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BELIEVE young Riss is quite keen on speedway... great talent and already a great showman apparently.

There are two of them, and Erik is more in to LT and the other one for speedway I'm told. But then again, at that age things change over night.

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There are two of them, and Erik is more in to LT and the other one for speedway I'm told. But then again, at that age things change over night.

How interesting. Two riders named Erik Riis. This must be a "long track first"?

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BELIEVE young Riss is quite keen on speedway... great talent and already a great showman apparently.

His father Gerd said on Sunday, right after Erik had won the world long-track title, that even now if he would ask his son, whether he is more keen on riding speedway or long-track, the answer would be speedway. Erik says, he only rides long-track occasionally and as he so easily got into the world championship, he did that as well this year, but never expecting that it would be so relatively easy to win it.

His one year elder brother Mark is the same, and is just as good on the long-track as is Erik, but keen and very much focused on speedway racing. Mark did not ride long-track at all this year, after fallign of a few times the year before. Mark has instead concentrated himself completely on his speedway career, has won a place in the Landshut Devils Bundesliga team, finished runner-up in the German U-21 speedway national championship and has reached the European U-21 Championship final (which he unfortunately missed riding in due to their transport van breaking down en-route to Poland).

 

Interesting fact on the Riss Brothers is that they are born on the same day, but one year apart. Mark is born on September 13, 1994, and Erik on September 13, 1995. Perfect timing shown once more by their father Gerd.

 

By the way, Gerd Riss has already indicated that if Mark and Erik are to become professional speedway riders, at one point of their career the two must come over and ride in the UK to learn to ride the many different types of tracks.

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How interesting. Two riders named Erik Riis. This must be a "long track first"?

Not quite, gustix. There are two Riss's, but not two Eriks.

 

But it is a historic first in the history of the world long-track championship that a father and now the son have both won the world cahmpion's title. Erik following the tire marks of his father Gerd.

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Some sour grapes from the dethroned world champ to do with the watering of the start gates and some criticism of the "unknown" british ref.But this was a series and not won in one meeting and i can also relate to trying to give a home rider some advantage.

 

Congrats to the youngster

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Some sour grapes from the dethroned world champ to do with the watering of the start gates and some criticism of the "unknown" british ref.But this was a series and not won in one meeting and i can also relate to trying to give a home rider some advantage.

 

Congrats to the youngster

Ref Chris Durno-he`s done meetings all over Europe

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His father Gerd said on Sunday, right after Erik had won the world long-track title, that even now if he would ask his son, whether he is more keen on riding speedway or long-track, the answer would be speedway. Erik says, he only rides long-track occasionally and as he so easily got into the world championship, he did that as well this year, but never expecting that it would be so relatively easy to win it.

 

Used to be the way in the past, didn't it? Speedway riders turning up to win the World Longtrack, which surely sums up the relative quality of the discipline...

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FOR German riders it was usually the other way round ... longtrack first, speedway second. And of course the great German tuners who powered the likes of Mauger, Wigg and Tatum to so many longtrack titles were German as well.

 

By all accounts young Riss is very good at the shorter version. I hear that he might ride at Ipswich before the end of the season.

Edited by PHILIPRISING
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Used to be the way in the past, didn't it? Speedway riders turning up to win the World Longtrack, which surely sums up the relative quality of the discipline...

Indeed.If you look at it then the past few titles were won by "part-timers",rather than those who concentrate on LT.You'd probably also have had Smolinski battling for the title if he wasn't in the speedway GPs this year

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Indeed.If you look at it then the past few titles were won by "part-timers",rather than those who concentrate on LT.You'd probably also have had Smolinski battling for the title if he wasn't in the speedway GPs this year

I appreciate what you mean about 'part-timers' but let's not forget that all the top speedway riders used to regularly race on the continent, and especially on the grass tracks and longtracks in Germany, every weekend. There was no Poliish league speedway to attract them in those days of course but the guarantees paid to the likes of Briggs, Mauger, Muller and et al were quite considerable. Their continental meetings were very lucrative and I think Simon Wigg always saw himself as a grass track/longtrack rider first and a speedway rider second. In later years Kelvin Tatum followed suit and like Simon had access to the best engines from the German tuners which carried them to their World titles.

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Their continental meetings were very lucrative and I think Simon Wigg always saw himself as a grass track/longtrack rider first and a speedway rider second. In later years Kelvin Tatum followed suit and like Simon had access to the best engines from the German tuners which carried them to their World titles.

Yes, but Kelvin Tatum was primarily a speedway rider until focusing on longtrack when he realised he was never going to do anything World Championship wise in speedway. I could be wrong, but I also thought Gerd Riss was the rare German rider who focused more on speedway than longtrack.

 

I think it could also be argued that Simon Wigg would have been a more successful speedway rider if he hadn't had the longtrack/grasstrack distraction. He no doubt carved a lucrative niche from those disciplines (which is fair enough), but how many people remember World Longtrack Champions...?

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.

but how many people remember World Longtrack Champions...?

Probably all the fan base in the Long Track, Grass Track and Sand Track scenario, - which, given the ever-shrinking British speedway scenario, is definitely more in Germany alone than the UK base.

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but how many people remember World Longtrack Champions...?

People who follow the sport will. There's plenty of 'major' sports that I couldn't tell you any or few World Champions simply because the sports do not interest me.

Not all speedway riders who try longtrack have much success. Even fewer are successful on grasstracks because they struggle with the bumps and ruts.

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FOR German riders it was usually the other way round ... longtrack first, speedway second. And of course the great German tuners who powered the likes of Mauger, Wigg and Tatum to so many longtrack titles were German as well.

 

By all accounts young Riss is very good at the shorter version. I hear that he might ride at Ipswich before the end of the season.

I hope he does ride at Ipswich. As I am an Ipswich supporter and have seen Erik Riss race at Marmande. He is a great talent, very fast and spectacular to watch.

I would also encourage everyone go to Marmande. A fantastic meeting at a great track with a brilliant atmosphere, with Bastille Day the next day.

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