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Doyleston speedway at Osborne Park
Description
TitleDoyleston speedway at Osborne Park
DescriptionWith the probable exception of Rugby, no sport has put Ellesmere on the map as much as speedway racing.
A constant stream of Ellesmere-based racers has done much to popularise the district’s interest in the sport, dating right back to 1929 when Russell Lovegrove from Leeston rode at the Monica Park track in Woolston.
The Burt name however is synonymous with speedway with the Southbridge family carving out an enviable record. Rex, Murray, and Kevin all stood on the podium at national title events, but few would argue against Selwyn Burt’s contribution to Speedway topping those great results. Selwyn started racing speedway bikes at Aranui Speedway in 1951, and moved his attention to the TQ Midget class in 1957.
His younger brother, Rex, took to the TQ racing in 1958 and there was no shortage of local admirers and supporters who ventured to the city to watch them racing.
Motorsport had a pretty firm following in Ellesmere, and the Ellesmere Aquatic and Auto Cycle Club regularly staged motor cycle races at Timberyard Point, Lakeside.
This go-ahead organisation was just one of many spread around the country keen to ‘cash in’ on the popularity of speedway racing.
After looking for a venue within the ‘county lines’ they decided to put their eggs in the Osborne Park, Doyleston basket.
The park had for many years hosted ‘the Doyleston Sports’ on Boxing Day, along with Cycling, Cricket, Rugby, and Tennis and it was in December 1953 that an approach was made to the Park Committee, and Ellesmere Domains Board for use of the grounds for Speedway racing.
Approval was duly gained, however with conditions, and among them was a clause “No racing on Sunday’s”. This wasn’t in line with the Aquatic and Auto Cycle Club’s plans so the idea was duly dropped.
The park was very much an under-utilised facility and interest was again building so the club made another submission in September 1956.
The ‘No Sundays’ condition wasn’t added, so from the summer of 1957 through to early 1960 speedway racing breathed some life into the park, and Doyleston township.
This no doubt inspired several other local residents to take up the sport- usually through the benevolence of Selwyn Burt who was not only one of the leading lights of the club (now known as the Ellesmere Motor Club – Auto Cycle Section) but also happy to provide engines, machines, and mechanical assistance to anyone wanting to give the sport a go.
When the Aranui track closed in April 1959, Doyleston was Canterbury’s sole speedway venue and it capitalised on that with regular appearances by out-of-town racers, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.
A race meeting in November 1959 saw an incident that had the potential to be far more serious than it was.
It was decided to give several stockcar racers a chance to put on a demonstration run. Being mindful of the fence post-wire netting and hay bale fence, the drivers were told just to have a wee bit of fun, but that went out the window and a ‘Stockie’ was shunted through the fence, and into the crowd.
Two spectators were hit- a woman and a child, as was a car that sustained impact damage.
Thankfully the spectators who were hit were not badly injured and the club made amends to the lady by sending her a package containing ‘six pairs of nylons, of the appropriate size’ to compensate her for the damage to those that she had been wearing at the time.
Dealing with the ‘fallout’ from the event, club officials were grateful that they had increased the public liability insurance for that day’s racing by over £2,000, simply because of the addition of the Stockcars to the programme, but the inadequacies of the safety fence had been well and truly exposed.
One of the last speedway events at Osborne Park was in December 1960 and it was perhaps the ‘crème de la crème’ with the speedway motor cycle races featuring former World Champions Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs, former third place getter in the World Championship Geoff Mardon, the highly rated international star, Brian McKeown and Ivan Mauger- who at the time was just starting to make a name for himself. In time Mauger would become arguably the greatest rider the sport had known.
Selwyn Burt had used all of his powers of persuasion with this quintet of superstars, who were all able to command fees of several hundred pounds of appearance money.
With Aranui closed, and construction barely started on the track at Templeton, they were all happy to put in one show close to their home town of Christchurch, and not surprisingly the event attracted a huge crowd.
Despite the level of support that speedway racing had at Doyleston, in many ways it had outlasted its welcome.
Less tolerant residents complained about the dust, noise, and traffic nuisance, and the local authorities- including the local policeman were less supportive. The Ellesmere Motor Club moved on to other ventures including motor cycle scrambles and a new ‘thing’- go kart racing.
Much of the background work had been done by a gentleman by the name of F.B. ’Doug’ Spensley who was quite a notable administrator, who went by the nickname of ‘Ten Percent Spensley’ in recognition of the fee he charged! Ross Bray, Ted Slattery, John Hubbard, and T.G Wasley were also prominent in the administrative role, but none of them had contributed anywhere near as much as Selwyn Burt.
Not only had the speedway at Doyleston kept the ‘game’ alive in Canterbury but it had captured the imagination of many locals, who became ardent supporters of speedway racing.
It was not unusual for children to ride bicycles from as far away as Dunsandel and Southbridge to watch the racing.
Members of the Ellesmere club also pitched in to help complete the construction of the Templeton Speedway in 1962. It is highly likely that without their help, that track might never have been completed.
In 1978 a final chapter was written for speedway at Osborne Park when the Ellesmere Stock Rod and Dirt Bike Association sought permission to build a track there.
The initial response from the park committee and residents association was positive with many keen to see ‘something’ happening at the park.
The Stock Rod Club set about putting together a formal proposal and presented it at a ‘packed’ meeting laying out its plans to not only build a track, but also embark on a tree planting programme, and build a barbeque that the community could use.
It was looking very positive, then out of the blue the Ellesmere Combined Rugby Sub Union put in a proposal to establish Osborne Park as its headquarters.
The more ‘passive’ activity of rugby won the vote from the Doyleston Park Committee along with the Residents Association endorsement.
Much of this was built around the original deed of gift of the land from Mr. Job Osborne who wanted the domain to be kept so that ‘any lady or gentleman could promenade there and not witness a desecration of the sabbath’.
Retrospectively, it proved a good decision as the Ellesmere Domains Board made land available adjacent to the Ellesmere Golf Club for Speedway, and a very fine venue has been developed at that site, which is the envy of many larger towns and cities.
Allan Batt
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date12 & 26 November 2020SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoyleston
DescriptionWith the probable exception of Rugby, no sport has put Ellesmere on the map as much as speedway racing.A constant stream of Ellesmere-based racers has done much to popularise the district’s interest in the sport, dating right back to 1929 when Russell Lovegrove from Leeston rode at the Monica Park track in Woolston.
The Burt name however is synonymous with speedway with the Southbridge family carving out an enviable record. Rex, Murray, and Kevin all stood on the podium at national title events, but few would argue against Selwyn Burt’s contribution to Speedway topping those great results. Selwyn started racing speedway bikes at Aranui Speedway in 1951, and moved his attention to the TQ Midget class in 1957.
His younger brother, Rex, took to the TQ racing in 1958 and there was no shortage of local admirers and supporters who ventured to the city to watch them racing.
Motorsport had a pretty firm following in Ellesmere, and the Ellesmere Aquatic and Auto Cycle Club regularly staged motor cycle races at Timberyard Point, Lakeside.
This go-ahead organisation was just one of many spread around the country keen to ‘cash in’ on the popularity of speedway racing.
After looking for a venue within the ‘county lines’ they decided to put their eggs in the Osborne Park, Doyleston basket.
The park had for many years hosted ‘the Doyleston Sports’ on Boxing Day, along with Cycling, Cricket, Rugby, and Tennis and it was in December 1953 that an approach was made to the Park Committee, and Ellesmere Domains Board for use of the grounds for Speedway racing.
Approval was duly gained, however with conditions, and among them was a clause “No racing on Sunday’s”. This wasn’t in line with the Aquatic and Auto Cycle Club’s plans so the idea was duly dropped.
The park was very much an under-utilised facility and interest was again building so the club made another submission in September 1956.
The ‘No Sundays’ condition wasn’t added, so from the summer of 1957 through to early 1960 speedway racing breathed some life into the park, and Doyleston township.
This no doubt inspired several other local residents to take up the sport- usually through the benevolence of Selwyn Burt who was not only one of the leading lights of the club (now known as the Ellesmere Motor Club – Auto Cycle Section) but also happy to provide engines, machines, and mechanical assistance to anyone wanting to give the sport a go.
When the Aranui track closed in April 1959, Doyleston was Canterbury’s sole speedway venue and it capitalised on that with regular appearances by out-of-town racers, but it wasn’t all plain sailing.
A race meeting in November 1959 saw an incident that had the potential to be far more serious than it was.
It was decided to give several stockcar racers a chance to put on a demonstration run. Being mindful of the fence post-wire netting and hay bale fence, the drivers were told just to have a wee bit of fun, but that went out the window and a ‘Stockie’ was shunted through the fence, and into the crowd.
Two spectators were hit- a woman and a child, as was a car that sustained impact damage.
Thankfully the spectators who were hit were not badly injured and the club made amends to the lady by sending her a package containing ‘six pairs of nylons, of the appropriate size’ to compensate her for the damage to those that she had been wearing at the time.
Dealing with the ‘fallout’ from the event, club officials were grateful that they had increased the public liability insurance for that day’s racing by over £2,000, simply because of the addition of the Stockcars to the programme, but the inadequacies of the safety fence had been well and truly exposed.
One of the last speedway events at Osborne Park was in December 1960 and it was perhaps the ‘crème de la crème’ with the speedway motor cycle races featuring former World Champions Ronnie Moore and Barry Briggs, former third place getter in the World Championship Geoff Mardon, the highly rated international star, Brian McKeown and Ivan Mauger- who at the time was just starting to make a name for himself. In time Mauger would become arguably the greatest rider the sport had known.
Selwyn Burt had used all of his powers of persuasion with this quintet of superstars, who were all able to command fees of several hundred pounds of appearance money.
With Aranui closed, and construction barely started on the track at Templeton, they were all happy to put in one show close to their home town of Christchurch, and not surprisingly the event attracted a huge crowd.
Despite the level of support that speedway racing had at Doyleston, in many ways it had outlasted its welcome.
Less tolerant residents complained about the dust, noise, and traffic nuisance, and the local authorities- including the local policeman were less supportive. The Ellesmere Motor Club moved on to other ventures including motor cycle scrambles and a new ‘thing’- go kart racing.
Much of the background work had been done by a gentleman by the name of F.B. ’Doug’ Spensley who was quite a notable administrator, who went by the nickname of ‘Ten Percent Spensley’ in recognition of the fee he charged! Ross Bray, Ted Slattery, John Hubbard, and T.G Wasley were also prominent in the administrative role, but none of them had contributed anywhere near as much as Selwyn Burt.
Not only had the speedway at Doyleston kept the ‘game’ alive in Canterbury but it had captured the imagination of many locals, who became ardent supporters of speedway racing.
It was not unusual for children to ride bicycles from as far away as Dunsandel and Southbridge to watch the racing.
Members of the Ellesmere club also pitched in to help complete the construction of the Templeton Speedway in 1962. It is highly likely that without their help, that track might never have been completed.
In 1978 a final chapter was written for speedway at Osborne Park when the Ellesmere Stock Rod and Dirt Bike Association sought permission to build a track there.
The initial response from the park committee and residents association was positive with many keen to see ‘something’ happening at the park.
The Stock Rod Club set about putting together a formal proposal and presented it at a ‘packed’ meeting laying out its plans to not only build a track, but also embark on a tree planting programme, and build a barbeque that the community could use.
It was looking very positive, then out of the blue the Ellesmere Combined Rugby Sub Union put in a proposal to establish Osborne Park as its headquarters.
The more ‘passive’ activity of rugby won the vote from the Doyleston Park Committee along with the Residents Association endorsement.
Much of this was built around the original deed of gift of the land from Mr. Job Osborne who wanted the domain to be kept so that ‘any lady or gentleman could promenade there and not witness a desecration of the sabbath’.
Retrospectively, it proved a good decision as the Ellesmere Domains Board made land available adjacent to the Ellesmere Golf Club for Speedway, and a very fine venue has been developed at that site, which is the envy of many larger towns and cities.
Allan Batt
Ellesmere Historical Society
Date12 & 26 November 2020SourceThe Ellesmere EchoLocationDoylestonConnections
CollectionHistory of DoylestonOrganisationEllesmere Historical Society
OrganisationEllesmere Historical SocietyAttribution
Researched ByAllan BattWritten ByAllan Batt
Written ByAllan BattClick on the image to add
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Doyleston speedway at Osborne Park (12 & 26 November 2020). Selwyn Stories, accessed 06/03/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/5308
