WATCH THE RONNIE MOORE DOCUMENTARY
But no, no, no, Ronnie wasn’t having any of that
and defied the medical odds and pulled through,
although he was left almost deaf for the rest of
his life.
It transpired that before the meeting Ronnie’s
riding kit had been stolen, so he had to borrow
obviously unfamiliar kit from another rider to
compete with. He was used to his preferred
full-face helmet but went out with an open
face helmet.
After his forced retirement, and after full
recovery, he devoted more time to his family
of wife Jill and four daughters. He loved the
family camping trips, and his gardening, and,
of course, watching motorsport on TV.
THE LOVE OF SPEEDWAY
But speedway, absolutely, was ingrained in him
and he continued to step in and help push the
sport and mentor up-and-coming riders.
One was Christchurch’s Dale Finch, and the two
-time U-21 New Zealand Speedway champion
shared some of his thoughts about Ronnie.
“He put in so much of his own time to build a
solo track and develop young speedway riders
in Christchurch and did not want anything in
return,” Dale said.
“He was very deaf and had to turn his hearing
aids off at the track. A lot of new riders didn’t
know how to take him as he would be
standing there yelling at you and pushing your
body around on the bike trying to explain the
correct style.”
Dale summed Ronnie up so well, “Ronnie did
not want to be known as anybody special, he just
wanted to be there for the riders and sport.”
Ronnie Moore was awarded an MBE in 1985 and
inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of
Fame, as well as the World Speedway Hall of
Fame and the Motorcycling New Zealand Hall of
Fame. Fittingly, the Canterbury Park Motorcycle
Speedway is now known as the Moore Park
Motorcycle Speedway.
After bravely battling lung cancer, Ronnie Moore
passed away at the age of 85 in August 2018.
32 KIWI RIDER