Club marks 10 years since track makeover

It's amazing what can be achieved over a few beers.

Ten years ago, Paul Hayes and a group of his speedway enthusiast mates sat down at the Waikiwi Tavern for a soul-searching session about the future of the Oreti Park Speedway.

Oreti Park – which had closed down in 1989 and in its heyday been one of the best tracks in the country – was run down and on the verge of extinction.

"It was just about non-existent," Hayes recalls. "It was all overgrown."

Hayes and his friends were keen to ride their bikes at Oreti Park again after having to compete at Riverside Speedway – which is for cars – and wanted to resurrect the track for future generations of Southlanders to use, so they set about turning their vision into reality.

With the help of fellow organisers Jason Clark and Steve Olde-Olthof and a few other diehards, the men began the slow process of restoring the track and generating interest in the sport again.

The abandoned oval on Pit Rd underwent a massive makeover, which took 18 months to complete, with diggers clearing the area before it was all graded up with the help of Allan Shuttleworth – who is still involved with the club.

After a year and a half of hard graft, the transformation from a wasteland to wonderland had finally been made.

Tomorrow night, the Oreti Park Speedway will celebrate its 10th anniversary since the restoration when the Southland sidecar, solo and junior solo championships take place.

It will be a proud night for Oreti Park, with the club having gone from strength to strength during the past decade.

Many big meets have been held at the track during that time, with some of the best riders in New Zealand and the world venturing to Southland to race.

When the track was finally restored back in 2000, Oreti Park had only six members and had to join forces as a sub-branch of the Southland Motorcycle Club to obtain use of the track and get it off the ground. They now had more than 100 members and the huge crowds at meetings in recent years illustrated how much interest their was in the sport locally.

"It's definitely the best motorbike speedway in the country now," Hayes said.

During the past few years, there have been several developments at Oreti Park, such as new toilets, a new pit crew area and a junior track for young riders to have a go on and experience the excitement of speedway in a safe environment.

Hayes said the club wanted to thank the community funders, private sponsors and the many volunteers for their support. They had all played a pivotal role in the rebirth of the Oreti Park Speedway during the past 10 years.

The action gets under way from 5pm tomorrow.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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