SHUTER REJECTS POOLE'S OFFER N.Z. speedway champion to miss English season

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32563, 24 March 1971, Page 24

SHUTER REJECTS POOLE'S OFFER N.Z. speedway champion to miss English season

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R. O. DEW)

'THERE will be a notable x absentee from the speedway tracks of England when the European season opens in a few weeks time. The talented Christchurch rider, Frank Shuter, who produced such fine form to win his first New Zealand championship at Templeton a fortnight ago, has decided to spend the winter in the Dominion for the first time in five years. And there is no guarantee that he will return to England for the following season, either. Now 27, Shuter is undecided about his future in speedway. He wants to establish a home in Christchurch for his

English wife and 12-week-old daughter before venturing overseas again. “If we go away again, we want something to come back to,” he explained this week. But this is only part of the reason. Travelling costs to and from Europe are substantial and these invariably swallow up a high proportion of Shuter’s earnings from speedway. “I just can’t afford to go back at present,” he said. “If I had the capital, I would consider it As I haven’t got this, I am staying here.” He has been considering an offer of a contract with the Poole Pirates, the first division league side he has ridden for during the last two English seasons, but has regretfully turned it down. The British mail strike did not help matters, either. Negotiations proved almost impossible. Nevertheless, he is quite confident that he will return

to English speedway and resume his racing career within the next year or two. He realises that his wife, who comes from Southampton, will want to visit her parents and relatives and feels that he can metaphorically speaking, kill two birds with one stone. A quiet and reserved young man, Shuter has had more than a normal share of mechanical troubles since he returned to New Zealand. But he never complained and very Often nobody knew that he was riding under a handicap. In the first two tests against the touring English team, he was unable to do himself justice but in time for the last, with the assistance of the former national road racing champion, K. J. McCleary, he completely re-built his Eso machine. The effort proved worthwhile, for in the final test he proved the ideal foil for the world champion, I. Mauger, picking up the valuable place points with clock-like regularity. The following Saturday he lined up for the New Zealand championship and

the machine again performed faultlessly. On the night, Shuter was head and shoulders above everyone else. Not even A Brown, who rode so well in the final test, could match him. But beforehand, Shuter was far from confident “I was worried all right,” he said. “I thought Allan Brown would be hard to beat.” Shuter has motor sport in his blood. His father, the late Frank Shuter, senior, was in his time one of New Zealand's most prominent and respected car racing

drivers. But it was surprising to many when Shuter junior decided to concentrate on motorcycles. “I have been riding motor-cycles ever since I can remember,” he said. His motor-cycling baptism was in scrambles and in the early 1960 s he was chosen for the South Island team for the annual match against the North. When the Templeton speedway opened he decided to try his hand at this form of motor-cycle sport and success was not long in coming. His decision to turn to speedway was undoubtedly influenced by the four times world champion, B. Briggs, who used to be a regular visitor to his father’s garage at New Brighton. “I bought my first bike from Barry Briggs,” he recalled. At this stage, Shuter had no concrete ideas about where his future lay and for a time he seemed likely to follow in the motorracing footsteps of his father. He raced his father’s potent V 8 Special on a

number of occasions in the beach championships at Nelson and in 1965 drove a Ferrari, one of the fastest cars in New Zealand at the time, in the 1965 Lady Wigram Trophy race. But he soon decided that motor-cycling was the sport for him. “Car racing was far too expensive. It was really out of the question. Motorcycles were something I could afford myself without having to look for outside help.” He considers racing a motor-cycle more satisfying, too. “Driving a car is pretty easy, really. Riding

a speedway motor-cycle requires far more physical effort You have to be completely fit and, with all the machines being almost identical, skill is allimportant.” Shuter was only 21 when he ventured overseas for the first time. “Barry Briggs got me interested in going. I had always wanted to travel and I knew I would have to earn some money while I was away. Racing in speedway seemed a good way of doing this.” He was snapped up by Briggs’s team, Swindon, and rode for it for three years in the first division. In 1967 the team won the league championship and, as is customary, it was then split up. Shuter went to Poole and, for the second time found himself in the championship winning team. When I first decided to go to England, everybody said I was crazy. But I have certainly never regretted it. Speedway has taken me to a lot of countries I would never'otherwise have seen. About the only place I haven’t been to is Russia.”

During his career, Shuter has had a number of spills. Probably his most disastrous was in 1968 in a world championship round at Cradley Heath. “I needed only seven points to get in the British final. I had three and was set for another two when my footrest caught in a piece of the safety fence which was sticking out. I damaged a couple of ribs and got concussion. That was the end of the meeting for me but it was a great disappointment. I would ■ have qualified easily.”

Another incident which he vividly remembers was at Poole. “I went into the fence and three Russians went over the top of me. The machinery was a bit dented but, surprisingly, nobody was hurt"

Shuter has spent a large part of the last five years in England, but he has made a number of visits to Templeton. Three years ago he finished runner-up in the New Zealand championship there to the former world champion, R. L. Moore. He has noticed a considerable improvement in the standard over the years, although he feels that some riders do not keep their equipment up to the standard they should. He considers that of the younger riders, S. Foster, is very promising.

“He has got the right ideas. He gets into the comers nicely.” In the immediate future, Shuter might well be seen in another form of motorcycling sport—road racing. He is now working for a Christchurch motor - cycle firm which has been the backbone of road racing in Christchurch for many years. It will be surprising indeed if he can resist the temptation of at least trying himself out on the tarmac.