chunky Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 I even thought of making the non-world finalist world final a little more specific, and narrow it down to riders of a specific year. Good to see some names already mentioned, but leaving out the 70's and 80's, let's look at riders who were active in1969 who never made a World Final (reserve spot included). 1 - Tommy Roper 2 - Dave Younghusband 3 - Garry Middleton 4 - Sandor Levai 5 -George Hunter 6 - Bob Kilby 7 - Odd Fossengen 8 - Roy Trigg 9 - Geoff Mudge 10 - Chris Pusey 11 - Charlie Monk 12 - Jan Holub 13 - Tony Clarke 14 - Norman Hunter 15 - Bruce Cribb 16 - Oyvind S. Berg I would pay to watch that line-up today... Steve 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 1 hour ago, Tracy Bird said: Jim McMillan got 2 rides as a reserve in 1972 at wembley Yes I was following 'falcace's ' lead whereby Alan Grahame was listed who also rode twice as a reserve during the 1984 World Final. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 On 4/23/2019 at 7:39 AM, falcace said: Not someone who immediately sprung to mind, but his league figures are far more impressive than my memory had gave him credit for. Maybe it's because he didn't seem to feature too much in Test Matches or the World Championship. Did he race again in the US or was that it for him? Don't recall the injury either. Fill me in :-) As an Aces fan, in the same era as me, you probably didnt see him ride much. He missed the 1981 Poole BL meeting, and also the 82 Eastborne meeting. He had a couple of rides in the 1981 test match at Hyde Rd, but missed the 1982 test. So the only full meeting (well, nearly) I saw him ride was as a guest for Reading in 1982, where he scored 3 points from 4 rides i think. I did always rate him though, as his high average in 1982 meant had a high grade in Speedway Scene board game, in which I endlessly replayed the 1982 season as a speedway mad child! Wiki states he retired due to the death of a friend, which I assume may have been Denny Pyeatt? In world championship, seems the closest he got to making it out of the Amricn final was in late 1979 (1980 qualifiers) where he fnished 4th after finishing last in run off. Not sure why he didnt ride in it in 1981 or 1982. I didnt realise he was part of the 1980/1981 WTC squads where US finished runners up, nor that he should have rideen in 1979 world pairs but got stranded at heathrow (according again to wiki). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 Going same era, but omitting anyone who rode as a reserve 1. Mike Bast 2. Bobby Schwartz 3. Ron Preston 4. Mike Faria 5. Preben Eriksen 6. Bob Kilby 7. Andy Grahame 8. Steve Bastable 9. Peter Ravn 10. Peter Nahlin 11. Bobby Ott 12. Gary Guglielmi 13. Marc Courtney 14. Andrew Silver 15. Neil Collins 16. Joe Owen Really wanted to fit Buzz burrows in as well. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 (edited) 6 hours ago, waiheke1 said: As an Aces fan, in the same era as me, you probably didnt see him ride much. He missed the 1981 Poole BL meeting, and also the 82 Eastborne meeting. He had a couple of rides in the 1981 test match at Hyde Rd, but missed the 1982 test. So the only full meeting (well, nearly) I saw him ride was as a guest for Reading in 1982, where he scored 3 points from 4 rides i think. I did always rate him though, as his high average in 1982 meant had a high grade in Speedway Scene board game, in which I endlessly replayed the 1982 season as a speedway mad child! Wiki states he retired due to the death of a friend, which I assume may have been Denny Pyeatt? In world championship, seems the closest he got to making it out of the Amricn final was in late 1979 (1980 qualifiers) where he fnished 4th after finishing last in run off. Not sure why he didnt ride in it in 1981 or 1982. I didnt realise he was part of the 1980/1981 WTC squads where US finished runners up, nor that he should have rideen in 1979 world pairs but got stranded at heathrow (according again to wiki). Just re-read the interview that he gave in an edition of 'Backtrack' some years ago. Yes, Ron, was very upset by what happened to Denny as were many of the Americans at the time. On his return to the States he began to promote a yearly Denny Pyeatt Memorial Meeting at a track that Ron had opened at El Centro. He admits however that although he should have continued to race for a further two years he felt that he was "burned out after ten years of racing" although he had no regrets. At the time of the interview (2004) he was in the process of developing a 2.5 mile paved track, speedway track, motorcross, drag strips, trails, campground, water-park on an 1100-acres huge piece of property in Imperial County. I saw him ride many times for "the Eagles" and was a class act. Edited April 24, 2019 by steve roberts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iris123 Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 These line-ups really are underwhelming !!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatface Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, iris123 said: These line-ups really are underwhelming !!! Sadly, I think you are right! A passable Star of Anglia, but certainly no Spring Classic! Although, they are well before my time and based on nothing more than anecdotes among fans, I was surprised to see Charlie Monk and Norman Hunter as riders who never made the big night too. Perhaps to maintain the underwhelming feeling, a list of the worst riders ever to reach the World Final? Edited April 24, 2019 by falcace 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavan Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 (edited) 47 minutes ago, falcace said: Sadly, I think you are right! A passable Star of Anglia, but certainly no Spring Classic! Although, they are well before my time and based on nothing more than anecdotes among fans, I was surprised to see Charlie Monk and Norman Hunter as riders who never made the big night too. Perhaps to maintain the underwhelming feeling, a list of the worst riders ever to reach the World Final? Wouldnt be to hard with the number of riders from the Eastern block that used to make it From 1980 -1994 which is when i can remember from up until the last world final i would go for...... Petr Ondrasik Michail Starostin Georg Hack Henny Kroeze Sandor Tihanyi If we go away from the Eastern Block then i would say Finn Thomsen Troy Butler Olli Tyrvainen I appreciate that all the above riders were good riders but you asked for a list of the less talented Edited April 24, 2019 by Gavan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOBBATH Posted April 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 6 hours ago, Gavan said: Wouldnt be to hard with the number of riders from the Eastern block that used to make it From 1980 -1994 which is when i can remember from up until the last world final i would go for...... Petr Ondrasik Michail Starostin Georg Hack Henny Kroeze Sandor Tihanyi If we go away from the Eastern Block then i would say Finn Thomsen Troy Butler Olli Tyrvainen I appreciate that all the above riders were good riders but you asked for a list of the less talented Without being negative-the ones who in all honesty were extremely lucky to get to the old one off World Final would have to be Bryan Elliott, Howard Cole and Rick France, also maybe Ron Mountford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracy Bird Posted April 24, 2019 Report Share Posted April 24, 2019 On 4/23/2019 at 8:35 PM, chunky said: I even thought of making the non-world finalist world final a little more specific, and narrow it down to riders of a specific year. Good to see some names already mentioned, but leaving out the 70's and 80's, let's look at riders who were active in1969 who never made a World Final (reserve spot included). 1 - Tommy Roper 2 - Dave Younghusband 3 - Garry Middleton 4 - Sandor Levai 5 -George Hunter 6 - Bob Kilby 7 - Odd Fossengen 8 - Roy Trigg 9 - Geoff Mudge 10 - Chris Pusey 11 - Charlie Monk 12 - Jan Holub 13 - Tony Clarke 14 - Norman Hunter 15 - Bruce Cribb 16 - Oyvind S. Berg I would pay to watch that line-up today... Steve You missed pete smith who had over a 9 point average in 1969 a lot more than some mentioned 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted April 25, 2019 Report Share Posted April 25, 2019 16 hours ago, Tracy Bird said: You missed pete smith who had over a 9 point average in 1969 a lot more than some mentioned Nah, I just didn't want to include too many Poole riders! Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted April 26, 2019 Report Share Posted April 26, 2019 (edited) On 4/24/2019 at 10:34 PM, Gavan said: Wouldnt be to hard with the number of riders from the Eastern block that used to make it From 1980 -1994 which is when i can remember from up until the last world final i would go for...... Petr Ondrasik Michail Starostin Georg Hack Henny Kroeze Sandor Tihanyi If we go away from the Eastern Block then i would say Finn Thomsen Troy Butler Olli Tyrvainen I appreciate that all the above riders were good riders but you asked for a list of the less talented ok. line up of worst riders to finish in each position world final in the 80s, limiting to only 5 from the continental round. 1. Egon Muller 2. Les Collins 3 Lance King 4 Kai Nieme 5 Mitch shirra 6 Viktor Kuznetsov 7 Andy Smith 8 Tony Olsson 9 Conny Ivarsson 10 Finn Thomsen 11 Dolomisiewicz 12 Troy Butler 13 Olli Tyrvainen 14 Ronnie Correy 15 Sandhor Tihanyi 16 Mikhail Starostin Edited April 26, 2019 by waiheke1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavan Posted April 26, 2019 Report Share Posted April 26, 2019 1 hour ago, waiheke1 said: ok. line up of worst riders to finish in each position world final in the 80s, limiting to only 5 from the continental round. 1. Egon Muller 2. Les Collins 3 Lance King 4 Kai Nieme 5 Mitch shirra 6 Viktor Kuznetsov 7 Andy Smith 8 Tony Olsson 9 Conny Ivarsson 10 Finn Thomsen 11 Dolomisiewicz 12 Troy Butler 13 Olli Tyrvainen 14 Ronnie Correy 15 Sandhor Tihanyi 16 Mikhail Starostin Gert Handberg over Lance King? Oops sorry just seen you put 1980's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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