31/12/2023
Interesting Article by Former NQld Solo Racer Zane Keleher
🎉 100 YEARS OF SPEEDWAY 🏁
On December 15, 1923, motorcycle speedway was born in Maitland, Australia. Today marks 100 years since Australia gave birth to the most thrilling and exciting motorsport on the planet! 🌍
📃 IN THE BEGINNING
Speedway was born at Maitland Showgrounds in New South Wales, set in Australia’s stunning Hunter Valley wine region – around two hours from Sydney and close to modern-day Aussie venue Kurri Kurri.
One of the earliest speedway bikes was a Harley Davidson Peashooter, and this is the machine riders raced before they exported their sport to Europe in the late 1920s.
🏁 ROCKHAMPTON SHOWGROUNDS 🏟️
Did you know the Rockhampton Showgrounds speedway track is the oldest and longest running speedway track in the whole world? In November 1925, the first motorcycle events were held at the venue which has now outlasted every other track in the world to continue to hold this record. The modern track is 440m long and is the fastest circuit in Australia! 🔥
🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA’S GIFT TO THE WORLD
It didn’t take long for speedway to be introduced into the UK and Europe, and it was soon a global success story. Fans across the world couldn’t get enough of the methanol and castor oil burning smells, close racing action and quality entertainment that speedway provided! By the late 70’s and early 80’s, stadiums such as Wembley Stadium in the UK held over 100,000 people for World Final events!
🏆 AUSTRALIAN WORLD CHAMPIONS
Did you know, speedway has provided the most World Champions out of all motorcycling disciplines in Australia? That’s quite an impressive statistic and one that everyone within the speedway community should be extremely proud of. From a relatively small community, Australian riders punch well above their weight, especially considering they are forced to live on the other side of the world and compete for World Championships in foreign countries, a long way from the comforts of home.
🔮 THE FUTURE OF SPEEDWAY?
What will the future hold? What will the next 100 years look like? Unfortunately none of us will probably get to celebrate the next century event but it will be interesting to see how the sport changes and develops in another 100 years!
💬 What’s your favourite moments from the last 100 years of speedway??
🏁 🇦🇺