This site seeks to record a brief history of  New Zealand speedways, past and present, particularly in our home province of  Taranaki, starting with Waiwakaiho Speedway (1950–1969).
Speedway in NZ started in the late 1920’s and prior to1965 ran solo motorbikes, midgets, sidecars and TQ’s (Three quarter midgets) Stock, sprint and saloon cars came later.

The aim of this Website is to keep alive the memories of speedway at the Boldon Stadium, home of the Sunderland Stars. Renewed interest of speedway in the area is evident following our reunions over the last few years. Over the last twelve months interest in Sunderland Speedway has increased week by week, quite amazing after all these years have passed since speedway was last held at the Boldon Stadium. The Stadium itself has had a huge face-lift in recent years, it is now considered to be one of the top greyhound stadiums in the north of England. A number of “links” have been made since this web-site was first launched, with Ian Martinquick to spot any possible opportunity to raise the profile of our web-site and its supporters. As Ian and Bob Ferry push ahead with the organising of the annual reunions, there are always high hopes of new and interesting guests each time as well as the old favourites. Lets face it, they make the reunions the success that they are!

This website is to commemorate and celebrate the life of Gus Kuhn, one of the pioneers of motorcycle sport, and the company that he founded.

What was going to happen to that, now that the Speedways big wigs of the period were looking to bring it back to the fans but will they be able to do it with all the rationing, lack of money and new taxes bought into place by the government.

Mr A.J Elvin the Managing Director of Wembley Stadium (1944), was hoping to get Speedway started again in the Summer. 

Elvin had concerns that with the long period of time that the riders have not been able to ride, they would be a little rusty and thus the return of the sport to the 1000’s of fans per match would not be  great spectacle until the riders had dusted off the ring rust. As well as the  new Entertainment tax that the government had bought in to play which would amount to a 43% tax of the gross of the gate revenue. Things were not looking good.

The more mature riders prior to the start of the war will of course be bough back and training up new raw talent will  be possible as  Elvin had arranged a deal with Dick Case to lease the old track at Rye House, where Alex Jackson will take care of this setup and start training new talent.

After much hardwork of people such as: Mr A.J Elvin, Disk Case, Alex Jackson, Mr E.O. Spence (Managing Director of Belle Vue), Mr Fred E. Mockford (joint Managing Director of New Cross Speedway), Mr Victor Martin (Managing Director of Westham Speedway). The sport was now back.

All these names and others should be remembered as the guys that bought the great sport back to life.

Written by Stuart Slaney

www.allspeedway.tv

Do you remember the days when speedway riders wore black leathers, rode chrome-plated JAP-engined bikes and had names like Tich, Sid and Bert?  Have you ever looked at old speedway newsreels or thumbed through a dog-eared copy of a speedway magazine and wondered “what was it like in the old days?”

If you remember those days or just want to know what it was like before laydowns, green helmet colours and kevlars, then come to see Blast From The Past when they ride at a speedway track near you.

Blast From The Past is a group of ex-professional and enthusiast speedway riders who go round the country demonstrating how speedway used to be in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Race formats can include individual, best pairs and 4 man-per-team challenge matches over 6 heats.   Kitted-out in their black leathers and period race jackets from many famous old clubs, the Blast From The Past riders help bring back a golden era of racing.  

The machines ridden are all powered by the famous J.A.P (J.A. Prestwich) speedway engine and housed in many different types of frame including Erskine, Excelsior and Rotrax. The J.A.P speedway engine was manufactured at the company’s large factory in Tottenham North London, together with other engines for a wide range of uses from stationery engines to light aircraft. The J.A.P speedway engine dominated the sport for nearly forty years and was a true testament to British engineering.

The dedication to reliving this era is funded by the riders themselves, who maintain their machines, pay their own travelling expenses and take time off from work to do what they love best, which is riding vintage speedway.

The riders hope you will come to see them when they visit your local track.  They look forward to meeting you, answering your questions and sharing with you on track some of speedway’s history.  For further information go to the Blast From The Past website at  HYPERLINK “http://www.vintagespeedway.co.uk/” \t “_blank” www.vintagespeedway.co.uk

Blast From The Past - bringing the spectacle, sound and smell of vintage speedway to life

The actual museum is situated in the grounds of the Paradise Wildlife Park At Broxbourne. So you can take the family for a day out at the same time of taking in some Speedway.
Its a definite winner all round for every one, so pay it a visit you wont regret it.
Click on the link below to see a quick video.
A quick video of the museum

PREMIER LEAGUE
Glasgow 60 - 32 Reading
Mildenhall 31 - 53 Workington
(abandoned after heat 14 - result stands)
Newcastle 48 - 41 Sheffield
Rye House 57 - 33 Berwick
Stoke 43 - 45 Somerset

CONFERENCE LEAGUE
Buxton 42 - 47 Boston

CONFERENCE LEAGUE KO CUP
Rye House 11 - 13 Plymouth
(abandoned after heat 4 - result does not stand)

We now carry anything upwards of 20 new stories each day. Our unique speedway news feed is carried by many other speedway sites around the world meaning the “gospel” is extremely widely read.

Visit worldspedway.com at http://www.worldspeedway.com