‘He was our Pele, if you like’
Former New Zealand speedway champion Ronnie Moore – who won his first world title with a knee broken in five places – has died in Christchurch, aged 85.
The two-time winner of the world individual title, died in Christchurch on Saturday – four months after Canterbury compatriot Ivan Mauger passed away in April.
Moore, Mauger and fellow Christchurch world champion Barry Briggs were household names during speedway’s golden age between the 1950s and 1970s.
Speedway experts acclaimed Moore as the most natural rider of his generation.
Mauger once quipped that Moore was the trailblazer.
‘‘Whenever [Ronnie] came home to New Zealand it was like the arrival of Elvis. He was our Pele, if you like.’’
Such was his standing, the Moore Park track at West Melton, near Christchurch was named in is honour.
Even in recent years, Moore was a regular attendee at Moore Park where he gave countless hours of his time working with the next generation of speedway riders.
And it wasn’t just Christchurch. In his retirement, Moore would travel up and down the country to pass on his knowledge to promising young riders.
Moore won his first world title as a 21-year-old in 1954 before 80,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium and reclaimed the crown in 1990.
At the time, he was the youngest rider to win a world championship.
He was also a talented motorcar driver, good enough to compete with Formula One stars Jack Brabham and Stirling Moss on the Grand Prix circuit for a couple of years until implored to quit after his wife gave birth to twin daughters.
While Moore was acclaimed as a Kiwi sports hero, he was an Australian by birth.
His father, Les, was a motor racing buff who created a ‘‘wall of death’’ circuit in the family’s backyard in Hobart and toured it around royal shows throughout Australia.
Ronnie Moore became a wall of death rider at 13 and took up speedway racing on an old 1932 Rudge motorbike after the family moved to New Zealand when his father was invited to set up a new track in Christchurch.
Red tape prevented him from racing until he was 15 – the legal age to get a driver’s licence.
Moore told Stuff in 2014 after being inducted as a Legend of Canterbury Sport that he could barely touch the foot rests on the Rudge when he lined up for his first race on a dirt track at Tai Tapu in 1948. By 17, he was racing professionally for the Wimbledon first division team on the competitive English speedway circuit, earning £60 a week.
Moore raced professionally in England from 1950 to 1963, winning numerous accolades and titles. He captained both Australian and New Zealand teams in test series, declaring his allegiance to his adopted land once there were enough Kiwis on the world circuit to form their own team.
He won his first world crown in 1954 after defying the odds to make the start-line at Wembley. Ten weeks before, Moore broke his left leg in five places in a crash in Denmark. He slid into the safety fence and stopped dead. His leg was bent around the bike’s handlebars.
Danish doctors told him he’d be sidelined for nine months but Moore sought a second opinion.
‘‘There was a New Zealand surgeon in Harley St, who made his name during the [World War II] putting fighter pilots back together and getting them flying again. He made up a little cast that went down the back of my leg and put it on with a crepe bandage. I said: ‘what the hell’ and he said: ‘‘your muscles will wither otherwise’’. A couple of weeks later, I went back and he made a brace which was hinged at the knee but me leg wouldn’t go sideways.’’
Moore lined up at Wembley but said ‘‘everyone wrote me off, because of me leg’’. I wasn’t very bloody keen either myself, but bang ... I had five lovely rides and won it.’’