The New Zealand Solo Championship is the annual individual
motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...
championship of New Zealand. The championship has been running since 1929, although the event has not been held during various years.
History
Throughout the history of the championship, New Zealand has produced some of the best riders of all-time.
Ronnie Moore
Ronald David Moore (born 29 January 1953) is an English football manager and former player. He has taken charge of several clubs, including Rotherham United, Tranmere Rovers and Hartlepool United. He is currently the chief scout at Hartlepool ...
, the first world champion from the country in 1958, became the champion of the New Zealand on four occasions. Two legendary riders
Ivan Mauger
Ivan Gerald Mauger (4 October 1939 – 16 April 2018; last name pronounced "Major") was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Champ ...
and
Barry Briggs
Barry Briggs (born 30 December 1934) is a New Zealand former speedway rider.
Career
He won the World Individual Championship title four times: in 1957, 1958, 1964 and 1966.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway ...
, who won ten world individual titles between them, only won four national championships because they spent significant parts of their careers based in England and did not always compete.
From 1979, the final of the New Zealand Solo Championship regularly doubled up as the New Zealand qualification round for the
Speedway World Championship
The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championsh ...
, although during various years this has not always been the case due to factors like licensing.
Since the early 1990s, the standard of speedway in New Zealand has decreased significantly and no rider has managed to win a competition of note.
Key
*Unless stated, all riders are from New Zealand
*(wc) indicates that it was a world championship qualifier
Past winners
See also
*
New Zealand national speedway team
*
Sport in New Zealand
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Co ...
References
{{Reflist
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
Motorsport competitions in New Zealand
Speedway competitions in New Zealand