Speedway Crashes

[BWitcher]

On 5/6/2020 at 9:49 AM, steve roberts said:

One of the worse crashes I saw at Cowley was when 'Joe' Gooddy's bike stalled down the back straight. Bobby Beaton was following closely and couldn't avoid him and went over the fence. We were fearing the worse but Bobby was up and riding at Glasgow's next meeting. Tough breed these speedway riders!

Were you there the night Richard Juul crashed into the pit gate at Cowley? Seriously injured, in fact it's said they had to bring him back on the way to the hospital.

I remember Wolves fans becoming extremely angry as they were playing 'Another one bites the dust' as he was being attended too. 

I'm sure there was nothing sinister, just an oversight and whomever was playing the music had their mind elsewhere.

[Pinny]

Nick Simmons clipping Wato’s back wheel on the first bend at Exeter and clearing the stadium and landing in a back garden. How the hell he lived to tell the tale I will never know. 
 

Went on a random trip to oxford in 1999 to watch Oxford vs Poole , Jesper Olsen guesting (can’t remember for who) crashed on the third bend . Horrendous crash and his hard hat came off and was ruined. 
 

Newport v Edinburgh 2002/3, Frede schott driving the rest straight into the first bend fence and causing carnage. Pathetically was allowed in the re run and won forcing a re run of the two legs (must of been KO CUP). 
 

ben Howe clattering into a reserve at Arena and going straight through the fence and smashing his thigh to pieces.... nigh on ended his career. 
 

many many more to list but they are some of the worst I have seen. 

[steve roberts]

4 hours ago, BWitcher said:

Were you there the night Richard Juul crashed into the pit gate at Cowley? Seriously injured, in fact it's said they had to bring him back on the way to the hospital.

I remember Wolves fans becoming extremely angry as they were playing 'Another one bites the dust' as he was being attended too. 

I'm sure there was nothing sinister, just an oversight and whomever was playing the music had their mind elsewhere.

Yes I remember that incident (I used to stand on the third bend)...vaguely recall the choice of music being played and the furore it created. There used to be a number of crashes on that area of the track because of the notorious adverse camber which used to catch a few riders out (although not in Richard's case as I seem to remember that there was a coming together between two riders?)

It became very obvious to me during one close season when I was helping with getting the track ready for the new season and becoming very aware of the track flattening out two thirds the way up to the fence. One rider who used it to his advantage, however, was Dag Lovaas who rode the line perfectly sweeping past opponents by sticking his rear wheel on the point of no return so to speak!

Edited May 9, 2020 by steve roberts

[Triple.H.]

7 hours ago, BWitcher said:

Were you there the night Richard Juul crashed into the pit gate at Cowley? Seriously injured, in fact it's said they had to bring him back on the way to the hospital.

I remember Wolves fans becoming extremely angry as they were playing 'Another one bites the dust' as he was being attended too. 

I'm sure there was nothing sinister, just an oversight and whomever was playing the music had their mind elsewhere.

Richard Juul came back a couple of seasons later, was very tentative in his first ride but after that was back on the gas, Fair play to him he's got intestinal fortitude as they used to say in the WWF.

[Triple.H.]

3 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Yes I remember that incident (I used to stand on the third bend)...vaguely recall the choice of music being played and the furore it created. There used to be a number of crashes on that area of the track because of the notorious adverse camber which used to catch a few riders out (although not in Richard's case as I seem to remember that there was a coming together between two riders?)

It became very obvious to me during one close season when I was helping with getting the track ready for the new season and becoming very aware of the track flattening out two thirds the way up to the fence. One rider who used it to his advantage, however, was Dag Lovaas who rode the line perfectly sweeping past opponents by sticking his rear wheel on the point of no return so to speak!

Martin Goodwin was the other rider, he must have been made of India rubber i saw him have many a spectacular get off and he was generally ok afterwards.

[steve roberts]

9 minutes ago, Triple.H. said:

Martin Goodwin was the other rider, he must have been made of India rubber i saw him have many a spectacular get off and he was generally ok afterwards.

I thought that it was Martin but wasn't sure.

[BWitcher]

2 hours ago, Triple.H. said:

Richard Juul came back a couple of seasons later, was very tentative in his first ride but after that was back on the gas, Fair play to him he's got intestinal fortitude as they used to say in the WWF.

Good old Gorilla Monsoon.

[ancient mariner]

13 hours ago, Pinny said:

Nick Simmons clipping Wato’s back wheel on the first bend at Exeter and clearing the stadium and landing in a back garden. How the hell he lived to tell the tale I will never know. 

 

I think you might mean Mark Simmonds? I talked to Mark about the incident a good few years after the event and he told me that he was just beginning to get his breath back and wondering where the hell he was when the track doctor rushing to attend to him slipped on the sloping ground, fell over and landed on top of him. Mark had cracked his pelvis.

[Shrub]

On 5/8/2020 at 5:25 PM, iainb said:

 

 

This happened more or less in front of us, a genuine racing accident. It was a cracking meeting though ending in a Witches victory. There was also a superb last to first ride from David Norris.

Other ones that stick in my mind - Kevin Jolly clipping Ari Koponen's back wheel off the 4th bend at Foxhall,(81?) he was launched over the fence and flew through the air, landing on the stock car track by the starting gate. Incredibly he played football the following day for the Witches supporters club.

Frede Schott crashing on the back straight at Ipswich. I genuinely thought his head was still in the helmet that bounced down the back straight, though I was probably pi$$ed at the time.

Robert Miskowiak somersaulting over the fence at Oxford, clearing it by a good 3-4 feet. He got up and won the re-run.

Craig Hyde punching a hole through the 3rd bend fence at Berwick (Berrington Lough) after tangling with I think David Blackburn. All we could see from the second bend were his feet sticking out onto the track. Fortunately for Craig he hit it head first which was the safest way for him! He walked back to the pits.

And finally Moggo disappearing in a cloud of dust, wire mesh and timber about a million times in all corners of the UK.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Shrub

[Racin Jason 72]

The night frede Schott crashed at foxhall was also the night Brett saunders ruptured his spleen by going through the speedway fence and going across the stock car track and hitting the concrete wall. 
as already mentioned the Jamie smith crash at Mildenhall and the Stuart robson were both truly horrendous. 

[Shrub]

2 minutes ago, Racin Jason 72 said:

The night frede Schott crashed at foxhall was also the night Brett saunders ruptured his spleen by going through the speedway fence and going across the stock car track and hitting the concrete wall. 
as already mentioned the Jamie smith crash at Mildenhall and the Stuart robson were both truly horrendous. 

Of course, two awful crashes in one night and Brett's was the far more serious one but the helmet bouncing down the track is what sticks in my mind!

[Bagpuss]

On 5/8/2020 at 8:29 PM, racers and royals said:

I`m pretty sure that Anglia TV filmed it for their weekly speedway programme- if my memory serves me right Keith Huewen  did the interviews including the team manager of the winning team !!

Wheels? 

I remember those days, I think the 4TT, 16 lapper and Pride of the East were the three speedway offerings of the year with the other weeks filled with various moto cross, road racing and other bits and pieces. 

[racers and royals]

1 minute ago, Bagpuss said:

Wheels? 

I remember those days, I think the 4TT, 16 lapper and Pride of the East were the three speedway offerings of the year with the other weeks filled with various moto cross, road racing and other bits and pieces. 

I have the video of the 1993 4 team final somewhere. It was the Anglia programme. I cannot find the meeting anywhere on you tube.

[ONTWOMINUTES]

On 5/8/2020 at 12:38 AM, Chris said:

Stuart Robson at Mildenhall 07. Picked up grip and went straight on into the armco barrier full throttle. Thought he was dead. Meeting abandoned and towels and sheets put up as the paramedics worked on him.

Ended up with a smashed sternum and pelvis

Robbo was very lucky to survive that crash , his bike was left hanging from the top of the stock car fence. He spent nearly four months in hospital . 

[BluPanther]

On 5/8/2020 at 4:46 AM, pawel115 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6i3auq3sqw&list=FLixlQvDVOCzfjDqCX568AsA&index=34&t=0

This one is from Gorzow 2 juniors from Czestochowa crashed there are quite a few other spectacular crashes from Poland on YT where riders walked away.

That looked horrendous, thank heavens for the air fence...

[Chris]

9 hours ago, ONTWOMINUTES said:

Robbo was very lucky to survive that crash , his bike was left hanging from the top of the stock car fence. He spent nearly four months in hospital . 

Happened about 15ft in front of me. Horrendous sound and impact and not a nice feeling walking out not knowing any news..

Beggars belief when a fairly innocuous get off like Lee Richardson's can cause a loss of life and others far worse don't see that sort of outcome..

 

[Dave Goddard]

On 5/9/2020 at 11:15 PM, Racin Jason 72 said:

The night frede Schott crashed at foxhall was also the night Brett saunders ruptured his spleen by going through the speedway fence and going across the stock car track and hitting the concrete wall. 

I used to have a video with both of those crashes on - Brett's was horrible, the bike seemed to pick up speed as he hit the fence and then it dashed him into the wall at full pelt on the outside of the tarmac oval.

Mark Simmonds was certainly the king of crash at Exeter - I remember another one from 1998 when he and Danny Bird locked together into the third bend and went straight on into the fence, Bird went over the fence and ended up on the terracing while Simmonds went up about fifteen feet into the air and flew Superman-style before smacking back onto the track, while the other riders somehow managed to lay their bikes down to avoid the carnage.

One of the first televised matches at Monmore Green against Ipswich when Sam Ermolenko and Jason Bunyan ploughed at full speed through the turn one fence and nearly ended up in the pits, a very long delay before racing resumed in that one.

A Midland Trophy meeting between Coventry and Wolves saw Ronnie Correy and a couple of others in a huge first bend pile-up leaving all three in hospital (I cannot recall who the other two were) - I remember that one because for some reason I had a premonition it was going to happen, my mum was stood next to me on the terracing and before the race I just said to her "There's gonna be a big crash in this heat".  The rest of the meeting took absolutely ages to complete in boiling hot weather, the second leg was at Monmore in the evening and it was clear that everyone was hot, knackered and fed up and being only a challenge match no one was really that bothered about it!

Another at Monmore was about three years ago when Richard Lawson of Lakeside tangled with Peter Karlsson coming off the last bend and both of them smashed through the flag stand next to the tapes, nearly running over the start marshal, the Wolves flag girl and Porky the centre green presenter.  And a couple of years before that when in the opening heat of a match against Poole, Freddie Lindgren came off on the second bend of the opening heat and suffered a huge bang on the head - the way the medics reacted initially made a lot of people fear the worst.

And those are just some of the ones I remember!

[steve roberts]

Remember Trevor Geer loosing control at Cowley and his bike careering full speed across the centre green (it wasn't 'green' in those days however!) taking out a bystander breaking his leg.

[IainB]

8 hours ago, Dave Goddard said:

One of the first televised matches at Monmore Green against Ipswich when Sam Ermolenko and Jason Bunyan ploughed at full speed through the turn one fence and nearly ended up in the pits, a very long delay before racing resumed in that one.

Was that the one where Sam just missed (or maybe glanced) the wooden post sticking out of the ground with his head? I remember thinking how very different it could have been if the post had been positioned a few inches to the left as his neck was very exposed!

Edited May 12, 2020 by iainb

[Garry1603]

It's great that invariably the riders get up, brush themselves down and come out for the re run of the race. 

Compare that to some professional footballers who would be out for three months with a split fingernail.