Special celebrations at Maitland Showground next Friday Dec 15, 100 years to
the day that Speedway as it is known today ran at Maitland Showground and then
went to the world. Johnnie Hoskins, the Secretary of the financially strapped
West Maitland Show Society came up with the idea to stage a night of Speedway
Bike Racing on the arena’s loose dirt surface. And Speedway was born. The rest
is history, he then took the concept to Newcastle, then Sydney Showground in
July 1926 and then Brisbane and Perth. Evolving into the longest running
motorsport world championship, first run in front of 70,000 fans at Wembley
Stadium in 1936 and won by an Aussie. So next Friday a huge celebration at
Maitland Showground with more than 1000 historic solo bikes, sidecars, and
midget racers along with speedway greats doing demonstrations, with a special
meet at Kurri Kurri Speedway the next night.

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