The White Knight Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Spot on ...Holta just always been about fast and somewhat suspect bikes with little talent . At least he can - and does - PASS. As I stated earlier - I hope Rune gets back in the GP's. He is very good to watch and THAT must be worth something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 Rune is also one of the nicest riders i have met,so gets my vote Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salty Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 I'll second that, bumped into him a couple of times at airports and hotels and he is an absolute gentleman. I've always thought his light weight has helped him generate so much speed rather than merely fast or (somewhat suspect) machinary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spook Posted October 9, 2011 Report Share Posted October 9, 2011 possibly unfair to give examples of when the guy is riding injured but last night is a good example of what i'm talking about..... Rune can quite often be found losing control at this level when others arent sure he is a nice guy though and has worked very hard in his career Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddas69 Posted November 3, 2011 Report Share Posted November 3, 2011 possibly unfair to give examples of when the guy is riding injured but last night is a good example of what i'm talking about..... Rune can quite often be found losing control at this level when others arent sure he is a nice guy though and has worked very hard in his career Having worked with Rune since he was an 80ccm rider I should know him well enough to give a statement. To be frank I both agree and disagree with you Spook. Compared to Gollob, Emil and Crumps superior bike control Rune can`t compete. Compared to Gregs gating Rune will lose out 9 out of 10 times. BUT riders have different styles and different ways of making their way up the ladder in the speedway world. First of all, Rune has always been very thorough with his bikes. Back in the ISMS days we would get up in the morning to ready the bikes and we were always first in the pits and last back home. He never lets anything be half done. But to say that the reason he has been a Grand Prix rider for all these (Rune has been given ONE permanent wildcard in his career) years is completely wrong. If it was only his bikes giving him the advantage then I wonder why he didn`t stay inside the top eight this season as well. And to the guy that hinted that Runes bikes have been suspectible fast........s**d off......he has never had bikes that were over the limit and while most other riders started tampering with the silencer in the beginning of this season (yes, did you really think Kennet and Kasprzak were the only ones???) Rune tested even more WITHOUT cheating! Second, different styles suits different riders. I agree with Spook the Rune might not have the bike control that some of the other top riders have but if he gets out in front no-one can ever catch him, no matter bike control. His style is effective and suits his kind of racing. If you look back a couple of years you will see Rune always hanging sideways on the bike Mark Loram style hauting the outside for grip but the latter years that didn`t prove effective and he tried to change his style. Now he can hugh both the inside and the outside but he lacks a bit of feel for what goes on in the first corner, I agree to that, and we are working on that part. Last; one thing I am quite convinced of, if Rune could gate like Greg Hancock he would have been world champion years ago. To compare (and no disrespect to Greg), Greg is nowhere near Rune when it comes to pass riders from the back, but if Rune could have had Gregs gating........oh my God....... To finish off, remember that Rune was top of the averages in Sweden last year........for the whole season he was the best rider in one of the hardest leagues in the world.........and he was 4th in the world! You can`t do that without a little bit of talent :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothorsen Posted November 9, 2011 Report Share Posted November 9, 2011 Happy to see Holta back in the Indianarna vest again. Kylmäkorpi and Holta are two of my favourites, and I've allways been partial to the Indians. Damn shame that there are so many, many months left until the tapes will rise again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 Having worked with Rune since he was an 80ccm rider I should know him well enough to give a statement. That's smaller than Bjerre! On a serious note, as you know Rune, do you think he has ridden his last GP race? I found it a bit strange myself that Tatum and Pearson were so quick to write off a guy who rode the season as the current World No. 4 and was severely hampered by injury all year. I know he's knocking on a bit in speedway terms but does he still want it if the opportunity is there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mothorsen Posted November 10, 2011 Report Share Posted November 10, 2011 (edited) That's smaller than Bjerre! On a serious note, as you know Rune, do you think he has ridden his last GP race? I found it a bit strange myself that Tatum and Pearson were so quick to write off a guy who rode the season as the current World No. 4 and was severely hampered by injury all year. I know he's knocking on a bit in speedway terms but does he still want it if the opportunity is there? I know this question was ment for Maddas69, but I get a feeling that if Holta had been in a British club, he would have a better chance to get in the GP's at least now when DW and PP are turning down their spots. But he does not ride in Britain, so... Edited November 10, 2011 by mothorsen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_minall Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 Regardless of talent or quality of machinery, I still think Rune will never be a world champion. I think if he was going to be he would have done it a while ago to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 Regardless of talent or quality of machinery, I still think Rune will never be a world champion. I think if he was going to be he would have done it a while ago to be honest. We all said that about Gollob though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave_minall Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 We all said that about Gollob though. Whilst this may be a very good point, Gollob has shown far more potential year in year out that he could go all the way than Holta ever did. How many times has Holta won the Polish championship for one? Can't really compare the 2 really in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Know Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 looking at the talent around i would put holta in for the year. is quick and can beat the best on his day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 What may count against Holta are the number of Polish riders already in the 2012 GP series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bavarian Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 What may count against Holta are the number of Polish riders already in the 2012 GP series. But in reality Rune is a Norwegian, isn't he? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Know Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 But in reality Rune is a Norwegian, isn't he? yep indeed he is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCB Posted November 11, 2011 Report Share Posted November 11, 2011 But in reality Rune is a Norwegian, isn't he? And Crumpy is British then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bavarian Posted November 12, 2011 Report Share Posted November 12, 2011 And Crumpy is British then. No he isn't. To be born in Bristol does not make JC a British citizen. It is different to Holta acctually holding a Polish passport. But as far as I know Holta still has his Norwegian passport, too, so he has both nationalities. Does anybody remember Andy Smith also getting a Polish passport when riding in the Polsih League many years ago. Same story of dual nationality as now with Holta, but no one in Britain has ever considered Andy Smith to be a Pole after he got his Polish passport! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 No he isn't. To be born in Bristol does not make JC a British citizen. It is different to Holta acctually holding a Polish passport. But as far as I know Holta still has his Norwegian passport, too, so he has both nationalities. Does anybody remember Andy Smith also getting a Polish passport when riding in the Polsih League many years ago. Same story of dual nationality as now with Holta, but no one in Britain has ever considered Andy Smith to be a Pole after he got his Polish passport! To add to that, Cox became German (even raced in the 1994 World Final as German I believe) and Wigg went Dutch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bavarian Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 (edited) To add to that, Cox became German (even raced in the 1994 World Final as German I believe) and Wigg went Dutch! No, I am sorry, but that is not so. Cox lived here in Germany and he took out and rode on a German racing license, BUT he never applied for or held a German passport. He was and is British all the time, never German. Wigg rode with a Dutch KNMV licence, but certainly never had Dutch nationality. A rider can apply for any nation's race licence if he is living in that country, regardless of his own nationality. There have been numerous examples for this during the years (John Cook in Sweden, Cox, Todd Wiltshire or the Dryml brothers in Germany, Wigg in Holland, Theo Pijper in France). The crucial difference with Holta (and Smith) is they applied not only for a racing license but for Polish nationality (= a Polish passport). This was required to be regarded as non-foreign in Polish speedway. There are others (Emil Sayfutdinov, Martin Vaculik or Andrey Korolev come to mind) who have recently applied for a Polish passport, too. Actually it seems quite easy to get dual nationality in Poland, if You are considered to be a useful asset for a Polish sports team. It seems a bit strange though, that one is not forced to give up the former nationality, which is quite convenient to have both. Here in Germany there are hundredthousands and more with dual German-Polish nationality. Even some speedway riders (Marcin Sekula, Pawel Hlib and others) have two passports and could in theory ride for either Poland or Germany in the World Cup. Edited November 19, 2011 by Bavarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImpartialOne Posted November 19, 2011 Report Share Posted November 19, 2011 According to Wiki, Cox (which is as I recall it) rode in the 1994 World Final as a German. I believe he wore the German flag on his race jacket too. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Individual_Speedway_World_Championship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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