British world champions ratings list

[Guest]

Britain has had eight speedway world champions. This is how I rate them:

(1) Peter Craven

(2) Fred Williams

(3) Tommy Price

(4) Tai Woffinden

(5) Peter Collins

(6) Michael Lee

(7) Mark Loram

(8) Gary Havelock

Edited September 29, 2019 by Guest
spelling error

[stevehone]

but have you ever seen Woffinden/Loram/Havelock ride?

[Star Lady]

50 minutes ago, stevehone said:

but have you ever seen Woffinden/Loram/Havelock ride?

Probably read their books tho

[iris123]

19 minutes ago, Star Lady said:

Probably read their books tho

No,don’t take the mickey. He’s been trying his best in the SE London/ Kent border area to find Tais book without any luck. Though just why an area that hasn’t seen any speedway for 50 years or more if we count Crystal Palace should stock the book is beyond me

Edited September 28, 2019 by iris123

[Star Lady]

Who's Jo? 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Star Lady

[iris123]

Blooming autocorrect 

[Star Lady]

Just now, iris123 said:

Blooming autocorrect 

Ah I get it now Jo lives in Autocorrect 

[steve roberts]

From the riders I have seen from that list my list would be:

1. Collins 2. Lee 3. Loram. 4. Havelock...of those that I didn't see the one rider I wish I had was Peter Craven. Anybody who could circumnavigate Cowley at 63 secs when the average time during that period was 67 secs had to be someone special.

Edited September 28, 2019 by steve roberts

[iris123]

As ‘World’ champ Craven did have some good meetings overseas. Is there any record of Williams or Price doing much outside of England ?

[Guest]

14 hours ago, iris123 said:

No,don’t take the mickey. He’s been trying his best in the SE London/ Kent border area to find Tais book without any luck. Though just why an area that hasn’t seen any speedway for 50 years or more if we count Crystal Palace should stock the book is beyond me

WHS stock sports books by American boxers who have never fought outside the USA. What's the difference in regard to Tai Woffinden's book? Or is this just your usual chance to have a jibe at a comment by me? An action that you sadly appear dedicated to at every opportunity?

Edited September 29, 2019 by Guest

[chunky]

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

As ‘World’ champ Craven did have some good meetings overseas. Is there any record of Williams or Price doing much outside of England ?

Or indeed, outside of their home track?

To put Price ahead of Collins, Lee, and of course, Woffinden, seems a little strange. Three world championships on tracks around the world vs one on your home track?

[chunky]

5 hours ago, gustix said:

Britain has had eight speedway world champions/Grand Prix winners.

You do realise that "Grand Prix Winners" are actually "World Champions"?

Besides, if you want to talk about British "Grand Prix Winners", you forgot Martin Dugard and Chris Harris.

Steve

[Guest]

The list of world champions given as for Grand Prix was taken from Wikipedia who classify the overall winners as Speedway Grand Prix

A better classification would seemingly need the word series added to read the details as  Speedway Grand Prix Series?

Edited September 29, 2019 by Guest

[chunky]

1 hour ago, gustix said:

The list of world champions given as for Grand Prix was taken from Wikipedia who classify the overall winners as Speedway Grand Prix

A better classification would seemingly need the word series added to read the details as  Speedway Grand Prix Series?

Then contact Wikipedia. And the FIM while you are at it...

The fact is that, when the record books show "world champions", they are still shown as "world champions" regardless of the format. You are the only one who seems to think they are different...

[iris123]

12 hours ago, gustix said:

WHS stock sports books by American boxers who have never fought outside the USA. What's the difference in regard to Tai Woffinden's book? Or this just your usual chance to have a jibe at a comment by me? An action that you sadly appear dedicated to at every opportunity?

You are mixing up boxing fans with speedway fans. Boxing fans can be spread all over. There are though a number of long standing boxing clubs in SE London.The manager at WH Smith’s might have sold lots of boxing books, so orders more. Without any demand for speedway books they don’t stock any.... that is how business works

Generally, but not exclusively speedway fans are situated near a speedway track. No doubt in the days of Wimbledon there might well have been a few fans in the Bromley area, but interest has at a guess waned since those days

Edited September 29, 2019 by iris123

[britmet]

13 hours ago, iris123 said:

As ‘World’ champ Craven did have some good meetings overseas. Is there any record of Williams or Price doing much outside of England ?

Freddie Williams had great successes in South Africa and Rhodesia in the '50s, - a time when all the World-class riders, Briggs, Moore, Craven, Crutcher, Nygren, Fundin, etc , spent the winter there - , including Golden Helmet MRC wins in both countries. He was undefeated SA GH champ in '53/'54, and had a 10.56 league average over his 2 league season there.
Details  HERE

[norbold]

1 hour ago, iris123 said:

You are mixing up boxing fans with speedway fans. Boxing fans can be spread all over. There are though a number of long standing boxing clubs in SE London.The manager at WH Smith’s might have sold lots of boxing books, so orders more. Without any demand for speedway books they don’t stock any.... that is how business works

Generally, but not exclusively speedway fans are situated near a speedway track. No doubt in the days of Wimbledon there might well have been a few fans in the Bromley area, but interest has at a guess waned since those days

When I first spoke to my publisher about producing a speedway book, I said I wanted to write one about Speedway in London. They asked me how many tracks were still open in London and I told them there weren't any, so they said they didn't think they would be able to sell it as they thought that a niche" book about speedway would only sell at speedway track shops. So we agreed that I should write "Speedway in East Anglia" instead as there were four tracks still open.

They printed 1200 copies and sold out within two weeks and then sold a further 1200 in just about a month. What amazed them was that most of the sales were in "High Street" bookshops in Norwich where the track had long since closed. They then agreed to my Speedway in London book, which reached no.3 in the Sunday Times Sports Books chart.

The moral is you don't need to be a bookshop near a track to sell books about speedway!

[Guest]

18 hours ago, gustix said:

Britain has had eight speedway world champions. This is how I rate them:

(1) Peter Craven

(2) Fred Williams

(3) Tommy Price

(4) Tai Woffinden

(5) Peter Collins

(6) Michael Lee

(7) Mark Loram

(8) Gary Havelock

In the Opening Post I have deleted the reference 'Grand Prix' to what is now shown (quote above refers).

12 hours ago, chunky said:

You do realise that "Grand Prix Winners" are actually "World Champions"?

Steve

 A correction has been made in the Opening Post to quell the resultant upset my badly phrased comment created. Please see my corrected quote in the Opening Post.

Edited September 29, 2019 by Guest

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, norbold said:

When I first spoke to my publisher about producing a speedway book, I said I wanted to write one about Speedway in London. They asked me how many tracks were still open in London and I told them there weren't any, so they said they didn't think they would be able to sell it as they thought that a niche" book about speedway would only sell at speedway track shops. So we agreed that I should write "Speedway in East Anglia" instead as there were four tracks still open.

They printed 1200 copies and sold out within two weeks and then sold a further 1200 in just about a month. What amazed them was that most of the sales were in "High Street" bookshops in Norwich where the track had long since closed. They then agreed to my Speedway in London book, which reached no.3 in the Sunday Times Sports Books chart.

The moral is you don't need to be a bookshop near a track to sell books about speedway!

A most interesting comment norbold.

[steve roberts]

1 hour ago, norbold said:

When I first spoke to my publisher about producing a speedway book, I said I wanted to write one about Speedway in London. They asked me how many tracks were still open in London and I told them there weren't any, so they said they didn't think they would be able to sell it as they thought that a niche" book about speedway would only sell at speedway track shops. So we agreed that I should write "Speedway in East Anglia" instead as there were four tracks still open.

They printed 1200 copies and sold out within two weeks and then sold a further 1200 in just about a month. What amazed them was that most of the sales were in "High Street" bookshops in Norwich where the track had long since closed. They then agreed to my Speedway in London book, which reached no.3 in the Sunday Times Sports Books chart.

The moral is you don't need to be a bookshop near a track to sell books about speedway!

Both excellent reads too!