chunky Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 ... or almost forgettable, anyway! I know we have had similar threads posted before, but I think it's time to dig up some names for the newer BSF members. In the 70's and 80's, we had a number of poor-quality Europeans engaged in BL action for short periods of time. Some, like Claes Jensen and Gerhard Uhlenbrock often resurface, as do the mediocre Poles of 76 (Olkiewicz, Szczepanik etc) but others don't seem to. Just today, I dug up Bernd Odermatt. I was at Plough Lane when Austrian Walter Grubmuller came to visit, and honestly, he didn't look too bad. Jan Puk is still mentioned, but his Eastbourne team--mate Josef Kafel often isn't. Then again, a CMA of less than a point is a good reason for that. Jens-Krause Kjaer actually scored one point for Coventry in 1974. Another Pole at Arlington, Marek Kepa. He at least averaged a point a meeting. Four meetings, eight rides, and "nil points" (in a French accent) for Halifax for Norway's Jorn Haugvalstad (1980) One meeting, two rides, and nil points for Haliifax for Sweden's Stefan Johansson (1975). One of my faves, Norwegian Sigvart Pedersen (Wimbledon, Eastborne and Reading), but he too looked promising without doing anything to show it. An accomplished long-tracker, but Rauli Makinen didn't impress at Owlerton in 1978. Czech Jiri Hnidak checked out of King's Lynn after scoring just 12 points from 38 rides in 1982. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) Franz Kreimoser? I actually recall Jens Krause Kjaer,but for some reason up until now I thought his name was Krause Kjaer!!! Another one who lasted longer,but doesn't often get a mention.Adolf 'Adi' Funk Edited February 13, 2019 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 19 minutes ago, iris123 said: Franz Kreimoser? I actually recall Jens Krause Kjaer,but for some reason up until now I thought his name was Krause Kjaer!!! Another one who lasted longer,but doesn't often get a mention.Adolf 'Adi' Funk I thought the same, but that appears to be his correct (or full) name. If you recall, last week, we were talking about Leonard Raba, and I said that the only legitimate point Raba scored was when he beat Franz Kreimoser in a challenge against Reading. That was Kreimoser's only meeting. I did think about Adi, but he was better. Steve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frigbo Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) The less than adequate foreign riders were one of my favourite parts of the sport back then. The onset of the Internet etc has sadly taken that mystique away. A few beauts to be going on with are: Hans Albert Klinge Flemming Rasmussen Trond Skretting Allan Fog Lennart Bengtsson Henk Steman Helge Langli Eddie Davidsson Piet Seur Patrice Blondy Stefan Deser Peo Gudmundsson Lars Eriksson Peter Wurterle Max Schollhorn Jurgen Hehlert Stein Roar Pedersen Edited February 13, 2019 by frigbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, frigbo said: The less than adequate foreign riders were one of my favourite parts of the sport back then. The onset of the Internet etc has sadly taken that mystique away. A few beauts to be going on with are: Hans Albert Klinge Flemming Rasmussen Trond Skretting Alan Fog Lennart Bengtsson Henk Steman Helge Langli Eddie Davidsson Piet Seur Patrice Blondy Stefan Deser Peo Gudmundsson Lars Eriksson Peter Wurterle Max Schollhorn Some I remember and some I haven't heard of.Have to say the period 1978-1981 is a black hole for me.Alan Fog !! Henk Steman could probably be replaced by Rob,who wasn't that good!! Edited February 13, 2019 by iris123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frigbo Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) 7 minutes ago, iris123 said: Some I remember and some I haven't heard of.Have to say the period 1978-1981 is a black hole for me.Alan Fog !! Bit of a cheat really as he rode for Sheffield in 1993, so not in the period mentioned initially. He was pretty pants though... I always had a soft spot for Eastbourne in their early BL days as they had a conveyer-belt of untried foreigners in that period. Edited February 13, 2019 by frigbo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 I did see on google that Raba now lived in South Germany.Not sure if he has any contact to the sport.Shawn Moran was also down south and helping out at one of the tracks I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted February 13, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, frigbo said: The less than adequate foreign riders were one of my favourite parts of the sport back then. The onset of the Internet etc has sadly taken that mystique away. A few beauts to be going on with are: Hans Albert Klinge Flemming Rasmussen Trond Skretting Allan Fog Lennart Bengtsson Henk Steman Helge Langli Eddie Davidsson Piet Seur Patrice Blondy Stefan Deser Peo Gudmundsson Lars Eriksson Peter Wurterle Max Schollhorn Jurgen Hehlert Stein Roar Pedersen I used to look forward to them too! Funny thing is, so many of the names you mention, I was close to including! Skretting, Bengtsson, Steman, Langli, Davidsson, Blondy, and Gudmunsson were all on my short-list. I'd totally forgotten about Deser and Klinge. Steve Edited February 13, 2019 by chunky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Just thought of another one - and it's another Eastbourne one : Rene Christiansen. A 1.93 average from ten meetings in 1983... Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Remember Helge Langli riding a blinder of a race at Cowley and beating Leicester's Ray Wilson. Could have gone on to better things but if I recall picked up an off-track injury and never surfaced again in Britain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frigbo Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 (edited) Three more pretty obscure ones were: Wieslaw Patynek Ernst Bogh Heinrich Sprenger Edited February 14, 2019 by frigbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Ernst is still involved in speedway.He has I think stayed closely involved with Holsted. I seem to recall his name coming up quite a bit.It was also his daughter who became the most successful female in the modern era , and he has the first Danish speedway museum But you are right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 11 minutes ago, frigbo said: Three more pretty obscure ones were: Wieslaw Patynek Ernst Bogh Heinrich Sprenger Remember Ernst's brother Kurt but not sure if he ever rode in the British League. I recall he took part in the World League Tournaments held in Britain during 1972/73? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 The other two, again, never heard of!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frigbo Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 47 minutes ago, iris123 said: The other two, again, never heard of!!! Both ex-Sheffield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Does anyone remember Otto Holoubek from Austria and his brief flirtation with Ipswich in the mid 1950s? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 2 hours ago, frigbo said: Both ex-Sheffield Yeah, the Tigers have had their share of mediocrity over the years! Iris, you say you don't remember them? You may have blinked; they both had a British career that lasted a whopping two races! Jan Zabik was a little better; he averaged over 4, and managed a maximum. Steve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 8 minutes ago, chunky said: Yeah, the Tigers have had their share of mediocrity over the years! Iris, you say you don't remember them? You may have blinked; they both had a British career that lasted a whopping two races! Jan Zabik was a little better; he averaged over 4, and managed a maximum. Steve I guess what I mean is not only did I miss their UK career I missed their whole career even on the continent.At least with Bøgh I did subsequently hear of him.Same with Kurt Hansen from Halifax A number of these riders in the past few days the first I ever heard of them was when someone posted something here!!! Even living in Germany I have never heard of Odematt. But most of my speedway friends here come from the old East Germany so riders like Tetzlaff ,Ernst or Mike Ott are mentioned more than the West Germans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 2 minutes ago, iris123 said: I guess what I mean is not only did I miss their UK career I missed their whole career even on the continent.At least with Bøgh I did subsequently hear of him.Same with Kurt Hansen from Halifax A number of these riders in the past few days the first I ever heard of them was when someone posted something here!!! Even living in Germany I have never heard of Odematt. But most of my speedway friends here come from the old East Germany so riders like Tetzlaff ,Ernst or Mike Ott are mentioned more than the West Germans Don't forget, Ernst Bogh also appeared for Leicester in 1976, along with Grzegorz Szczepanik and the almost-as-ineffective Pepe Teromaa. Again, I think Teromaa could have been okay given more time. Steve 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grachan Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 16 hours ago, frigbo said: Henk Steman Finished ahead of Martin Ashby twice! (Mind you, Martin Ashby had an EF both times - once at Oxford and once at Swindon) 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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