The Best of British Speedway - Backtrack Issue No. 39

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Backtrack Magazine Issue No. 39: THE RETRO SPEEDWAY MAGAZINE OF THE 70s & 80s Have you seen the new issue of Backtrack magazine – now in full colour throughout! Look what’s in Issue 39... BEST OF BRITISH – The 70s The 1970s was generally an outstanding period of unprecedented success for British speedway, featuring as it did six World Team Cup victories for GB or England teams, four World Pairs wins and, of course, Peter Collins’ individual World Championship in 1976. But it wasn’t just in the international arena where the Brits flourished like never before. In the domestic British League there was no shortage of very talented riders challenging, and at times toppling, the overseas giants led by Barry Briggs, Ivan Mauger, Ole Olsen and Anders Michanek. So who were the top Brits from this glorious decade and how would you rank them now? It’s a tough task, but Backtrack’s John Berry has never ducked a challenge. We asked JB to list, in order, his best 20 UK riders from the 70s, disregarding all performances before and after the cut-off dates. The term ‘best’ takes into account club and personal achievements from 1970 until 1979 inclusive. See how many of his choices you agree with... MICHAEL LEE – Exclusive interview Shocking, hard-hitting and revealing . . . just some of the superlatives used to describe Retro Speedway’s latest book. Backtrack’s Tony McDonald, author of Michael Lee: Back From The Brink , provides a glimpse into the 336 pages and get’s the former World Champion’s reaction to a warts and all story that has the makings of a best-seller... WORLD FINAL FLASHPOINTS – Wembley, 1975 Continuing our series where we recall a crucial moment in World Final history, Peter Collins recalls the race in 1975 when his title chances literally went up in a cloud of dust. TIM SWALES – Meet the Boss In the first of a new series in which we catch up with a former promoter, Martin Neal visited the home of Tim Swales, for so long the driving force behind Middlesbrough and long-time chairman of the BSPA. BRUCE PENHALL COLUMN Our American columnist and former double World Champion bemoans the lack of characters in speedway today and suggests this is one of the reason why the sport is now struggling to survive both here in the UK and his homeland. As Penhall points out, 10 of the British League tracks who were running when he arrived here in 1978 are now defunct. Bruce also talks about one of his regrets in speedway and reacts to receiving a copy of former rival Mike Lee’s new book – and why he rated Lee a more difficult opponent than either Ivan Mauger or Ole Olsen. SIMMO’S COLUMN AS Great Britain prepares for another daunting World Cup bid, our other columnist questions whether today’s riders have the same pride in riding for their country as he and his England team-mates did in the 70s and 80s. Simmo also continues his analysis of speedway engines of the past by running the rule over the Weslake that took the sport by storm in the mid-70s. IVAN MAUGER – book extract IN the days before points limits governed team strengths, the BSPA favoured a system of rider control in its bid to balance team strengths – and its biggest ‘fall guy’ of all was Ivan Mauger. But as Ivan tells in this excerpt from his autobiography The Will To Win , in double-quick time he went from being ‘the rider Belle Vue had to lose to the rider Exeter had to have’. His stunning switch to the Falcons after the start of the 1973 season paved the way to five years of unprecedented success and excitement at the County Ground. ROLAND DANNO – Exclusive interview He spent only two seasons in England in the late 80s with Hackney and then Belle Vue, but Roland Danno showed lots of promise and a bright future was predicted for him. Sadly, his career literally came crashing down in 1989 but, as Martin Neal reports, the Swede is still maki... read more

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