Compact Team Performances

[chunky]

I freely admit that I'm a bit of an anorak, and I love weird stats - particularly when it comes to speedway! I like doing a lot of my own research, but I don't always have the records available that others may have, so I will be asking for some assistance with some stuff in the coming months.

Firstly, I like points-scoring records and anomalies, so I will start with this:

On July 27, 1976, Oxford lost an NNL match at Weymouth by a score of 41-36. Top scorers for the Cheetahs were Carl Askew, Brian Leonard, and Mick Handley - all with 6 points. Roy Sizmore and Kevin Young both scored 5, and Phil Bass and Jim Wells were the low men - with 4 apiece.

So, only two points between the highest and lowest scorers, which is pretty amazing. Are there any other instances of this happening (certainly with a full team of seven)? More to the point, has there even been only ONE point difference between high and low scorers? Or maybe everyone scored the same number of points - although that does seem very far-fetched...

Anyone?

[norbold]

10 September 1976. Peterborough 40 Oxford 0 (National League)

 

All the Oxford riders, Carl Askew, Brian Leonard, Mick Handley, Jim Wells, Phil Bass, Roy Sizmore, Kevin Young scored no points!

 

Oxford refused to ride due to the conditions and the match was called off after 8 heats but score stood.

[BL65]

The Wolverhampton team almost, but not quite, equalled the compact Oxford performance at Swindon on 9th October 1965 (Airey 7, Andrews 5, Sweetman 5, Francis 5, Guasco 5, Maxted 5, Jarman 4). Pete might have scored more than 4 but for machine failure in one race, but that would have resulted in Guasco scoring 4 instead of 5.

[chunky]

5 hours ago, norbold said:

10 September 1976. Peterborough 40 Oxford 0 (National League)

 

All the Oxford riders, Carl Askew, Brian Leonard, Mick Handley, Jim Wells, Phil Bass, Roy Sizmore, Kevin Young scored no points!

 

Oxford refused to ride due to the conditions and the match was called off after 8 heats but score stood.

I think that has happened more than once, hasn't it?

[steve roberts]

19 hours ago, chunky said:

I freely admit that I'm a bit of an anorak, and I love weird stats - particularly when it comes to speedway! I like doing a lot of my own research, but I don't always have the records available that others may have, so I will be asking for some assistance with some stuff in the coming months.

Firstly, I like points-scoring records and anomalies, so I will start with this:

On July 27, 1976, Oxford lost an NNL match at Weymouth by a score of 41-36. Top scorers for the Cheetahs were Carl Askew, Brian Leonard, and Mick Handley - all with 6 points. Roy Sizmore and Kevin Young both scored 5, and Phil Bass and Jim Wells were the low men - with 4 apiece.

So, only two points between the highest and lowest scorers, which is pretty amazing. Are there any other instances of this happening (certainly with a full team of seven)? More to the point, has there even been only ONE point difference between high and low scorers? Or maybe everyone scored the same number of points - although that does seem very far-fetched...

Anyone?

Wasn't a bad team put together at very short notice...trouble is I can't remember if I went to said match or not!

I had the best of both worlds watching the "Cheetahs" at Cowley in the National League and the "Rebels" at Wood Lane in the British League.

Edited September 14, 2020 by steve roberts

[steve roberts]

Not as compact as the example given but White City did achieve something similar in 1976 at home to Hackney. Not including bonus points the scorers were Kennett on 8, Greer and Geer on 7, Lovaas on 6, Weatherley and Niemi on 5 and Gachet on 4.

[chunky]

5 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

Not as compact as the example given but White City did achieve something similar in 1976 at home to Hackney. Not including bonus points the scorers were Kennett on 8, Greer and Geer on 7, Lovaas on 6, Weatherley and Niemi on 5 and Gachet on 4.

Obviously, there are a few cases like that, but only two points between everyone seems exceptional! Like I said, there are a few other weird ones that I want to ask about.

[Split]

With two riders averaging close to 20 points between them and generally finishing up well ahead of their teammates on the score sheet, it might seem strange to mention the Southampton team of 1962 on this thread.  The fact is that the team became league champions without a recognised third heat leader. It was therefore necessary for other team members to put in a “compact team performance” and equal or better the points scored by Briggs and Knutson in order to win the match. Fortunately they had the type of solid performers who could do exactly that to break the domination of Wimbledon and win the National League title that year.

Edited September 15, 2020 by Split
Correction

[norbold]

4 hours ago, Split said:

With two riders averaging close to 20 points between them and generally finishing up well ahead of their teammates on the score sheet, it might seem strange to mention the Southampton team of 1962 on this thread.  The fact is that the team became league champions without a recognised third heat leader. It was therefore necessary for other team members to put in a “compact team performance” and equal or better the points scored by Briggs and Knutson in order to win the match. Fortunately they had the type of solid performers who could do exactly that to break the domination of Wimbledon and win the National League title that year.

Just out of interest, following your post, Split, I looked up the end of season Southampton averages. After Knutson 10.6 and Briggs 9.7, they went:
Peter Vandenberg 6.0, Alby Golden 5.9, Cyril Roger 5.5, Reg Luckhurst 5.5, Dick Bradley 4.3.

Which very much bears out what you said.

[Ovalman]

1 minute ago, norbold said:

Just out of interest, following your post, Split, I looked up the end of season Southampton averages. After Knutson 10.6 and Briggs 9.7, they went:
Peter Vandenberg 6.0, Alby Golden 5.9, Cyril Roger 5.5, Reg Luckhurst 5.5, Dick Bradley 4.3.

Which very much bears out what you said.

Do you have scorer details of a meeting i attended in 1963, Southampton v PL Select at New Cross? Spoke to Reg Luckhurst on Facebook messenger today.

[Ovalman]

4 hours ago, Split said:

With two riders averaging close to 20 points between them and generally finishing up well ahead of their teammates on the score sheet, it might seem strange to mention the Southampton team of 1962 on this thread.  The fact is that the team became league champions without a recognised third heat leader. It was therefore necessary for other team members to put in a “compact team performance” and equal or better the points scored by Briggs and Knutson in order to win the match. Fortunately they had the type of solid performers who could do exactly that to break the domination of Wimbledon and win the National League title that year.

Probably my 2 fav riders, Briggo and Bjorn.

[norbold]

13 hours ago, auntie doris said:

Do you have scorer details of a meeting i attended in 1963, Southampton v PL Select at New Cross? Spoke to Reg Luckhurst on Facebook messenger today.

Funnily enough, that was the only time I ever saw Southampton. For some reason I had missed them in both 1960 and 61.

The score was P.L. 30 Southampton 46.

PL Select: Colin Pratt 11, Ivor Brown 8, Les McGillivray 5, Ray Cresp 3, Trevor Redmond 2, Danny Dunton 1, Pete Jarman 0

Southampton: Bjorn Knutson 11 (beaten by Colin Pratt), Ross Gilbertson 8, Chum Taylor 7, Colin Gooddy 7, Reg Luckhurst 6, Peter Vandenberg 5, Alby Golden 2

Edited September 16, 2020 by norbold

[Ovalman]

10 hours ago, norbold said:

Funnily enough, that was the only time I ever saw Southampton. For some reason I had missed them in both 1960 and 61.

The score was P.L. 30 Southampton 46.

PL Select: Colin Pratt 11, Ivor Brown 8, Les McGillivray 5, Ray Cresp 3, Trevor Redmond 2, Danny Dunton 1, Pete Jaran 0

Southampton: Bjorn Knutson 11 (beaten by Colin Pratt), Ross Gilbertson 8, Chum Taylor 7, Colin Gooddy 7, Reg Luckhurst 6, Peter Vandenberg 5, Alby Golden 2

Cheers, was chatting to Colin at Swindon couple of years ago, he mentioned that he beat Bjorn in that meeting.

[geoff100]

Seem to remember the comets won at rye house with 3 riders scoring 39 between them and steve  lawson getting the odd point for the win.think the other 3 were mitch graham mal mackay and alan cowland anyone confirm?

 

[BL65]

On 9/14/2020 at 12:48 AM, chunky said:

More to the point, has there even been only ONE point difference between high and low scorers?

Hackney came close at Belle Vue, 26th April 1969, although they borrowed Mike Hiftle at reserve and he scored 1, with Graeme Smith taking one ride for no score as number 8.  The six team members had a point between top and bottom scorers - Sweetman 4, Lukehurst 4, McGillivray 4, Pratt 3, Biggs 3, Gooch 3. 

[spinkox]

I think when the Russians came over in (maybe) 1965 at Wimbledon - Plechanov and Samoradov scored significantly more than the rest of the team put together.

[chunky]

54 minutes ago, geoff100 said:

Seem to remember the comets won at rye house with 3 riders scoring 39 between them and steve  lawson getting the odd point for the win.think the other 3 were mitch graham mal mackay and alan cowland anyone confirm?

 

That is a another thing completely - and I have that on the list for later!

[chunky]

26 minutes ago, spinkox said:

I think when the Russians came over in (maybe) 1965 at Wimbledon - Plechanov and Samoradov scored significantly more than the rest of the team put together.

As I said, that is one for later, but I still think Eastbourne at Swindon (1980) get that award with Kennett and Niemi scoring 40 of 46 points.

[Split]

16 hours ago, norbold said:

Funnily enough, that was the only time I ever saw Southampton. For some reason I had missed them in both 1960 and 61.

The score was P.L. 30 Southampton 46.

PL Select: Colin Pratt 11, Ivor Brown 8, Les McGillivray 5, Ray Cresp 3, Trevor Redmond 2, Danny Dunton 1, Pete Jarman 0

Southampton: Bjorn Knutson 11 (beaten by Colin Pratt), Ross Gilbertson 8, Chum Taylor 7, Colin Gooddy 7, Reg Luckhurst 6, Peter Vandenberg 5, Alby Golden 2

I was at that meeting as well. I happened to be in the car park when Knutson was off loading his bike and Colin Pratt walked by. Björn greeted him with, "hello Mr. Maximum" so I think he knew what to expect.

[BL65]

39 minutes ago, chunky said:

As I said, that is one for later, but I still think Eastbourne at Swindon (1980) get that award with Kennett and Niemi scoring 40 of 46 points.

I saw Nordin (15) and Erskine (15) score 30 out of 33 for Newport at Wolverhampton in 1966.