After that debut in 67, Eric would miss the next three for completely different reasons. In 1968, he qualified for the last round, the European Final at Wroclaw, but illness prevented him from taking his place. 1969, 8 points at the British Final, he lost the run-off to Arnold Haley for the reserve position at Wembley. Then came the 1970 campaign. To get to the Final at Wroclaw, Western riders would have to get through the European Final at Leningrad in the Soviet Union. Was Eric one of the Brits who had no intention of making that trip? I don't know. Here was his qualifying stats;

Eric had this to say,

"I was at Poole the previous night, with Halifax, and I couldn't do a thing wrong. I got a maximum in the League match and only dropped one point in the second half. So I was laughing, or so I thought. But I had a bad first ride at Sheffield. Next time out, the big-end went. So I borrowed Dave Younghusband's bike. But two punctures convinced me that it just wasn't my night."

Mmm

Eric's appearances in 71 & 72 were anything but spectacular and we all remember him walking out of the 1973 British/Nordic Final at Coventry, throwing his race jacket to the ground.

Back at Coventry the following year, he wins the British Final, despite serious pain from an arm injury! Crashing out of the next round in Denmark. The facts are that, had he qualified for both of those World Finals, Chorzow and Gothenburg, the chances of him scoring any more than a few points in each would not have been great.

To justify that, we need to analyze his three World Final scorecharts;

It's clear that Eric lost his best years after his debut. Speaking to Peter Oakes for 'Five-One', Eric spoke about Gothenburg, 1971;

"I didn't get a point in my first two rides when I should have done very well. I remember riding my balls off getting nowhere. I sat down at the front and was watching the starts and I didn't see anyone stop still at the gate. I decided in my next race I would just drop the clutch when I was ready and I won that race by a mile. [heat 9; EB, Soren Sjosten, Nigel Boocock, Tommy Jansson] All I had done to win a World Final race was to cheat at the start. As long as you didn't break the tapes you could do anything you wanted and Ivan was the best conman. The referees would be determined to get him but they still couldn't catch him. He could push the tapes four times and the ref would say, 'I'll have you' and he would still make the gate."

From the same interview; What stopped you from becoming World Champion?

"My problem was all my career I was absolutely superb mentally when in a normal open meeting or League or Knock Out Cup. But when it came to the really big bastards, I didn't have what it took to jump that last step. I don't know why. I can honestly say in all my career I was never dirty. I can never remember going out for a race thinking, I'll have you. I rode hard but always left everybody some room. If a bloke had more balls than me to go outside between me and the fence, I'd give him room.

When it comes down to the nitty-gritty you can't do that in a World Final. I saw Fundin for years and he was ruthless. Briggo would ride over you if he had to. I weren't like that, I know now to be better than I was, you definitely had to have a killer instinct when it came to the crunch. I'm not saying I'm a nice guy but I was just too nice a guy in those sort of circumstances.

There's them that have it like Ivan. He weren't half as good a speedway rider as Nigel [Boocock] but I have seen Ivan do the most diabolical things when at the back. He hadn't a clue how to pass anyone but in fairness he never had to pass anyone, only his shadow. He once stuffed me so bad in a League Riders Final that I went from first to third. He hit me so hard in the first and second bends that when I got off my bike I were hopping mad and asked, "What did you do that for?" He just said, "Well, you'd have beat me!"

I've been friends with Ivan for hundreds of years and that probably summed up why he was World Champion six times and I never made it. I think I had the ability to have won it, I'd certainly got the background in the workshop and I'd certainly got a quick enough brain. But there was something missing and maybe if I knew exactly what it was I would have done it! Even though I never did very well in a World Final, there were three to four hundred riders who never even got there. Getting to the World Final was the difficult part, sometimes at the British Final, only the top five would get through and two of them were Mauger and Briggs. On my night I could beat them both but you knew they were down for two places."

And there you have it. Now you can see why Eric was not in my original line-up. Yes, one of THE finest riders of his era. But this series is all about why Ivan Mauger had it all over those on my list when it came to winning the World Final. From 'The Champions Book of Speedway Number Two', Eric said this,

"I'm in Speedway to make a decent living and my bread and butter is British League racing."

Ivan Mauger made no secret of the fact that he was only ever in Speedway to be the Champion of the World.

Four time World Final winner Barry Briggs "would ride over you if he had to." 1955 World Final, 2nd place run-off putting Eric Williams in the fence, case in point. Five time World Final winner Ove Fundin "was ruthless" and Six time World Final winner Ivan Mauger did whatever it took, on the track or off it, some fair, some not so fair but for the sake of the 'Mauger is god' brigade, we won't go there. Jaysus, I'd better hide from the Vicar.

Okay, the chequered flag has fallen and this really is the end of this series. "Wait till Valery Nelson hears about this!"

This article was first published on 1st September 2024

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