Kenya Top Riders

[Guest]

This was on the BSF some years ago in regard to Kenya:

Puma23

Posted 11 August 2008 - 04:21 PM

It was on a red hot sunny East African afternoon in August, 1951, that 18,000 people assembled in Nairobi's African stadium to see the first real attempt at speedway racing here. It was a mixed 18,000-over half were Africans, who had never seen anything of this kind before-the reminder were European and Asian.

Admission prices ranged from 6d. to 5s. I had just arrived in Nairobi on a journalistic job and it was a poster I saw that sent me to see what East African speedway was like. At the first meeting there were no real speedway bikes. The boys were riding bitza's and homebuilt J.A.P. jobs.

They were also a mixed lot-racing types who had ridden in many of road events which are a feature of East African sport. Twenty seven year old Norman Ziska is the man who started it all-he a road-racer of no mean ability. And he, with backers like Vrontaamitis, a Greek enthusiast, Jack Blowers, and numerous others put speedway on the map as a regular monthly feature.

The Nairobi track is round an African football ground of built-up terraces and an open air stand. The course specially laid by Speedway Limited, is 485 yards to the lap, 60ft. wide at the apex of the bends and 24ft. wide on the straights. It is murram based and cinder-topped. Inside three months of commercial speedway the promoters had brought into the country twelve brand new Excelsior J.A.P. engined machines. These were sold to the 12 top riders on a reasonable hire purchase basis at less then cost.