AUGUST 2020 In this issue: Auckland Motorcycle Club

The official magazine of Auckland Motorcycle Club, Inc.

                  AUGUST 2020

In this issue:
 •   Dick Smart – Part 3
 •   AMCC AGM & Prize-Giving (Part 1)
 •   Mount Wellington Update
 •   AMCC Club Series News
 •   Battle Of The Clubs News
 •   And Lots More …..

1110 Great South Road, PO Box 22362, Otahuhu, Auckland
                                           Ph: 276 0880

                                EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 2020 - 2021
                                                           Email                  Phone
      PATRON              Jim Campbell
    PRESIDENT             Greg Percival           president@amcc.org.nz        021 160 3960
  VICE PRESIDENT          Adam Mitchell         vicepresident@amcc.org.nz      021 128 4108
    SECRETARY                  TBA                secretary@amcc.org.nz            TBA
    TREASURER              Paul Garrett           treasurer@amcc.org.nz        021 821 138
   MEMBERSHIP               MXTiming            membership@amcc.org.nz
                         and John Catton
   CLUB CAPTAIN           Adam Mitchell          clubcaptain@amcc.org.nz       021 128 4108
    ROAD RACE              John Catton             roadrace@amcc.org.nz
    COMMITTEE             Adam Mitchell                                        021 128 4108
                           Mark Wigley                                         027 250 3237
                           Paul Garrett                                        021 821 138
                            Tim Sibley
                           Jim Manoah                                          021 536 792
                           Neal Martin
                                                                               021 823 508
    ROAD RACE              MX Timing                   nicole@mxt.co.nz        027 201 1177
    SECRETARY               Nicole Bol
     GENERAL             Glenn Mettam               committee@amcc.org.nz      021 902 849
    COMMITTEE            Trevor Heaphy                                         022 647 7899
                        Philip Kavermann                                       021 264 8021
                         Alistair Wilton                                       027 457 4254
                         Juniper White                                         021 040 3819
 MINIATURE ROAD          David Diprose               buckets@amcc.org.nz       021 275 0003
      RACE
   CHIEF FLAG             Juniper White             marshals@amcc.org.nz       021 040 3819
    MARSHAL
    NZIGP REP            Trevor Heaphy              secretary@amcc.org.nz      022 647 7899
 MAGAZINE EDITOR        Philip Kavermann             media@amcc.org.nz         021 264 8021
     & MEDIA
     MNZ REP              Glenn Mettam             mnzdelegate@amcc.org.nz     021 902 849
     WEBSITE              Johannes Rol               website@amcc.org.nz       021 544 514

Cover Image:
2020 AMCC AGM & Prize-Giving

PRESIDENT’S REPORT – AUGUST 2020

Hi Club Members & Supporters,

We had a good turn out on July 4th for the AGM & Prize Giving, where we saw a few changes in the elected positions. We were
all sorry to see Paul Stewart stepping down from the President’s role after 4 years at the helm of the Club. He’s not going
anywhere though as Paul has to stay on the Executive Committee for at least one year as Immediate Past President, and will
continue to be active in the Club as a Steward and as a member of the Apartment Committee. I’m sure you will agree with me
that Paul has done an excellent job over those 4 years.
Some of the more significant things he lead was the selling of the Club’s shared premises in Ellerslie, the purchase of Apartment
416 at Hampton Downs, the turn-around & recovery of the Club’s finances, 3 years of Motofest, maintaining the Club Series on
the big track, as well as supporting the Miniature Road Race members in their activities and fight for the Mt. Wellington Kart
Track.
Over those 4 years, Paul has tackled many sticky issues, and had good support from the committees and members. I hope you’ll
join me and wish Paul a huge thank you the next time you see him!

Dennis Sampson (NZ’s most travelled Flag Marshal) has had to stand down as Club Secretary. Dennis is stepping down this year
after doing a great job over the last year and a bit. Thanks Dennis!!!
Trevor Heaphy has temporarily picked up the Secretary role again, but we’d like someone to step up and take this over please.
It’s not a huge role these days with internet & electronic support, so please consider taking this on and let me know if you’re
interested.
Adam Mitchell has moved into my old Vice President’s role (sorry about the VP’s email inbox ) and has handed over the lead
of the Road Race Committee to John Catton. Adam’s staying on in the RRC to assist and maintain continuity. The RRC have
changed the format for this year by reducing the number of groups on the track, which will give everyone more track time
(yay!).
The aim is one practice and 4 race sessions for each group at the Club rounds, starting in September.

The other members of the Exec Team have stayed on for another year…Paul Garrett as Treasurer, Phil Kavermann as our PR
person, Glen Mettam as MNZ rep, Juniper White as Chief Flag Marshal. Alistair Wilton in the General Committee and Tim Sibley
& Jim Manoah again in the Road Race Committee.
Phil Kavermann also received a well-deserved life membership appointment for his years of hard work promoting the Club, and
nine years of contributions to the Exec Committee. Congrats Phil!
A big thank you to them all as without them the Club would cease to exist!

So, as in-coming President, what am I going to do to keep the Club moving down the right track?
Ha ha, I’m going to delegate the work to everyone else and do nothing! But seriously, the Club has a great team of people with
good ideas and plenty of enthusiasm, and is in a good position for the future.
We’re making it easier for people to go racing at Hampton Downs and we’ve got some ideas to attract those track day riders
looking to push their riding to the next level (you really don’t know what you can achieve until you push yourself in competition
with others).

We need to find a solution for the Bucket racers who have lost the use of the Mt Wellington track. Nearly all of the club’s top
achievers on the racetrack started out on Buckets, and we need this to continue so they can evolve into big track racing.
Ken Dobson’s Hyosung & Ninja Cups have been another strong entry point for new riders, and it’s great to see Ken’s support
again for this year.

These formulas work! Relatively low cost, easy to enter and the minimum number of rules for safe racing that is heaps of fun.
If we keep doing the things our Club is good at, I’m sure the sport will grow again in Auckland. If you have any ideas or
suggestions please email me at president@amcc.org.nz and we’ll take them on-board as best we can.

Now, get out there and get your bikes ready for the next meeting!
See you there

Cheers,
Greg Percival | AMCC President

Classic Motorcycle Mecca:

The Britten V1000 – NZ’s two-wheel taonga?
In my mind, the late, great John Kenton Britten (1950-1995) will always be linked with the city where he was
born – Christchurch.
In saying that, though – and, in the absence of any similar facility in his home town – I think it is entirely
appropriate, that several examples of the unique motorcycles he – pretty much – single-handedly designed,
created with the help of a small and dedicated team, then put out there in the world, are currently on public
display at Invercargill’s Classic Motorcycle Mecca museum.
John’s legacy goes way beyond the bikes he is arguably best known for, you see. And had he not been so
cruelly stricken by cancer in what was his prime – John died aged just 45 in 1995 – Christchurch would indeed
have been a very different city to look at and live in, thanks to plans he had been working on, before his death,
to breathe new life into the CBD.
And that’s to say nothing of his fascination for flight, born of a youthful dalliance with hang gliders, and with
his motorcycle business established, he had already moved on – in his head anyway – to turning various
‘flights of fancy’ into some form of at least prototype reality!
In saying that, motorcycles, and the riding of same as fast – not to mention as loose – as possible, was his main
(I suppose you could call it) creative ‘outlet.’ So – it is again entirely appropriate that it is through them that
his legacy is both measured and enshrined.
I well remember the day, for instance, when – on early collaborator Mike Brosnan’s prompting – I phoned John
for a story I was thinking of putting together for the publication I was editing at the time, New Zealand
Motorcycle News, our conversation swinging widely from people we knew in common to the car park he had
recently bought to help fund his bike building plans!
In theory I had phoned for an update of news that had filtered through to me at the office that John was
building a ‘radical, full-fairing bike with wings like Roger Freeth tried.’
John being John though he neatly tuned the conversation away from the bike (which would become Aero-D-
Zero) and onto the fact he had pretty much finished work on the house that had consumed his every waking

hour when he finally returned from his OE, and that he was no longer making the beautiful art deco brass and
stained glass lamps which I remembered him selling out of a postage stamp size stall in the city’s Shades
Arcade when I was doing my post-grad journalism course in the city two or three years before.
He also mentioned, almost in passing as well, that after years of steadfastly avoiding it he now had a ‘proper
job’…..having taken over the reins of the property development and shopping centre leasing company his
entrepreneurial father had set up in the 1960s.

Classic Motorcycle Mecca museum
That explained, as Mike Brosnan, indicated – without, obviously saying as much – how John, who up until that
point had been as famous as his (now celebrated) two-wheel predecessor Burt Munro for an aversion for
paying for anything he could either make himself, or ‘re-purpose,’ had suddenly started actually buying things
he needed…
Like?
Like the state-of-the-art suspension, brakes and wheels he added to his ‘shopping list’ when he went to Italy to
buy building products for the upmarket (but sadly, since demolished after being irreparably damaged in the
ChCh earthquakes) Heatherlea Apartment complex, opposite the leafy Hagley Park, his first ‘project’ as I
understood it, in his new role as a property developer.
And I could go on. Because I’ve got several more great ‘John Britten stories’ I could add here, and if pushed I
could come up with literally hundreds more if I shoulder-tapped the likes of Britten riders Andrew Stroud,
Jason McEwen and Chris Haldane…
This story was supposed to be about Classic Motorcycle Mecca, however, and the fact that it enjoys the
distinction of having more of John’s bikes – not to mention some literally unobtainable memorabilia – on
display than any other motorcycle museum in the world.
I’m not just talking about the unique, pared back, blue and pink V1000/1100, your average, everyday Kiwi
associates with the bloke either.
Tucked away in plain sight on what (I think) is the top floor of this absolute treasure-trove of all things two
wheels slap bang in the middle of our southern-most city’s CBD, are John’s original (Triumph) BEARS race bike,
plus two of the three V-twin Britten machines he built before THE bike that established him as the
‘Renaissance Man’ of 20th century motorcycle design.

Britten V1000

The first is the beaky Denco-engined Aero-D-One, the second the full-bodied, Britten V1000-engined bike
known simply as ‘The Precursor.’
Then – of course – though when I was there last it had been moved to the reception area of the museum –
there is the Daddy of them all, the gorgeous, iconic, and utterly timeless, ‘Cardinal V1000.’
In case any of you are wondering, ‘BEARS’ stands for ‘British, European and American Racing Series,’ the
brainchild of a group of hard-core Christchurch motorcycle racers who wanted to remain loyal to what I
suppose you could call the ‘classic motorcycle marques’ of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, in the face of the kicking
they were getting on race tracks around the world through the 80s and 90s from the combined might of
Japan’s Big Four; Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and Kawasaki.
Quite where a motorcycle wholly conceived and built in little old Christchurch New Zealand fitted in under
BEARS’ strict ‘No Jappas’ canon, I’m not wholly sure. After all, it was BEARS with an S rather than BEARZ with a
Z…. but at the end of the day it didn’t really matter because the concept quickly found favour elsewhere. .
In fact Britten V1000s finishing 1st & 2nd in the inaugural BEARS World Championship series in 1995 before
finally winning the broadly similar but less, er, polarising, Battle of the Twins category title at the Daytona
International Speedway’s annual Daytona Bike Week in 1996.
There’s also – of course – a Britten V1000 on permanent display at Te Papa in Wellington. But though I always
make a point of ‘paying my respects’ to it when I am in the capital, the very public nature of the place means
you can’t really linger over it for any length of time…..
You can at Classic Motorcycle Mecca. There, set up in the sort of no-nonsense, what-you-see-is-what-you-get
display on the southern side of the second floor of the Tay Street building, it is literally Britten
city, with nothing between these absolutely one-of-a-kind and no-doubt priceless two-wheelers and the
interested observer bar the $35 entry fee and the good sense of those who are happy to pay it.
There’s also an example (the only one?) of the ultra-hi-tech (6-valve, one-piece cylinder & head!) single
cylinder engine John started work on but died before he had a chance to see and hear it run.
Plus, various bit and pieces of memorabilia.
Because I was – if not there, at least around at the time – I’m aware of most of this (in fact, it was me who
commissioned photographer John Cosgrove to head out to ‘Ruapuna Raceway’ to take a photo of John’s first
attempt at a self-build, the Mike Brosnan/Ducati-powered colab, ‘Aero-D-Zero.’)

John’s original Triumph BEARS bike (left) - alongside Aero -D-One and The Precursor in the ‘John
Britten Corner’ upstairs

For those who weren’t though – and that goes from kids born since, right through to famous Britten faithful
like IoM TT racer-turned TV-pundit Guy Martin (who officially opened the facility at 25 Tay Street when he was
in New Zealand for the Burt Munro Motorcycle Challenge in 2016) the Invercargill museum is a kind of ground
zero for the towering legacy John left on his death.
Which, if this little corner of the motorcycle world was the only exhibit at Classic Motorcycle Mecca, I would
still say was enough to (more than) justify the price of admission.
Obviously, it’s not. Instead, should you decide to make the trip south, you will be greeted (warmly too I might
add, which is very much the Southland way) by an absolutely world-class display of over 300 examples of
important/significant/interesting two (and yes, sometimes three-wheel) motorcycles from the turn of last
century right up until just a year or two ago.
Like Invercargill’s other celebrated museum attraction, the Bill Richardson Transport World one (just 5 or 6
minutes up Tay St at Hawthorndale) Classic Motorcycle Mecca started out as an offshoot of one man’s passion.
For Bill Richardson it was trucks, for expat American Tom Sturgees it was motorcycles. Sturgees came late to
motorcycle collecting apparently, however he didn’t let that stop him amassing something like 300 restored
classics from around the world for a museum he opening in his adopted home town of Nelson.
There the collection would have stayed, too, had he not been bit with a major health scare, and decided that
the museum had to go.
As it turned out the late Bill Richardson’s daughter Jocelyn and her husband, Scott O’Donnell owned a building
on Tay Street they were wondering what to do with.
Having seen the overwhelmingly positive response from around the world to the movie about local
motorcyclist extraordinaire Burt Munro, not to mention the number of riders that made the trip to the Deep
South every year to celebrate his legacy, Jocelyn and Scott rightly surmised that a dedicated ‘motorcycle
museum’ would not only complement the ‘Truck’ one down the road, but also help contribute in a positive
way to the rebuild of the city’s CBD Scott already had in mind.
The only issue I had with the bikes Tom Sturgees bought and put on display in Nelson – and which were
shipped to Invercargill and displayed in Jocelyn and Scott’s building – was that despite the huge legacy of two-
wheel action in New Zealand from the turn of the 20th century up until today, there was narry a mention – for

instance – of the truly global success enjoyed by the likes of Speedway stars Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger, let
alone the sort of ‘modern classic’ motorcycles a lot of blokes now entering their retirement years held dear;
like Honda’s across-the-frame 6-cylinder CBX1000, or indeed Kawasaki’s epoch-making Z1/Z900.
As it turned out I was not the only person who felt the need for some history ‘of our own’ and when the
museum received its first ‘revamp’ Jocelyn and Scott unveiled a special ‘celebration of Kiwi 2-wheel greats’
audio-visual and display put together with Motorcycling New Zealand which includes the likes of multiple
World Road Race champion Hugh Anderson and World 500cc MX champion Shayne King.
It is adjacent to this cluster that there is a life-size replica of the shed Burt Munro used to live in and work out
of, and John Britten’s bikes are displayed.
And, seriously, I can’t think of a better place for them! They are our taonga, after-all, and like all taonga, they
deserve to be maintained and displayed in a very special place. Invercargill’s Classic Motorcycle Mecca
museum.
https://talkmotorsport.co.nz/nzcircuit/the-britten-v1000-nzs-two-wheel-taonga/

Graeme Crosby’s Moriwaki-modded Kawasaki 900 Superbike

                                                                                    Story by Ross MacKay
                                                                                    On Talk Motorsport
                                                                                    talkmotorsport.co.nz

A very rare Ducati GT750 SS

National Volunteer Week:

21-27 June, 2020 was National Volunteer Week

And time to acknowledge the great team of Volunteers who allow AMCC to function, and deliver the events we do.

The Executive Committee, and the Committee's for Road-Race and Buckets.
The event Volunteers - COC's, Stewards, Marshals, Technical Inspectors, and those who stick their hand up to make
sure that every task is covered.

            The Unsung Heroes ... THANK YOU ALL ...
            #NVW2020

AMCC 2020 AGM & Prize-Giving:

AMCC AGM & Prize-Giving -- 4 July, 2020:

Great to see a good turnout for the AGM & Prize-Giving, as the AMCC community came together to celebrate a
successful year, and distribute the silverware and "goodies" for the Buckets, Road-Race Series, and the Carl Cox
Hyosung & Ninja Cup; along with recognising our valuable marshals.

Thanks to all who are standing for positions within the Club, for the coming year.
And congratulations to all our successful racers and marshals, taking home a trophy on the night.

SuperStock 1000:                                             Supersport 300:
1st - Jonathan Skyrme                                        1st - Nathanael Diprose

Superlite:
1st - Nick Olson (centre)
2nd - Matt Dunlop (left)
3rd - Jesse Stroud (right)

250 ProLite:
1st - Loren May (L)
3rd - Chris Smith (R)

Carl Cox Motorsport Hyosung Cup:
1st - Loren May (Centre)
2nd - Josh Augustine (L)
3rd - Justin Reid (R)

Carl Cox Motorsport Ninja Cup:
1st - Jesse Stroud (L)
2nd - Hamish Fox (Absent)
3rd - Zak Fuller (R)

Carl Cox Motorsport Hyosung & Ninja Cup:
Combined celebrations ....

Friend Of AMCC - Ken Dobson brought along a box of Kawasaki merchandise to give away as spot quiz prizes ...
Among the recipients ...
Adam Mitchell of the AMCC Road-Race Committee (who was checking the shirt sizing)

Also among the recipients ...
Yamaha stalwart Alistair Wilton !!

F4, F5, Gixxer 150:
1st - Billee Fuller (riding a Gixxer 150)
Accepting on-behalf was her brother, Zac.

Awards were presented by Jim Manoah, representing the AMCC Road-Race Committee.
And who also does a sterling job of recovery, come race day.

Interclub Challenge:                                                                                    AMCC-HMCC

Something a bit different for the coming 2020-21 season is the Battle Of The Clubs.
An Interclub Challenge involving AMCC and HMCC – whereby a Round from each Club’s respective Club Series will
count towards the Battle Of The Clubs points.

Round 2 of the AMCC Series (at HD on 18 October) will be the first Round
And Round 2 of the HMCC Series (at Taupo on 8 November) will be the second and Final Round.

Points for the Battle Of The Clubs are independent of individual Club Series points.
However it is a great opportunity for a bit of interclub fun and engagement, and some more track time.
For more details, see the Entry Forms (on the AMCC Website), or email roadrace@amcc.org.nz and they will address
any queries or questions.

                                                  BATTLE OF THE CLUBS (AMCC, HMCC)

There is no restriction of the grade of rider or capacity of machine unless for reasons of safety as deemed by the Race Secretary or CoC or
failure to comply with Machine Specifications and event.

Supplementary Regulations. Riders within the Sidecar and Supermoto classes are excluded from the points.
Each club member that competes will still retain their club points. However, each club's member's points will also be added to the club's Battle of
the Clubs tally. The tally will then determine the overall winner for the series.

For each rider that attends an “away meeting”, their points will be doubled in the tally. At the end of each round, the tallies will be totalled and
averaged based on the number of riders who have competed from each club.

This is only eligible for Auckland Motorcycle Club and Hamilton Motorcycle Club members, any competitors from other clubs may enter the
Battle of the Clubs but purchasing a club membership from either club they wish to represent.
Failure to comply with the MoMs or supplementary regulations will result in the rider losing their points for that race.
This decision will be at the discretion of the race officials with at least one member from each club.

AMCC hosted Round will be held at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park during AMCC Club round 2 on 18 October 2020.
HMCC hosted Round will be held at Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park during HMCC Club final round on 8 November 2020 followed by
prizegiving for the trophy will be done at the completion of the day.

Graeme Crosby:
WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Graeme Crosby
By Greg Rust

About an hour north of Auckland, not all that far from some stunning beaches on New Zealand’s east coast, is the
little village of Matakana. Fresh country air, award-winning wine and artisan food. It feels like you’re a world away
from the city.

You’ll also find some works of art here. Not just the kind you hang on the wall. It’s the home of Graeme Crosby
Motorcycles where the Formula TT World Champion lovingly restores classic Japanese bikes with a penchant for the
iconic Kawasaki Z range.

“After owning a bike shop and other ventures after I stopped racing, we moved to Matakana and a guy down the
road had a couple of Z1s,” explains Crosby.

“They’re my favourite bike! As an apprentice I used to assemble them out of the box and I developed this affinity
with them straight away.

“So I bought two of these bikes. Made a good one out of it. And then someone came along and asked me to build
them one. I’ve now got 17 odd bikes in the workshop on the go. Some road. Some for racing.

“Basically I’m taking Z1s that are basket cases and breathing new life into them with a blend of new and old. I call
them neo classics! They end up brand new bikes with better brakes and suspension. We tune the engine up and style
them to suit the new owner. It’s really cool. And I’ve been doing that for six years now.

“I’ve also been taking the brand-new model and giving it into more of a classic look. And we do extensive research to
build replica bikes too. We’ve done a Freddie Spencer and a Wayne Gardner replica and some of my old ones. We’ve
got customers all over the world.”

Kawasaki Z1 Street Fighter

Croz is a legend! That’s an overused word in the sporting vernacular but he really is. That status comes from a
diversely successful race career but equally for his love of a laugh and some wildly entertaining stories along the
way. He is the Larrikin Biker – the title of his book.

Crosby with Tony Christy (right)

There are great tales of flushing Randy Mamola’s head down a dunny after a night playing pool with the late Gregg
Hansford; riding the race bike on the road in pouring rain from Paris to Le Mans; and the time he told one of
Moriwaki’s staff to collect Aussie co-rider Tony Hatton, who was coming to Japan for the first time.

“He knew hardly any English. So we taught him when he recognised Tony at the Airport to reach out and shake his
hand and say are you F*** Face Hatton? I know it sounds bad but he did!” laughs Crosby.

While he is best known for bike racing there was also a stint in Touring Cars, which included a New Zealand title in
’92. He raced with the Stone Brothers in the mid-‘80s during the early part of their chapter in the Australian Touring
Car Championship. You tend to think of Ross and Jim for their success with Ford in Supercars but Croz raced a
Commodore they prepared.

At the ‘86 Adelaide F1 Grand Prix, he went out with a friend of the great Mike Hailwood’s after qualifying in the top
four. He was late getting to the track the next day. In fact, there was some quiet concern in the team about their
driver being MIA! Ross wasn’t impressed. Croz got in the car and after a sluggish start began driving like a “scolded
cat” fighting for a third place finish. Modern racers/athletes couldn’t do that today. That was the era and they’ve all
had a good chuckle about it since.

Red Bull Holden Racing team owner Roland Dane reminded me recently how well respected Croz was in the UK.
Roland can vividly remember watching him race bikes in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. Two stroke; four stroke; Crosby was
bloody good on both.

You’ll find his name in record books everywhere. From the Castrol 6 Hour and Marlboro Series in his native NZ to the
fabled Bathurst Easter races. He is adored in Japan partly because he’s a Suzuka 8 Hour winner. There were victories
at Daytona, the treacherous Isle of Man TT and he rode for the factory Suzuki and Yamaha teams in the 500cc World
Championship – what we now call MotoGP.

“Where I am at the moment, I would have to be one of the luckiest people,” declares Crosby.

“I did the TT in ’79, ’80 and ’81. Three years and I won three TTs plus a second and a fourth. So, if you look at the
record it’s pretty good.

“But, I didn’t want to race there in ’82. Because I’d been there. Done that. It’s an unforgiving track that can take
anyone. There’s no rhyme or reason. You can be there one day and gone the next. It is the last bastion of man and
machine.”

Graeme Crosby turns 65 next month and the love for motorcycles is as strong now as it was when he forged his
Mum’s signature to get a race licence in his teens.

To find out more about Crosby’s restorations
https://www.graemecrosby.co.nz/

To listen to the full episode of Rusty’s Garage with Graeme Crosby
https://omny.fm/shows/rustys-garage/graeme-crosby/embed

https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/06/20/where-are-they-now-graeme-crosby/

“10 YEARS AGO” …

Juniper White
    021 040 3819
marshals@amcc.org.nz

Mount Wellington Update:
Man vs machine: the bitter bureaucratic
fight to save a beloved racetrack
Steve Kilgallon          STUFF - Jul 05 2020

Bucket racing enthusiast Liam Venter's fight to save his beloved track went all the way to the High Court.

When a council turfed four sports clubs from their home of 40 years without consultation, one man decided he
wouldn't stand for it. It became a two-year legal battle - with a chilling conclusion.
Steve Kilgallon reports.

Auckland Council owns a 1.85 hectare block in the industrial eastern suburb of Mt Wellington. 39a and b Tainui Road
is zoned ‘Business - Light Industry’. For three decades, it’s been intended, eventually, to be used for a major arterial
road. Until then, the council wants to make money from the land, and lease it commercially.

All this is logical, if you see Tainui Road as merely a barren chunk of terrain awaiting white lines and kerbstones.

But not if you’re Liam Venter, who describes it as a “humble 364-metre stretch of bitumen” that has produced world
champions like the US IndyCar driver Scott Dixon.

For 50 years, the Tainui Rd racetrack was home to kart, motorbike and rollerblade racing. Then, the council
padlocked the gates, and for two years, it has sat empty as a bitter fight raged between the bureaucratic machinery
of the city, and one very determined man.

How could the council evict several sports clubs from their long-term home and refuse to find them a new one? How
could they decide something used for sport for a half-century wasn’t a park but in legal fact a road, despite no formal
roading plans even existing?

The argument went to the High Court. The outcome is chilling for any sporting group that relies on the benevolence
of its local council for a patch of earth to call home.

The problem solver

Liam Venter at his Te Atatu workshop. He’s fought for two years to keep his beloved track open.

As a kid, Liam Venter was car obsessed. By 14, he and his best friend were running an unofficial workshop on their
parents’ driveways in Ponsonby, central Auckland. They graduated to building kitset cars.

He wasn’t, he says, good at school: he asked too many questions. But he went on to an engineering degree, started
his own IT firm, and sold it in 2005. At the age of 40, he retired on the proceeds.

“I bought a motorhome, thought I’d go fishing. I hate fishing, it turns out. And I didn’t much like motorhomes.”

Instead, he became a hobbyist motorbike engineer. At his waterfront Te Atatu home, he’s got a big workshop filled
with bits of bikes and cars and machinery where he designs and makes bike parts. “I love solving problems,” he says.

Tainui Rd was just such a problem. Venter had been a kart club member, and then later, a stalwart of the motorbike
‘bucket-racing’ club at the track.

Bucket-racing is entry-level motorbike racing. Low-powered bikes, built from scrap parts and worth as little as $200,
give beginners and veterans the chance to race safely. Venter loved it. Then his club was told the track would close,
and they were homeless. “I said it was unfair, and everyone said ‘there’s nothing you can do about it’.

“But ... it was so patently wrong it jarred with me. I felt these guys were being screwed over, and I had the capacity
to challenge it, where they didn’t.”

Venter had the time, and he had the money. And so began one man’s war against the machine.

In an affidavit, council official David Stewart described him as “confrontational and unpleasant”.

Venter’s self-description: “I am polite. I am courteous. But I am tenacious. I will keep asking the same questions.”

‘A significant contribution’

The track was opened twice by an enthusiastic Mt Wellington mayor.

In 1959, a group of go-kart enthusiasts carved a dirt track in the east Auckland farmland, under the guidance of Mt
Wellington town clerk ‘Pop’ Volkner.

Over the years, it was used for german shepherd displays, police dog training, hot rods, kids’ cycling lessons and
filming sequences for the TV show ‘The Block’.

But principally, it was home to the Mt Wellington kart club, which in turn sublet to three other groups: the Auckland
Motorcycle ‘bucket’ club, the Mt Wellington roller blade club and the Auckland University SAE club (a group of
engineering students who design electric race cars).

The karters, however, never owned it.

An archive photo of kart racing at the Tainui Rd track.

Originally, it was Crown land, held for potential railway needs. In 1998, Auckland Council bought it for $980,000 to
protect a future road corridor. But they kept renting it to the karters, on a lease that rose over time to $20,000 a
year.

Auckland Council grants ‘community leases’, of just a few hundred dollars, to worthy community groups. It also has
commercial leases, where it seeks market value for its properties. This fell somewhere in between: the kart club was
often told by officials they were paying under the odds because of their “very significant contribution to the
community”.

The possibility of eviction always lingered.

By 2012, they were on a month-to-month lease, while council officials were debating whether to give them a
community lease.

Then, in 2018, the council had the land assessed for lease at a market rate of $285,000 a year. Internally, the council
had decided it wanted more money. Auckland Transport’s head of property, Jane Small, wrote a memo saying it was
not AT’s “role to subsidise the kartsport club’s tenancy of transport land,” and there was no public interest in
subsidising small “private sports clubs”.

So the kart club negotiated a temporary trackshare with the city’s other kart club at Rosebank Road, Avondale. But
limited racing time meant no room there for the bucket-racers, roller-bladers or electric car enthusiasts.

In June 2018, the council gave notice to vacate by October. They didn’t talk to the sub-tenants. “We were
gobsmacked,” recalls Venter. “We were asking ‘where are we racing now, what’s the plan?’ ‘There is no plan’.”

As the council’s property arm, Panuku, began what became 10-month negotiations to find a tenant, the track sat
empty.

The roller-blade club - which had forged top skaters like multiple world champion Scott Arlidge - was reduced to
training at night on supermarket car parks, where one skater was hit by a car.

Former world champion speedskater Scott Arlidge trained at the Mt Wellington track.

And for the bucket club, which had raced there since 1988, the nearest suitable tracks were in Whangārei, Tokoroa,
Taumaranui and Edgecumbe (near Whakatāne), leaving its dwindling membership travelling up to six hours to race.

“It’s impossible to acquire new members for a club that doesn’t have a track,” said the club secretary, Dr Aimee
Inomata.

Venter had thought the track was needed urgently for the road. He discovered there were no roading plans for at
least a decade, and began hopefully phoning council officials. “I thought ‘this is insane, I’ll just go speak to them and
they will be awfully reasonable’.”

The council seemed surprised to hear from Venter, claiming they were never aware of the sub-leasing (though the
sub-tenants’ existence often appears in older council paperwork).

Apart from phone calls with parks official Martin Devoy, who suggested the bucket racers try Ardmore Airport, it
took four months - and a publicity stunt of a fake race in Aotea Square - to secure a meeting with Devoy’s boss,
David Stewart.

Liam Venter, centre, and fellow bucket racers, protesting outside the locked gates of the Mt Wellington track.

Stewart suggested sharing Rosebank Road was possible. But no offer was ever made. The council does not seem to
have ever offered an alternate venue.

Venter then turned to the council's property arm, Panuku, which was tasked with leasing the property.

First, he threatened an injunction. Then, he tried bidding for the lease, in conjunction with businessman Tony Quinn,
who owns several racetracks including Hampton Downs in the Waikato.

Panuku gave him 14 days to express interest, then cut it to six. The Panuku official in charge, Ian Wheeler, told
Venter he needed “north of $200,000” a year. Panuku, however, would end up signing for an initial amount of just
$150,000 pa. “Why didn’t they get on the phone to me and say ‘are you serious? How can we make this happen’?”
says Venter.

Meanwhile, he was trying to get a council vote on a decision made by officials, rather than elected councillors. With
strong support from two councillors, Wayne Walker and John Watson, and extensive canvassing, Venter believed he
had the numbers to reverse the decision if it went to a vote. It never did.

Then Venter formed an incorporated society, Mt Wellington Racepark, and hired a barrister, Will McKenzie, to make
a legal challenge.

McKenzie felt that Section 138 of the Local Government Act meant the council was acting unlawfully. The section
reads: “A local authority proposing to sell or otherwise dispose of a park or part of a park must consult on the
proposal before it sells or disposes of, or agrees to sell or dispose of, the park or part of the park.”

And here’s how it defines a park: “Land acquired or used principally for community, recreational, environmental,
cultural, or spiritual purposes”.

To Venter, the raceway was a park, and there had been no consultation. Councillor Walker agreed, writing to senior
council officials urging them to halt the lease process or risk breaching section 138.

The bucket racers placed a warning sign on the gates, saying the property was subject to legal action.

The Tainui Rd track also had a notice warning of legal action – but someone unknown removed it.

A meeting of senior councillors and officials decided to forge ahead, bolstered by a supportive internal legal opinion,
and agreed a deal with a traffic management company, ITC, to lease Tainui Road.

ITC signed for an initial $150,000 a year, rising to $290,000 in 2028. Internal council emails hailed this as a great deal.
But it’s far less than the original rent appraisal - and ITC has already agreed to sub-let about three-quarters of the
site for $702,000 a year.

The council also never told its new tenant of the raging dispute until after the deal was done. An affidavit from ITC
director Glen Ruma said: “We’d have done everything possible to avoid the situation that we’re now in.” ITC would
want at least $3m in compensation from council if the deal was cancelled.

Council offered alternative sites to ITC (which it declined), and money to the bucket racers (which they declined).
And so, a few days after level three lockdown ended, the scene shifted to the Auckland High Court.

It was quiet inside, like a school during holiday time. Courtroom 11 was vast, but almost empty. Black and yellow
striped tape blocked most of the seats in the gallery, and Judge Edwin Wylie had limited the public gallery to ten. Not
that it mattered - there was never more than seven.

Venter was a constant, usually impassive, sometimes exasperated, joined by rollerblading trustee Bill Over and
Councillor Wayne Walker. The council fielded various bored, phone-tapping officials.

McKenzie, a former sports administrator who had converted to law later in life, wore a box-fresh gown and looked
rattled early on. At the first break, he slumped, drained, on the chairs outside - but thereafter grew in confidence
and passion.

The council’s lawyer, Meredith Connell partner Anna Adams, was precise, methodical, and painfully slow. Her
snakeskin shoes hinted at character, but none emerged as she professionally spelled out her case.

The often deadly-dull two-day hearing was essentially about definitions: what was ‘a park’. What did ‘use’ mean.
What did ‘consult’ mean.

McKenzie said the meaning of park should be the “most natural grammatical meaning”. His case was simple: the
land was a park, therefore the council had to consult, it didn’t, therefore the lease to ITC was wrong.

He was ambitious: he wanted the judge to order compensation, cancel the lease, restore the bucket racers. The
judge asked him to demonstrate where his legal power to do any of that was. He couldn’t.

Adams’ counter was thorough, but relied on some contortions. Principal use meant the purpose the land was held
for: the mythical road, not what it was actually used for. It wasn’t a park because the council didn’t classify it as a
park, and a park needed 24/7 public access.

McKenzie said you couldn’t get into most sports clubs 24/7, nor the zoo, the Botanic Gardens or the Chamberlain
Park golf course either, but council classified all of them as parks. And the use of the land wasn’t some accident of
history, but a deliberate decision by successive councils.

Adams said if the definition of a park was too wide, it could cause councils all sorts of difficulties. If the racetrack
wasn’t a park, then section 138 didn’t apply, and so the council could do whatever it wished.

Adams had a fallback argument: Council had actually consulted, even if they hadn’t called it that when they had
listened to Venter’s barrage of emails and phone calls.

The day after the hearing closed, with the judge’s decision reserved, Venter was buoyant. He and McKenzie had
been for a beer afterwards, and the lawyer felt confident. A week later, McKenzie told me the Crown had given an
8/10 performance with a 0/10 case.

Then Justice Wylie released his judgement. It was a complete, unmitigated triumph for the council.

The judge seemed troubled by Venter and McKenzie’s idea of what a park was. He quoted four different legal
dictionaries which all broadly defined a park the same way (Butterworth’s: “Land used for public health, recreation,
enjoyment and other public purposes of a like nature”), and so, he conceded, it could be argued that public use was
what defined a park. So far, so good for the motorcyclists.

But Justice Wylie felt the purpose of the act “would be frustrated if an over-broad interpretation of the word park”
was adopted.

“Construed literally, it is very wide-ranging,” said Wylie, and could even include a car park used by skateboarders or
a strip of trees used by pedestrians for shade.

“This,” he opined, “suggests the meaning of the word ‘park’ may not be so obvious”.

He said the track didn’t have “the character or trappings of a park”, suggested it was commercially leased, the track
was “incidental or temporary use” and yes, the “literal interpretation” of the word park was too wide-ranging. Thus -
it wasn’t a park, so no need to consult. But they had consulted anyway. And even if they hadn’t, he wouldn’t have
ordered them to do it again, because of the impact on the innocent ITC, and anyway, he thought they would have
come to the same conclusion.

It was a judgement without a crumb of comfort for Liam Venter, who rued ever going to court.

Getting the track back was always a long shot, but he’d expected to prevent this sort of thing happening again.
Instead, he’d delivered a legal precedent allowing any council to sell off unprotected recreational land.

Gloomily, he saw it as a chance for cash-strapped, post-Covid councils to hock off assets. Auckland, for example,
“think the answer is to sell off the silver to pay for the groceries,” he reckoned.

Bucket racers in action at Mt Wellington. They last raced there two years ago.

It seems logical the ruling could impact stadia, golf courses, bowls clubs and tennis clubs, any sports club with its
clubrooms sitting on leased council land - indeed, anywhere that isn’t an unfenced public park with free 24-hour
access.

McKenzie jotted a list of sports codes he felt could be affected. It filled a page of his notebook.

Of course, councils don’t usually sell up the land from beneath their sports clubs. But imagine, McKenzie says, some
rugby club which has been annoying its council for years has its lease come up - council could now simply lease out
its clubrooms as a café. “Any situation where an organisation isn’t getting on with their council, this is a way to get
rid of them.”

Meanwhile, the decision isn’t just the death of the bucket racing club, says Venter, but a blow to a $200m a year
motorsport manufacturing industry, and a crack in the foundations of the entire sport. “We have lost the ability to
produce world champions ... buckets is our nursery ground, it is our barefoot [midget] rugby.”

They still have a fortnight to appeal. The track is lost, but Venter is holding to his principles and contacting sports
organisations to fund the estimated $100,000 legal bill. “I want my grandchildren to enjoy the facilities in Auckland
that I enjoyed when I grew up,” he says.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/121997276/man-vs-machine-the-bitter-bureaucratic-fight-to-save-a-
beloved-racetrack

MotoFest Polo Shirts - For Sale

GET YOUR MOTO FEST POLO SHIRT

Moto Fest was an annual event – held over three years (2018-2020) - and to commemorate the final this
year, the Club produced a Polo Shirt to celebrate AMCC’s association with both Hampton Downs, and the
event.
These were given to our hard-working Flaggies and other Volunteer Officials who did a sterling job over the
6/7/8 March, (and in preparation) to make the meeting the success that it was.

We have a selection of one off prints left, of Polo Shirts in Large to Small at $30.00 each.
Hopefully we will have your size in either women or men.

If you want to get hold of one of these one off prints please email president@amcc.org.nz or
vicepresident@amcc.org.nz to arrange your Polo Shirt.

Media and / or Images ....

If you have any specific requirements for images, or the generation of
content for media or sponsor purposes, let’s have a discussion to see
where / how I can help you.

Philip Kavermann
AMCC / New Zealand Motor Sport Yearbook
philip@nzmsy.co.nz   M: 021 264 8021            www.nzmsy.co.nz

RACING CALENDAR / COMING EVENTS

August 2020
29/30      AMCC Buckets Rd 2       Tokoroa

September 2020
6          HMCC Rd 1               Taupo
20         AMCC Club Series Rd 1   Hampton Downs
October 2020
11         AMCC Buckets Rd 3       Hampton Downs Club Circuit (Final)
18         AMCC Club Series Rd 2   Hampton Downs         AMCC-HMCC Interclub Part 1

November 2020
8         HMCC Rd 2                Taupo (Final)               AMCC-HMCC Interclub Part 2
14/15     Bucket 2-Hour            Tokoroa
29        AMCC Club Series Rd 3    Hampton Downs         (Final)
December 2020
6         Suzuki Series Rd 1       Taupo
29        Suzuki Series Rd 2       Manfeild
29        Suzuki Series Rd 3       Wanganui    (Final)

       **All events subject to current Covid-19 restrictions

HMCC Centenary Update:
Hi all

The Centenary celebrations we had originally planned for Easter, have now been
confirmed as moved to Labour Weekend.

Programme as follows:

Saturday 24th AM: Show opens at Classics Museum. Runs through to Nov 8th
Saturday 24th AM: Road Trial (To be confirmed)
Saturday 24th PM: Meet and greet at Clubrooms
Saturday from 5PM: Centenary Dinner at The Hangar, Te Kowhai Airfield, Limmer Rd, Te Kowhai
We have a free courtesy bus running from the Clubrooms in Seddon Rd, and returning at the end of proceedings. Email
me if you wish to book places.
Sunday 25th 9-10AM: Bring your bike to Hood St, to recreate our 1920's photo. Then ride to the top of the Kamai's, for
another photo, and return to Clubrooms for BBQ etc, and more reminiscing!
Monday 26th (Labour Day) 10am Trials get-together at Huntly, bring classic and modern trials bikes for a play, or just
come along and watch.

Note we are not running a Swap Meet on the Sunday morning, look out for it next April.

Dinner tickets will be sent shortly by email to those I can, and by post to the others.

The book has been published now, and I am working though sending all the pre-paid orders out.
Locals can collect next club night, or email me for a direct pick up.

T Shirts are being made to order once a month, and we should have some spare stock at the clubrooms each club night.

Orders can be made through our website:
https://www.hamiltonmcc.org.nz/products/catalogue/shop-online/anniversary

--
Steve
Hamilton Motorcycle Club Inc
www.hamiltonmcc.org.nz

Dick Smart:                                                                                        Part 3

Memories of Nicky Hayden
https://www.speedcafe.com/2020/04/26/mechanic-dick-smart-memories-of-nicky-hayden/

From Speedcafe – Reproduced here in full, for your enjoyment.

Two of the most memorable days in the life of former MotoGP motorcycle mechanic Dick Smart directly involved
talented US rider Nicky Hayden.
Smart is one of the most successful spanner men in the history of GP racing having won five consecutive 500cc world
championships with Mick Doohan and three with Valentino Rossi between 1994-2003.

In 2004 Smart had a season with Alex Barros when the Brazilian he joined the Repsol Honda factory team and a year
later he found himself working with Hayden.
The ‘Kentucky Kid’ had joined Honda in 2003 as Rossi’s teammate after winning the American Superbike
Championship and finished fifth in his first season to earn rookie of the year honors behind his championship-
winning team-mate.

The following season Rossi moved to Yamaha and Smart was linked with Honda newcomer, Barros.
While chief engineer Jeremy Burgess and a couple of others followed Rossi to Yamaha, Smart stayed put to work
with Barros who finished fourth in the championship.

In 2005 Max Biaggi replaced Barros and Smart moved over to Hayden’s bike and the American started to make some
real progress, including his breakthrough win at his home Grand Prix at Laguna Seca in California.
Hayden was one of the few riders in the field that had raced at the track before and he used his knowledge to clinch
pole position by 0.354 of a second from Rossi.

Australian Troy Bayliss, Rossi and American Colin Edwards had a cracking battle for the minor placings after Hayden
established a one-second lead on the opening lap of the race, which he extended when needed.
While it was Hayden’s first MotoGP victory, it also broke a drought for the Honda factory team which had not won a
race since the last round of the 2003 season in Spain.

“I think we definitely had a beer that night,” Smart told Speedcafe.com of the Laguna Seca victory.
“It was definitely one of the better ones to win with it being Nicky’s home race and all.
“It was probably one of the most memorable races of that era and it was nice for us to win again, because it had
been a while.

“Nicky was a laid back kid with a great family and we used to have a lot of laughs, especially with his old man Earl.”
That was the only victory for the season, but Hayden did finish with five more podiums for the year and finished
third in the championship.

Despite making progress with Hayden, Honda had made a decision to replace Biaggi with Dani Pedrosa and the
employment of the Spaniard and his requested team manager Alberto Puig was going to soak up the needed funds
to keep someone of Smart’s experience around.

Smart moved back to Australia to be with his partner, Shanelle and his daughter, Helana, and son, Tommy, who were
both under the age of three.

“The decision to stay or come home was really made for me,” said Smart.
“But at the end of the day, I had done what did for 16 seasons and it was time to come home anyway with the family
and everything.”

While Smart ended up in a team manager’s role for Team Kiwi in the Supercars championship out of Paul Morris
Motorsport in 2006, he did keep a keen eye on the MotoGP championship which Hayden clinched by just five points
from Rossi.

In his 16 years at the highest level, Smart had only worked with four riders, with Hayden being the last.
So the phone call he received on May 17, 2017 that his former rider had been knocked off a push bike while on a
training ride in Italy and was in a coma was one of the toughest he had ever taken.
The news was worse five days later when Hayden died as a result of his injuries, leaving the motorcycling world in
shock.

Motorcycle racing is a sport that breeds them tough and that’s why Smart lasted as long as he did and was as
successful as he was, but even he gets a slight lump in his throat and a pause in his answers when quizzed about ‘The
Kentucky Kid’.

“Yeah…… that was not a good day when I heard that news,” Smart said of receiving the news of Hayden’s death.
“He was just a nice guy and it was just an unfortunate accident.
“A pushbike!

“You know, all the bloody crashes he’d had in his life, not just in MotoGP, but his racing career and he gets cleaned
up by a car in Italy on a pushbike?

“It’s still hard to believe it happened, you know?”

“He’ll be sadly missed, old Nicky.”

Nicky Hayden was posthumously inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2018.

Smart with Nicky Hayden

NEXT MONTH – “Rossi and Doohan would have swapped paint”
www.speedcafe.com

Dear Cup Fans,

Please find attached the registration form for season 10 of the Cup. The field will be limited to the first 40
registrations. Your registration is not confirmed until the fee is paid, under 19 at the first round is free
registration.
Race numbers 1, 2 and 3 are reserved for those placed riders from last season in their respective Cup. Any
double up of race numbers will mean using a letter next to your number to identify you for the lap scorers.

Member’s ads are placed free of charge, and will be inserted for 2 Magazines.
     If what you are advertising is sold or bought please advise so the ad can be deleted.
     Display ads are available at the following rates: $17 per half page, $34 per full page, per issue.
     All commercial advertisers are required to pay in advance.
     Contact media@amcc.org.nz.

                                No classifieds this month

Suzuki GS1000 from the workshop of Graeme Crosby

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