Ove Fundin latest Newsletter

[jimblanchard]

I thought that I would post it before I upload it to his web site. Also maybe some members would like to comment on some of the points Ove raises:

Les Maures,
France.

"Hi!

The speedway GP season is now at half stage and it’s good to see that it’s not going to be a “one man show” as the first two GP’s indicated. It started to look like if it was to be dominated by one rider, just like last year and the year before.

When the GP’s was first introduced I was not for it, but now I think it was the right way to go, I only wish to see the old formula where the highest point scorer wins the meeting. Last GP, in Copenhagen, was won by a rider who after three races had only scored 3 points....In my eyes Leigh Adams (he got the most points) was the winner of The Danish Grand Prix. Scrap the semi final and the final, award the win of each GP to the rider with most points and at the end of the GP series we will have a worthy World Champion.

In the two weeks before the Copenhagen GP, we have had two riders killed in track races, a young Czech rider lost his life in Poland and a popular Swedish rider was killed in Norrkoping, Sweden. Shortly before these tragic accidents a 17year old Swedish rider had a serious crash and was left paralysed from the chest down and will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

“Stop the mad sport of speedway” that was what several Swedish news papers wrote in with capital letters, followed by long articles seldom written about speedway. Our sport is dangerous and maybe something has to be done to make it safer..... Maybe not so powerful engines...maybe, as has been suggested, the referee could give out “yellow cards”, as in football. I think less power is the right answer. That would also make the bikes less expensive and help new riders take up the sport, and speedway promoters to operate without losses as today. No speedway tracks, no speedway.....When I first brought in the Jawa (then Eso) engine to British speedway I was asked by Peter Craven (he was the chairman of our riders union) not to use it. Peter said that, sure the best of us can afford new engines but not the second string riders and, for sure, not any new riders. Of course it’s the same today....

It made me happy to learn that Norwich City Councillor Roy Blower, the gentleman behind making me a “Freeman of Norwich” has been elected Lord Mayor of Norwich. Best of luck to you my Lord Mayor. I know that Mr Blower is a keen speedway supporter so maybe we will see speedway once again in Norwich.

Everything is fine with me and my family, I’m just back after a visit to Sweden to welcome a new grandchild, a little girl named Flora, daughter to my daughter Annika and her husband Anders in Stockholm. Ioana and I are now getting ready to have relatives and friends visiting us all though summer. We will also find time for a short brake in Bucharest and I hope to make a few trips on my motor bike, even a longer one later on in the year.

I still hope to be able to see at least one speedway meeting this year, not just on Enjoy your summer, with or without speedway.

Our kind regards to all of you,
Ove and Ioana."

[jimblanchard]

When the GP’s was first introduced I was not for it, but now I think it was the right way to go, I only wish to see the old formula where the highest point scorer wins the meeting. Last GP, in Copenhagen, was won by a rider who after three races had only scored 3 points....In my eyes Leigh Adams (he got the most points) was the winner of The Danish Grand Prix. Scrap the semi final and the final, award the win of each GP to the rider with most points and at the end of the GP series we will have a worthy World Champion.

Well, I for one totally agree with that. A GP series yes, semi's and final's no. The rider with the most points on the night wins the GP end of.

Incidently, 'she who must be obeyed' (Schumi ;D) has asked me to post any anecdotes or pictures from my involvement with the sport that I have. I did have a 'my photo web page' thingy buts its gone now so I'll set up another.

Meanwhile: This shot was taken at Wembley for the 1963 world final on the Thursday practise session. Ove riding with a broken leg fell off and was in pain as you can see. The rider holding Ove's head in his hands was I believe Nigel Boocock. Ove still won the final on the Saturday night.

The young man in the white overalls is yours truly - at the age of 14. (was I ever that slim? : Split Waterman was made to buy them for me as I was always getting my school uniform in a mess when cleaning his bike.

Ove Fundin a hero of mine then and now someone I consider a friend. Life is strange.

[admin]

jimblanchard said:

I think less power is the right answer. That would also make the bikes less expensive and help new riders take up the sport, and speedway promoters to operate without losses as today. No speedway tracks, no speedway.....

Much as I hate to disagree with such an esteemed figure as Ove Fundin, I think the first thing to look at to make the sport safer is the tracks.

[Deleted]

I agree with Ove on the GPs.Not keen on semis and the final,but when it works i.e Chris Harris it is great ;D
But particularly for junior riders i find it hard.Last years 80cc World Championship was very cruel.Young René Bach won his qualifier 15+3,then his semi 14+3 and was joint top scorer in the final with 12 points.Only dropping points for an iffy exclusion.Then was twice leading the final only for it to be stopped(nothing to do with him) but in the second re-run he lost his nerve and clettered into the leading rider on the first bend as he lost ground on the rider at the back who came through.
I would say something has to be done to reduce costs even if it has nothing to do with safety.It can't be right that riders like Martin Smolinski can be something like €20,000 in debt as he has to plough all his wages and more into new equipment.
Safety is and will always be a problem.Don't think you will ever stop deaths on track.The only hope is to reduce them as much as possible.From what i heard the death of the young Czech rider was particularly tragic(if there can be degrees of tragedy)as it was so unnecessary.He was on the wrong end of a 5-1,quite a way back and he got into a tussle with his team-mate racing for the third spot

[admin]

Any chance of getting Mr Fundin to have a quiet word in the golem Olsen's ear telling him where to go and how to get there? You and the great Fundin would be doing the sport a great favour if you could manage to get Olsen to resign as Race Director for the FIM.

[Deleted]

Maybe Ove gets on ok with Ole,but i remember the backtrack interview with Anders Michanek.Obviously Ole wasn't one of Anders favourite co-riders.On asked about Ole Anders said something like...He is strange.He is Danish after all ;D

[Deleted]

Ove was always my favourite rider. I saw him for the first time at the 1958 Wembley world final and became a fan straight away, even now there is a magical sound about the very name.

As for his point about the GP's, well, in all honesty when the series first started I really thought that they would do it in the manner of the one-off meetings.


I was quite surprised to see that the were going to have a grand final. However, although the other format would possibly be more fair, the spectacle of a grand final does, IMO add to the GP series. Also, if a rider has an e/f, or any other bad luck, then he still has a chance to make the final. So, keep it I say.

P.S. JB, I remember that photo you are showing. It was taken at a Wembley practice session, wasn't it?

[jimblanchard]

I will post this on Ove's web site tomorrow but you read it here first: ;D

Hello dear readers,

Ioana and I are just back from the German Grand Prix in Gelsenkirchen. As I like driving, we travelled by road, even though it is a long way 2,600km (more than1,600 miles) for the round trip. We made a nice holliday of it, staying overnight once on the way andonce on the way back. The night before the racing the FIM had invited all former speedway World Champions plus officials for a gala dinner.

Some of my fellow World Champions were not too pleased with the FIM because the invitation to us said that we would have to pay for our own travel and accommodation expenses. There was a possibility that many of them would boycott the event and stay home to watch it on television.The Speedway Star magazine in England published a story about it which resulted in the FIM backing down and agreeing to pay for two night's at a hotel for us. In the end, all the former World Champions who are still living turned up, except the three New Zealanders, Ronnie Moore, Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger.

The gala was very nice and intertaining, all the Champions were presented and interviewed. The dinner was excellent and I would like to thank our host FIM Track Racing President Roy Otto for organising it.I must say that the Veltins Arena, an indoor stadium,in Gelsenkirchen is the finest stadium I have ever visited. Grand Prix Race Director Ole Olsen and the promoters, Benfield Sports International, are to be congratulated for finding stadiums like this one andalso Cardiff, of course. Before the racing began, all of us former Championswere introduced to the crowd and paraded around the track in open top sports cars. Close to 30 000 people were treated to some good racing, but it was not quite as exciting a some of the previous Grands prix I have seen.

To me the best heat was a quailifing race-off for next year's GP series between Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris of Great Britain and Rune Holta, the Norwegian who races on a Polish licence. Rune Holta won to claim his place for 2008, but there was controversy when Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris came into close contact and Harris went down. But the referee allowed the race to continue.So Rune Holta and Scott Nicholls are OK for nextyear's GP, but Chris Harris is NOT, and neither is Andreas Jonsson of Sweden, who was the winner of the meeting's $100,000 jackpot prize, the biggest in speedway history. But I bet anybody that both of them will be seeded in 2008 to attract the supporters through the turnstiles,especially in Sweden and Cardiff - and I don't think that is sport. That's just buissness

I think I expected better racing from the final GP of the season as the riders were fighting for that $100,000 paycheck. Andreas Jonsson deserved his win. I think the track suited him with the best line on the inside. Too many tracks now are made for the riders who scrape round the boards. That shows how ancient I am, of course it is the air fence these days.The World title was won even before this last round. Nicki Pedersen of Denmark is the new holder - his second World Championship. He has been outstanding all the season and makes a great champion.

Otherwise 2007 will be remembered for the sad loss of Russia's best speedway rider, Igor Plechanov, who diedin his home town Ufa. It is most sad not only forIgor's family but also for speedway and for me personally. We did not talk very much to each other during our racing days because the Russian officials wouldn't allow it, but thanks to our friend Igor Kalashnik, who had kept in touch with Igor Plechanov for many years, we have met up a few times to talk about our old days and Igor Kalashnik and I had made plans to visit Plechanov this year in Ufa. Rest in peace Igor.

Now I'm looking forward to the Norwich speedway reunion luncheon at the end of October. The day before Ioana and I have been invited to meet the new Lord Mayor of Norwich, Mr Roy Blowers, a good friendwho spoke at the ceremony last year when they made me a Freeman of the City. It will be good to see all my friends and old teammates again in Norwich. From England we will fly to Stockholm for the annual speedway veterans' dinner. It's not so formal and well attended as the World Speedway Riders Association dinner in England, but I guess there will be 150-160riders (ex as well as active) and speedway supporters having fun, eating, drinking, dancing and for sure talking about our sport.

As you can see, it is a very busy time for us socially, but we should be back in France by November6. Then I'm off on a motorcycle ride through Spain,taking a ferry boat to Africa to ride around Casablanca, Marrakech and Agadir in Morocco. And then we will have to see....I keep geting lots of people congratulate for John Chaplin's book about me, but of course that should go to John. By the way the book has been reprinted with lots of new pictures and text. Any day now this web site will have had 100,000visitors....so I just want to say well done and many thanks to Jim Blanchard, who organises it. Until next time, support your rider and team, and I hope to see you sometime at some speedway function.

Ove and Ioana

[schumi]

Thanks Jim. Always nice to read.

[Deleted]

The event at Norwich is this coming week-end and thanks are due to Pam & Trevor Hedge and the helpers who do such a good job of the organising. As usual there will be a good turn-out of Stars from the past

[jimblanchard]

Hope you enjoy yourself Bryan and it all goes well.

(I updated the latest News Letter to Ove's site this evening)

www.ove-fundin.com

[jimblanchard]

Received this from Ove last night. I'll put it on his web site in a day or so. Interesting comments again from Ove:


Hi folks,

As winter begins to loosen its grip here in Europe, our thoughts (and yours too I’m sure) turn to speedway.
It’s seems as the £ 60.000 race  in Poole will be the first meeting of the season. Personally, I don’t think any of the riders will have had much practice before the richest price in speedway history 
Good luck to whoever wins and praise for Poole chief Matt Ford for promoting this big event !

I would like to congratulate my old friend Bert Harkins for being the new president of WSRA, I don’t think we could have a more popular president, have a great year Bert. Also congratulation to Belle Vue for 80 years of speedway, the new promoter Mr David Gordon is doing a great work with all the publicity he does for this fine speedway. Now I hope he can get his team back where they belong , at the top of Elite League, with Jason Crump back at Manchester, I’m sure we will see a  new team. The short spell I had at Belle Vue in 1967, was a happy one for me and I still have great love for that team.

As for the last few years, I guess the GP’s and the World Team Cup take most of my intrest in our sport, for sure I will try to see some meetings live.

Regarding league racing I do not like, or understand, The British system with talk about riders point averages…. Guest riders, jokers and other silly ideas. Not having any place for double World Champion Nicki Pedersen is just madness.

If all these goes on, I’m afraid it will do a lot of harm. And another thing, please Mr promoters, try to bring speedway back to London, I think it’s a must….as I understand the track at Wimbledon is still available . With the recent car event at the new Wembley Stadium is any hope to see a G.P. there?
What ever happens, I hope we will be in for a fine speedway season.

Last December, I did a motor bike tour around Morocco together with my mate from our Trans Asia ride,
Lars Jacob Grapengiesser. Both of us on BMW 1200 bikes, rode through France and Spain, got a ferry boat from Algeciras to Ceuta, then over the Jebala mountains past Ouezzane ( a very nice town ) Fes, Meekness, Rabat ,Casablanca, Marrakech ( of course the best known city in Morocco ) Ouarzazate ( my favorite town ) Zagora ( here the asphalt roads finish )onwards to Agadir, along the coast to Essaouira
( another very nice town ) back to Casablanca where we split up as Lars Jacob wanted to fly back to Sweden. I continued to Tangier and then back through Spain. A super trip, I’m looking forward to the next one.

Ioana and I, together with Reg Fearman ( known to all speedway supporters ) and his lovely wife Eileen, started the year with a cruise, we flew to Hong Kong, got our cruise liner Costa Allegra and our first stop was Manila ( Philippines ) then on to Borneo, Brunei, Singapore, Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh ) Da-Nang, Sanya ( China ) and back to Hong Kong. All of us enjoyed the cruise and all the ports of call.

I just heard from my friend Olle Nygren that he is in Ipswich Hospital waiting for a  heart by pass . He wrote that he will be out of action a couple of months. I do wish him all the best and a speedy come back.

Another of my speedway friends, Tony Rickardsson is taking part in the Swedish version of ‘Come Dancing’  and doing very well. I can remember his  ‘Break Dance’ after winning his first World Crown, guess he is a born dancer.

Me, well it must be a sign of getting old, I’ve had a bad back, trouble with a knee and shoulder plus a terrible cold…. But at the moment I’m fine, playing golf and enjoying life. Ioana, being a girl, is much stronger than me, apart from a touch of cold ( got it from me ) is OK.

With these I close for now, if you want I will be back.

Kind regards to all of you.

Ove and Ioana

[speedyguy]

Whatever happened to interesting threads like this? And why is there never any response from registered users? A sad state of affairs IMO.