Ivan Mauger

[Wooly73]

All ways remember IVAN riding at Canterbury, 3 exhibition races, one the highlights that night was that after each race he changed into a different set of colours leathers.

[Paulco]

17 minutes ago, Wooly73 said:

All ways remember IVAN riding at Canterbury, 3 exhibition races, one the highlights that night was that after each race he changed into a different set of colours leathers.

Likewise when him and Scott Autrey held a series of match races at Paisley in the mid seventies , and he brought his gold bike along too . Arguably the greatest rider ever to take to the shale , its always a sad day whenever a true legend passes away . 

Remember him too riding with a plaster cast on his right ankle during the 1971 Nordic-British Final at Hampden . 

Rest in peace Ivan and thanks for the memories . 

[steve roberts]

43 minutes ago, Wooly73 said:

All ways remember IVAN riding at Canterbury, 3 exhibition races, one the highlights that night was that after each race he changed into a different set of colours leathers.

...have a feeling that was during the 50th Anniversary Meeting held at Kingsmead during the 1973 season? Was Briggo there also?

[Sidney the robin]

1968/ 75 i would say those eight seasons  were his peak years Ivan was a absolute superstar his level and consistency  was amazing .But we often forget how good a team man Ivan was was brilliant after Belle Vue with his Exeter and Hull teams and was very unlucky with Hull when they nearly won the league.     1972 ( with the greatest side ever Belle Vue ) and his Exeter career was my favourite period as a rider remember him in his classy white leathers he looked twenty years ahead of his time a real ICON of our sport.

[Sotonian]

I've just read his obituary in The Times. It reports an incident where he, Eric Cantona style, waded into the terraces and started kicking and punching someone who he thought was throwing stones at him. This is the first I've ever heard of that and I suspect maybe journalistic licence. Any ideas Philip Rising?

[steve roberts]

6 minutes ago, Sotonian said:

I've just read his obituary in The Times. It reports an incident where he, Eric Cantona style, waded into the terraces and started kicking and punching someone who he thought was throwing stones at him. This is the first I've ever heard of that and I suspect maybe journalistic licence. Any ideas Philip Rising?

...apparently it happened at Exeter when Ivan was riding for Newcastle and beat Jimmy Squibb during the Golden Sash match race.

[Gunner85]

One must also remember that Ivan had a tough time when he first came over and rode at Wimbledon.

When he came back and started with Newcastle the long focused road to the top began

His biographies are a great read.

[Grachan]

I remember going to Exeter in 1975 while in Devon on a scout camp. We arranged a trip to speedway in the evening to see an Exeter v Hull match.

In those days you could actually lean on the safety fence and lean out over the track as the riders came down the straight, which I did in one race. I leaned right out in front of Ivan Mauger as he came down at full speed and shot past. For a brief moment, I looked right into his eyes as he came past. I will never forget that image. He had such distinctive eyes. Lord knows what he thought of kids leaning out in front of him as he went past! It was a regular thing at that time.

I still have the programme. Exeter won 51-27. Ivan Mauger? Paid maximum with 2 second places behind Exeter no 2 Mike Farrell.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Grachan

[PHILIPRISING]

3 hours ago, Sotonian said:

I've just read his obituary in The Times. It reports an incident where he, Eric Cantona style, waded into the terraces and started kicking and punching someone who he thought was throwing stones at him. This is the first I've ever heard of that and I suspect maybe journalistic licence. Any ideas Philip Rising?

NO, never heard off that one ... but if it was at Newcastle would have been before I got more involved with speedway. 

If it actually happened would bet money that it was only once. As so many have said, Ivan was a true superstar and a great guy. Hopefully we can do him justice in Speedway Star, especially next week with a tribute issue.

[wealdstone]

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but my foremost memory of Ivan was during the qualifying stages of the World Final at White City where he fell off at the start and remained lying down until the race was stopped. The referee excluded John  Davis although Bob Dugard pointed quite clearly to the Davis's tyre tracks which showed do deviation at all that could have caused Ivan's fall.

[coventry1963]

A friend of mine put off going on honeymoon on her wedding day so that she could attend Coventry when Ivan (her favourite rider) was visiting that night. I took a sheet for all the riders to sign and Ivan took extra time in the middle of a meeting to compose a message for her and to wish her well on her marriage. Ivan always went that extra mile. RIP

[geoff100]

1 hour ago, wealdstone said:

Not sure if this has been mentioned before but my foremost memory of Ivan was during the qualifying stages of the World Final at White City where he fell off at the start and remained lying down until the race was stopped. The referee excluded John  Davis although Bob Dugard pointed quite clearly to the Davis's tyre tracks which showed do deviation at all that could have caused Ivan's fall.

Classic ivan at his best he just sat on his bike and ignored all going on around him am sure it was 1977 and of course he won the world final and one of the first to say well done was john davies .its on you tube if u look .

[wealdstone]

23 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Classic ivan at his best he just sat on his bike and ignored all going on around him am sure it was 1977 and of course he won the world final and one of the first to say well done was john davies .its on you tube if u look .

Think you are right. I went to the  Final that year in Poland. . Chorzow if I recall.

[Aces51]

1977 final was in Gothenburg. That was the final where Peter Collins rode with a badly broken leg but finished second to Ivan. The Intercontinental Final was at White City that year but won by Peter, Ivan was fifth but John Davies was excluded in the race where he met Ivan.

Maybe you're thinking of the 1979 final, that was at Chorzow.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Aces51

[Mauger_Magic]

He was the King here at Newcastle....watched him when we won the Provincial League title and remember he went many many weeks without a defeat at Brough Park until Colin Pratt of Hckney Hawks beat him...then the next week Pete Jarman of Wolverhampton Wolves beat him. He was my hero and it was a joy to see him at Wembley when he won the 1966 European Championship!...RIP Legend.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Mauger_Magic

[Tsunami]

1 hour ago, Mauger_Magic said:

He was the King here at Newcastle....watched him when we won the Provincial League title and remember he went many many weeks without a defeat at Brough Park until Colin Pratt of Hckney Hawks beat him...then the next week Pete Jarman of Wolverhampton Wolves beat him. He was my hero and it was a joy to see him at Wembley when he won the 1966 European Championship!...RIP Legend.

Beaten also by John Poyser from Oxford, who's daughter Jackie was host to Lubos at Oxford, whilst we were his hosts at Newcastle.

[mauger65]

some people say he would have struggled in the current championship series format ...........  what utter rubbish

in 71 he lost to our other great diamond ole olsen when scoring 14,  in 73 he lost to a pole in a run off and 74 he finished 2nd on a track prepared for Anders Michanek (another diamond....)

I think his sheer consistency would have won him titles between 68-74   ... maybe Olsen would have had a chance in 71

Likewise he could won in 67 and between 75-79 I think his tactical genius would have won at least the 2 titles he won in that era anyway ..... he probably would have 8-10 titles between 67 and 79 under the grand prix system

Individual meetings on the night were always harder to win, even the great Tony Richardsson wouldn't have won 6 individual titles  

Ivan ... was the total professional... a genius..... and total legend

 

 

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, mauger65 said:

some people say he would have struggled in the current championship series format ...........  what utter rubbish

in 71 he lost to our other great diamond ole olsen when scoring 14,  in 73 he lost to a pole in a run off and 74 he finished 2nd on a track prepared for Anders Michanek (another diamond....)

I think his sheer consistency would have won him titles between 68-74   ... maybe Olsen would have had a chance in 71

Likewise he could won in 67 and between 75-79 I think his tactical genius would have won at least the 2 titles he won in that era anyway ..... he probably would have 8-10 titles between 67 and 79 under the grand prix system

Individual meetings on the night were always harder to win, even the great Tony Richardsson wouldn't have won 6 individual titles  

Ivan ... was the total professional... a genius..... and total legend

 

 

Agree 100%...under the Grand Prix System Ivan would have reigned supreme during the seventies as Hans Nielsen would have done during the middle/late eighties.

[martinmauger]

Reckon Ivan, and also Ove Fundin, would have won more World Championships under the GP system.  And Ivan a-l-m-o-s-t won 6 in a row !  As we know: he took out 1968-1970, Ole Olsen won in 1971, Ivan won again in 1972, and had he waited another 3/4 of a lap to pass the Pole Jerzy Szczakiel in 1973, it could have 6 on the bounce.   But any rider will say if you see a gap then you really must go for it as you may never get another chance, though there are relativley few 'must win' races under the GP format.   Ivan disproved his 'just a gater' tag in that 1973 Final when he was passing for fun around the outside on his longstroke JAWA, and while he must have been well peeved at the time (to say the least !) and also afterwards at being constantly asked about it, he bore no ill will towards Jerzy "he was a better rider than most people thought plus he deserved to win because I fell off and he didn't", says a lot about the man Ivan Mauger....

[crazyb]

Big obituary in yesterday's Daily Telegraph, presumably by Ben Findon. There was a mention that he lost a million pounds in the insurance crash of the '90's when he was a Lloyds underwriter. He still bounced back and continued his training schools. The last time I spoke to him was about ten years ago when he ran a European junior grasstrack meeting at Tallington near Peterborough. I also remember being taken by him in his Mercedes across the showground to the changing rooms when he raced against PC, and he had the gold bike on the back seat.