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Oldest Surviving World Finalists


BOBBATH

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  • 2 weeks later...
  On 6/7/2018 at 8:48 PM, norbold said:

Thank you for compiling the list, Bob. 

Of the 15 you mention (including Briggo and Ove) I missed out on seeing three of them, Arthur Payne, Derrick Close and Henry Long.

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We might have had this conversation before but I've missed out on seeing the same three. As I think we both supported New Cross at more or less the same time it might be more than coincidence.

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Actually I just realised I missed out Eric Boothroyd -26/4 /1927-he's in his nineties too. He slots in at #5 between Chum Taylor and Derrick Close who moves to #6, so now there are 7 riders in their nineties who have made the list. We now have 14 of the 16 names for the oldest all time Final-would Ove and Briggo round out the last two spaces-they must be getting up there!!

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  • 1 year later...

Since the last update  in June 2018, we've lost the #1 Split Waterman. Are there any other people who should be removed or added to the bottom of the list? Anybody want to take a shot at it since we are all presumably in self isolation these days... What do you reckon?

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I've had a look at this today and it does get more difficult as time goes on as there are a number of Swedes who rode in World Finals who I haven't got a date of birth for and I don't know if they are alive or not but my best guess would be:

1. Arthur Payne 30.8.1924

2. Dick Bradley 28.11.1924

3. Chum Taylor, 4.4.1927

4. Eric Boothroyd, 26.4.1927

5. Derrick Close, 13.5.1927

6. Billy Bales, 6.6.1929

7. Olle Nygren, 11.11.1929

8. Rune Sormander, 29.11.1929

9. Jack Geran, 10.12.1929

10. Ian Williams, 4.8.1931

11. Per Tage Svensson, 16.10.1931

12. Peo Soederman, 29.10.1932

13. Ove Fundin, 23.5.1933

14. Jim Lightfoot, 11.11.1933

15. Dan Forsberg, 25.3.1934

16. Josef Hofmeister, 25.6.1934

 

17. Brian Crutcher, 23.8.1934

18. Mike Broadbank, 25.9.1934

 

The three Swedes who may be on the list are Olle Andersson, Ulf Ericsson and Joel Jansson but I haven't got enough detail to include them at the moment.

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  On 4/7/2020 at 3:26 PM, tigerowl said:

The three Swedes who may be on the list are Olle Andersson, Ulf Ericsson and Joel Jansson but I haven't got enough detail to include them at the moment.

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Joel Jansson passed away in 2018.

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Thank you very much for the updated list Tigerowl -looks good to me. I think I must be getting old (say it ain't so Joe!!)as I can remember seeing 3 of the top 4 ride-including the great Dick Bradley in his last ever meeting. Hope the list doesn't change too much for a while

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  On 4/8/2020 at 12:50 AM, BOBBATH said:

Thank you very much for the updated list Tigerowl -looks good to me. I think I must be getting old (say it ain't so Joe!!)as I can remember seeing 3 of the top 4 ride-including the great Dick Bradley in his last ever meeting. Hope the list doesn't change too much for a while

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I saw 8 out of the 16 - must mean I’m halfway to being .... very, very old indeed

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  On 4/8/2020 at 4:21 PM, Midland Red said:

I saw 8 out of the 16 - must mean I’m halfway to being .... very, very old indeed

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Hold it right there Midland Red- I've seen  8 also- Bradley, Taylor, Boothroyd, Bales, Nygren, Geran, Fundin, Lightfoot. I'm sure other forumlanders may have seen even more ride. One thing I'd be interested in is whether anyone in forumland got to see Arthur Payne-the elder statesmen of this  illustrious group. Also any advamce on 8-Norbold or gustix maybe?

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  On 4/8/2020 at 5:02 PM, BOBBATH said:

Hold it right there Midland Red- I've seen  8 also- Bradley, Taylor, Boothroyd, Bales, Nygren, Geran, Fundin, Lightfoot. I'm sure other forumlanders may have seen even more ride. One thing I'd be interested in is whether anyone in forumland got to see Arthur Payne-the elder statesmen of this  illustrious group. Also any advamce on 8-Norbold or gustix maybe?

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I've seen 13 of the 18. The five I haven't seen are: Brian Crutcher (who retired the week I first went to speedway), Arthur Payne, Derrick Close, Dan Forsberg and Josef Hofmeister. (At least I don't think I have.)

Edited by norbold
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  On 4/8/2020 at 5:02 PM, BOBBATH said:

Hold it right there Midland Red- I've seen  8 also- Bradley, Taylor, Boothroyd, Bales, Nygren, Geran, Fundin, Lightfoot. I'm sure other forumlanders may have seen even more ride. One thing I'd be interested in is whether anyone in forumland got to see Arthur Payne-the elder statesmen of this  illustrious group. Also any advamce on 8-Norbold or gustix maybe?

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Same 8 - not surprisingly 

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Definitely 9 of the 16,  11 out of 18.

i can’t definitely say I saw Hofmeister, if I did it would 1960 world final at Wembley.

He did 4 world finals, all at Wembley :- 1957 0 points, 1958 2 points, 1059 4 points, and 1960 6 points.   See what he was doing, he was progressing by 2 points every year. Not riding regularly in Britain he was slowly getting used to Wembley. Give another 4 years and he could have been world champ with 14. :D

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  On 4/8/2020 at 4:21 PM, Midland Red said:

I saw 8 out of the 16 - must mean I’m halfway to being .... very, very old indeed

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I've only seen three but remember Dick Bradley as Team Manager of Swindon.

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  On 4/9/2020 at 6:15 AM, iris123 said:

Guess it will all get complicated when the 'iron curtain' riders come of age, as it were. If there is much info about their d.o.b and death..

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The Poles aren't too bad as there seems to be some Polish historians who keep records but the Russians from the late 60s might be an issue. 

Chunky has posted about Joel Jansson but if anyone has any info on Olle Andersson and Ulf Ericsson it would make things easier for a while. 

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  On 4/8/2020 at 5:44 PM, norbold said:

I've seen 13 of the 18. The five I haven't seen are: Brian Crutcher (who retired the week I first went to speedway), Arthur Payne, Derrick Close, Dan Forsberg and Josef Hofmeister. (At least I don't think I have.)

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Exactly the same 13 out of 18 for me which is no surprise as I know Norbold and I started watching speedway around the same time and at the same track  - New Cross.

I suppose the time is approaching when some of us will have seen all the riders listed which will mean that sadly, we will have lost some great names.

Edited by Split
Correction.
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