Briggs may race against son

Press, 20 December 1978, Page 38

Briggs may race against son

By ROD DEW The possibility of making an occasional appearance on New Zealand tracks is not discounted by the former world motor-cycle speedway champion, Barry Briggs, who will spend the summer in his home city, Christchurch. Officially, Briggs, four times a winner of the world crown and undoubtedly one of the greatest riders of all times, has retired. But he I has been keeping his hand in by riding in 1000 m longtrack events in Europe. He also competed in several grass-track meetings. “This is much easier on the old nervous system than speedway,” he said. ,] [ Briggs was beaten by a(l ! single point by the reigning ii New Zealand champion, > [Larry Ross, of Christchurch, i in the South Island final of i [the world championship at Ruapuna Speedway last sea- i Ison. It was a fine effort, but ' 'Briggs was not satisfied. He 1

pater withdrew from the [New Zealand final, explainling that he was not riding well enough to do justice to[ either himself or the organisers. It marked the end of a close association with the world championship, going back more than 25 years. I

Now 43, Briggs did not enter this year’s qualifying rounds. His main interest is supporting his 16-year-old son, Tony, who was launched on his career at Ruapuna a few weeks ago. Another former world champion, Ronnie Moore, took the young Briggs under his wing and much progress has been evident. Barry Briggs arrived in New Zealand in time to see Tony finish an impressive fourth in the South Island final of the world championship at Ruapuna on Saturday. With two former world champions in his pit crew, it could be said that the young Briggs had the best possible >. support. ■[ But “Briggo” sees it difHferently. “He has got a hell > jof a row to hoe. People ex- - i pect him to be good because | his name is Briggs. They 11 don’t understand that he can ; I only be better than the ; I others by putting more into lit. I can only tell him what

I would do. The rest is up I to him.’’ ;

Briggs confesses that both he and Moore were more

nervous than Tony during the island contest. “He can do more than I could at that age,” he said. Starting is the younger Briggs’s chief deficiency at present and since his arrival a few days ago Barry has been giving him lessons. It is the possibility of racing alongside Tony which might draw Briggs temporarily out of retirement. There are a number of racing machines still in the country from the international troupe series and Briggs can have the choice of these.

However, his time is limited. Early next year he will go to Janan to co-ordi-nate the Pacific section of a sequel to the highly successful motor-cycling film, “On Any Sunday.” The new film will be known as “On Any Sunday, Part II.” In Japan, there is gamb-

iling on motor-cycle racing and this aspect will be in-

cluded in the film. “Racing as we know it is

to entertain the public. There, it is mainly for gambling purposes, rather like horse racing here. The public love it. But if they could get mechanical toys to do the same thing, they would be quite happv to bet on them," he said. Most of the racing in Japan was on concrete, 800 m ovals. It was more like road racing than speedway, and very fast, Briggs said. Briggs’s future is still not settled. He has brought his family with him to New Zealand with the idea of

settling permanently in Christchurch. But if Tony Briggs continues to progress in speedway at his present rate, Barry will return to Britain with, him at the end of the summer. “Anything could happen yet. We will just have to wait and see,' 5 he said.