7:00am Wednesday 25th June 2008
By Phil Chard
PIRATES legend Craig Boyce has finally revealed he is "not proud" of punching Tomasz Gollob during the British Grand Prix in 1995.
The former Poole rider also admitted he and Gollob, famously pole-axed with a right hook by the start line at Hackney, kissed and made up long ago.
Most speedway fans thought the fiery Australian and hard-riding Pole still shared a grudge following their live Sky TV brawl 13 years ago.
Boyce, who stages his Farewell Meeting at Poole tonight, had never previously spoken about the unsavoury incident in public.
Now, for the first time, he has told the Echo there are "no ill feelings" between the two and they are "big mates".
Boyce, who had been brought down by an erratic Gollob on the second bend, said: "I wish I had a pound for every time the punch is shown on Sky.
"I'd be pretty well off if I did.
"It was 1995, it's 2008 now. That's 13 years. I think it's only the spectacle of TV that keeps memories of the incident going.
"I know I've forgotten it and there is no ill-feeling between us. There never was.
"It was just an incident that happened that's history now."
Boyce, who was world number three at the time, added: "A couple of years after the incident I ended up riding in the same Vastervik team as Tomasz in Sweden, so I'm mates with him now.
"It's just that at the time, I was having a frustrating night.
"Tomasz was knocking everyone off in every GP, but I'm not proud of what I did, I'm not saying it was the right thing to do.
"I had used three bikes that night, already crashed one up and then he'd put me down again in my last race.
"I just looked at my bike crushed on the ground and I thought I don't even have another bike to go out in the re-run'.
"Then Tomasz has the gall to go straight to the start line for the re-run, I don't know if he realised he'd been excluded or not.
"So I punched him, but it was more frustration than anything else, thinking I have no bikes left.
"But it's all water under the bridge."
Then FIM president Jos Vaessen wanted to ban Boyce from all World Championship events for a year following the punch, which was seen live by millions of viewers around the world on Sky.
But the rest of the GP riders stuck together and said they would pull out of the next round en-masse if Boyce had been banned.
He was eventually fined 1,500 Swiss francs (about £854) for punching Gollob, who was fined 1,000 Swiss francs (£569) for his part in the memorable fracas.
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