Do You Remember The 70's & 80's When Uk Teams Signed Unknown Foreigners? Some Good, Most Were Pants!

[Shale Searcher]

Chris Sully is still a regular at Beaumont Park.

 

He is always there... talks a lot of sense as well when it comes to speedway..

[billybikespeedway]

back in the 60's Newport signed the Wonderful Einar egedius, and movin closer 2004 in fact Newport signed a rider who was going to swweep all before ,came with a great pedigree,the wonderful Dawid Kujawa ( what a Flop )

[THE DEAN MACHINE]

wolves signed a rider called torben hansen in the late 80s , he looked the part but what I remember he was miles off the pace ,he did 7 meetings and got an average of 0.40. in the 90s when I was riding at stoke we signed a dane called Fredrick Petersen I think his name was , he turned up at press and practice with no bikes and looked a bit bemused by it all , I think on a bit of a scout mission they had heard of a young dane called Fredrick Petersen that was worth a go but they got the wrong guy , he is on the press team photos but never turned a wheel for the potters

Edited February 3, 2017 by THE DEAN MACHINE

[Catalan]

Ingar Hvamstad at Poole was no world beater!

 

Not sure he beat anyone.

[Falcon Hammer]

in the 90s when I was riding at stoke we signed a dane called Fredrick Petersen I think his name was , he turned up at press and practice with no bikes and looked a bit bemused by it all , I think on a bit of a scout mission they had heard of a young dane called Fredrick Petersen that was worth a go but they got the wrong guy , he is on the press team photos but never turned a wheel for the potters

😂😂😂 superb, if it wasn't speedway I would've said you just made that up

[Sidney the robin]

Nano Righetto Eastbourne probably was one of the worst imports i ever saw ride.

[Paulco]

Egon Muller never did much in two away fixtures for Coatbridge Tigers in the early seventies , and he ended up World Champion

[Sidney the robin]

Egon Muller never did much in two away fixtures for Coatbridge Tigers in the early seventies , and he ended up World Champion

One of those i think was at the Abbey i have the programme he scored 0.Jimmy Mac/Beaton were the hitters for Coatbridge Gifford rode as well i think. Edited February 3, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[Paulco]

One of those i think was at the Abbey i have the programme he scored 0.Jimmy Mac/Beaton were the hitters for Coatbridge Gifford rode as well i think.

Not sure about Gifford , he would still have been at Hull then . After the 73 season the licences were switched , Coatbridge dropped down and acquired Dave Gifford and Eddie Argall , while Hull moved up and Jimmy McMillan and Bobby Beaton went there .

Edited February 3, 2017 by Paulco

[topsoil]

Benny Johansson at Berwick a few years ago

[Agrotron]

Ingar Hvamstad at Poole was no world beater!

 

Not sure he beat anyone.

 

 

That was the lad that killed himself wasn't it? I remember him.

[Sidney the robin]

Not sure about Gifford , he would still have been at Hull then . After the 73 season the licences were switched , Coatbridge dropped down and acquired Dave Gifford and Eddie Argall , while Hull moved up and Jimmy McMillan and Bobby Beaton went there .

In 73 Gifford rode i think 22 meetings for Coatbridge Muller had the two poor meetings and none of us would envisage that he would be WC in 1983.!!!

[martinmauger]

Dave Gifford doubled up with Coatbridge and Hull in 1974, last rode for the Vikings Hull on 31 July during the infamous Hull v Belle Vue match. He after agreed with the Aces riders that the extremely wet Hull track was unridable after 4 heats (resulting in the record 60-9 home win), however the rereree had deemed the track ridable and so Gifford was sacked on the spot ! He spent the remainder of the season at Coatbridge.

 

I cannot comment as it was the week after the match in question that my parents decided I was old enough to attend speedway alone, which I was more than happy to do as several school friends were already regular fans. It wasn't uncommon for kids to go to speedway by themselves being dropped off and picked up in the knowledge no harm would come to them, it's still the same nowadays. Bobby Beaton rode for Hull until speedway closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 while Jimmy Mcmillan spent one more season at Hull, moving to Wolves making way for the rider control allocated Ole Olsen. But that's another story....

Edited February 4, 2017 by Martin Mauger

[steve roberts]

Dave Gifford doubled up with Coatbridge and Hull in 1974, last rode for the Vikings Hull on 31 July during the infamous Hull v Belle Vue match. He after agreed with the Aces riders that the extremely wet Hull track was unridable after 4 heats (resulting in the record 60-9 home win), however the rereree had deemed the track ridable and so Gifford was sacked on the spot ! He spent the remainder of the season at Coatbridge.

 

I cannot comment as it was the week after the match in question that my parents decided I was old enough to attend speedway alone, which I was more than happy to do as several school friends were already regular fans. It wasn't uncommon for kids to go to speedway by themselves being dropped off and picked up in the knowledge no harm would come to them, it's still the same nowadays. Bobby Beaton rode for Hull until speedway closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 while Jimmy Mcmillan spent one more season at Hull, moving to Wolves making way for the rider control allocated Ole Olsen. But that's another story....

...and of course the late Josef Angermuller rode for 'The Vikings' during their introduction to top level speedway in 1974.

[Paulco]

In 73 Gifford rode i think 22 meetings for Coatbridge Muller had the two poor meetings and none of us would envisage that he would be WC in 1983.!!!

 

 

Dave Gifford doubled up with Coatbridge and Hull in 1974, last rode for the Vikings Hull on 31 July during the infamous Hull v Belle Vue match. He after agreed with the Aces riders that the extremely wet Hull track was unridable after 4 heats (resulting in the record 60-9 home win), however the rereree had deemed the track ridable and so Gifford was sacked on the spot ! He spent the remainder of the season at Coatbridge.

 

I cannot comment as it was the week after the match in question that my parents decided I was old enough to attend speedway alone, which I was more than happy to do as several school friends were already regular fans. It wasn't uncommon for kids to go to speedway by themselves being dropped off and picked up in the knowledge no harm would come to them, it's still the same nowadays. Bobby Beaton rode for Hull until speedway closed at the Boulevard end of 1981 while Jimmy Mcmillan spent one more season at Hull, moving to Wolves making way for the rider control allocated Ole Olsen. But that's another story....

Cheers guys , it was a long time ago and was going by memory , was only 14 in 1973 and still went to the speedway with my dad . Remember being distraught when we dropped down a league as Jimmy Mac was my hero and it was unthinkable to me for him to be riding for anyone else but the Tigers . But I soon got used to life in division 2 especially when the likes of Mitch Shirra , Mick McKeon and Merv Janke arrived to entertain us .

[Sidney the robin]

Cheers guys , it was a long time ago and was going by memory , was only 14 in 1973 and still went to the speedway with my dad . Remember being distraught when we dropped down a league as Jimmy Mac was my hero and it was unthinkable to me for him to be riding for anyone else but the Tigers . But I soon got used to life in division 2 especially when the likes of Mitch Shirra , Mick McKeon and Merv Janke arrived to entertain us .

I think your memory mate is pretty spot on "Paulco " to be honest sometimes i forget what day of the week it is.😀Jimmy Mac what a legend a terrific rider and he stands out for me along with Charlie Monk and Steve Lawson as my heroes of Scottish racing. Edited February 4, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[martinmauger]

Me too. While obviously delighted at the (apparent) signing of Olsen, I was disappointed that Jimmy Mac was the rider to make way. Seems he was reasonably happy to leave, ironically joining the club Olsen left (Wolves), as he wanted Midlands base. Jimmy Mac was a great rider though....

[Seymour Dix]

I do remember in 84 for Reading Malc popping out the start in heat 8 and winning and beating Frank Andersen and another??I never went to Exeter in the 69/70/71/72 seasons but first went in 73 to see Autrey.It was such a shock to see as a young lad with the track shape and all the streets behind remember it well.I would imagine Ashby/Kilby would be up there with the best around the county ground even though both said they were not totally in love with the track.Holden (bless him was decent there) also Farrell and Maxfield were two i enjoyed watching.

 

I remember reading that Martin Ashby, wasn't keen on the move to the County Ground, and struggled early on. He approached Neil Street for advice , and the advice given was use the fence as your white line.

[steve roberts]

 

I remember reading that Martin Ashby, wasn't keen on the move to the County Ground, and struggled early on. He approached Neil Street for advice , and the advice given was use the fence as your white line.

Same with Bob Kilby...hated the idea of moving to the County Ground but he excelled around there!

[cowboy cookie returns?]

On 2/2/2017 at 8:36 PM, Triple.H. said:

Late 90's early 00's Ipswich signed a young Aussie Billy Lellman ?

Came with a good reputation but didn't last long over here, probably a couple of months if that.

I certainly can't remember what points he scored if any, maybe he was homesick or didn't like the lifestyle overhere.

Billy Lellmann popped up on a Ipswich memories Facebook feed this morning, the year he briefly rode was 1990. I did a quick google to see what he scored however no information was listed. Google did bring me here hence a reply to a 6 year old topic!!