ENGLISH RIDER SHOWS DARING ON SPEEDWAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18644, 22 December 1928, Page 7

ENGLISH RIDER SHOWS DARING ON SPEEDWAY.

MAY PROVE EQUAL OF AUSTRALIANS. Gus Kuhn, the devil-may-care and happy-go-lucky young rider, was famous as a motor-cyclist long before dirt-track racing had been discovered as a popular spectacle (says an English writer). Gus Kuhn learned all there was to learn about motor-cycling on the Tourist Trophy course in the Isie of Man, and on the terrible roads which are employed for such events as the recently-concluded International Six Days’ Trial, in which he was a competitor. Kuhn is one of the best of the English dirt-track exponents, and is getting better and better at every meeting. It would be wrong to say that he is a master of broadsiding, because, in point of fact, he has not attained to anything like the proficiency of the Australian cracks at this game, but he can cover the straights as fast as any man living, which means that the limit of his speed is occasioned by his motorcycle, and not by himself. Gus Kuhn realises that competition riding on the roads is a vastly different thing from dirt-track racing. What Gus Thinks. I last saw him in a little country inn at Ilelmslet- at the top of Yorkshire. It was during the Six Days’ Trial, and he was discussing the hills with some other competitors. “Haven’t seen you doing much dirttrack racing on the hills,” said one of them. “Not if I know it,” said Gus. “You don’t get any medals for taking a risk on these loose-surfaced goat tracks, and I’m riding for safety, and don’t mind if I do put my feet out to preserve balance. Dirt-track racing is another matter. The public pay to see thrills, and I’ll see that I give them. When I do a bit of broadsiding or cinder-shifting, it is because somebody wants me to do it; but my firm wouldn’t thank me for taking a risk just for the sake of providing entertainment to onlookers in this trial.” That is Gus Kuhn all over. lie knows his business, and is a very sensible and deep-thinking fellow. When I first met Gus Kuhn, he was regarded as a hectic rider who was prepared to show his back carrier to anyljody who would like to take him on in an impromptu race, but I have seen him riding in a trial as circumspect as any of them. The Acceleration Expert. He can ride for a gold medal or a golden helmet, and he knows exactly what to do in each case. His appearances on the London tracks are frequent, but not too often, because he is one of the most popular of Speedway riders. Ilis forte is to make the most use of his acceleration by taking the corners wide and running in to elongate the straights. This enables him to travel at very high speed between the bends, and very often he will pass a man who is actually quicker on the turns. So far he has not employed the fastest of machines, but I have no doubt that he will soon equip himself with a special dirt-track model in the 500c.c. class, and when this obtains, look out for squalls. He is absolutely fearless, and with a little more experience might easily teach the Aut'ralians *cr ret! !ng. No doubt his experience in Tourist Trophy racing and important trials has helped him. but a man who is adept on the road need not be good on the cinders. It means unlearning quite a lot of things and acquiring a new art. Gus Kuhn is very quick to learn, and if it is anything to do with riding a motor-cycle it is all the world to a china orange on his getting among the acknowledged leaders in a short space of time. That is why Gus Kuhn may be re garded as a definite menace to the supremacy of the Australians, and he is already picking up big money in the handicaps. Incidentally, he won a gold medal in the International Six Days’ Trial, so that his activities as a cinder-shifter are not upsetting his ability as a trials rider.