top 10 Antipodean riders

[pancho]

I saw Ivan miller in action at Wollongong track [Kembla] about '70, NOBODY had seen such fantastic leaps through the air 'till then. I have a shot of him doing his thing there on a  colour slide, one day I'll get that one and some other pix on here. cheers pancho.

[Marc.com]

I saw Ivan miller in action at Wollongong track [Kembla] about '70, NOBODY had seen such fantastic leaps through the air 

I saw him quite a few times as used to flag marshal as a 12 year old at the Whakatane club. Miller was world class without a world title.

How about a Neville Coombes / Leisky show down at Fairlie Castle, now that would be cool. Nev can show a few ex world champs the way round so I wouldn't back Liesky.

[JohnnyO]

Who is Neville Coombes? I think Leisky will have bigger fish to race against such as Dave Thorpe and Eric Geboers

[Marc.com]

Who is Neville Coombes? I think Leisky will have bigger fish to race against such as Dave Thorpe and Eric Geboers

Oh Nev is little known NZ hard man who has shut down Mathia and a few exGP stars along the way we have the video footage to prove it/

[suzuki43]

Yes Nev is a great racer Marc,but admit it 'The Chad' is a bottom bandit compared to Red Dogs younger bro.

PS Robert Holden is the next best Kiwi road racer.

[jimg1au]

the best kiwi is the 1 that dosent rib us australians about the all blacks.
let me see there isnt any thay all do.but some of them can sure ride bikes wll and also build them
my fav is john britten god rest his soul
jim

[TooFastTim]

poncing about in corduory jackets and paisley shirts

What's wrong with corduory jackets and paisley shirts?

[Marc.com]

Yes Nev is a great racer Marc,but admit it 'The Chad' is a bottom bandit compared to Red Dogs younger bro.
PS Robert Holden is the next best Kiwi road racer.

Tell you man Chad has just been tainted by the yanks and will come to his senses when he is back to OZ full time. The problem with Chad back in Aussie racing SX is nobody can come close to winning, so by promoting the series he gets to make a profit and win his prize money back.

So I vote him the smartest rider in Aussie.

[suzuki43]

Smart yes,gay accent; yes.
I concur re corduory jackets and paisley shirts.I bet you have a few in your wardrobe Marc, along with those safari suits and leather chaps!

[firko]

I was prepared to sit back and watch this thread evolve into a Chad Slam without getting too involved but you've gone and got me riled Marc .....How dare you denigrate those of us who are proud enough to display our corduroy and paisley penchant in public? Whenever I'm wearing my burnt sienna Ralph Lauren corduroys and House of Merivale vintage paisley button down I morph from Westy dork into the complete urban metrosexual package, ready to take on life's challenges. 

 I reckon Chad made a conscious decision to adopt the American accent at the end of his first day of being asked to repeat himself. The spin doctors behind his career would have surmised that he'd need to be understood by the public to be accepted. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd have been articulate and understood how to adapt the Aussie accent to make it understandable to Americans. Unfortunately the mumbled Kurri, country boy twang went over most listeners heads. Listen to Aussies who have lived in in the USA for years like Olivia Newton-John, Hugh Jackman, basketballer Andrew Bogut, Phil Noyce the movie director and many more and you'll notice that they've learned to seperate each word, slow down and pronounce each word precisely....all without losing the basic Aussie accent. Listen to Errol Flynn in his old movies and you'll get a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

I lived there for seven years and after learning the tricks rarely had any problem being understood without having to adopt a bullshit American accent. Whenever I got together with fellow Aussies however we would automatically slip straight back into Aussie 'oldspeak' and any Americans in the conversation would be totally lost. I reckon that if Chad had been guided correctly early in his stay there he'd have been fully understandable without the pseudo American accent. Robbie Madison and Mat Mladin are also good examples of Aussies who have largely kept their accents.

[Marc.com]

I morph from Westy dork into the complete urban metrosexual package, ready to take on life's challenges. 
 

Yeah they used to have another name for Metrosexual out West in the old days.

You can't blame Chad for wanting to fit in to his environment, its all tatoos, limos, sex adictions and bling bling. Tiger Woods probably is a bigger icon and better known to young riders than Roger Decoster.

I blame Jeremy McGrath, his goateeness spawned the next generation of Xtreme MX stars.

[VMX247]

What about Kiwi  Chris birch

CONGRADULATIONS on Chris placing 8th in the Erzberg Event on the old mining dumps ..whoooo one hard race,,2-5 hours of body&bike bashing 

Results – XVII Erzberg Rodeo Hare Scramble
1. Tadeusz Blazusiak (POL/KTM);
2. Dougie Lampkin (GBR/Gas Gas);
3. Jonny Walker (GBR/KTM);
4. Ben Hemingway (GBR/KTM);
5. Xavi Galindo (ESP/Husaberg);
6. Dan Hemingway (GBR/KTM);
7. Taichi Tanaka (JPN/KTM);
8. Chris Birch (NZL/KTM);
9. Lars Enöckl (AUT/KTM)

fullnoise.com

[Marc.com]

CONGRADULATIONS on Chris placing 8th in the Erzberg Event on the old mining dumps ..whoooo one hard race,,2-5 hours of body&bike bashing 

Regarded as one of the ugliest events in the world. I figure Chris will follow Whibley into the GNCC series, both of them are world class.

[TooFastTim]

I figure Chris will follow Whibley into the GNCC series, both of them are world class.

I reckon Chris will go anywhere he can get a ride. He's racing in South Africa this year (and what a fuggin' bunfight that was last week). But I reckon Chris would prefer europe to the US.

[TooFastTim]

Results – XVII Erzberg Rodeo Hare Scramble
1. Tadeusz Blazusiak (POL/KTM);
2. Dougie Lampkin (GBR/Gas Gas);
3. Jonny Walker (GBR/KTM);
4. Ben Hemingway (GBR/KTM);
5. Xavi Galindo (ESP/Husaberg);
6. Dan Hemingway (GBR/KTM);
7. Taichi Tanaka (JPN/KTM);
8. Chris Birch (NZL/KTM);
9. Lars Enöckl (AUT/KTM)

Three cousins in there.