The Worst Team

[bri1966]

The federation special diamonds didn't have the greatest results. But them boys were a great laugh. Best years of watching speedway.

[pete cc]

Am I the only person who enjoyed watching the stags of 2014?. Seen them v cradley at monmore & watching them improve with every lap.

[packerman]

to be pedantic, Blixt rde only 4 meetings in 82 and Stenclund none. You missed our Kevin Smith. Tbf, there have been far worse sides than that one, which was really just an extra HL short of being a decent side.

 

 

As I said the worst team that you followed and this was it even 2009 wasn't as bad!

 

I knew I missed one and should of known better as Kevin was such a nice man as I pestered him relentlessly for autographs when he beat the track record in 1985, sorry Kevin. I used the Poole website for Blixt & Stenlund as I said I was 13 at the time.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Packerman

[Tigerblade]

 

 

Weakest Aces side I saw in my years attending Hyde Rd was proably the 86 side - Morton was still a good number 1, Blackbird had a great season, Mckinn was solid, and Eccles impressed at reserve - but PC dropped over 2 points off his average, Andy Smith missed the whole BL with injury (eplaced by a lacklustre Courtney) and Barry Ayres was out of his depth - think the Aces finished 2nd bottom?

I remember going to Hyde Road in September 1986 and seeing Sheffield win by something like 46 - 32 which was usually unthinkable at Hyde Road, and a few Aces fans booing PC

 

The federation special diamonds didn't have the greatest results. But them boys were a great laugh. Best years of watching speedway.

Funnily enough a couple of weeks before the above mentioned Belle Vue trip, Sheffield were due to race on the August Bank Holiday Monday at Wolverhampton, but it was called off before the supporters' coach was due to set off, the only meeting still on was Newcastle v Boro and the driver agreed to go to Brough instead. Did we get some surprised looks when the coach rolled into the car park!!!

 

Anyhow, as bri1966 says, 1986 was not a vintage year for the Federation Specials, however that night they hammered Boro who were near, if not top of the league, 54 - 23 completely out of nowhere.

[Star Fever]

I think it was either 85 or 86 when Lynn went through the whole season without winning a single home meeting and only won one away. Vaguely remember them spending big on Mark Courtney and Paul Woods for that season and both being crap.

I remember that season too. Lynn were used to being somewhere near the bottom in those days but that year was exceptional .... no home wins all season then an away win at Swindon in our last match! Those were the days lol

[steve roberts]

I remember that season too. Lynn were used to being somewhere near the bottom in those days but that year was exceptional .... no home wins all season then an away win at Swindon in our last match! Those were the days lol

I was there...part of a double header with Oxford if I recall? Didn't Einar Kyllingstad register a 15 Point maximum for 'The Stars'?

[SCB]

I remember 1982 & how bad the Pirates performed. For me i vividly remember the likes of Pete Ellams being atrocious & more was expected of Kevin Smith and Andy Campbell. Scott Autrey was coming to the end of his career, Middleditch was as good as could have been and i think a lot more was expected of Davis too. He was the only rider in the top 26 not to have scored a maximum whereas Kenny Carter who finished top of the averages romped to 15 full maximums. The first league win was v Coventry on July 28th! But Pirates had recorded 6 League Cup wins prior to that & 3 challenge fixture wins. After the Coventry win we won just 4 more matches that season.

Interestingly Poole's top average rider was John Davis with 8.68 and was 26th out of 201 eligible riders in the final BL averages that year. An average similar last season would have placed you SECOND out of 74 in the final averages. It shows how watered down the league is now and how there are so few top riders in Britain now. Also in 1982 in the BL there were 10 British riders in the top 26. Last year there were 8. Not much in it really.

In 1982 there were 182 recorded full and paid maximums in the top 26 compared to 33 last season. Just some interesting figures I thought i would throw in.

 

edit..Erik Stenlund rode for Poole in 1983 and not 1982 season. For me the dullest ever Poole rider and worst by far was Claes Jensen.

Those figures DONT show how watered down things are now, they should bow watered down each team was back then because there were so many teams meaning talent was spread around more teams.

 

More teams means more riders with high averages.

[waiheke1]

Yep a typical example of speedway fan totally mis understanding how averages work.

[Sidney the robin]

Yep a typical example of speedway fan totally mis understanding how averages work.

Why are the averages so complicated ? a simple date that everyone knows of when they change .At the moment it is laughable to be honest knobody has a clue what is going on ,theyr' are also rules in place that are easy to manipulate.

[The White Knight]

Why are the averages so complicated ? a simple date that everyone knows of when they change .At the moment it is laughable to be honest knobody has a clue what is going on ,theyr' are also rules in place that are easy to manipulate.

Just a thought.

 

I wonder if some people are put off Speedway by the complicated Average System and some of the more ridiculous Rules?

[waiheke1]

Why are the averages so complicated ? a simple date that everyone knows of when they change .At the moment it is laughable to be honest knobody has a clue what is going on ,theyr' are also rules in place that are easy to manipulate.

Sid I agree the rules around when new averages are released are an utter shambles.

That said the actual calculation of them is very straight forward, and the OPs misunderstanding is nothing to do with rules but a fundamental failure to grasp the mathematical significance of them.

TWK- id say if anything the averages are part of speedways appeal, certainly to the "sports stat geek."

I don't think the odd unusual rule is a significant issue either, I'd suggest things like poor marketing, poor presentation, poor fixture planning, poor facilities, dilution of league strength and inconsistent application of rules are far far bigger issues.

[Sidney the robin]

Just a thought.

 

I wonder if some people are put off Speedway by the complicated Average System and some of the more ridiculous Rules?

It puts me off certainly WK annoying more than anyway also bonus points should count on every average it is a team sport after all.Going back to the seventies/eighties when you got a programme all the averages were up to date.Second strings moving to reserve and reserves moving into the top five now the averages are all over the shop . Edited June 9, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[The White Knight]

Sid I agree the rules around when new averages are released are an utter shambles.

That said the actual calculation of them is very straight forward, and the OPs misunderstanding is nothing to do with rules but a fundamental failure to grasp the mathematical significance of them.

TWK- id say if anything the averages are part of speedways appeal, certainly to the "sports stat geek."

I don't think the odd unusual rule is a significant issue either, I'd suggest things like poor marketing, poor presentation, poor fixture planning, poor facilities, dilution of league strength and inconsistent application of rules are far far bigger issues.

I see where you are coming from wkha1, however, not all of us are "sports stat geeks."

[Star Fever]

I was there...part of a double header with Oxford if I recall? Didn't Einar Kyllingstad register a 15 Point maximum for 'The Stars'?

yes that was by far the best meeting he ever had

[steve roberts]

yes that was by far the best meeting he ever had

He later joined 'The Cheetahs' but failed miserably despite having a very neat style.

[poppetman]

Just a thought.

 

I wonder if some people are put off Speedway by the complicated Average System and some of the more ridiculous Rules?

Oh surely not.

[Piotr Pyszny]

The worst in the lower league era was 1994, we even ended up getting hammered at home to Middlesbrough who were at that time marginally worse than us!

 

Tough season for the Bears, 1994. It went belly up from the very first meeting, at Long Eaton, when No 1 Graham Jones, star winter recruit, was badly injured. He piled into the back of Neil Collins, whose bike had packed up on Station Road's back straight, IIRC. Jones didn't ride again all year. It meant a heavy reliance on guests. Never satisfactory. Paul Whittaker was a shadow of the rider he'd been at Hackney before sustaining a serious arm injury, and fellow long-distance traveller Alan Mogridge was hit and miss. The wild Mark Burrows was always likely to either crash himself or endanger a team-mate. As I remember, the heroics of Paul 'Banger' Bentley kept the show on the road that season. A young Stuart Swales did well in patches, too.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Piotr Pyszny

[packerman]

 

Tough season for the Bears, 1994. It went belly up from the very first meeting, at Long Eaton, when No 1 Graham Jones, star winter recruit, was badly injured. He piled into the back of Neil Collins, whose bike had packed up on Station Road's back straight, IIRC. Jones didn't ride again all year. It meant a heavy reliance on guests. Never satisfactory. Paul Whittaker was a shadow of the rider he'd been at Hackney before sustaining a serious arm injury, and fellow long-distance traveller Alan Mogridge was hit and miss. The wild Mark Burrows was always likely to either crash himself or endanger a team-mate. As I remember, the heroics of Paul 'Banger' Bentley kept the show on the road that season. A young Stuart Swales did well in patches, too.

 

From a few years earlier I remember a Roland Tebbs riding for Boro at Poole in 86. Didn't look too steady on a bike that night, If he rode in the 85 fixture I missed it as that meeting was extremely wet