fatface Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Having a browse through Peter Oakes' excellent history of British League Speedway book the other night. Found it interesting to see some teams that look the part and actually turned out to be not up to much. Also, the opposite, teams that looks pretty ordinary, but actually really clicked. Two examples... King's Lynn 1988 - Lance King, John Davis, Bo Petersen, Richard Knight, Allan Johannsen, Stephen Davies, Adrian Stevens - effectively four heat leaders and two really solid second strings. Finished 9th/11 Long Eaton 1984 - Dave Perks, Graham Drury, Paul Stead, Chris Piddock. Miles Evans, David Tyler, Mark Stevenson, John Frankland - mostly past their best, middle of road or untried...bottom in 1983, champions in 1984 Anyone else got any examples that drained away the start of year optimism or pessimism... ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 Peterborough 2021! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customhouseregular Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 West Ham... bottom of league 1964, champions and cup winners 1965. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norbold Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 4 hours ago, customhouseregular said: West Ham... bottom of league 1964, champions and cup winners 1965. Yes, but with a much better team that got even better as the season went on with Malc's rise to heat leader status. You couldn't say the team that finished the season looked anything but the best team in the league. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
customhouseregular Posted January 30, 2022 Report Share Posted January 30, 2022 2 hours ago, norbold said: Yes, but with a much better team that got even better as the season went on with Malc's rise to heat leader status. You couldn't say the team that finished the season looked anything but the best team in the league. Very true Norbold. The second half of the season was exceptional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 Aces 87? At the start of the year I expected Mort (9.5+) to be supported by three other heat leaders averaging 8+ (Ravn, Blackbird,Thorp), with backing from a couple of solid second strings (McKinna and a returning from injury Smith). I thought they were title winners, but they ended mid-table. Ultimately Blackbird and McKinna dropping their averages significantly was the main factor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 15 hours ago, falcace said: Having a browse through Peter Oakes' excellent history of British League Speedway book the other night. Found it interesting to see some teams that look the part and actually turned out to be not up to much. Also, the opposite, teams that looks pretty ordinary, but actually really clicked. Two examples... King's Lynn 1988 - Lance King, John Davis, Bo Petersen, Richard Knight, Allan Johannsen, Stephen Davies, Adrian Stevens - effectively four heat leaders and two really solid second strings. Finished 9th/11 Long Eaton 1984 - Dave Perks, Graham Drury, Paul Stead, Chris Piddock. Miles Evans, David Tyler, Mark Stevenson, John Frankland - mostly past their best, middle of road or untried...bottom in 1983, champions in 1984 Anyone else got any examples that drained away the start of year optimism or pessimism... ? That Long Eaton team looks really average on paper. I guess they were helped by Newcastle, Exeter and Oxford making the move up to BL? That KL team looks solid, albeit lacking a true number 1, and were Davis and Petersen still true heat leader quality at that stage? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 86 Bradford Dukes? Carter, King Evitts, supported by Ross and Willmot, with Graves and Whittaker as the two reserves. Obviously the events of May chsnged thst... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chunky Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 1 hour ago, waiheke1 said: That Long Eaton team looks really average on paper. I guess they were helped by Newcastle, Exeter and Oxford making the move up to BL? If you look at their figures compared to the previous year, you can see exactly what happened. Of course, a lot of it was down to Tyler and Evans, but when every team member raises their average (the top seven by a total of 11.47) that's impressive. Of course, when your worst riders are still well over 5, that gives you great strength in depth. When they won at Edinburgh, Dave Perks had a poor night, Pidcock (9) and Frankland (5+2) picked up the slack. When they edged out Hackney, it was thanks to Pidcock again (11+1) and Stevenson (10+1). The point they earned at Middlesbrough was thanks in no small way to 8+1 from Miles Evans. The win at Glasgow was spearhead by Tyler who got 11+1 from reserve. The real key was having 5 riders who would consistently score between 6 and 8 - and it varied who those five were. 8.99 - Dave Perks (+0.85) 8.75 - Paul Stead (+ 0.89) 8.50 - Graham Drury (0.71) 7.37 - David Tyler (+ 4.79) 6.96 - Chris Pidcock (+ 0.87) 5.83 - Miles Evans (+ 2.58) 5.41 - Mark Stevenson (+ 0.78) 5.35 - John Frankland (+ 0.14) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatface Posted January 31, 2022 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 9 hours ago, waiheke1 said: That Long Eaton team looks really average on paper. I guess they were helped by Newcastle, Exeter and Oxford making the move up to BL? That KL team looks solid, albeit lacking a true number 1, and were Davis and Petersen still true heat leader quality at that stage? I never really rated Mavis, but he did reach the World Final that year? 9 hours ago, waiheke1 said: 86 Bradford Dukes? Carter, King Evitts, supported by Ross and Willmot, with Graves and Whittaker as the two reserves. Obviously the events of May chsnged thst... Of course. They won at Belle Vue on opening night....which was a rare one for the Dukes. Lance King is a common denominator here. I think he never really settled anywhere after being forced to leave Cradley due to averages. He really looked the part at one time, but his career kind of petered out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 84/85 King was truly world class - I went to the overseas finals both years (I'm sure you probably did too) and he won 9 out of 10 heats for a first and third. Could have been world champ in 84 had he won his last ride in the final. But after that, he never kicked on, and in fact went backwards - dont think he made another world final. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 Talking of Bradford, Neil Evitts was another rider who failed to realise his full potential. British Champion at the age of 21 in 1986, his career arguably never recovered from his controversial crash in the 1987 Inter-Continental Final when Peter Ravn mowed him down. A few years after that he was riding in Division 2 for Newcastle after steadily falling down the rankings for the Dukes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 1 hour ago, prodons said: Talking of Bradford, Neil Evitts was another rider who failed to realise his full potential. British Champion at the age of 21 in 1986, his career arguably never recovered from his controversial crash in the 1987 Inter-Continental Final when Peter Ravn mowed him down. A few years after that he was riding in Division 2 for Newcastle after steadily falling down the rankings for the Dukes. Agree. Rated him from first seeing him round Hyde Rd as a Brummies reserve in 82. In 86 he started the season in genuinely world class form, faded a little as the season went on - iirc some injury problems, possibly from a clash with Andy smith- but still made the world final, and won the heat which put paid to Eric's hopes of a third consecutive world title. But never hit those heights again. I saw that 87 crash for the first time just the other day. Never seen anything like it before. Was Ravn ever punished for that collision? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 Unbelievably I don’t think he was sanctioned or fined at all. It was all totally bizarre to say the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve roberts Posted January 31, 2022 Report Share Posted January 31, 2022 3 hours ago, waiheke1 said: Agree. Rated him from first seeing him round Hyde Rd as a Brummies reserve in 82. In 86 he started the season in genuinely world class form, faded a little as the season went on - iirc some injury problems, possibly from a clash with Andy smith- but still made the world final, and won the heat which put paid to Eric's hopes of a third consecutive world title. But never hit those heights again. I saw that 87 crash for the first time just the other day. Never seen anything like it before. Was Ravn ever punished for that collision? Remember the race well (I was there). As the tapes rose Neil steared slightly into Erik's lane and Gundersen hesitated and the race was lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatface Posted February 1, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2022 (edited) 14 hours ago, prodons said: Unbelievably I don’t think he was sanctioned or fined at all. It was all totally bizarre to say the least. It's not an incident I know much about. Tell us more. I would also add that Evitts was no saint, saw him take Andy Smith into the fence at Odsal and he broke his leg. Edited February 1, 2022 by falcace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 On 2/1/2022 at 3:49 PM, falcace said: It's not an incident I know much about. Tell us more. I would also add that Evitts was no saint, saw him take Andy Smith into the fence at Odsal and he broke his leg. On the first lap, out of camera, Ravn must have either had an engine failure or slid off his bike on the third bend, as only three riders completed the first lap. However he seemingly then made no effort to clear the track, and as Evitts came round the third bend on the second lap, all of a sudden there was Ravn standing with his bike in Evitts line. Evitts smashed into Ravn's bike pretty horribly, and I was surprised when he was able to come out for the rerun (he ended up losing to Ravn in a run off for the world final reserve slot). Someone who was there, or seen better footage, might be able to add more. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatface Posted February 2, 2022 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 43 minutes ago, waiheke1 said: On the first lap, out of camera, Ravn must have either had an engine failure or slid off his bike on the third bend, as only three riders completed the first lap. However he seemingly then made no effort to clear the track, and as Evitts came round the third bend on the second lap, all of a sudden there was Ravn standing with his bike in Evitts line. Evitts smashed into Ravn's bike pretty horribly, and I was surprised when he was able to come out for the rerun (he ended up losing to Ravn in a run off for the world final reserve slot). Someone who was there, or seen better footage, might be able to add more. Ouch. I'd be very surprised if there was anything deliberate. I never saw Ravn do anything remotely dirty in years of riding for Belle Vue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waiheke1 Posted February 2, 2022 Report Share Posted February 2, 2022 1 hour ago, falcace said: Ouch. I'd be very surprised if there was anything deliberate. I never saw Ravn do anything remotely dirty in years of riding for Belle Vue. Just utterly bizarre, and the footage doesn't really tell the full story. Agree Ravn wasn't generally dirty, though just watched a YouTube clip of him taking out Andy smith in a 1985 test, where Ravn simply didn't turn left into the first turn and cleaned Andy out. In this instance not sure if it was brain freeze or he genuinely had issues getting the bike off the track, though you suspect if the latter red flags would have gone up and/or track staff running to help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruiser Posted February 4, 2022 Report Share Posted February 4, 2022 I must admit I never saw Ravn being a dirty rider, he would lock up on corners sometimes but that was his riding and definitely not deliberate….Evitts was definitely quite dirty at times in my opinion and not an easy rider to ride with as a team mate for me……but I honestly cannot remember that incident with Ravn..I obviously wasn’t there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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