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Denmark Their Greatest Five Ever?


steve roberts

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This will surely divide people but following on from similar threads my five would be

 

1. Hans Nielsen

 

2. Ole Olsen

 

3. Erik Gundersen

 

4. Nikki Pedersen

 

5. Jan O. Pedersen

 

Since they were all multiple World Champions within the different disciplines I personally think that the top five pick themselves (although you may think different?) it's just in what order?

 

I was tempted to place Olsen at the top (seeing that he was the modern mover of Danish Speedway) but personally because of Nielsen's long term consistency in both domestic and international competition I place him at number one...but then I would!

 

Does Tommy Knudsen deserve recognition or going further back Arne Pander who was there before any of the aforementioned?

Edited by steve roberts
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Morian Hansen

Baltzar Hansen

Ole Olsen

Erik Gundersen

Nicki Pedersen

What were Morian Hansen and particularly Baltzar Hansen's achievements that you think places them above the Hans Nielsen, Jan O Pedersen and Tommy Knudsen.

 

My own top five I think would be the same as Steve's, though I would like to think there might be a place for Arne Pander....

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Morian Hansen

Baltzar Hansen

Ole Olsen

Erik Gundersen

Nicki Pedersen

 

 

No Hans Nielsen?

 

 

What were Morian Hansen and particularly Baltzar Hansen's achievements that you think places them above the Hans Nielsen, Jan O Pedersen and Tommy Knudsen.

 

My own top five I think would be the same as Steve's, though I would like to think there might be a place for Arne Pander....

 

​Good questions. I think it's best to put my opinion regarding Denmark's top five riders on hold!

I plan a complete rethink on my nominations and will come back with new thoughts in the course of time on who I would rate.

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My own top five I think would be the same as Steve's, though I would like to think there might be a place for Arne Pander....

.

Whilst acknowledging Pander's form at Oxford, - and I liked his riding style around Cowley - ,in truth he never made it once into a World Final, so I think not.

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What were Morian Hansen and particularly Baltzar Hansen's achievements that you think places them above the Hans Nielsen, Jan O Pedersen and Tommy Knudsen.

 

My own top five I think would be the same as Steve's, though I would like to think there might be a place for Arne Pander....

Probably the same reasons that saw him rank Mike bast in the top 20 riders of all time...

Fwiw I agree with the OPs list and order

Olsen, Nielsen, Gundersen , N. Pedersen, Knudsen. for me the first two named are in the top 15 of alltime.

Id say Sid the top 3 are all in the top 15 of all time and quite possibly dirty nicki as well.
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Arne Pander (Andy Pandy as I used to call him) was a good rider, but riding at the time when Fundin, Moore, Craven and Briggs ruled the roost, he didnt match up to them.

With the class of the Danish riders since, Arne would come well down my list.

Morian Hansen I have heard of, but he never won the Danish championship (2nd once, third once) never mind doing anything in the world championship.

Never heard of Baltzar hansen, and he doesnt even appear in the top three in any Danish championship.

Olsen and Nielsen were awesome, but apart from Nicki I never got to see much of Gundersen and nothing of the other great Danes.

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Probably the same reasons that saw him rank Mike bast in the top 20 riders of all time...

Fwiw I agree with the OPs list and order

Id say Sid the top 3 are all in the top 15 of all time and quite possibly dirty nicki as well.

Erik for me could be in at least on the fringes but 15 is not alot eaces 1" Olsen/Nielsen are certainties Nicki P no way in the top 15.
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.

Whilst acknowledging Pander's form at Oxford, - and I liked his riding style around Cowley - ,in truth he never made it once into a World Final, so I think not.

Yes, I agree, that’s why he didn’t actually make it to my top five.

 

But he was one of the top riders in the era of the “Big Five” and averaged 10.15 in 1960, which placed him above Briggo in the averages. In 1961 he had an average of 10.12 until he fractured his skull which put him out for the rest of the season and 1962. It then took him a long time to return to form. It wasn’t until 1965 that he returned to form, recording an average of 10.03.

 

Between 1959 and 1961, he was ranked in the Top 10 in the end of season Speedway Star Rankings, his highest being in 1960, when he was ranked at number four, above Barry Briggs and Bjorn Knutson. If he hadn’t fractured his skull he would probably have made at least two or three World Finals and done well in them. But, of course, we will never know.

Edited by norbold
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Yes, I agree, that’s why he didn’t actually make it to my top five.

 

But he was one of the top riders in the era of the “Big Five” and averaged 10.15 in 1960, which placed him above Briggo in the averages. In 1961 he had an average of 10.12 until he fractured his skull which put him out for the rest of the season and 1962. It then took him a long time to return to form. It wasn’t until 1965 that he returned to form, recording an average of 10.03.

 

Between 1959 and 1961, he was ranked in the Top 10 in the end of season Speedway Star Rankings, his highest being in 1960, when he was ranked at number four, above Barry Briggs and Bjorn Knutson. If he hadn’t fractured his skull he would probably have made at least two or three World Finals and done well in them. But, of course, we will never know.

Arne would have had a good chance of making the 1965 World Final, a feat achieved by his Oxford team mate Jimmy Gooch, but he wasn't allowed to take part in the qualifying rounds. Having decided to apply for British citizenship he wasn't entered in the European rounds and the powers that be decided because the process was not complete Arne was not eligible to ride in the British qualifiers either.

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I actually think his nme is spelt Baltzer,rather than your version?

 

Here's the rider's name as list in LONDON SPEEDWAYS for the 1936 Hackney team:

HACKNEY: Dicky Case, Fred Tate, Dusty Haigh, George Wilks, Cordy Milne, Morian Hansen, Baltzar Hansen, Bill Clbbett, Frank Hodgson, Phil Hart, Ken Brett, Stan Dell, Jack Dixon, Tiger Hart.

 

And in the MILKY SPEEDWAY website his name is spelt differently - so with your version we have a choice of three spellings.

 

1936 World Championship (part 3)

Championship Round scorers Harringay - July 11. Jack Parker 15, Charles 13, Newton 11, Van Praag 11, Cordy Milne 10, Ormston 9, Lees 8, Pitcher 8, Wilkinson 7, Chitty 6, Baltazar Hansen 5, Norman Parker 5, Clibbett 5, Dixon 2, Stobbart 1, Johnson 0.
::: My initial Post spelling was Baltzar Hansen.
Edited by Guest
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Here's the rider's name as list in LONDON SPEEDWAYS for the 1936 Hackney team:

HACKNEY: Dicky Case, Fred Tate, Dusty Haigh, George Wilks, Cordy Milne, Morian Hansen, Baltzar Hansen, Bill Clbbett, Frank Hodgson, Phil Hart, Ken Brett, Stan Dell, Jack Dixon, Tiger Hart.

Here is a bit of track history from Aalborg,which is in Denmark and this is a danish site.Baltzer beating a Dick Wise in an international race and later losing a couple of races to ex Wimbledon rider Alfred Rumrich in a Denmark v Germany test

 

http://speedwaylife.com/danske-baner/aalborg-stadion/

 

Another piece in english about the early days

 

 

The other riders.

Among the first Danish riders contracted to the dirt track were some already known from other kinds of motor cycle racing. Soon a group of local heroes grew up with names like Baltzer Hansen, Henning Hansen nicknamed “Morian”, Kaj Hansen “little K” and the renowned Svend Aage Engstrøm. The meetings gained extra color by participation from foreign riders like the Germans Hans Wunder and Alfred Rumrich, the American Lloyd “Sprouts” Elder, the Irish rider Ginger Lee and the female rider Eva Askquith only to mention a few.

Here is an article in the modern Danish Motor Union magazine,MotorBladet from 2010 which on page 36 has a historical article which mentions Baltzer Hansen

 

https://issuu.com/motorbladet/docs/mb_web_06_10_2

 

Not sure where you are getting your info,but obviously a spelling mistake has cropped up and maybe even then copied further.....

And a very interesting article by well known Danish speedway historian Sören Kjaer,which gives a few mentions to Baltzer, for the speedwayplus website i guess?

 

 

http://www.speedwayplus.com/pdf/SvendEngstrom.pdf

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