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Best Gater And Best Racer?


phillipsr

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I think that Mauger is unopposed as the most consistent gater. One way or another he would find a way to arrive at the first bend in front! There are plenty of good racers though. Collins, Olsen, Briggs, Morton, Gollob, Jan O, to name but a few.

Best racer has to be Darcy banned or not. and Mark Loram. Best gater, to many to choose from..

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Best Gater: Chris Louis, Todd Wiltshire, Hans Nielsen, Greg Hancock

 

Best Racer: Mark Loram, Joe Screen, Jan O' Pedersen, Darcy Ward

 

Ive been going since late 80's so can only comment on those ive seen live

Edited by Gavan
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Best gater most certainly was the King of the Millenium Ivan Mauger. Not only was his gating electric but he would get the other riders at it at the starting gate.. Nowday's it is a bit anoying that a rider makes a great start and the referee orders a restart as they were too quick..There has to be a better system than we have at the moment so great starts are not penalized .

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Interesting topic. Perhaps there are further categories to be had? But for me:

 

Best gater: Bob Kilby. He didn't always make the gate, but when he did, boy did he! He's be about 3 lengths clear by the first bend.

 

Best racer: Peter Collins.

 

How about best team rider? John Cook. Never seen anything to match his ride with Lance King at Ipswich in the test against GB.

 

Best all rounder: Hans Nielsen.

best team rider: would have to be pc or mort, or ideally both together

best all rounder: t rick

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Interesting topic. Perhaps there are further categories to be had? But for me:

 

Best gater: Bob Kilby. He didn't always make the gate, but when he did, boy did he! He's be about 3 lengths clear by the first bend.

 

Best racer: Peter Collins.

 

How about best team rider? John Cook. Never seen anything to match his ride with Lance King at Ipswich in the test against GB.

 

Best all rounder: Hans Nielsen.

Best team rider ever . I do not think that the late John Berry would agree with that . He was a headache to deal with but was still a great rider and showman

Edited by mickthemuppet
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Nigel Boocock should also come in for consideration in the best racer class and gave huge entertainment value over many years. As a very poor gater, he still averaged over 11.40 one year in the British League, topping the averages that year, which confirms he did a huge amount of overtaking.

 

Briggo was also always one of the best passers. Spoke to Briggo at a show at Coventry a few years ago and told him I had travelled many thousands of miles over the years to watch him because of that very reason and, ever the gentleman, he thanked me for making the effort to follow him! I was pleased to tell him that I always thought he was worth the effort.

 

Just watched the retro speedway in the 70s DVD and it is noticeable how much ground riders could make up from behind at that time, disparity in machinery or class of rider seemed to be bigger. Nowadays, it is very rare to see a rider make up 59 metres and pass within a couple of laps.

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Nobody has mentioned the great Tony Rickardsson in any (best of) categories.......?

he was my choice above as best all rounder.

probably not going to be nominated as best gater as he wasnt renowned as being a start tart, but similatly not going to be nominated as best racer as he did far less work from the back than the likes of emil, ward, gollob, pc x2 etc.

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Mauger was definitely the best gater , apart from when up against a Pole taking a 30 yard run at the gate in a World Final run off . Any of the Collins brothers had you on the edge of your seat when they were carving their way past riders . Les at Powderhall was the most entertaining I've ever seen , you were praying he would fluff the start , even though he was in the opposition side .

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Les and Neil Collins at Leicester (Blackbird Rd) Les powering round the pack on the tote bend, and Neil, undercutting on the City bend, his front wheel on the kerb, just underneath the rider in front of hims rear wheel, silk scarf blowing in the Castrol R air....

Edited by Shale Searcher
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