SPEEDWAY ACCIDENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20840, 6 April 1931, Page 8

SPEEDWAY ACCIDENTS.

AUSTRALIANS INJURED. NUMBER OF MINOR MISHAPS. Three Australians, C. Anderson, E. Whittle and H. Stevens, received injuries which prevented them from competir|g further at the Western Springs Speedway on Saturday evening. Close on the heels of another competitor, Anderson corrected a broadside to enter the straight, but struck the safetyfence with a crash and was thrown heavily. He was rendered unconscious by the fall, and was carried from the track, but later recovered. His right thumb was caught between the handle-bar and the safetyfence, and broken by the impact. Earlier in the evening, Whittle came out of a broadside close behind another man, who movnentarily lost control of his machine and wobbled in the Australian's path. Whittle's mount struck the other machine a glancing blow, unseating the rider, continued for a few yards and finally crashed in the centre of the track. Whittle was thrown over the handle-bars, twisting his leg as he fell. The third Australian, Stevens, was incapacitated during the first event. He was cornering immediately behind Whittle when his goggles became obscured with cinders thrown by the machine in front, and he crashed. It was found that cinders had slipped behind the goggles into his eves, making it impossible for him to take part in the remaining events. The heavy rain on Friday evening and Saturday morning served to pack the cinders hard on the track, and the spinning of the wheels of the machines as they broadsided threw the cinders in sticky patches instead of in showers. The wet cinders stuck to the goggles of riders, making it impossible for them to see, with the result that there was an unusually largo number of crashes during the evening. At one stage four riders were receiving attention at the same time.