Maugers world title win was forecast 20 years ago

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31781, 11 September 1968, Page 15

Maugers world title win was forecast 20 years ago

years ago Mrs R. Mauger had her fortune told. One of her sons would win an enormous trophy which would take two persons to hold. It would be won on a cinder track in a foreign country and motorcycles would be involved, she was informed. Last Saturday, the youngest of her two sons, Ivan, became the third rider from Christchurch to win the world speedway championship when he went through the final heats at Gothenberg, Sweden, unbeaten. For his efforts he received a magnificent trophy in the shape of a motor-cycle wheel with wings attached. “I now believe in fortune tellers,” a delighted Mrs Mauger, a widow, said when she heard the news. For Mauger, who is now only 28, this brilliant win was the climax to a career which has always held great promise. His interest in the sport began when heavy earth moving machinery started forming the old Aranui Sneedway. He was then six. With other children, he used to watch the construction of the track and was even allowed to help putting some of the boards up. Shortly afterwards he joined in the bicycle speedway competitions in Christchurch, a form of racing which was then very popular with Christchurch youngsters. There were many elubs and they used to race against each other on homemade dirt tracks on disused pieces of land. Most of the competitors eventually lost interest in the prospect of graduating to motor-ised speedway, but not Mauger. When he turned 15 he bought his first proper

speedway machine off the Aranui personality, B. (Windy) Rees. A. Welshman, Rees gave Mauger his first basic lessons in speedway riding. Together, they would often take their machines down to the spit at South Brighton and practise on the beach. The English rider, Norman Parker, who was a regular visitor to New Zealand in those days, was Mauger's inspiration. He was the man he most wanted to emulate. Three days before he turned 16, Mauger rode in

his first race at Annul. For two seasons he need there regularly and then in 1957 he went to England and rode for Wimbledon. He was a very junior rider then and his appearances were far from regular. “He certainly did not set things on fire,” Mrs Mauger recalled. At the end of the season he went to Adelaide to race at Rowley Park. It was only then that he began to make an impression in the sport. He was there for three years and before he returned to England he had won every title he was eligible for. When he went back to

England he joined up with Newcastle and immediately began to attract attention. In 1964 and 1965 he won the provincial league championship to become the first rider to ever win the title twice in succession. In the 196566 off-season he returned to Christchurch and was unbeatable in scratch races at Templeton. After the New Zealand season he returned to Newcastle and in the same year won the European championship. In 1967 he was third in the world championship, and then this season he reached his true potential. He won the British title, the British-Nordic title, was fourth in the European championship and finished by winning the world crown —a great achievement in what was only his third season in England’s top grade. In the 35 races making up the qualifying events and the final, Manger dropped only five points. In the final he overcame tremendous odds to score the maximum of 15 points—three ahead of the second rider, B. Briggs, also of Christchurch. The future for Mauger is rather indefinite at present He is returning to Chrlst- ' church on November 6 after competing in California, Adelaide and Sydney. His intention was to stay in Christchurch with his Scottish wife and three children and miss the next European season, but now he may feel obliged to defend his world title. ' However, he will certainly be racing throughout the New Zealand season, and his new-found status as world champion is not likely to prevent him racing regularly at Templeton. With the former double world champion, R. Moore, for competition, it should be a vintage season for Christchurch speedway enthusiasts.