TWO CRASHES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 18, 23 January 1933, Page 10

TWO CRASHES.

' THRILLS AT HENNING'S. There were two spectacular crashes in the course of exciting racing at Henning's Speedway on Saturday afternoon. The driver of a fast Riley car got into an uncontrollable slide and crashed against a bank, and a motor cyclist skidded and fell on a corner. Arthur Dexter, who was making his first appearance on the track with the Brooklands model Riley, had won the special challenge race at the completion of the programme. He decided to do another lap and was travelling at a speed estimated at close on 70 miles an hour. Dexter was coming out of the bend iinto the front straight with throttle wide open. He got into a bad slide, recovered, but in the next second, he was broadsiding down the straight, his car hopelessly out of control. Three officials of the Auckland Motor Racing Drivers' Association who were standing on the bank below the judges' box, had to scatter for their lives as the Riley came roaring down the straight. , ... „ It appeared that Dexter applied his brakes, causing his car to skid more than was necessary. At terrific speed, he shot sideways across the track after broadsiding for a distance of over 100 yards.

The Riley hit the bank broadside on, the fraction of a second after three officials leaped out of the way. The engine roared and raced, but Dexter calmly switched it off and got out to inspect his machine. The only damage was a broken right front wheel. In explaining the crash, Dexter said: "The mishap was not in any way due to the state of the track, nor to the dust, but resulted from the throttle suddenly jamming wide open." He said he had been trying for the first time the effect of using front tyres with no tread, and found it more difficult than usual to control the skids, .With the throttle stuck open, the car became unmanageable. The motor cyclist wlio crashed was F. Lindesay. He came off on a corner. Lindesav, who was riding a Rudge, was temporarily unconscious after the spill, but the St. John Ambulance officers, who picked him up, said that he was suffering only from face abrasions and shock. He remained in the ambulance for the rest of the afternoon, and after the meeting was taken to the Auckland Hospital toi have a cut in his head stitched. J