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89KO Cup Victory "For Erik"
![]() Season Review With a new points limit set at 44 Colin
Pratt had to make more changes, though this time the changes were less
severe but Colin had a difficult time persuading Alan Grahame to agree
terms. |
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However Greg was carrying a shoulder injury when he came to England and struggled a little to make the grade but the potential was there and he continued to improve, by the Autumn Greg was regularly getting double figure scores. It was Greg's improvement that made the Heathens title contenders later in the season. |
L
to R. Simon Cross, John Bostin, Gert Handberg, Alan Grahame, |
Cradley put League winners Oxford out of the K.O.Cup in the second round but things started to go wrong in July when Jan O Pedersen was injured in Munich and a week later Simon Cross was injured in Vojens and missed the World Pairs Final as a result. Pedersen came back to qualify for the World Final but then suffered a broken wrist in the Dudley Wolves Trophy and was out for the rest of the season Then less than a month later came that sickening crash that almost cost Erik Gundersen his life and finished his speedway career and also injured Simon Cross, but Crossie bravely carried on riding helping the Heathens to beat Oxford at Dudley Wood, then to top it all Gert Handberg the Heathens other young Dane was injured and out of the team. Led by Crossie and some well chosen guests Cradley went on to not only to qualify for the KO Cup Final but to win it for the fourth consecutive year beating Wolves in the Final home and away. In fact the League title was not decided until the very last night of the season when the Heathens were at Oxford, if they had won that night they would have been League Champions - it was not to be - the lost by six points and finished third behind Wolves. |
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Riders Performance Chart
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statistics taken from the Cradley Speedway database for BL matches only.
Final League Table
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Gold
Cup
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Erik Gundersen was left fighting for his life following a crash in the World Team Championship at Odsal, Bradford on 17th September. The crash left Erik with serious spinal injuries which finished the career of one of the all time greats. Erik is seen here with his Cradley teamates who visited him with the K.O.Cup at Pinderfields Hospital in Leeds |
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