Mark Lyndon speedway ace at 17

Press, 20 November 1987, Page 26

Mark Lyndon speedway ace at 17

For a city which boasts no fewer than three world champions, Christchurch speedway supporters have had a relatively long wait, since Ivan Mauger’s last win in 1979 for a further taste of victory champagne. While several New Zealand riders, including another Christchurch man, Larry Ross, have performed with credit

By

JOHN HAWKINS

at the sport’s highest level, no potential world champion has loomed on the horizon.

With the retirement of Ross, and Alan Mason, from British and National speedway league racing in the United Kingdom, the responsibility of upholding Canterbury’s proud record of speedway racing on the international scene has rested heavily on the young shoulders of Kirwee’s Mark Lyndon. Lyndon, aged 17, is almost a veteran of motor cycle competition. From the tender age of five the youngster was already learning the fundamentals of motor cycle riding, guiding a small machine around farm paddocks, before progressing to moto-cross aged eight. Lyndon rode with distinction ’in motocross for a number of seasons until he was old enough to qualify for an A.C.U. speedway licence aged 15. Being no stranger to speedway bikes, after much anticipatory practice including the junior speedway school track, Lyndon quickly impressed in his opening season at Ruapuna. By 1986 he had gained a third placing in the South Island championship and placed second in the under-21 division of Mauger’s touring troupe. If his career was to progress, Lyndon needed to pit himself against international competition, and with assistance arranged by Mauger from Continental Airlines and an introduction to the famed Wimbledon club, he travelled to England at the beginning of the 1987

season to enter the hurly burly of teams competition. Unfortunately it was not to be a fairy tale beginning for the New Zealander. Lyndon was unhappy at Wimbledon and his form suffered.

“I just didn’t feel part of the team. There was little communication and I felt under too much pressure from the word go,” Lyndon said. A transfer to the Canterbury national league club was arranged and Lyndon’s results immediately improved. “At Canterbury it was much more relaxed and the people were a lot better.” Throughout the season Lyndon averaged six-and-a-half points with his new team, a commendable tally when it is considered that he was in his first year of teams racing and that the top riders were averaging around 10 points. Having learnt to adapt to a different life style and carry out his own work on his G.M. LT machines with the help of the top British rider, Jeremy Doncaster, Lyndon would like to return to the Canterbury club for the next British season, but is unsure of its future because of the club’s need to find a new home circuit.

Lyndon feels that with an improved starting technique he could quickly improve his average to around eight points

next season and says that the British riders are very fast out of the gates. “Starting is strictly controlled and there are penalties such as fines and exclusions for faults at the tapes.” Although he admits that his years of training in Christchurch provided good grounding in riding a speedway bike, Lyndon is adamant that if New Zealand is to get another world champion the young riders must be able to race from an earlier age. “Our juniors here are allowed to ride but not race until they are 15, over there they have been racing since they first got on a bike annd are very agressive in race conditions. Also with our wide tracks like Ruapuna if you go wide you can count to 10 before you are in the fence, over there you don’t even get the chance to start counting on those narrow tracks.” Although Ruapuna is not Lyndon’s style of track — he prefers long straights and tight corners — he will ride there throughout this season with support from the Imperial Hotel. His biggest test this season will be at his home track, when he gets the chance to test his newly honed skills against the likes of Ross, Mitch Shirra and David Bargh in the national championships in January.