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Oldest Surviving World Finalists


BOBBATH

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Blimey wot a list and thanx Chunky. One question, was Tony Lomas  a reserve- did he ride in a race or was he dnr. Which World Final was he in? I am scared to see how many on that list are younger than me- I would fit in just behind Jimmy McMillan. Yikes!!

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35 minutes ago, BOBBATH said:

Blimey wot a list and thanx Chunky. One question, was Tony Lomas  a reserve- did he ride in a race or was he dnr. Which World Final was he in? I am scared to see how many on that list are younger than me- I would fit in just behind Jimmy McMillan. Yikes!!

Oops, you're right; Tony qualified for Gothenburg in 1971, but didn't ride. I'll edit that; thanks.

The only one on that list I never saw was Friedek.

Edited by chunky
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1 hour ago, Shrub said:

Shouldn't the Tiger be on that list? Born in 1941 I think.

And like you, Friedek was the only one on that list I never saw ride

This list was just an extension of previous lists. We have the 18 oldest, then I posted an update on January 6 which extended it to 1941. The last two on that list were John Louis and Jim Airey. All I did here was add some more names...

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4 minutes ago, chunky said:

This list was just an extension of previous lists. We have the 18 oldest, then I posted an update on January 6 which extended it to 1941. The last two on that list were John Louis and Jim Airey. All I did here was add some more names...

Knew I should have scrolled back a few pages to check!

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 8/28/2022 at 10:21 AM, Bavarian said:

What is the date of birth for Arthur Payne, I have it as 28/8/23, but here it is 30/8/24 ??? 

I've been dreading the next deletion from our oldest surviving World Finalist list for quite a while. I am sorry to say that day has come -the great gentleman Dick Bradley has passed away just before his 98th birthday- he was #2 on the list behind Arthur. R.I.P Dick

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21 hours ago, BOBBATH said:

I've been dreading the next deletion from our oldest surviving World Finalist list for quite a while. I am sorry to say that day has come -the great gentleman Dick Bradley has passed away just before his 98th birthday- he was #2 on the list behind Arthur. R.I.P Dick

Three world finals is pretty good in my mind.

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  • 4 months later...
3 minutes ago, chunky said:

Sad to report the passing of another list member - Coventry's Jim Lightfoot. He was 89.

Time moves on and these sad events are inescapable, but it doesn’t make it any easier to see the sports rich history and the riders that made it, fading into the past. 

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22 minutes ago, chunky said:

Sad to report the passing of another list member - Coventry's Jim Lightfoot. He was 89.

Another one gone...sad indeed.

Saw his son Robert ride but if I recall retired due to a back injury?

RIP

Edited by steve roberts
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01 - Arthur Payne - 28/08/23
02 - Chum Taylor - 04/04/27
03 - Billy Bales - 06/06/29
04 - Ian Williams - 04/08/31
05 - Per Tage Svensson - 16/10/31
06 - Peo Soderman - 29/10/32
07 - Ove Fundin - 23/05/33
08 - Dan Forsberg - 25/03/34
09 - Josef Hofmeister - 17/06/34
10 - Brian Crutcher - 23/08/34
11 - Mike Broadbank - 25/09/34
12 - Barry Briggs - 30/12/34
13 - Aage Hansen - 13/04/35
14 - Gote Nordin - 02/07/35
15 - Bob Andrews - 27/10/1935
16 - Reg Luckhurst - 11/11/1935

17 - Doug Davies - 06/08/1936
18 - Sverre Harrfeldt - 23/11/1937

19 - Leif Larsson - 16/02/1938
20 - Rick France - 12/07/1938
21 - Leif Enecrona - 05/03/1940
22 - Andrzej Wyglenda 04/05/1941
23 - John Louis - 14/06/1941
24 - Jim Airey - 19/08/1941
25 - Bengt Jansson - 09/01/1943
26 - Anders Michanek - 30/05/1943
27 - Trevor Hedge - 30/08/1943
28 - Terry Betts - 15/09/1943
29 - Howard Cole 29/12/1943
30 - Martin Ashby - 05/02/1944
31 - Jan Simensen - 26/07/1944
32 - Zygfryd Friedek - 19/10/1944
33 - Jerzy Trzeszkowski - 10/01/1945
34 - Eric Boocock - 02/02/1945
35 - John Boulger - 18/06/1945
36 - Hasse Holmqvist - 18/06/1945
37 - Jim McMillan - 03/12/1945
38 - Soren Karlsson - 23/10/1946
39 - Ole Olsen - 16/11/1946
40 - Ray Wilson - 12/03/1947
41 - Doug Wyer - 16/08/1947
42 - Grigori Khlinovsky - 11/11/47

43 - Egon Muller - 26/11/1948
44 - Christoph Betzl - 13/02/1949
45 - Jiri Stancl - 18/11/1949
46 - Viktor Kuznetsov - 27/11/1949
47 - Georg Hack - 20/02/1950
48 - Marek Cieslak - 28/06/1950
49 - Alois Wiesbock - 31/07/1950
50 - Tommy Johansson - 21/10/1950

51 - Vladimir Gordeev - 30/11/1950
52 - John Titman - 26/01/1951
53 - Dag Lovaas - 25/02/1951
54 - Jan Verner - 03/03/1951
55 - Petr Ondrasik - 08/10/1951
56 - Phil Crump - 09/02/1952
57 - Henny Kroeze - 11/03/1952
58 - Valery Gordeev - 28/08/1952
59 - Dave Jessup - 07/03/1953
60 - Ales Dryml - 10/06/1953
61 - Scott Autrey - 09/07/1953
62 - Gordon Kennett - 02/09/1953
63 - Robert Slabon - 15/09/1953
64 - Peter Collins - 24/03/1954
65 - Larry Ross - 15/06/1954
66 - John Davis - 10/11/1954
67 - Finn Thomsen - 16/02/1955
68 - Mikhail Starostin - 24/02/1955
69 - Tommy Nilsson - 10/03/1955
70 - Jan Andersson - 07/05/1955
71 - Kai Niemi - 15/09/1955
72 - Jerzy Rembas - 18/04/1956
73 - Chris Morton - 22/07/1956
74 - Steve Bastable - 16/09/1956
75 - Bruce Penhall - 10/05/1957
76 - Karl Maier - 24/08/1957
77 - Roman Jankowski - 05/10/1957
78 - Bo Petersen - 21/02/1958
79 - Les Collins - 24/05/1958
80 - Mitch Shirra - 27/09/1958
81 - Michael Lee - 11/12/1958
82 - John Cook - 18/12/1958
83 - Dennis Sigalos - 16/08/1959
84 - Erik Gundersen - 08/10/1959
85 - Hans Nielsen - 26/12/1959

Edited by chunky
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On 3/9/2023 at 10:21 AM, chunky said:

Sad to report the passing of another list member - Coventry's Jim Lightfoot. He was 89.

Very sad news indeed. Jim used to work with my old man and I think it was summer of 1954/5 that Pop took me to Brandon for the first time and introduced me to Jim and that was the start of my love for the sport. He really was an under rated stalwart for the Bees and spent thirteen years at Brandon. I well remember the trip to Wembley on a BTS coach for the World Final in '63. What mad days out they were, but at least that year we had Jim, Nigel, Ron and PO to shout for .

He actually ended up getting me the worst and shortest job I ever had, in the unit next to him and Mick in Bayton Road.  I only survived polishing out welds inside stainless steel vats for about an hour. I came out deaf and coated in SS dust. 

RIP Jim and thanks for introducing me to this mad sport, my thoughts and prayers are with all your family and friends.

 

 

B

Edited by jrs
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1 hour ago, jrs said:

 I well remember the trip to Wembley on a BTS coach for the World Final in '63.

 

 

 

 

The 1963 final was the first one I went to. I was sitting with my friend next to a group of Coventry supporters who we chatted to during the meeting. Perhaps we met in another life, jrs!

Edited by norbold
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7 hours ago, jrs said:

Very sad news indeed. Jim used to work with my old man and I think it was summer of 1954/5 that Pop took me to Brandon for the first time and introduced me to Jim and that was the start of my love for the sport. He really was an under rated stalwart for the Bees and spent thirteen years at Brandon. I well remember the trip to Wembley on a BTS coach for the World Final in '63. What mad days out they were, but at least that year we had Jim, Nigel, Ron and PO to shout for .

He actually ended up getting me the worst and shortest job I ever had, in the unit next to him and Mick in Bayton Road.  I only survived polishing out welds inside stainless steel vats for about an hour. I came out deaf and coated in SS dust. 

RIP Jim and thanks for introducing me to this mad sport, my thoughts and prayers are with all your family and friends.

 

 

B

...I have a feeling that Jim also went into partnership with ex-Bee Tony Lomas in the antique business?

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