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Crashes You Couldn’t Believe A Rider Walked Away From


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Watching most of my racing at mildenhall & peterbro, sadly mildenhall has a endless list of awful crashes.

Peterbro 1998 i think, ross brady & lee driver, awful awful crash, lee driver never rode again, they clashed & driver could not get off hes bike & smashed the 4th bend gate open, never seen a rider pick up so much speed mid bend, it was awful.

I took a trip to hackney when it re-opened in 95 or 96, went to see cradley pair of hamill & hancock, probably the most shocking crash id seen, the second half & young mark thompson went through the pit bend fence, his crash helmet came off & ended up flying across the dog track finishing up in the pits, the bike smashed through the pit gates & his body ended up demolishing the dog track barrier, somehow he got up & walked straight off back to the pits, it really was a heart stopping few seconds until he got up, got to know thommo well at mildenhall, he was a classy little rider who really should of gone alot further in the sport but suffered some nasty injuries & lacked abit of confidence, but on hes day no-one was better at riding the outside.

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bradley wilson deans at rye house only last year was a blood chiller especially to those on the back straight. lukas dryml in the grand prix series just after they brought in air fences but hadn't discovered how dangerous it was to have them on the straights and one of newports 2 swedes during their last year possibly anders mellgren , hit the first bend air fence , literally exploding 2 sections with the bike going straight up and over the fence.

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Has to be Chris Harris at Poole in the PO final. Truly amazing.

 

Not walking away was Jamie Smith at Mildenhall in 2007. He not only cleared the safety fence but the 7 foot high stock car catch fence as well and - fortunately - landed on the sand of the dog track. Broken collar bone - to everyone's astonishment - only.

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bff6ATACYAAcQtc.jpg

 

If Jamie Smith crashed, he never seemed to do it by half measures did he?!

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bradley wilson deans at rye house only last year was a blood chiller especially to those on the back straight. lukas dryml in the grand prix series just after they brought in air fences but hadn't discovered how dangerous it was to have them on the straights and one of newports 2 swedes during their last year possibly anders mellgren , hit the first bend air fence , literally exploding 2 sections with the bike going straight up and over the fence.

that was when they had the air fence down the straight.

 

Watch it again because Mark Loram was behind, and Mark was far from fully fit, and see the speed that he lays the bike down HALFWAY down the straight, thats some serious throttle control

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that was when they had the air fence down the straight.

 

Watch it again because Mark Loram was behind, and Mark was far from fully fit, and see the speed that he lays the bike down HALFWAY down the straight, thats some serious throttle control

 

Don't think that is part of any UK training school, laying a bike down, and it should be....

I am led to believe that it WAS taught to new riders in Australia, not sure if it is taught there now though....

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A horror crash in ht5 at Kent last night saw Jack Thomas thrown clear of the air fence and hard onto the grass behind. After a nervous wait Jack gingerly walked back to the pits & appeared for the rerun and finished the night scoring 10 points including a match winning heat 14. Reports this morning are suspected tibia & elbow fractures.........tough lads speedway riders.

Edited by Sings4Kings
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Don't think that is part of any UK training school, laying a bike down, and it should be....

I am led to believe that it WAS taught to new riders in Australia, not sure if it is taught there now though....

I know that when Len Silver used to run training sessions at Hackney he would insist that riders were taught how to lay down a bike before he was allowed out on the track with other riders. Not sure if it was a myth but I recall reading years ago that he once jumped out in front of an oncoming rider forcing him to drop the bike...not sure if that one's true however?

 

When I attended an Olle Nygren school at Lynn we were not shown how to safely lay the bike down however it was a beginners course.

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steve roberts, on 09 Aug 2016 - 4:49 PM, said:

I know that when Len Silver used to run training sessions at Hackney he would insist that riders were taught how to lay down a bike before he was allowed out on the track with other riders. Not sure if it was a myth but I recall reading years ago that he once jumped out in front of an oncoming rider forcing him to drop the bike...not sure if that one's true however?

 

When I attended an Olle Nygren school at Lynn we were not shown how to safely lay the bike down however it was a beginners course.

 

At Linlithgow, Alan Robertson used to chuck traffic cones out in front of you.

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Thought my dad would be mentioned I wasn't born when he crashed at blackbird road. One I remember of his was at poole between 1988-1992 off gate 4 entering the 1st turn he got caught with tony langdon he hit the fence at the start of turn one ploughed through it and the impact took his crash helmet off and it went flying onto the centre green

 

Remember the poole fan in front laughing saying "cookie has lost his head"

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Kasprzak in the Polish league in 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjNiJcED3O4 Sure there was an airfence that took most of the energy but still.

 

Also a non speedway one which really deserves to be mentioned, Katherine Legge crash at the 2006 champ car race at Road America.

Her car hits the armco wall and basically disintegrates (except the monocoque) and she could walk away from it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__ByotKbusU

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It's not actually that hard to do, turn bars to lock, wide throttle and lay down, pulling in clutch so back wheel stops driving once you're down. The thing you need to do is make that decision because sometimes missing the rider in front is possible as well and that's where indecision can cost you/the other rider.

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It's not actually that hard to do, turn bars to lock, wide throttle and lay down, pulling in clutch so back wheel stops driving once you're down. The thing you need to do is make that decision because sometimes missing the rider in front is possible as well and that's where indecision can cost you/the other rider.

I remember being told to push the left handlebar down hard and the back wheel would just slip away from underneath you. Easier said than done however!

Thought my dad would be mentioned I wasn't born when he crashed at blackbird road. One I remember of his was at poole between 1988-1992 off gate 4 entering the 1st turn he got caught with tony langdon he hit the fence at the start of turn one ploughed through it and the impact took his crash helmet off and it went flying onto the centre green

 

Remember the poole fan in front laughing saying "cookie has lost his head"

Remember your dad, Colin, riding for Scunthorpe!

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Thought my dad would be mentioned I wasn't born when he crashed at blackbird road. One I remember of his was at poole between 1988-1992 off gate 4 entering the 1st turn he got caught with tony langdon he hit the fence at the start of turn one ploughed through it and the impact took his crash helmet off and it went flying onto the centre green

 

Remember the poole fan in front laughing saying "cookie has lost his head"

That crash is on one of the "crashes and cock ups" tapes that I have....

Colin Cook was an absolute racer, never gave in, and flourished at Leicester, I used to follow him up the A47 after meetings most Tuesdays when I lived in the posh end of Leicester!!

He was also a rider I could talk to eye to eye as I am vertically challenged as well!!

He was always a crowd pleaser, in a time when speedway in the UK had a proper season, mid March to the end of October....

Edited by Shale Searcher
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I remember Tomasz Piscz going full pelt into the third turn at Owlerton and destroying the fence and his bike,Tomasz just got up and walked off back to the pits!

 

Most spectacular one was back in 1991 Sheffield v Edinburgh late in the season.It was Peter and Louis Carr v Frede Schott and Johnny Jorgenson (not the Coventry JJ!)All four came out of the 1st and 2nd turn together but Jorgenson was squeezed up against the fence and somehow the bike 'rode up the fence' flinging Jorgenson in a majestic arc halfway down the backstraight,landing ankle and arse first on the track.Meanwhile his bike was now scything the fence down ripping out posts and tearing the wire mesh apart for about 30 yards.Peter Carr and Frede Schott were clear and unscathed but Louis Carr suffered a concussion as he flung his bike down to avoid the carnage.Johnny Jorgenson withdrew with ankle injuries and was shaken up and it took the best part of an hour to rebuild the fence.

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