Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 We can only wonder how Joe would have done against world class riders had we been seeing them week after week at Brough. He certainly knew how to ride Brough Park <{POST_SNAPBACK}> They were in 1984, but in the meetings I saw, Joe Owen couldn't cope with riders from the top bracket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 That was riding with one hand effectively. If he hadn't had that big crash at Hull I'm convinced he would have developed into a 10 point BL man and world championship contender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dodds Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) People say he was a great racer - I must bow to them because I don't think I ever saw Joe actually miss the gate - especially against my beloved Bandits. Him and Tom had a silver helmet decider at Berwick in 76 or 77 and those three races were worth the admission price themselves ... never mind the Bandits match which followed Dave Trownson did gate on them both in one memorable race at Shieldfield - must have been 1975 - and managed to keep ahead of them for four hairy laps - DT was a wild and wooly reserve at the time before going on to make his name at Edinburgh Edited February 4, 2008 by George Dodds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shalerash Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 didnt joe also have a life threatening crash while at hull and was very lucky to survive i can always remember reading one of those rider profiles i cant remember the rider but he did mention seeing joe in the dressing room a while after that crash and commenting on how horrific his scars were the thing i remember about tom was seeing him standing on the centre green at blantyre one year and how out of shape his leg was it curved inwards didnt he miss a whole season with this badly broken leg 1980 or 81 and the diamonds used R/R all season they also met each other for the silver helmet did they not and i have heard diamonds fans commenting on how when they faced each other in second halves they were no holds barred affairs your correct Joe did have a life threatening accident at Hull, i got to know Joe well whilst mechanicing to various riders, the scars where horrendous and apparently he was given the last rights twice the night of the accident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spin king Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 your correct Joe did have a life threatening accident at Hull, i got to know Joe well whilst mechanicing to various riders, the scars where horrendous and apparently he was given the last rights twice the night of the accident. Not quite sure but I think that when he had that crash he finished up on the terraces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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