HALL OF FAME:

When I was first asked by Richard Clark to select ten favourite pictures taken throughout my career for the "Millennium Men" New Year 2000 edition of the Speedway Star, my initial reaction was "a piece of cake".

With pen and paper poised I probed deep into the cobwebbed corners of my excuse for a brain, but an hour later all I could recall was a meagre three pictures. Not surprising really with 29 years of work and approximately five hundred thousand negatives and slides to choose from. Just where do you start?

Reasonably enough, an old fashioned well-known expletive was called for, and indeed, uttered very loudly. Panic manifested as visions flashed through my mind of spending the whole week before Christmas scouring through every one of half a million negatives. An impossible task, but a search through my published books seemed to be a pretty safe bet. That brought some more images to light but still not enough. A completely different approach had to be taken and that would be to recall events and then, hopefully, the pictures would be there to be chosen.

Eventually half a million were whittled down to a short list of just 25 images collated on the computer screen. Out came the axe once more until only twelve pictures were still left standing but, for varying reasons, a further two were unable to be cast aside.

It may surprise some people to find a lack of first bend action shots involving three or four riders jostling for the best positions, the reason being that there were just too many to single out any particular one or two.

Speedway photography involves a lot more than picturing riders hurtling round a bend. The sport is rich in personalities and the highs and lows that they all experience throughout their own individual careers at whatever level have to be captured on film.

I have tried to portray some of those moments within this personal selection and explained my reasons for choosing them.

If you wish to see many more of my favourite pictures, click on the HOME link and select 'MIKE'S FAVE HOT SHOTS' on the right.