Changing face of speedway

Press, 17 February 1978, Page 7

Changing face of speedway

The speedway scene in Christchurch has undergone a radical transformation since the first few meetings were staged at English Park 50 years ago A few motor-cycles made history about 1928 on the dirt track at the park, but it was not long before the w’hole show moved down to Monica Park on Ferry Road. Here it stayed until 1939, and although bikes were by far the most popular form of racing, the earliest midget cars made their debut appearances on the cinder track.

The fledgling Christchurch speedway organisation flourished and blossomed as it became more popular. Fans with long memories will recall Shorty Blakelock, a Canterbury champion who was killed at Monica Park, and when the first English speedway competitors began to arrive the sport really took off. The firstever world champion, the Australian Lionel van Praag, raced there and Faye Taylor struck an early blow for women’s liberation when she drove at the park. Between-race

entertainment was provided by Putt Mossman’s travelling stunt show, and he thrilled the fans by riding a bike down a footwide plank from the top of the grandstand to the track.

The w’ar brought a halt to speedway in Christchurch, but it started up again in 1947 at Aranui. A stadium was erected in Rowan Avenue and the fans returned. Bike racing on the cinder track was still the most popular form of competition, and it was at Aranui that the 15-year-old future world champion, Ronnie Moore, first rode a racing motorcycle. At that time, Ronnie and his father were the only father-son combination racing together in the world. Aranui hosted the first rides of two other youngsters who were to become world champions.

Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs went from Christchurch to the speedways of the world, and they may well have been started on their way by the introduction of the first league racing in New Zealand. It was organised along the lines of the English bike-racing leagues, and it proved very popular with the fans. Up to 20,000 people attended the meetings in Auckland, Hastings, Palmerston North, Taita, Christchurch and Dunedin. Norman Parker, a top English rider, took Ronnie Moore back to England with, him following a visit to Christchurch, and this was the start of an exodus of Kiwis to British tracks. Another rider to go was Geoff Marden, still the only rider ever to make a world final from the third division. He finished third in the final, his first championship attempt. It was at Aranui that

midget racing first became a regular event on the speedway scene. Various private promotors had control of Aranui over the years,—Alec Pratt, Ted Beckett, Les Moore, Pat Doling—but it was under the guiding and far-sighted care of Des Wilde that the midgets came into their own.

Wilde really got the ciass under way when he staged the first Australasian midget championship. From Australia came Ray Revell and Harold Neale, and many entries from the North Island were also received. Wilde ran three meetings in a week, and drew hordes of fans to Aranui. In those days the midgets did not come equipped with such luxuries as brakes, the drivers relying instead on skill and a will to live and win, and such was the popularity of the cars that they became a regular fixture. But not for long. The facilities at Aranui had been declining for some years — not much money had been spent on maintenance, and the owners of the land decided it would be more profitable to sell the property for housing rather than lease it to the speedway and the track closed down in 1958.

Thus all the competitors who over the previous few years had spent a lot of money to get their machinery up to racing standard suddenly had nowhere to go. The future of speedway in the city was in the balance when Bill Philp and the present manager of the Templeton track, Russell Lang, formed the Christchurch Speedway Association in 1959.

Where to go? The young association first looked at land behind Harewood Airport, but this proved to

be unsuitable. Then they came across Mr Arthur Loach, the secretary of the Templeton Domains Board. Mr Loach told them of some land that had been laying idle since the 1880’s, and this was looked over and promptly leased.

The association had only one problem — it had nu money. So a series of stock-car scrambles over the rough and bumpy ground out at Templeton was staged, and this drew large crowds. Money was raised, a five-year lease with the council with a 99-year option signed, and things were underway. It was at about this time that an approach was made to other car clubs in Christchurch to establish and share a joint racing complex. This offer was declined, however, because the other clubs in the city thought Templeton too far out from town to be successful.

A beginning was made on setting up a track, and the crowds that had paid to come out to the meetings returned with shovels and trucks in an armada of voluntary labour which transformed the paddocks into a racing circuit. It was a crude and primitive affair when compared with the modern complex in use today. There were no banks for the spectators, a wooden fence for the cars and motorbikes, and a bar-bed-wire and netting construction to keep the spectators from the track. The racing surface was laid down. It consisted of liberal quantities of cinders from the Islington freezing works, and was spread and raked bv volunteer workers and graders and other machines lent by city contractors. At first, day-light meetings were held, but as soon as sufficient money

had been raised a light system designed by Bill Philp was constructed, and night racing was introduced.

Over the years the cinder track has been phased out as more and more firms have changed from coal-burning to oilfired furnaces. Improvements are continually being made to the track and the facilities available to the public, and the association now owns its own fleet of machinery so necessary in preparing the track.

Russell Lang says more than $20,090 worth of improvements have been made to Templeton already this season, and further additions are planned. The track boasts grandstand seating which can accommodate up to 3000 fans, and banking surrounds the circuit.

An efficient catering service has the concession at the track to ply patrons with a variety of tasty sweet-meats, and a souvenir shop selling al! types of speedway paraphernalia does a roaring trade. A car park that can accommodate several thousand cars is free to the public, and it is regularly patrolled by a security service. Permanent toilet blocks have been built as well.

Russell Lang is proud of the success of the Christchurch Speedway association, and thinks the key to the development has been the change from private promoters running the meetings to having the racing organised by the club itself.

“Any money we make is poured straight back into the track, the complex ittelf and facilities for the spectators. It is not going into the promoters’ pockets,” he maintains. Future plans include grassing rhe centre ring and encouraging other sporting bodies to make use of the speedway.