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10 favourite Australian riders


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my favorite Aussie rider was Bob Valentine

and the rest of my personal top 10 includes Alan Rivett, Steve Regeling, Rod Hunter, John Titman, and Gary Guglielmi.

 

... and my favorite Aussie of the pre-war era, is the one-and-only Sig Schlam

plus Frank Pearce, Ernie Evans, and Tiger Lewis.    

 

there are so many more, of course 

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2 hours ago, Bavarian said:

my favorite Aussie rider was Bob Valentine

and the rest of my personal top 10 includes Alan Rivett, Steve Regeling, Rod Hunter, John Titman, and Gary Guglielmi.

 

... and my favorite Aussie of the pre-war era, is the one-and-only Sig Schlam

plus Frank Pearce, Ernie Evans, and Tiger Lewis.    

 

there are so many more, of course 

There was a very interesting interview with Bob Valentine in 'Backtrack' a couple of years ago where he described a potential 'scuffle' he had with Gordon Kennett after a particularly hard race but both ended up shaking hands.

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On 1/29/2019 at 10:03 AM, gustix said:

Here's my 10 favourite (not best) Australian riders: Vic Duggan, Vic Huxley, Frank Dolan, Steve Langton, Lionel Van Praag, Max Grosskreutz, Aub Lawson, Jack Young, Ron Johnson, Charlie Spinks.

This is an item on Lionel Van Praag, speedway's first world champion as a Wembley rider in 1936.I saw him as a New Cross rider in 1947.

http://www.national-speedway-museum.co.uk/vanpraaglionel.html

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  • 10 months later...
On ‎2‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 11:31 AM, Bavarian said:

my favorite Aussie rider was Bob Valentine

and the rest of my personal top 10 includes Alan Rivett, Steve Regeling, Rod Hunter, John Titman, and Gary Guglielmi.

 

... and my favorite Aussie of the pre-war era, is the one-and-only Sig Schlam

plus Frank Pearce, Ernie Evans, and Tiger Lewis.    

 

there are so many more, of course 

Just reading about the time Frank Pearce and 4 other top riders went on strike for more money!!! Maybe the first speedway strike ?

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/21078843/1640119

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3 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Phil Crump, Jason Crump, Vic Duggan, Jack Young, Billy Sanders, Leigh Adams,Darcy Ward, Jason Doyle, Graham Warren, John Boulger.

Garry Middleton was a favourite of mine...never a dull moment when "Cassius" was around!

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Tai Woffinden?

 

 

I'll get my coat :oops:

[edit: whoops, old thread and I'm getting old. Repeating the same joke!]

Edited by False dawn
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4 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Garry Middleton was a favourite of mine...never a dull moment when "Cassius" was around!

Was his best days at Ackney or Oxford Steve ?? i did notice his head to record with Briggo was quite good 1969/72 but Crash Ashby seemed to get the better of him on a regular basis.We sometimes forget that as good as he still was Barry from 1970 he was not quite the force of old still a Total LEGEND in my eyes.Going back to Garry i can remember him wearing a flashy full face helmet a real character i still have his prized autograph.

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10 minutes ago, Sidney the robin said:

Was his best days at Ackney or Oxford Steve ?? i did notice his head to record with Briggo was quite good 1969/72 but Crash Ashby seemed to get the better of him on a regular basis.We sometimes forget that as good as he still was Barry from 1970 he was not quite the force of old still a Total LEGEND in my eyes.Going back to Garry i can remember him wearing a flashy full face helmet a real character i still have his prized autograph.

Hi Sid! Yes Garry's best year average wise was at Cowley but he had three good years as a "Hawk"...never remained at any one track for long! He had hoped to join Ipswich in 1972...can you imagine Garry and John Berry together? You're absolutley right in that Garry often had the beating of Briggo as a "Rebel" but Martin Ashby often had the better of him...much to my annoyance at the time! Recall his day-glo orange helmet and shark's teeth incorporarted in the design. How I envy you having his autograph!

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I thought Peter Moore would be worth a mention!. From my limited experience (from 64-68)-I would have to put Charlie Monk top of my list -then John Boulger and Jim Airey-also Gordon Guasco, Peter Vandenberg, Jack Geran and Geoff Mudge. Overall though would have to say Jackie Biggs (still going strong until his death)!!

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  • 1 month later...
1 hour ago, falcace said:

Two questions...

What's the general consensus on who was the better rider Phil Crump or Billy Sanders? 

And, what was the beef between them? The were clearly the top two Aussies for a long time, but were only paired once for the World Pairs? 

Personally I think that Billy was better on the World stage and Phil at league level....just my opinion. I think that the rift first took hold during an Australian Final when the two clashed on track and Phil was excluded. However Phil was most upset when Billy took his own life and had regrets from an interview I recall.

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16 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Personally I think that Billy was better on the World stage and Phil at league level....just my opinion. I think that the rift first took hold during an Australian Final when the two clashed on track and Phil was excluded. However Phil was most upset when Billy took his own life and had regrets from an interview I recall.

It's a pick em. I lean towards Crumpy purely on what I saw with my own two eyes on visits to Northern tracks. 

I know they clashed at the 83 Aussie Final, but that doesn't explain them being kept apart at every World Pairs in 78, 79, 80, 81 and 82. Guys like John Titman, Phil Herne and Gary Guglielmi were preferred. Yet, I don't think there would many that would dispute that Sanders and Crump were clearly the top two Aussies at that time. Seems odd. On paper at least, a Crump/Sanders pairing would have nicked a rostrum place or two and may even have won it in 83. Clearly, there's more to it than meets the eye.

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