BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) In the 'Fundin Olsen Nielsen' topic tmc suggested that the 'Best Visiting Rider At Your Track' might be another interesting thread. Ivor Brown had an outstanding record at Monmore Green, Wolverhampton, in the 1960s, including scoring 8 maximums (full and paid) in team matches. His record in individual meetings and internationals was also very good. Ivor's record at Wolverhampton in 1963 was exceptional. In 5 team matches against the Wolves he scored 61.5 points plus 0.5 bonus in a dead heat for first place, giving a total of 62 from 21 rides, at a cma of 11.81. The one point dropped was to Ernie Baker in a Midland League encounter. In individual meetings in 1963 Ivor won the Monmore Green Trophy with a 15 point maximum, 4 points ahead of Ivan Mauger, he finished 3rd in the Midland Riders' Championship with 12 points, behind Colin Pratt and Norman Hunter, but had a disappointing time in the Champion of Champions Trophy by scoring just 10 from 5 rides to finish behind Peter Jarman, Norman Hunter and Charlie Monk. Ivor top scored with 16 points from 6 rides for the Provincial League against the National League in a 'test match' in 1963 at Monmore Green, beaten only by Bob Andrews and Colin Gooddy, followed with 14 points from 6 rides for Britain v Overseas, when 3 points were dropped in one race due to a fall. Edited June 19, 2016 by BL65 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Ove Fundin was certainly the best visiting rider at New Cross, though for a brief period towards the end of 1960, I think Jack Young was probably the best. From memory, I think I would have to go for Barry Briggs at West Ham.I'll have to look up my programmes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney the robin Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Briggs record at Hyde Rd was outstanding,was filling in programmes from Belle Vue v Swindon 68/69/70/71/72 still scored well.Never see any of Briggos BLRC wins would of loved to have seen them this track was made for him style wise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E I Addio Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Ove Fundin was certainly the best visiting rider at New Cross, though for a brief period towards the end of 1960, I think Jack Young was probably the best. From memory, I think I would have to go for Barry Briggs at West Ham. I'll have to look up my programmes.... Briggo at West Ham was stunning. Our memories are not totally reliable, I admit, but from memory I can't remember anyone in the whole of motorcycle sport, except Mike Hailwood, who was so much better than the opposition as Briggo was at Custom House. According to my memory Anders Michanek was pretty stunning when he visited Hackney. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Briggo at West Ham was stunning. Our memories are not totally reliable, I admit, but from memory I can't remember anyone in the whole of motorcycle sport, except Mike Hailwood, who was so much better than the opposition as Briggo was at Custom House. Yes, that is pretty much my memory except for 1964 when Bjorn Knutson frequently got the better of him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Yes, that is pretty much my memory except for 1964 when Bjorn Knutson frequently got the better of him. Spot on re 1964 Norbold. Looking back through my programmes I believe they met 21 times at Custom House in 1964, including second half races, with Bjorn getting the better of Barry by 17-4. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) Ove Fundin was certainly the best visiting rider at New Cross, though for a brief period towards the end of 1960, I think Jack Young was probably the best. From memory, I think I would have to go for Barry Briggs at West Ham. I'll have to look up my programmes.... In my opinion the best visiting rider I ever saw at New Cross - and I did attend the track in the era when Ove Fundin and Barry Briggs were riding - was Vic Duggan of Harringay in the 1947 and 1948 seasons Another in the same mould was Wibur Lamoreaux - Wembley and Birmingham - in the 1948 and 1949 seasons. Belle Vue's Jack Parker in the late 1940s was another who did exceptionally well at 'The Frying Pan' as the small New Cross track was dubbed by many spectators. Edited June 19, 2016 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Ove Fundin was certainly the best visiting rider at New Cross, though for a brief period towards the end of 1960, I think Jack Young was probably the best. From memory, I think I would have to go for Barry Briggs at West Ham. I'll have to look up my programmes.... Purely on the statistics generated by results at New Cross in 1960 and 1961, not including second half races, I would put Ronnie Moore slightly ahead of Ove Fundin. In 1960 Ronnie scored 106 plus 2 bonus from 38 races for a cma of 11.37, whereas Ove scored 62 from 22 races to give 11.27. In 1961 Ronnie scored 151 plus 6 bonus from 58 rides for a cma of 10.83, compared to Ove's 38 points from 15 rides for an average of 10.13. In 1960 at New Cross Jack Young scored 59 (including bonus) from 31 rides, but he did have two very good meetings at the track towards the end of the season, scoring paid 16 (from 6 rides) for Australasia against England and then totalling 11 to finish behind Moore and Briggs in the Champion of Champions meeting. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) Thanks BL. That's very interesting about Ronnie Moore's record as compared to Ove's. I did make a mistake about Jack Young. I was thinking of the 1961 season, not 1960, when he won the King of the South Cup, beating Fundin, Moore and Briggs and then, the following week, winning the Tom Farndon Memorial Trophy, beating Moore, Knutson, Briggs and Craven. Edited June 19, 2016 by norbold Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Thanks BL. That's very interesting about Ronnie Moore's record as compared to Ove's. I did make a mistake about Jack Young. I was thinking of the 1961 season, not 1960, when he won the King of the South Cup, beating Fundin, Moore and Briggs and then, the following week, winning the Tom Farndon Memorial Trophy, beating Moore, Knutson, Briggs and Craven. Yes, brilliant performances in his final British season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 In my opinion the best visiting rider I ever saw at New Cross - and I did attend the track in the era when Ove Fundin and Barry Briggs were riding - was Vic Duggan of Harringay in the 1947 and 1948 seasons Another in the same mould was Wibur Lamoreaux - Wembley and Birmingham - in the 1948 and 1949 seasons. Belle Vue's Jack Parker in the late 1940s was another who did exceptionally well at 'The Frying Pan' as the small New Cross track was dubbed by many spectators. Vic Duggan was probably the best visiting rider at every track he rode at for Harringay in 1947. 13 away maximums, being unbeaten in three visits to West Ham, one point dropped in three visits each to Belle Vue, Wimbledon and New Cross, unbeaten in his single visits to Birmingham and Norwich, 2 unbeaten meetings at Bradford before recording just 7+1 in an end of season challenge. Vic's bogey track that season was Wembley, where he dropped 7 points in 18 rides. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Hyde Rd in the 80s, got to go for Carter. All time, surely Briggs on the basis of his blrc record? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Vic Duggan was probably the best visiting rider at every track he rode at for Harringay in 1947. 13 away maximums, being unbeaten in three visits to West Ham, one point dropped in three visits each to Belle Vue, Wimbledon and New Cross, unbeaten in his single visits to Birmingham and Norwich, 2 unbeaten meetings at Bradford before recording just 7+1 in an end of season challenge. Vic's bogey track that season was Wembley, where he dropped 7 points in 18 rides. I can only endorse your comments about Vc Duggan. I was at New Cross when Harringay made their first post-war appearance there in 1947. I was also impressed by two other Aussie riders, his brother the late Ray Duggan, and the stylish Frank Dolan. A great and treasured speedway memory for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BL65 Posted June 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 (edited) Hyde Rd in the 80s, got to go for Carter. All time, surely Briggs on the basis of his blrc record? I agree that Briggs had a fantastic record in the BLRC, beating some very good riders who were at their best at the time. The BLRC that I have the most vivid recollection of was the 1969 staging, when Barry won with 14 points, only being beaten by Mauger in his fifth ride. Ivan easily won three other races too but had machine trouble and failed to finish in his race against Ashby, Wilson and Levai. I recall that Mauger was way behind Jim Airey (who finished third after Ivan beat him in a run-off) in one heat, but he seemed to be travelling at the speed of light to swoop past him and leave Jim equally far behind in the course of half a lap. I remember turning to an acquaintance I was with to ask what he thought as he always claimed that Ivan only won races from the gate - he was speechless. Edited June 22, 2016 by BL65 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted June 19, 2016 Report Share Posted June 19, 2016 Vic's bogey track that season was Wembley, where he dropped 7 points in 18 rides. A great shame one of those meetings was the Riders' Championship Final. There is no doubt that Vic Duggan was the outstanding rider of 1947 but sadly missed out on the main title of the year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyMac Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 (edited) Thanks for getting this thread going and for the remarkable way BL65 verifies with stats. In many cases, the all-time greats - Parker, Duggan, Moore, Fundin, Briggs, Mauger, Olsen, Collins, Lee, etc - will have the best or very comparable statistical records wherever they raced, which is why I particularly like the Ivor Brown/Wolverhampton yardstick. Maybe my suggested thread title was wrong in that respect. It would be interesting to hear of other non-superstars, like Brown (though he was an absolute legend at Cradley), who were brilliant at CERTAIN tracks, rather than at the vast majority of them. Ideally, second strings who raised their game and rode like stars at selected venues . . . The other day I was looking at the form of visiting riders who appeared in the three seasons that Romford ran and one leapt out. The Brooklands track, with his lethal concrete 'safety fence', wasn't everyone's cup of tea, but George scored a 15-point max on his debut there for Doncaster in 1970, followed it up with 10 from 4 rides for Birmingham in 1971 and won an individual meeting towards the end of that final season at my local track. Must admit, I'm struggling to think of someone in the non-star category who was a bit special at Hackney, because the track was liked by so many visiting riders when it was prepared well. Stats wise, John Louis' record there from 1971-83 must have taken some beating but, then again, 'Tiger' John was a superstar of his era and performed brilliantly everywhere. Now if we were talking about a thread titled 'Visiting Rider Who Hated Your Track', I'd have no hesitation in nominating Bobby Schwartz at Hackney. Briggo at West Ham was stunning. Our memories are not totally reliable, I admit, but from memory I can't remember anyone in the whole of motorcycle sport, except Mike Hailwood, who was so much better than the opposition as Briggo was at Custom House. He wasn't the night Stan 'The Man' Stevens beat him! Edited June 22, 2016 by tmc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Steve finch in his Halifax days was always very good round Hyde Rd, certainly rode well above his average. Bobby shwartz probably falls under the visiting riders who hated your track category for Hyde Rd as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sidney the robin Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Have to from memory say Airey,E.Boocock, were very good visitors to Hyde Rd.Schwartz,Kennett,Jessup,Simmons were all visitors i would say we're not fond of Hyde Rd.To a lesser extent Nielsen as well ,but later years he conquered the track and was mighty impressive there i remember him in the Ivan meeting when there were six in a race he was superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Jessup wasn't great at Hyde Rd, though I recall one teSt vs USA in 81 where he scored about 16. Schwartz and Kennett definitely struggled. Simmons wasn't too bad from memory, though certainly never dominated a meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucifer sam Posted June 22, 2016 Report Share Posted June 22, 2016 Jan O. Pedersen was amazing around Oxford. I recall him passing Hans Nielsen from behind on a number of occasions. All the best Rob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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