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North Arm Speedway
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North Arm Speedway
North Arm Speedway was the first dedicated motorcycle speedway ever built in Adelaide, South Australia and was located in the industrial suburb of Gillman. It was run by the Speedway Riders' Association of South Australia and ran from 1981 until its forced closure in 1997.
North Arm Speedway was South Australia's first dedicated senior Solo and Sidecar track. Previous tracks (other than the Wayville Showgrounds in the late 1920s and early 1930s which ran before car speedway became popular) in both Adelaide and around the state had generally catered to both bikes and cars.
The speedway was opened on Sunday 26 July 1981, by the Speedway Riders' Association on land owned by the South Australian Government. Following the closure of Rowley Park Speedway in April 1979, the only Dirt track racing venue in Adelaide was the new Speedway Park, which has a clay surface, something that suited the increasingly popular car racing, but not motorcycle speedway. Despite the bikes racing in the early years at Speedway Park, the nearest speedway to Adelaide which suited bike racing was some 80 km away at the Riverview Speedway in Murray Bridge, which during the speedway season (generally October to April) only ran meetings every second Saturday night. With many of South Australia's riders based in Adelaide, the decision was made to build a motorcycle only venue in Adelaide with a Dolomite surface where weekly meetings could be run.
The track itself was approximately 280 metres (310 yards) in length, which while considered small by Australian track standards (when it was built, most Aussie speedways were usually 350-550m in length as most run cars as well as bikes with Speedway Park itself being 430 metres (470 yards) long), it was roughly the same length as most tracks in Britain where most of the top riders rode professionally. The safety fence was a 2m high chain mesh fence on top of a 1 ft high wooden retaining fence. Lights were eventually installed for night meetings in 1985, although spectator capacity was only around 5,000 (more with extra seating for Australian Championship meetings).
Due to North Arm's relatively small spectator capacity, and its lack of lights for night racing, both the Australian Sidecar Championship and the Australian Solo Championship were awarded to Speedway Park with its capacity to comfortably hold over 10,000 spectators in both 1982 and 1983 respectively.
When it first opened North Arm Speedway held regular Sunday afternoon meetings so as not to compete with Speedway Park which ran Friday nights and had the bikes on the program, and also to avoid clashing with meetings at the Riverview Speedway. South Australian riders would regularly race three days per week at home, something most experienced when racing in the British Leagues during the Australian winter months.
After the 1984/85 season, bikes were off the program at Speedway Park following safety concerns after the death of rider Kevin O'Connell on 25 January 1985. O'Connell had been killed after he hit the speedway's concrete retaining wall which offered no protection to riders or passengers. With the bikes no longer competing at Speedway Park, lights were installed at North Arm in 1985 and the speedway began holding regular Friday night meetings from 1985/86 which lasted until the speedway's closure. During the winter of 1986 the pits at North Arm were also re-located. Originally they were outside the back straight but were moved to outside of the front straight behind the control tower (which also incorporated the announcers box). The old pits became car parking while Turn 3 for the solo's (Turn 2 for the sidecars) became known as the Old Pits Corner.
From 1983 until it closed in 1997 North Arm became the regular host of the South Australian Solo and Sidecar championships, hosting the Solo title 10 times. The only other tracks to host the SA Solo title during this period were the Westline Speedway in Whyalla (1986/87) and Riverview Speedway (1984/85, 1987/88, 1990/91).
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North Arm Speedway
North Arm Speedway was the first dedicated motorcycle speedway ever built in Adelaide, South Australia and was located in the industrial suburb of Gillman. It was run by the Speedway Riders' Association of South Australia and ran from 1981 until its forced closure in 1997.
North Arm Speedway was South Australia's first dedicated senior Solo and Sidecar track. Previous tracks (other than the Wayville Showgrounds in the late 1920s and early 1930s which ran before car speedway became popular) in both Adelaide and around the state had generally catered to both bikes and cars.
The speedway was opened on Sunday 26 July 1981, by the Speedway Riders' Association on land owned by the South Australian Government. Following the closure of Rowley Park Speedway in April 1979, the only Dirt track racing venue in Adelaide was the new Speedway Park, which has a clay surface, something that suited the increasingly popular car racing, but not motorcycle speedway. Despite the bikes racing in the early years at Speedway Park, the nearest speedway to Adelaide which suited bike racing was some 80 km away at the Riverview Speedway in Murray Bridge, which during the speedway season (generally October to April) only ran meetings every second Saturday night. With many of South Australia's riders based in Adelaide, the decision was made to build a motorcycle only venue in Adelaide with a Dolomite surface where weekly meetings could be run.
The track itself was approximately 280 metres (310 yards) in length, which while considered small by Australian track standards (when it was built, most Aussie speedways were usually 350-550m in length as most run cars as well as bikes with Speedway Park itself being 430 metres (470 yards) long), it was roughly the same length as most tracks in Britain where most of the top riders rode professionally. The safety fence was a 2m high chain mesh fence on top of a 1 ft high wooden retaining fence. Lights were eventually installed for night meetings in 1985, although spectator capacity was only around 5,000 (more with extra seating for Australian Championship meetings).
Due to North Arm's relatively small spectator capacity, and its lack of lights for night racing, both the Australian Sidecar Championship and the Australian Solo Championship were awarded to Speedway Park with its capacity to comfortably hold over 10,000 spectators in both 1982 and 1983 respectively.
When it first opened North Arm Speedway held regular Sunday afternoon meetings so as not to compete with Speedway Park which ran Friday nights and had the bikes on the program, and also to avoid clashing with meetings at the Riverview Speedway. South Australian riders would regularly race three days per week at home, something most experienced when racing in the British Leagues during the Australian winter months.
After the 1984/85 season, bikes were off the program at Speedway Park following safety concerns after the death of rider Kevin O'Connell on 25 January 1985. O'Connell had been killed after he hit the speedway's concrete retaining wall which offered no protection to riders or passengers. With the bikes no longer competing at Speedway Park, lights were installed at North Arm in 1985 and the speedway began holding regular Friday night meetings from 1985/86 which lasted until the speedway's closure. During the winter of 1986 the pits at North Arm were also re-located. Originally they were outside the back straight but were moved to outside of the front straight behind the control tower (which also incorporated the announcers box). The old pits became car parking while Turn 3 for the solo's (Turn 2 for the sidecars) became known as the Old Pits Corner.
From 1983 until it closed in 1997 North Arm became the regular host of the South Australian Solo and Sidecar championships, hosting the Solo title 10 times. The only other tracks to host the SA Solo title during this period were the Westline Speedway in Whyalla (1986/87) and Riverview Speedway (1984/85, 1987/88, 1990/91).