Lee Ashby interview -Gundersen and Penhall

[BOBBATH]

I am sure many forumlanders have seen this. I just have. Both Bruce and Erik come across as great guys and very personable and articulate.. The last World Final I saw was the Los Angeles one in 1982 (flew down from Calgary)-for what its worth I think Carter's exclusion was correct. I have been so impressed by Erik's determination in overcoming his devastating injuries. Kudos to his wife Helle also.  Bruce I think is a true gent-the way he looked out for Kelly Moran when he was very ill speaks volumes. Maybe he made a mistake  when leaving speedway for his movie career-if he'd stayed in speedway I reckon he would have been good for a couple more World Championships-however to each his own .

I enjoyed Eriks' sense of humour -my question is -do you reckon if Erik's career hadn't been cut short -how do you think he would have stacked up relative to Hans Nielsen. Hans to me was the ultimate professional, Erik more human and mercurial. As Bruce kindly pointed out to him , in the 1981 World Final he (Erik) broke the track record at Wembley in I think his first ride.

I was also interested to see Dennis Sigalos  drop in on the interview- he finished third I think in 1982, Les Collins of course rode great races to finish runner up. I feel Dennis was also a potential World Champion- glad that all these Americans are still in touch with each other.

Couple of other points- thank you Lee Ashby for posting these great interviews-any thoughts of doing one on your uncle Martin Ashby-another gentleman of the tracks. The interview also reminded me what a great loss Cradley Heath was to the speedway world- I could murder one of those pork sandwiches now. CH was my all time favourite away track

[steve roberts]

An interview with Martin Ashby would prove interesting. A true Swindon legend. Shame that Bob Kilby is no longer with us...always one who spoke his mind!

Edited October 28, 2021 by steve roberts

[Sidney the robin]

On 10/28/2021 at 7:23 AM, steve roberts said:

An interview with Martin Ashby would prove interesting. A true Swindon legend. Shame that Bob Kilby is no longer with us...always one who spoke his mind!

He certainly did Steve but what a nice bloke he was along with Holloway two approachable guys.Both not saints but they were both great with the supporters who both knew who paid there wages they never forgot that.

[BOBBATH]

I'm thinking of the mid sixties here and I remember Martin Ashby as a super nice fellow and a somewhat modest individual. A great Swindon heatleader along with Briggs and Broadbanks

[HenryW]

On 10/28/2021 at 1:19 AM, BOBBATH said:

I enjoyed Eriks' sense of humour -my question is -do you reckon if Erik's career hadn't been cut short -how do you think he would have stacked up relative to Hans Nielsen. Hans to me was the ultimate professional, Erik more human and mercurial. As Bruce kindly pointed out to him , in the 1981 World Final he (Erik) broke the track record at Wembley in I think his first ride.

Erik does indeed hold the Wembley track record. I can't remember which race he broke it in but it definitely wasn't his first race...He lost that one to Bruce  
In that meeting, which was his first World Final, he also finished last in what should have been his easiest race of the night (against Muller, Ross and Dryml) due to a mechanical problem. If he had won that he would have finished on 14 and either been 2nd or in a race off for 1st. I add those options as Bruce knew 14 was enough to win when he did his last race. If he had needed the win, it's hard to think that he wouldn't have got it given what he had done that night...even though his last race was against Carter 

Interestingly, Erik's World Individual Final career also ended with an 11 point score and 4th place, losing to the eventual winner in his first race and having a mechanical problem in his third race, just like at his first final at Wembley.

He had an exceptional record in World Finals, but it would have looked even more exceptional without those two mechnical problems.

Having said that, and to answer your question about how he would have stacked up relative to Hans...I'm not sure that Erik had plans for much more time at the top level. I seem to recall reading that he had been thinking about retiring from British speedway after 1989 anyway, with the plan to just be racing in the Danish and Swedish leagues. 
Obviously things are very different now, but it's hard to imagine that he would have been a major contender in the next few years without racing in the British league back then...
Then again, he seemed to be a man for the big event rather than the regular grind of league racing, so it's not impossible to imagine he could have repeated his Bradford win in 1990 and then his Ullevi win in 1991 as well....