Denny Lenton
a doyen of Short Circuit and Speedway racing in Queensland from the 1950s to the 1980s died in Brisbane’s PA hospital at the age of 85. He is survived by his wife and companion of 66 years Gwen, and their five children.
His racing career began in May 1956 when he took a girder-forked, 350cc Ariel, fitted with a megaphone exhaust, to Kedron Motor Cycle Club’s inaugural meeting on the Coopers Plains circuit west of Brisbane. The opening meeting attracted the cream of Brisbane’s racing community that day, including Tony Edwards, Joey Costin, Owen Crute and a host of other riders. Denny left no record of his results that day, but he meticulously recorded his career until his last race meeting in 1972.
Gwen remembers his dedication to his sport and tells the story of Denny arriving at the hospital, in his leathers, to take her and new baby Lisa home to her mother’s place and then going on to Beenleigh for the Short Circuit meeting. Off the track Denny held sales and managerial positions with a number of dealers, including Brisk Sales, Bobby Morgan Motorcycles and Mayfair Motorcycles. Mayfairs supported Denny’s Short Circuit racing, allowing him to build a very fast 125cc Suzuki, basically an enlarged road going 80cc, fitted with a Suzuki racing 125 barrel. Legendary frame builder and speedway and dirt track racer Ernie Sues selected Denny as the rider of his 500cc BSA fitted in a new frame he’d developed. Denny made his debut on the bike at Tivoli in 1967, and for the next three years rode Ernie’s Dirtrax machines with 500 and 350cc JAP power, with great success. He rode speedway at the Ekka against the likes of Jack White, Bill Sewell, Owen Crute, future champion John Titman, and British League star Bert Kingston.
Off the track, Denny Lenton was an affable, always smiling, “good to be with’’ kind of bloke, and a dedicated family man. He was a long serving member of Kedron Motor Cycle Club, a good mate, a champion at his trade, and is sadly missed by his family, his friends and those of us who remember his racing days. ■