No Foul Riding Caused Speedway Rider’s Death

Grey River Argus, 24 March 1949, Page 4

No Foul Riding Caused Speedway Rider’s Death

P.A. AUCKLAND, March 23 "According to the evidence, this race was run without foul or unfair tactics,” said the coroner, Mr A. Addison, at an inquest into the death of Ernest Harper Maber, aged 29, single, a motor mechanic.

Maber was killed when a midget car he • was driving at Western Springs on the night of January 15, collided with another car, rolled over, and came to rest upside down. "The collision was not caused through a mechanical defect or lack of supervision,” continued the coroner. "Overtaking on the left is permitted under the existing rules for midget racing and it is a natural hazard for midget racing drivers.” Evidence was given that deceased, with eight other competitors, took part in the race of four laps. During the last lap, deceased started to corner at the Pine Tree corner, and was closely followed by a car driven by P. Zainey. The car driven by Zainey attempted to overtake deceased’s car on the left. The two cars then collided, and moved up a concrete wall. Deceased’s car struck a railing at the top of the wall, and rolled over. A verdict that deceased died in the Auckland hospital, and that the cause of his death was a fractured skull and an injury to the brain, accidentally sustained at Western Springs Stadium, when the car he was driving was struck by the car of another competitor, was returned.