First time at
Moore Park
MOORE PARK INVITATION
We were invited to one of Moore Parks winter
training days a couple of weekends ago, and
six hardy souls braved the winter conditions
to experience riding on a real speedway
surface. We were privileged to be mentored
by Stu Halligan (Ivan Mauger’s mechanic)
on the finer points of physical and mental
preparation before our first foray onto the
track. Unfortunately the northern end of the
circuit is shaded by trees, and still had frost
on the ground by the air fence, and slush
inside the frost nearer the pole line. After my
instructions to the other riders to be careful
not to go down on their first lap and get used
to the surface, I did exactly that! After drifting
nicely through turns one and two, I charged
into turn three with too much pace for the
slippery conditions. The front sledged, so I
fed it some gas to save it, and promptly spun
out which threw me on my arse and elbows
before I knew what had happened. Luckily, I
wasn’t the only one. After a great day’s riding,
Mike Gould showing how not to do it...
everyone went home buzzing and longing for
the next invite. It didn’t take long before we
were instructed, “Don’t bother waiting for an
invite, just turn up!”.
We hope as the weather warms up, and more
people get word that Moore Park wants flat
track, there will be enough numbers to have
them included on their race programme in the
future. The sight of three rows of four bikes
that look like familiar dirt bikes all charging
around inside the concrete wall should be a
welcome attraction to speedway spectators
who have become accustomed to watching
small numbers of solos. Make no mistake
though, speedway solos are the most exciting
and mind blowing form of motorcycle sport
that a bike lover can watch in NZ. Flat Track
could really be called poor man’s speedway,
but if it helps preserve and save the art form
that is solo racing, and helps prevent the
closure of our remaining circuits, then I will
have achieved my goal.
KIWI RIDER 31