Thursday, 26 April 2012
Simon Wigg, Melbourne, 1984
Great footage found by Lewis Wharton...
I know you're a busy man, so apologies for another distraction, but I had to share this with you and Ben. It must be hectic with Dirt Quake coming up...
Simon Wigg was a hero of mine as a kid but have only just recently found this clip, the whole clip is a nice story with a nail biting final but I especially recommend the second heat,1:34 in, while he is being a bit of a show off you've got to admire someone who can pop wheelies for fun in an actual competition heat.
Hopefully see you on the 19th.
Lewis
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
8 comments:
those wheelies are so erotic.
When I was working for MCN - back in the days when they still covered speedway and even grass track - Simon Wigg was a dream for headline writing. He boards a plane to go to a crucial foreign meeting: "WIGG FLIES OFF!". Wins a big race in Germany: "HERR WIGG!"
Yes, it wears a bit thin after a while... oh, there I go again...
Mono wheels!
Awesome
Fantastic bit of film. Had me sitting on the edge of my seat and the way he turns it in while still on the back wheel. When I was a kid he used to live just up the road and sort of went out with my elder sister for a while. With a couple of mates we would cycle up to his place after school and hang around in his garage/workshop, until his dad came out and tell us to bugger off 'cause he has work to do. This must have been '78 or '79 and I seem to remember he was riding mainly grass track at the time. I remember the bike had a special rear tyre made with the tread sloping across the width, except Simon said it was because it slipped and twisted on the rim and had to be turned around after each event, and the rear brake was a disk on the sprocket, apparently it just filled up with chain oil and didn't work after a couple of laps.
Brilliant.
I wondered what 'monos' were for quite a while when I moved to Oz.
I remember Simon Wigg visiting Trackstar in Market Deeping many years ago when a lad who was buying some speedway parts said he needed a set of leathers. Wiggy went out to his van and gave him a pair of his own green leathers. Great rider and good bloke!
The great the only one rider that was so nice with his fans. Great legend and great memories during all theses races in France. Thanks for all Simon and RIP.
Post a Comment