RONNIE MOORE WINS 1954 WORLD FINAL
WORLD CHAMPION AND MENTOR
His first year in those parts saw him become
the youngest rider ever to qualify for a World
Championship final event. He was 17.
His reputation was growing with every lap he
took, and his remarkable focus and skills paid off
in 1954 when, at the age of just 21, he won his
first world championship. In front of a packed
Wembley Stadium packed with about 80,000
spectators, he won with a perfect score through
winning all his heats and the final.
Oh yes, Ronnie Moore had arrived... and it
needs to be noted that he achieved that title
win while riding with a knee which he had
broken in five places.
In 1955 and ’56 he finished runner-up in the
World Championship, and it was during those
years he stepped in to mentor a fellow Kiwi
who was steering a speedway path.
This was Barry Briggs. Briggs would go on
to win the world title in 1957, ’58 and 1964.
Speaking at Moore’s funeral in 2018, Barry spoke
with admiration and devotion to his mentor.
“Without Ronnie laying the groundwork there
probably wouldn’t have been me and Ivan and
our world titles. Ronnie was better than me and
Ivan, in my opinion, but we just won a lot more,”
Barry said.
“He had a naturally fit body from riding his Wall
of Death from a young age... if he had had our
more aggressive race attitude how great could
he have been?”
Barry said he felt uncomfortable racing behind
Ronnie as he was his “teacher and mentor” and
while he was aggressive on the track, he would
never “do anything” to Ronnie ahead of him.
Motorsport was well ingrained in Ronnie’s
blood, to the stage where, in 1957, and much of
1958, he dabbled with car racing. But the spark
of speedway was impossible to extinguish and
he returned to the Wimbledon Dons team late
in ’58.
28 KIWI RIDER