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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2007 13:32:43 GMT
The Danish team for a Test Match versus England at Cradley Heath on May 4th, 1985: 1..E Gundersen..8.32 2..J Eskildsen..6.57 3..B Petersen..8.06 4..P Eriksen..9.37 5..T Knudsen..9.60 6..P Ravn..8.57 7..R..J O Pedersen..7.13 8..R..H Nielsen..10.69 In fairness, it was only to take on the English, so they didn't really need Hans The Danes won that match at Cradley and, in doing so, also won the test series against England, I believe for the first time ever. A couple of the races from this match are on youtube.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 21, 2007 13:37:32 GMT
Crikey, I've not long dug out an old autograph book of mine with maybe a dozen or so signatures. Peter Ravn was one of them. Not a happy day for Mr Ravn this one. As always seemed to happen to the lad, as soon as he started picking up any form, broken bones knocked him back. Heat 12 from the match in question. www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNqEydI-PpsResult...two broken ankles if I remember rightly. If only there had been an airfence at that match, I'm sure Peter would have walked away just fine.
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Post by admin on Jul 21, 2007 14:50:17 GMT
Ah, young henryw, you didn't warn everyone that Dick Barrie was the commentator. That's very naughty of you.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2007 10:06:55 GMT
I suspect Gundersen probably had an indifferent start to the season - May 4th, is still, as they say, early doors. I'd be surprised if he didn't end the season above 10 points. However, he was never as consistent as Nielsen, but he could pull it out of the hat for a critical race. Which is why I suspect he'd have done as well as Nielsen in the GPs. It all comes down to the final. And Gundersen would've won his far share of those. Was 85 the year they brought in the tapes touching exclusion offence? Erik had BIG problems with that initially (being one of the better tape "pushers"), and consequently finished that season with a lower average than normal. Interestingly, Erik talks in his book "My Two Lives" about never taking unnecessary risks, I presume meaning if he was sitting second in a league meeting he wouldn't push too hard unless it was a last heat decider etc? I see someone like Greg Hancock in much a similar mould and the comparison between Hancock and Hamill is interesting - Bruce Penhall predicted early in their careers Hamill would be World Champ before Hancock but Hancock would spend longer at the top as he took (takes) less risks than Hamill. Hamill also had the edge in league averages for most of the late 90's probably for similar reasons. This would explain Gundersen being tagged as a "gating tart" by some, though he could obviously pass when required (see 85 world final). You certainly couldn't argue with his scoring over the years and he was relatively injury free compared with others until Odsal.
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Post by admin on Jul 30, 2007 11:19:29 GMT
I think the tape-touching rule was introduced into British league racing at the start of the 1984 season, but into world championship events much later. Certainly there was much tape touching in the 1985 WTC Final at Long Beach, including Messrs Gundersen and Shawn Moran ahead of that celebrated race (well, magnificent 1st turn by Moran) in Ht 10.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2007 12:57:11 GMT
Thanks, I knew it was around that time but wasn't sure
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2007 12:59:43 GMT
I think the tape-touching rule was introduced into British league racing at the start of the 1984 season, but into world championship events much later. I can't remember exactly what year the tape touching rule was introduced in FIM events, but might even be as late as 1991. It was certainly some years after the BL. IMO, certainly one of the better rule changes, which surely shows that British promoters were capable of making sensible decisions once-upon-a-time.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2007 14:34:34 GMT
I think the tape-touching rule was introduced into British league racing at the start of the 1984 season, but into world championship events much later. I think that in 1984 referees were given the option to exclude riders for persistent tape touching and start delaying. This introduced complete inconsistency and some refs, including Frank Ebdon, just opted for telling riders that if they touched the tapes they'd be out. In 1985 this was written into the rulebook....at least that's the way I remember it The FIM were definitely much slower to introduce the rule, but I can't remember when they brought it in... On the subject of Gundersen and tape touching, I have this faded memory that he got excluded in a run-off at the BLRC in either 85 or 86. Anyone able to confirm if I'm just making this up or not?
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Post by admin on Jul 30, 2007 14:47:19 GMT
On the subject of Gundersen and tape touching, I have this faded memory that he got excluded in a run-off at the BLRC in either 85 or 86. Anyone able to confirm if I'm just making this up or not? I do believe you're right. I think it was 1986. There was a photograph of Gundersen ploughing into the tapes at the BLRC was in the Speedway Star.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 31, 2007 12:08:59 GMT
On the subject of Gundersen and tape touching, I have this faded memory that he got excluded in a run-off at the BLRC in either 85 or 86. Anyone able to confirm if I'm just making this up or not? I do believe you're right. I think it was 1986. There was a photograph of Gundersen ploughing into the tapes at the BLRC was in the Speedway Star. This was the year Chris Morton beat Hans Nielsen in said run off i think.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2007 17:13:02 GMT
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Post by Genghis on Aug 20, 2007 18:23:03 GMT
I do believe you're right. I think it was 1986. There was a photograph of Gundersen ploughing into the tapes at the BLRC was in the Speedway Star. This was the year Chris Morton beat Hans Nielsen in said run off i think. In which case, it's 1984.
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