Speedway Champions

2         NATIONAL CHAMPIONS: p.NC2   AUSTRALASIA             
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2.1
    AUSTRALIA
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                   Jack Holder 3rd,               Rohan Tungate 1st,           Max Fricke 2nd

      With varying track lengths from ¼ mile to 1 mile or more dependent upon the original showground size, speedway races in Australia’s pioneering days from the 1920s onward were of differing duration, usually equating to 1 mile or 2 miles, e.g. 4 or 8 laps on a 440yd. circuit: 3 or 6 laps on a 1/3 mile track. (For 5-mile championships, see Long Track page.) Classes by engine size were also involved. Consequently a number of Australian National Championships resulted. (Predominant ones only are given in the ‘Nationals’ table of the previous page.) The first table of this page gives the full list of Aussie championships winners, 2-lap Champions to 2-mile Champions, from the first 1926 winner to the last before the lull of the late ‘fifties.

     This multiplicity of champions led in 1950 to the ASCB initiating an annual competition for those holders to race for the ultimate accolade of Australian “Champion of Champions.” Aub Lawson, (below table,) made this title his own !

                Ray Duckett                           Reg West, 1930 2-mile Aust. Champ                                Vic Duggan                 
        1929 3-lap Aust. Champ                                 & GH holder (Adelaide)                       1948 2-lap Aust. Champ (Sydney Show-),                                                                                                                                                & 3-lap (Sydney Sports-)
                                                                                                                                              & GH holder (Melbourne)

   
Aub Lawson, "Champion of Champions",  1950, '52, '53, '54.                          
                         
Sydney 1927                              Brisbane 1948                      Melbourne 1960                                Adelaide 1992

                                       
                 Northern Territory State Chmpshp, Darwin 1984              Western Aust. State Chmpshp  2003

2.3
NEW ZEALAND
          A full list of all NZ national champions is given on the preceding page of 'major speedway nations', included in which is Jack Hunt, (seen left,) the first post-war NZ champion, with successes in both 1945 and '48. Presently, UK-born Jason Bunyan holds the NZ National title record with 10 successes.

    Below are listed the winners of the NZ Grand Prix, (introduced in the '80s,) and the two islands' championships. On South Island Larry Ross dominated the event with 12 wins in the '70s/'80s, and in the North, where a wider range of venues has been used, Mich Shirra had the most wins in that period with 5. Both riders have been multiple New Zealand national champions and had a NZ Long Track championship success each.
    In the present century Andrew Aldridge and Jason Bunyan have each notched up 4 North titles, with Mark Thorpe adding another 7 South Island championships to his collection, (total: 9,) to outstrip Shirra's tally.

    New Zealand Golden Helmet holders, between 1929 and the present 21st century, are to be found in the GH Supplement , sheet 5.
                         

    Tb.2c   Click sections below for full-size up-to-date tables.                                                                                    
   

 2.4
 AUSTRALASIAN CHAMPIONSHIP /
  " OCEANIA"  SOLO  CHAMPIONSHIP

A speedway title that's been brought out of wraps a few times in the last 50 years, the 'Man of the Millennium', Mr. Mauger featured prominently as a Australasian champ.
   Following on from an Oceania Sidecar Speedway Championship, in 2019 FIMO  introduced an  'Oceania' Solo Championship, the first winner being Jack Holder before Covid restrictions came in. This winner enters the SGP qualifier route and becomes an Australian championship  participant.
  n.b. There is known to have been ambiguity in some of the years, re. the title, - 'Australian' or 'Australasian' Championship.                                                                    
                                                                                                    Below: Jaimon Lidsey, 2024 Oceania Champion
 
           Tb.2d   Click sections below for full-size up-to-date tables.
                          

Aust. Lg.Trk GPs:

       Canberra 1995             Tamworth (NSW) 1998            Shepparton (Vic) 1999.      NZ Lg.Trk GP Ch'ch 1996