Notoriously Dirty Riders

[Paulco]

Is the term " shutting the door on " now classed as a dangerous move ?

[steve roberts]

A very hard rider, but also a showman who got the crowd talking (or shouting!). His battles with Frank Auffret were legendary.

A true character! Features in the thread 'Are There Any Characters In The Sport Anymore?'

[spin king]

Would never have classed him as dangerous , but I remember Tom Owen being kicked out of a meeting at Paisley in the mid seventies . Went to a Stoke v Glasgow meeting about 7 or 8 years ago . Claus Vissing's first year in British speedway and he got excluded about three times that night , twice putting David McAllan in the fence .

I remember Jesper Olsen's first season as a Glasgow Tiger at Shawfield , he stopped the first aiders getting bored

Did the Paul Cooper at Sheffield, to this day I still don't know how the referee decided that Cooper should have been excluded.

 

In the re run Vissing won the race and promptly went on a lap of honour, and there was a mass brawl at his return to the pit gate, and Vissing copped a hefty fine for failing to control his mechanic.

[Robert Lee]

Is the term " shutting the door on " now classed as a dangerous move ?

 

Only if someone has his head in the doorway at the time.

[Red Panda]

Not sure who he came to blows with but I recall in the earlish 80's Martin Goodwin coming to blows with someone at Poole...............funny thing is I was having this conversation with a friend last night.................I won't tell you what his thoughts on Goodwin are.............

 

RP

[Marksman]

Josh Auty's reckless move on Kenny Ingalls at Derwent Park in 2012 was one of the worst i've seen, Ingalls hasn't rode since.

 

There was also the incident when Auty was riding in the second half as a junior 15/16 year old and rode across the centre green into one of the start gate staff and broke his leg, i remember thinking he was uncontrollable then.

[Shrimpfan]

Jens Rasmussen was a dirty bugger. The way he took Richard Knight out in the 1985 KOC final at Foxhall was shocking.

 

Knight had to be physically held back in the pits to stop him going after Rasmussen!

 

Also, I'd feel feel sorry for any rider who had Preben Eriksen and Tim Hunt against them in the same race!

Edited January 2, 2016 by Wooly70

[Hobnob Smith]

Jens Rasmussen was a dirty bugger. The way he took Richard Knight out in the 1985 KOC final at Foxhall was shocking.

 

Knight had to be physically held back in the pits to stop him going after Rasmussen!

 

Also, I'd feel feel sorry for any rider who had Preben Eriksen and Tim Hunt against them in the same race!

LOL razzer was never a dirty rider hard yes but not dirty and if I remember right if knight would have got to razzer it would have been a big mistake by Knight , good cup final thou I remember one night at Oxford 3 times Neil Evitts rode razzer into the first bend fence on the fourth attempt all Hell broke loose , the following season razzer rode for Ipswich and Evitts was on the opposing side Jens tapped Evitts on the shoulder and said no funny business tonight and Evitts didn't ride well all night and scored hardly anything lol

[steve roberts]

LOL razzer was never a dirty rider hard yes but not dirty and if I remember right if knight would have got to razzer it would have been a big mistake by Knight , good cup final thou I remember one night at Oxford 3 times Neil Evitts rode razzer into the first bend fence on the fourth attempt all Hell broke loose , the following season razzer rode for Ipswich and Evitts was on the opposing side Jens tapped Evitts on the shoulder and said no funny business tonight and Evitts didn't ride well all night and scored hardly anything lolI

I was a huge Jens Rasmussen fan and was more than disappointed when he was 'forced' to leave the 'Cheetahs' just prior to the 1986 season. He ended up at Ipswich, ironically, where prior to that season he and Jeremy Doncaster didn't get on. However they ended up as friends and Jeremy named one of his children Jens! I was at Ipswich for the 1985 Cup Final and remember the incident well. If I recall 'Raz' entered the third (?) bend at a very acute angle and took Richard off and was rightly excluded (although I disagreed at the time!). Jens was a rider who could be hard but could take it as well. A great rider to have in the last heat as often he would produce the goods and secure the match (as he did at Ipswich earlier that year in the League Cup Semi-Final) He was one of those riders that if he rode for your team was looked upon as a hero but as an opponent...?

 

Of course when he joined Rye House (1988) that was the start of the incoming of foreigners at National League level (although in his case it was legitimate as he was married to an English girl) and, as they say, the rest is history!

[E I Addio]

Josh Auty's reckless move on Kenny Ingalls at Derwent Park in 2012 was one of the worst i've seen, Ingalls hasn't rode since.

 

There was also the incident when Auty was riding in the second half as a junior 15/16 year old and rode across the centre green into one of the start gate staff and broke his leg, i remember thinking he was uncontrollable then.

Auty's move taking Rob Mear off in the British Final wasn't much better. I don't know if Auty is an intentionally dirty rider though, he just rides like a nutter and is as much danger to himself as anybody else.

[Reviresco]

Sean Wilson and Roman Matousek have been mentioned by a few people. Here's a clip of them enjoying each other's company:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGzwOIiXqs

[22A]

Interesting list of names from across the years in this thread. I thought Emil Saifutdinov was at different times; aggressive (totally acceptable), and either foolish or dangerous by some of his riding and on other occasions actually "dirty".

[no-brakes-uk]

Off-topic slightly, Sudden Sam has cropped up on here. Was it my imagination, or did he have a habit of inexplicably falling off on the 3rd/4th bends all by himself? I've seen him do it more than once at both Brandon & Monmore.

I was a regular visitor at Wolves for a few years when Sam was there and he did have a habit of inexplicably sliding off all on his own. Never seen a rider of his calibre do that so often. That said, when he wasn't crashing he pulled off some amazing passes that defied belief. Never a dull meeting when Sam was racing. Edited January 20, 2016 by no-brakes-uk

[gee jay]

Sean Wilson and Roman Matousek have been mentioned by a few people. Here's a clip of them enjoying each other's company:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkGzwOIiXqs

it's the after meeting interview that's the best bit , when sean has cooled down NOT.

[Bagpuss]

A couple of absolute headcases.

[teddy2706]

 

It was definitely deliberate, I was there and saw it. However, it was well known tha Grahame was dirty on a weekly basis and would take riders to the fence on bend 1 of the race from the tapes. A friend and I used to discuss this and we thought that if he tried this on Alan Wilkinson he would come out the worst. So we we went to the Birmingham v Belle Vue match. Lo and behold Wilkinson wasn't involved because Grahame did it to Morton first who chased after him and took full retribution. I have to admit bias in my views, as a Wolves fan, Grahame was enemy number 1.

I cannot comment on the truth or otherwise of the Chris Morton incident, but I watched Alan at Cradley and he rarely went anywhere near the fence. That said, I remember Kenny Carter bleating on TV that Alan had banged into him hard to allow Andy to get away.

At Norden, as Egon Muller was taking the applause on a victory parade, I remember a broad East Anglian voice shouting "Send 'im to Ipswich, Donkey'll 'ave 'im!"

English fans around me were tittering and nodding at both the sentiment and reality of the statement.

Undoubtedly, the most dangerous rider I ever saw in the old BL was Gugliemi.

[xmas]

Tim hunt

Edited February 1, 2016 by xmas

[Ommer Mon]

Not dirty but best piece of fencing I ever saw was at Dudley Wood in the early '70s. Sandor Levai was guesting for Cradley against Swindon and either Clive Hitch or Mike Keen took him wide on the first bend. He gave chase and caught the 'offender' going in to the first bend, dived up the inside and took him all the way out to the fence before turning at the last second and leaving his opponent on his backside. It was almost poetry in slow motion.

 

I'll have to check the programme out to see who Sandor's 'victim' was. RIP Sandor. One of Speedways great characters.

[steve roberts]

Not dirty but best piece of fencing I ever saw was at Dudley Wood in the early '70s. Sandor Levai was guesting for Cradley against Swindon and either Clive Hitch or Mike Keen took him wide on the first bend. He gave chase and caught the 'offender' going in to the first bend, dived up the inside and took him all the way out to the fence before turning at the last second and leaving his opponent on his backside. It was almost poetry in slow motion.

 

I'll have to check the programme out to see who Sandor's 'victim' was. RIP Sandor. One of Speedways great characters.

Would have enjoyed watching Sandor in his prime...only saw him towards the back end of his career but apparently was a real character!

[E I Addio]

Not dirty but best piece of fencing I ever saw was at Dudley Wood in the early '70s. Sandor Levai was guesting for Cradley against Swindon and either Clive Hitch or Mike Keen took him wide on the first bend. He gave chase and caught the 'offender' going in to the first bend, dived up the inside and took him all the way out to the fence before turning at the last second and leaving his opponent on his backside. It was almost poetry in slow motion.

 

I'll have to check the programme out to see who Sandor's 'victim' was. RIP Sandor. One of Speedways great characters.

I don't think it would be for Sandor Levai to complain about other riders being dirty. He was one of the worst. Certainly not above getting inches in front of someone and snapping the throttle shut to have the man off. More than dirty he was downright dangerous at times.