The Heg no phantom rider

Press, 5 December 1979, Page 48

The Heg no phantom rider

By

JOHN COFFEY

Bruce Turner and The Heg are not, as might be thought, a pop singer and I his backing group. But they Shave been leading their rivals a merry dance in sideIcar events at Templeton [Speedway over the last seaIson or two. 1 The use of an alias in I sport is certainly not unique. i Professional boxing once abounded with them, and there are still many weird (and wonderful names adopted by those who wrestle for a living. But Bruce Hegglun has a practical reason for wanting to be known as The Heg when, with Turner as his

rider, he takes his place as the “swinger” in the sidecar.

“No-one could spell my surname correctly, or even pronounce it properly,” he said yesterday. “That brassed me off, so now 1 am contracted as The Heg. “Anyway, everyone knows me as The Heg. They have been calling me that for eight or 10 years. I am simply not known as Bruce,” he said. Although officially registered with the Christchurch Speedway Association as The Heg, and has his cheques made out in that manner, Bruce Hegglun has not yet taken the more dras-

tic step of changing his name by deed-poll. His abbreviated surname might well be regarded as appropriate, for the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines hegemonic as “ruling, supreme” and hegemony as "leadership, especially of one state of a confederacy.” He and Turner have certainly led the way in the sidecar section of speedway.

The Christchurch combination holds the New Zealand, South Island and Canterbury titles, and it will be defending its various championships this season. In addition, Turner and Hegglun have been responsible for establishing a string of

track records around the country.

But Hegglun, who has also competed in moto-cross, found that European riders live a more dangerous existence. He recently returned from an overseas trip and had hoped to have some racing experience in the Netherlands.

“I was glad that I didn’t get a ride,” he said. “They were using bikes of up to 1000 cu cm and nothing smaller than 850 cu cm in side-car moto-cross. Their B graders were going faster than our solo blokes.

“If you think I’m crazy, they were completely mad,” was his comment.