Ivan Mauger

[Sidney the robin]

Sid how do you rate Sanders and Phil Crump when both were at their peak?

 

Personally I thought that Crump was a better league man and Sanders the international version. Billy seemed to loose his way when he moved away from Ipswich but came back stronger when he returned to 'The Witches'.

 

Phil I felt was consistently better in the British League but despite his third place in Poland in 1976 he generally disappointed in World Finals and appearances (three ?). He was awesome around Cowley during the seventies but my best memory of Sanders at Oxford was riding thru' the tapes in disgust for being excluded for an infringement!

Steve similar to yourself with Hans i saw alot of Crump senior he was an awesome rider but i felt after his crash with Ashby at Sheffield he was not quite the same 1982 as a example.It seems silly but he was good anough to win that final but he rode terribly and it was a trend of his in alot of the big meetings.I still believe to this day if he had put the Streety conversersion away he could of been WC so if you look at his record now it really does him a disservice really pleased i watched him regular though a real pleasure.I would say in 75/76 Crump was in the top six riders in the World Mauger,Olsen Michanek,P.C, Crump,T.Jansson.Sanders i was a big fan of and i know they had a few spats over the years both hard but fair men but Bill and Crumpy got on well and had total respect for each others ability.Sanders i felt before his death was at his peak really had got some consistency he had a great riding style and i believe if he had been in a series format that would of suited him as well.

You could equally argue that mayve Briggs, Moore, Craven, Knutson were not "that" good, and around that time in reality there was not great speedway rider, just a lot of good ones? This is a fun argument I say argument but I think we agree. You can only compare people to their peers and riders of their day, its impossible to compare riders unless their careers overlap and even then it's difficult if one is just started as one ends.

 

Greg Hanocks wins/career for me show how good TRick and Crump where though for this reason, he won a title before they got going (I know TRick had won one at that point) and won a few after TRick and Crump were gone but what did he do while they were around? Throw in Nicki over the same period and it was only when he had suffered a few injuries Greg got going again. So while Greg with 4 titles is one of the greats, Crump and TRick were something else.

What I was of Hans, looking at the stas etc. clearly a damn good rider but I'm not convinced he'd have won as many title in another era. He lacks that big occasion mentality and others who had it would have chewed him up and spat him out.

 

 

How funny you should post this after my response to you last post!

 

I actually believe Hans got stronger mentally as he got older something Carter could never do he never put the past behind him.Erik could of destroyed many riders mentally by having that hoodoo over them but Hans Conquered that and went on and won four titles and it would of been more titles in a series format.I have total confidence that Nielsen would of been brilliant in any era and for me in my roll of honour list rate him higher than Rick( was not a fan) Hancock Pedersen,and any rider about now Nielsen is a top 5 rider of all time for me i never realised that at the time. Edited September 17, 2017 by Sidney the robin

[Guest]

For those interested, I have heard that the lifetime collection of Ivan Mauger OBE, MBE will be offered at Bonhams annual Autumn Stafford Sale on 15 October. http://bonhams.com/24131

 

The latest Ivan Mauger items auction details:

http://www.speedwaygb.co/news.php?extend.33456