OCTOBER 2004 NEWS ARCHIVE

News articles from October 2004 are archived below, latest nearest the top of the page. Click "back" on your web browser to return to previous page.

26th October 2004
2005 TEAM SMALL BIKES!
I am very pleased to announce that Michael and I have our race bikes finalized for next season.
Obviously, last season's situation where Michael and I were sharing the same bike was less than ideal. So I have taken the plunge and struck a deal securing another machine for next year.
We have decided that Michael's progress should continue where he left off riding the Team Small GM laydown. For myself, I have taken a step into the retro scene and will be riding a Weslake machine.
The British Weslake, always my favourite machine as a lad watching the sport, was a dominant force in the late seventies and early eighties. Such World Champions as Peter Collins, Michael Lee and American Bruce Penhall rode the superior Weslake. Easily blowing away the then dated two valve Jawa's of that era, it took the Czech manufacturer years to catch up. Eventually Jawa came up with the 895, a bulky twin cam, four valve motor capable of competing on the same level, and this pretty much was the start of the demise of the pushrod Weslake.
It is with great satisfaction then that I have managed to secure an immacculate example, sporting a completely refurbished motor in an almost new Antig Chassis. I will be taking delivery of the machine in early December.
Another example of the Weslake can be seen weekly at Paris speedway being ridden by veteran rider "Tiger" Tom Marriott. Ironic really that I was convinced to buy my GM after having a few test laps on Tom's GM and now I find myself aboard a Weslake for the 2005 season after having ridden Tom's in practice last season! Tom, you're a bad influence on me.
1981 Weslake

22nd October 2004

WE'RE ON OUR WAY BACK!

A quick note to say our house move was successful. I now have the pc set up again and I have established an initial internet account that will enable me to make small updates to the site. In a couple of days we should be up and running at full speed again so check back soon. Thank's for your continued interest.

9th October 2004

WEBSITE UPDATE INFORMATION

Due to an imminent house move and internet service provider change, I will not be able to make any updates to this website until after the 20th October. Please check back soon after this date where normal service will be resumed! Thanks for your patience.

2nd October 2004

CRUMP IS CHAMPION!

Australian Jason Crump finally realised his lifelong dream in becoming World Speedway Champion after the completion of the 2004 Grands Prix series in Hamar, Norway tonight.

Crump, who has finished runner up in the final championship standings for the last three years, finished a modest seventh place in the last GP at the Viking Ship Stadium to cement his place in the history books.

His closest rival and five times world champion, Sweden's Tony Rickardsson won the event in Norway to close Crump's pre event lead of 17 points to just 3 to finish as this years runner up. America's Greg Hancock had his best season since his 1997 championship win to finish an excellent third overall and indeed second in last nights Norweigan GP.

Last years World Champion, Denmark's Nikki Pedersen finished in fifth place in the championship standings but on equal points to a seemigly revitalised Tomasz Gollob sixth, who finished the meeting in Norway last night on the rostrum in third.

The meeting format for the 2005 series changes with each GP consisting of only 16 riders. This means that from this years championship standings, only the top eight finishers gain automatic entry to next years competition. Those finishers are listed below:

1st CRUMP, Jason		Australia	158 points
2nd RICKARDSSON,Tony		Sweden	155 points
3rd HANCOCK,Greg		USA	137 points
4th ADAMS,Leigh		Australia	131 points
5th PEDERSEN,Nicki		Denmark	113 points
6th GOLLOB,Tomasz		Poland	113 points
7th JONSSON,Andreas		Sweden	97 points
8th HAMPEL,Jaroslaw		Poland	81 points

One interesting point to note and perhaps disturbing is that the top eight contains no British rider. The British League is still considered to be the strongest league in the world with the Swedish and Polish Leagues a close second and third.

No surprise perhaps then, that two Swedes and two Poles have each booked their automatic births in the 2005 series. Another point of interest is how both Australia and the USA have always been represented well in the World Championship, with two Aussies and an American again taking their respective places next year. Speedway in these two nations is a minority sport in comparison with the big three, but the quality of rider produced always seems top notch.

Whilst not meaning to criticise the excellent efforts of both Lee Richardson and Scott Nicholls, two British riders finishing 11th and 12th respectively in this years championship, it does seem as if something is wrong with the British system.

Perhaps GB should follow Sweden's lead and adopt something similar to their excellent youth policy in order to ensure a good crop of top flight riders in the future. Both the Elite and Premier British Speedway Leagues seem increasingly reliant on foreign riders to maintain the quality and indeed quantity of riders. At the present rate, much like the English soccer league, you'll soon be hard pressed to see a British rider in most teams.

Food for thought?