• SPECTACULAR, HORRIFYING CRASHES
• CONTROVERSIAL EXCLUSIONS
• FRACAS & FISTICUFFS
• REFEREES IN THE FIRING LINE
• MOANS, GROANS & PIT PHONES

CRASHES and injuries are part and parcel of being a speedway rider and the brave participants know and accept the risks before they set a wheel on track.

Luckily, the vast majority are able to walk away - sometimes from the most alarming spills - with barely a scratch for their troubles, while broken bones are commonplace. Some, including former World Champions Erik Gundersen, Per Jonsson and Tomasz Gollob, suffered severe career-ending injuries that left them partially or fully paralysed.

Tragically, too many paid the ultimate price.

But this double-disc DVD compilation is not intended to glorify any crashes or trivialise their seriousness. It is to illustrate the extreme risks riders undertake every time they go to the start-line to try and earn a living and, in the process, entertain supporters.

The courage of those who put their necks on the line in the 20th century is all the more admirable given the rudimentary safety standards prevalent when lethal metal lighting pylons and solid wood and steel fences posed a serious threat to life and limbs. Those especially dangerous times before air fences were introduced and became mandatory in Britain and around the world.

Inevitably, some dramatic incidents provoked heated scenes on track as well as in the pits. The infamous Kenny Carter-Bruce Penhall feud in the early 80s put speedway on the back pages of the national press. Their controversial skirmish in LA in 1982 is still the subject of online debate today. Did he fall or was he pushed? Have another look, then make your own mind up . . .

Who would be a referee? Not every fall is clear-cut and we should also remember that the officials who presided over the incidents featured in this production had to make their calls without the benefit of TV replays, often viewing dimly-lit tracks from far from ideal vantage points.

This DVD is a tribute to the risk-takers.