Jump to content
British Speedway Forum

Your Favourite Danes (Pre-1995)


TonyMac

Recommended Posts

16 minutes ago, chunky said:

Okay, I hadn't really woken up when I responded! Still, that average would make him a heat leader today!

EDIT: Just checked, and I didn't realise Einar only averaged 0.63 for you. Scored 3 points in 19 rides...

...I was at Swindon the afternoon he registered a full 15 point maximum for King's Lynn!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, steve roberts said:

...I was at Swindon the afternoon he registered a full 15 point maximum for King's Lynn!

The only one he ever scored!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/11/2023 at 11:24 AM, salty said:

Predictable afraid, but as a Cradley fan i have to go with Erik and Janno. 

Erik was a Dudley Wood legend with 3 World titles under his belt, but also blessed with a lovely character which meant he was (afaik) popular with most in the sport. His accident at Odsal finished his career but in typical Erik fashion he has maintained a great outlook on life and it is good to see him still involved in the sport.

Janno took a bit longer to get to World class status but by the time of clinching his World title was clearly well deserving of the Championship. Sadly we will never know how many other titles he could have accrued as he was another who retired prematurely through injury.

Finally, special mention to Kristian Praestbro, who was, (for Dan McCormick) a fairly unsung signing from Belle Vue in 1978. Not only did he have 2 excellent point scoring seasons as a Heathen, he also played a massive role in helping Erik in his formative time at Cradley.

 

Great point about Kristian.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/11/2023 at 11:49 AM, chunky said:

I remember a lot of the early Danes, like Godtfred Andreasen at Oxford, Erik Tilgaard (Newcastle), the Boghs, Kurt and Ernst, King's Lynn's Jan Henningsen, and Finn Thomsen's buddy at Wolves, Leif Berlin. Amazing to think that in those days, we needed a combined Norway/Denmark team as the Norwegians greatly outnumbered the Danes!

Later on, we had world-beaters like Sheffield's Flemming Rasmussen, Rene Christiansen (Eastbourne), and the worst speedway rider most of us have seen, Claes Jensen.

Surprised there is no mention of Klaus Lohmann above...

Unfortunately, we couldn't find any decent available footage of Klaus (or the others you mention), otherwise he would be on the DVD. Nice bloke - it was a pleasure to meet him in Denmark for an interview for our Memories of Halifax Speedway DVD.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, TonyMac said:

Unfortunately, we couldn't find any decent available footage of Klaus (or the others you mention), otherwise he would be on the DVD. Nice bloke - it was a pleasure to meet him in Denmark for an interview for our Memories of Halifax Speedway DVD.

Yeah, well he wasn't really around for that long, and of course, we didn't have all the footage accessible back then. Sorry to say, most of the others were pre-Lohmann, or just too poor to receive any coverage! At least Klaus was decent...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/14/2023 at 12:20 PM, steve roberts said:

Was it a "coming together" with Les Owen as Owen was one who was never that well received at Cowley from what I remember in the latter years.

Yes, I think it was Les Owen who was the other rider involved in that crash. Ironically Owen later had a crash which left him paralysed down one side and with brain injuries and short term memory loss.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Split said:

Yes, I think it was Les Owen who was the other rider involved in that crash. Ironically Owen later had a crash which left him paralysed down one side and with brain injuries and short term memory loss.

I last saw Les at the British GP at Brandon four years before he passed, and it was heartbreaking to see...

Edited by chunky
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The first Dane I saw was Ole Olsen starring for Wolves in the opening meeting of the 1971 season at Hackney.

Within days I saw Preben Rosenkilde, who had low-key spells for both Hackney and West Ham in '71.

Later, we had Finn Thomsen, Bo Petersen and Jens Rasmussen at The Wick. Finn  was a class act and a good team-man - an excellent skipper always helping his team-mates and shrewd mechanically.

But I always felt that he rode within himself in league and other domestic meetings, saving his best efforts for the World Championship. Maybe that is being a bit harsh on him, but that's how it appeared to me. Perhaps the broken thigh he suffered at Wolves in 1977, the year before he joined Hawks, was in the back of his mind?

He did, though, always get fired up when competing against Billy Sanders. There was history there.

Edited by TonyMac
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, TonyMac said:

The first Dane I saw was Ole Olsen starring for Wolves in the opening meeting of the 1971 season at Hackney.

Within days I saw Preben Rosenkilde, who had low-key spells for both Hackney and West Ham in '71.

Later, we had Finn Thomsen, Bo Petersen and Jens Rasmussen at The Wick. Finn  was a class act and a good team-man - an excellent skipper always helping his team-mates and shrewd mechanically.

But I always felt that he rode within himself in league and other domestic meetings, saving his best efforts for the World Championship. Maybe that is being a bit harsh on him, but that's how it appeared to me. Perhaps the broken thigh he suffered at Wolves in 1977, the year before he joined Hawks, was in the back of his mind?

He did, though, always get fired up when competing against Billy Sanders. There was history there.

Preben Rosenkilde replaced the ill-fated Svein Kaasa at Cowley on the recommendation of Garry Middleton if I recall. He didn't last that long and re-appeared briefly for Newport in 1976 if I remember?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, steve roberts said:

Preben Rosenkilde replaced the ill-fated Svein Kaasa at Cowley on the recommendation of Garry Middleton if I recall. He didn't last that long and re-appeared briefly for Newport in 1976 if I remember?

https://wwosbackup.proboards.com/thread/2451/preben-rosenkilde

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Privacy Policy