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Tai Woffinden Best Ever!?


IainB

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1 hour ago, moxey63 said:

Sorry, but I think you're wrong in part. The topic is about Mr Woffinden being the best British rider, is it not. Now, as I have a forty-five year history of following the sport , never mind how much I like it nowadays, I think that gives me some knowledge and a right to reply.

Me too - and I can add 10 to your 45

I don't dislike Tai - having recently suffered a heart attack, I value life too much now to dislike anyone! - but I do think there have been better British riders than Tai, who don't have the same number of gold medals that he has, partly because they didn't possess equipment on a par with his

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3 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

Me too - and I can add 10 to your 45

I don't dislike Tai - having recently suffered a heart attack, I value life too much now to dislike anyone! - but I do think there have been better British riders than Tai, who don't have the same number of gold medals that he has, partly because they didn't possess equipment on a par with his

Again, equipment isn't particularly relevant. All the top riders today have pretty much the same equipment, and as has been said, Zmarzlik has the fastest bikes.

Back in the day - whichever day you wish to talk about - the riders were all on similar equipment.

Steve

Edit: as far as the number of "gold medals", Tai doesn't have as many as others from past times, because he doesn't have the quality of partners/team-mates that others did...

Edited by chunky
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You could use Emil as a good example.A very good rider and at one time his bikes seemed to have 20 or 30% more power than his rivals.The Sky commentators even mentioned it,questioned it,but he doesn't have a single title to his name.The Poles over the past decade have had brilliant equipment and make up striking amount of ground at times,yet?

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2 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Sorry, but I think you're wrong in part. The topic is about Mr Woffinden being the best British rider, is it not. Now, as I have a forty-five year history of following the sport , never mind how much I like it nowadays, I think that gives me some knowledge and a right to reply.

Right to reply?

Given you have readily stated you don't watch the sport it gives you zero right to reply.

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16 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

Me too - and I can add 10 to your 45

I don't dislike Tai - having recently suffered a heart attack, I value life too much now to dislike anyone! - but I do think there have been better British riders than Tai, who don't have the same number of gold medals that he has, partly because they didn't possess equipment on a par with his

Name them.

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13 minutes ago, chunky said:

Again, equipment isn't particularly relevant. All the top riders today have pretty much the same equipment, and as has been said, Zmarzlik has the fastest bikes.

Back in the day - whichever day you wish to talk about - the riders were all on similar equipment.

Steve

Edit: as far as the number of "gold medals", Tai doesn't have as many as others from past times, because he doesn't have the quality of partners/team-mates that others did...

And he's not riding average journeymen for the most part in World Team Finals etc either.

Edited by BWitcher
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2 hours ago, moxey63 said:

You can't really compare how many titles a rider has to him being better than another rider. You have to look at it more broadly.

Tai is very good. But... and it's just my opinion, there isn't that much out there to beat. 

Of course titles mean nothing. Larry Ross was FAR better than Mauger, Briggs, or Moore. I played darts professionally for 25 years, and the fact that Phil Taylor won over 200 major titles - including 16 World Championships - doesn't prove that he was better than me...

Of course, back in the day, the world final fields were so much tougher. However did those World Champs beat riders like Josef Hofmeister, Per-Tage Svensson, Jerzy Trzeszkowski, Hans-Jurgen Fritz, and Petr Ondrasik... 

Steve

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3 minutes ago, chunky said:

Of course titles mean nothing. Larry Ross was FAR better than Mauger, Briggs, or Moore. I played darts professionally for 25 years, and the fact that Phil Taylor won over 200 major titles - including 16 World Championships - doesn't prove that he was better than me...

Of course, back in the day, the world final fields were so much tougher. However did those World Champs beat riders like Josef Hofmeister, Per-Tage Svensson, Jerzy Trzeszkowski, Hans-Jurgen Fritz, and Petr Ondrasik... 

Steve

They haven't got a single argument Steve.

Every single one they have tried to put forward is actually in favor of Woffinden's achievements. Every single one.

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14 minutes ago, BWitcher said:

They haven't got a single argument Steve.

Oh, I know that; I just love using logic, reason, and fact to annoy people!!! :rofl:

Of course, I really am better than Phil, though...:t:

Steve

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6 minutes ago, chunky said:

Oh, I know that; I just love using logic, reason, and fact to annoy people!!! :rofl:

Of course, I really am better than Phil, though...:t:

Steve

Using the weakest of riders in world final history doesn't mean the riders who won the meetings didn't deserve them. I mean, what about all the riders who didn't make the finals due to the lob-sided qualifying system back then? It was hard enough getting through the British Final and we had no Scott Nicholls able to take the title six or seven times, the line-up being that poor. As I said, I prefer to go on other aspects other than a rider pulling his all out in the top events. If it were a GP system in the 70s, imagine the top 16 riders in the field compared to now. I also raise the British League averages and the amount of 10-point men back then, but BWitcher would rather harp on about riders picking their own gates back then or team being full of journeymen.

Edited by moxey63
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3 hours ago, moxey63 said:

Sorry, but I think you're wrong in part. The topic is about Mr Woffinden being the best British rider, is it not. Now, as I have a forty-five year history of following the sport , never mind how much I like it nowadays, I think that gives me some knowledge and a right to reply.

But you don't have any knowledge of what is going on today as you don't watch it or follow it  ..so your opinion is worthless 

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18 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Using the weakest of riders in world final history doesn't mean the riders who won the meetings didn't deserve them. I mean, what about all the riders who didn't make the finals due to the lob-sided qualifying system back then? It was hard enough getting through the British Final and we had no Scott Nicholls able to take the title six or seven times, the line-up being that poor. As I said, I prefer to go on other aspects other than a rider pulling his all out in the top events. If it were a GP system in the 70s, imagine the top 16 riders in the field compared to now. I also raise the British League averages and the amount of 10-point men back then, but BWitcher would rather harp on about riders picking their own gates back then or team being full of journeymen.

Here we go again.

We're back to all the 10pt superstars of the day argument which is THE MOST IRRELEVANT argument there can possibly be as it is COMPLETELY based upon the size of the league and the heat format used.

Based on your argument the 1995 and 1996 merged league was by far the strongest in the last 30 years. Packed full of 9-10pt men.

How hard really was the British Final to get through for actual genuine contenders?

How many times did Peter Collins, Mike Lee, Dave Jessup for example fail to get through out of interest?

Edited by BWitcher
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1 hour ago, BWitcher said:

Name them.

Here's some (all within my 50+ years of spectating)!

Brian Brett, Peter Craven, Nigel Boocock, Eric Boocock, Ray Wilson, Terry Betts, Kenny Carter, Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Dave Jessup, Les Collins, Kelvin Tatum

And before you ask, by gold medals I meant World Individual Speedway titles, those things which Tai has more of (3) than the others

It was common place for riders to maintain their bikes themselves, or with the help of a mechanic - a far cry from what Tai has at his disposal

 

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31 minutes ago, Midland Red said:

Here's some (all within my 50+ years of spectating)!

Brian Brett, Peter Craven, Nigel Boocock, Eric Boocock, Ray Wilson, Terry Betts, Kenny Carter, Simon Wigg, Malcolm Simmons, John Louis, Dave Jessup, Les Collins, Kelvin Tatum

And before you ask, by gold medals I meant World Individual Speedway titles, those things which Tai has more of (3) than the others

It was common place for riders to maintain their bikes themselves, or with the help of a mechanic - a far cry from what Tai has at his disposal

 

Oh dear god.

Once again you put forward an argument that actually only serves to counter what you are saying but is of course completely irrelevant.

What has Tai got 'at his disposal' that other riders do not? Absolutely nothing. It isn't common cry anymore for riders to maintain their bikes themselves, meaning it's a darn sight harder to get an advantage in that area as there are far more professional organised riders around.. compared to the past when the elite such as Mauger had a distinct advantage in their preparation. Well done on highlighting how much easier it was back in the day :)

As for your list of riders, you should try stand up comedy. We're now expected to believe Les Collins, Kelvin Tatum and others are better than Woffinden? There is one rider who makes the conversation, thats Peter Craven. The rest don't come into it.

 

 

 

 

Edited by BWitcher
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I bet the boys from the 60s, 70s and even 80s wish they could race on today's super-smooth tracks helped with all those gizmo additions to the bike that only add to make it like a Sunday afternoon snooze on the armchair, but also without the worry of falling off the seat and into a rock-solid fence and not a bouncy castle airfence like today.

Yes, I can understand why today's riders would appear to be better prepared. they have it so easy.

But I admire any rider, from all eras.

 

Edited by moxey63
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3 minutes ago, moxey63 said:

Yes, I can understand why today's riders would appear to be better prepared. they have it so easy.

But it is not "easier" when all their opponents are similarly prepared...

Steve

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