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A Snells Beach teenager is heading to the UK for six months to compete in the national speedway competition.
Snells Beach resident Bradley Andrews has been riding GP speedway motorbikes since he was five years old.
Now 17, he has progressed to the top level 500cc division and has been invited to race in the National League for the Cradley Heath speedway team in the Midlands.
Scotts Landing resident and former New Zealand speedway representative Ian Ross is mentoring Bradley and will accompany him next month.
In 1972, Ian raced for Cradley Heath with Bradley’s grandfather, Bob Andrews, who was a world champion in the sport.
“I was his protege,” Ian says.
Ian raced just one season in Britain before having a career-ending accident while back in NZ. But now he is buzzing at the prospect of helping the grandson of his idol break into the British League.
“Speedway is massive in Britain,” Ian says. “After football, it’s the second most popular spectator sport.”
The 500cc single cylinder bikes run on methanol for extra power and have no brakes and very little suspension.
Racing up to 100kph, the riders lean halfway off their bikes, going sideways around corners, all while jostling against three other competitors in a four-lap race around a dirt speedway circuit.
“There’s a lot more to it than people think,” Bradley says. “It’s quite an athletic sport.”
Bradley was NZ champion in the 250cc class in 2012 and has been racing in the open 500cc class for the past three years, under special dispensation from Speedway NZ.
This won’t be his first appearance in Britain.
In 2012, nine-time NZ champion Jason Bunyan invited him to compete in the 250cc class in the British Championship, where he came second.
“In Britain, it’s a lot more serious. Here, people race just to be able to get out on their bikes. Over there, everyone is doing it to win.”
He will be racing in the third division National League, which is restricted to British riders – both his parents are British.
He hopes to get a chance to race in the open second division this year and eventually progress to top-level racing.
But his ultimate goal is to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and get NZ back on the podium at the world championships. It’s been decades since a Kiwi even competed on the world stage.
A long career in speedway relies on riders knowing their limits and the teenager has already got a taste of what happens when you push things too far. He broke his leg in 2013 after hitting the track wall at top speed and wasn’t able to ride for six months.
He has also broken his right arm, which was set incorrectly, reducing manoeuvrability in his throttle hand. Last year, he had to have the bone re-set to regain his movement, putting him out of racing for the season.
But new safety gear will hopefully prevent any more broken limbs. Bradley now wears a special air-jacket under his kevlar suit, which is inflated with a miniature air compressor if he comes off the bike, protecting his back and neck.
The walls of the speedway track are also now lined with airbags.
Bradley’s racing is currently mostly funded by his parents and he is looking for further sponsorship to help achieve his goals.
