Confirmation of Continuing Use Rights

Submission to Yass City Council from the Canberra Bulls Speedway Club Inc.
We have approached the Marchmont Racecourse Trust to restore the motorcycle racing track to conform
with Motorcycling NSW safety standards, and conduct coaching, come-and-try-it and competitive race
meetings from time to time at the Reserve.
Motor Cycle Speedway racing events in the Yass area first commenced at the Marchmont Racecourse in
1926, These meetings were organised by the Yass Motor Cycle Club 1. A short circuit track with a right
angle bend in its layout, was added and opened in 1971. The Canberra Times reported “About 3,000
people attended the opening and gate takings were approximately $1,100. One hundred drivers from all
parts of the state attended and took part in the thirty seven event programme.“ As well as motorcycles,
the track proved attractive to small 500cc Formula 500 speedcars, and in 1975 hosted the Australian
Short Circuit Championships with over 100 cars competing.
The popularity of these sports declined during the 1980s, and for a number of years the tracks were more
regularly used by the Yass Car Club. Most recent motorsports activity was a coaching/come-and-try-it
day conducted by members of the ACT Motorcycle Club on 20 July 2009, attended by over twenty riders.
The Trust, however, has maintained the property such that the motorcycle sports could return on a
regular basis if the level of interest returned.
After Australian successes at world championship levels in recent years (Jason Crump, runner-up 2001,
2002, 2003 and 2005, world champion 2004, 2006 and 2009; Chris Holder world champion 2012; Darcy
Ward world U21 champion 2009, 2010) tracks are being built (e.g. Kurri Kurri) or restored (e.g. Appin)
for motorcycle speedway. The final round of the 2015 Speedway Grand Prix attracted over 25,000
spectators – over half from overseas – to Melbourne’s Etihad Stadium in October 2015.
The Canberra Bulls Speedway Club Inc. believe that the restoration of the track and its use to develop
young riders from the Yass region would be timely and beneficial to the region.
The Trust has offered the Canberra Bulls a draft covenant, the key elements of which are as follows:
Marchmont Racecourse Crown Trust would welcome Canberra Bulls as lessees of the grounds ….
Permitted Use: To conduct motor cycle training and races.
Part 1
Particulars of the Reserve
The Marchmont Racecourse Reserve Trust (hereinafter referred to as the “Trust” being a corporation
constituted under Section 92 of the Crown Lands Act 1989 (herein after referred to as the “Act”) and
being the appointed Trust for the whole of the land within Reserve No.530015_ for Marchmont
Racecourse Notified on 20th August 1913 and situated at Gums Lane, Yass.NSW,:
Part 2
Description of the Premises
1
http://www.speedwayandroadracehistory.com/yass-marchmont-racecourse--motor-racing-circuit.html
Special Conditions
1. Access to the area only through gates marked as “A” and “B”.
2. Vehicular traffic is not permitted on Galloping track except for shortest route between gates “A”
and “B” as indicated on map forming Part2 of schedule 2.
3. Temporary protective surface must be placed on Galloping track between gates “A” and “B” when
training or race sessions are held.
4. All training and race meetings will be conducted in accordance with requirements prescribed by
Motorcycling NSW.
5. No training or race sessions are permitted from mid-February to mid-March to facilitate
preparation and clean-up for Yass Picnic Races.
The Club has accepted the terms of the lease, and wishes to proceed.
The Speedway Club would appreciate the Yass Valley Council’s support for this lease, and the
opportunities for people of all ages in the Yass region to participate in a sport that has worldwide
recognition, and which Australia has a very proud record of achievement. We have attached a brochure
detailing the background of the Club, and the perceived benefits to the Region.
Please advise us if you require further information.
John Walker (President Canberra Bulls Speedway Club Inc.)
Bringing Speedway
and an Economic Boost to the YASS REGION
Presentation by the
The Canberra Bulls’ Club banner flies proudly behind a rider at the start of the 2013 New Zealand Speedway
Grand Prix, seen by millions around the world on Sky, Fox and Eurosport TV channels.
Cowra-born 18 years-old Todd Kurtz, son of
founding Canberra Bulls rider, Steve, among
the best junior riders in the world, and
already a favourite in British professional
speedway.
Overview
We are the Canberra Bulls Speedway Club Inc. During the 1980s, we developed from a
group of frustrated riders from the ACT and NSW regions from Wagga, Young, Cowra and the
South Coast who had few options other than to travel to Sydney in the often forlorn hope of
getting a race. That is no way to develop your skills in a sport that demands the highest level of
performance, and which holds the promise of a professional international career to those who
reach the top. We found that by running our own meetings at tracks in the ACT and around
southern NSW, we could develop the skills we needed and have a lot of fun at the same time.
Several of our riders reached international levels.
Sadly, with tracks closing all around us, we eventually had to fold, and our region has not
seen professionally conducted speedway racing since the 1980s However, the sport is currently
experiencing growth based on a very high profile in world rankings. In recent years, Australians
have held the senior Solo Speedway Individual and Team World Championships, the Under-21 Solo
World Championship, and the Speedway Sidecar World Championships.
Currently, would-be speedway riders from our region have to travel to Penrith, Kurri Kurri,
Tamworth or Bega (NSW), Mildura or Broadford (Vic), or even Gillman (S.A.) and a purpose built,
properly-run, track in our region would certainly be an attractive option.
The Canberra Bulls Speedway Club was a successful and innovative Club in the 1980s, and
has been revived to again develop young riders from the region. We see the opportunity to build
and operate a track at Yass as an essential step in this direction. Yass Speedway will be the entry
point for young riders, who will be coached by our qualified team of former riders and officials.
The benefits to Yass include:




a significantly enhanced profile amongst the motor-sports communities in New South
Wales and the ACT,
increased tourist income from the competitors and spectators who would come to the
town for the race and practice meetings,
an exciting range of new opportunities for young Yass district riders to learn and
compete in the sport, and
an exciting new venue for spectators who love the thrills and spills of the sport.
Bulls Roar!
Motorcycle speedway racing attracts an unusually eclectic mix of spectator types, from the
“rev-heads”, who live on the smell of burnt methanol and know every detail of the technology of
the sports, to sports tragics who support every team that has their team’s logo on its uniform, to
youngsters who just love the thrills and spills of the racing. In a recent letter of support, Formula
One racing driver Mark Webber wrote:
“I have many fond memories of growing up in Queanbeyan and heading to Tralee
Stadium during the speedway season, and watching the fantastic racing of the
Canberra Bulls. The Bulls certainly were an important part of Canberra's motorsports
scene and I believe this has sadly declined since Tralee closed its doors”.
Competitors generally learn to ride speedway bikes, which are highly specialised and have
no gears or brakes, in their early teens, so at one extreme, speedway can provide a very useful and
educational distraction for teenagers (of both sexes), and at the other end of the scale it can be the
beginnings of a very lucrative and exciting career as a professional speedway rider. Mark Webber
again:
“Learning motor sports as a kid has afforded me huge opportunities in life and I have
been fortunate enough …. to be able to enjoy a successful career within the sport”.
Australian Speedway World Champions, such as Jason Crump and Chris Holder, often race in
the British, Swedish and Polish Speedway Leagues, and are amongst Australia’s highest earning
sports stars.
In the 1980s, the Canberra Bulls were a feature of ACT Sport, attracting substantial crowds
numbering several thousands to Tralee Stadium and receiving considerable coverage in the local
1
media – particularly the Canberra Times and the Queanbeyan Age . The Canberra Bulls Speedway
Club was formed during 1980, and was based at Tralee until 1985, when the track preparation,
favouring the then-popular sprintcars, made it too dangerous to race motorcycles. In this period,
the club was the driving force behind inter-city teams racing in south eastern Australia, competing
regularly against teams from Sydney, Liverpool, Newcastle, Wollongong, Melbourne and
Shepparton.
The Sydney and Victorian teams line up with the Bulls, prior to the first meet at Young.
1. The story of the Bulls is at http://www.canberrabullsspeedway.org.au/.
Left: Placegetters in the 1981 NSW Junior
Championships
Ray Dole (3rd), Jim Burdfield (1st) and Tony
Abson (2nd).
Right: The Bulls Team 1981
Below: Tony Abson leads Jim Burdfield,
Peter Devitt and Steve Baghurst
Three of the many photos that made the Canberra Times Sports pages in the 1980s
Some of the great names of world speedway came and raced in front of Canberra speedway
fans during this period, including Nigel Boocock, Tommy Knudsen, Billy Sanders, Denis Sigalos and
Bobby Schwarz, and World Champions Phil Collins, Michael Lee, Ole Olsen and Kenny Carter.
While the Club’s main focus in the 1980s was on solo speedway, one local sidecar rider –
Barry Boulding – also featured on the programmes at Tralee, with female passenger Michelle
Buckingham. In those days, females were very rare in speedway. Sidecars also featured in season
1991-92, racing for the ACT Championships and the Leedon Cup.
Barry Boulding and Michelle Buckingham at Tralee in 1981
It is now many years since enthusiasts from our region were able to attend motorcycle
speedway at a local track. Tralee closed its doors in the 1990s. Without a local track, the Canberra
Bulls’ riders were forced, once again, to look for race opportunities interstate. The region currently
plays no role in Australian speedway racing, although Cowra’s Todd Kurtz – son of former
Canberra Bull, Steve Kurtz – is now one of Australia’s brightest under-21 prospects, and Appinbased Chris Holder—son of 1980s opposition Sydney rider Mick—was the 2013 World Solo
Champion.
The Current Club
On 3rd January 2009, a Canberra Bulls reunion was held at the Club Macquarie, Boolaroo,
Newcastle.
We used the occasion of the first round of the 2009 Australian Solo Speedway
Championships, being held at the Newcastle Showgrounds. Most of the original core members of
the Bulls from the 1980s managed to attend, with others sending their apologies. Apart from some
grey or misplaced hair, expanding waistlines and other evidence of good living, it was hard to
believe that twenty years had gone by since we were last together as a team.
The photo album, scrap-book and battle-scarred race jackets helped to jog the memories.
Just like in the good old days, everyone was mercilessly bagging everyone else, but the
overwhelming theme of the day was the pride in actually achieving something special, something
against the odds, in spite of officialdom, in spite of clay tracks. And, having had a great time doing
it.
The 2009 Reunion Team: -
Former Bulls’ Captain, Jim Burdfield, with John Walker
and the new Club Banner.
L-R Back row - John Walker, Ian Wedgwood, Tony Abson,
Scott McClean, Jim Burdfield;
L-R Front row - Mark Maybury, Steve Baghurst, Steve Kurtz.
The memories recalled during this reunion prompted an attempt to bring together all those
interested in reviving the Bulls, and a renewed search for a track to bring speedway back to the
Canberra region.
Through the public notices in the Canberra Times and some concerted
th
networking, a core group of enthusiasts, including several former Bulls riders, assembled on 4
June 2009 at the Harmonie Club in Narrabundah.
Members of the new club included not only solo speedway enthusiasts, but also former
sidecar speedway riders, bringing a whole new dimension to the Club. A Committee was formed,
the Club was formally established as an ACT Incorporated Association, and an agenda was set
down, including as its primary goal finding a race venue in the Canberra district. Several of our
members are already active in the racing calendar, showing the flag for the Bulls.
Centre: Adam Thompson and
Del Levy
Above: Dave Clifton in the
Veterans races
Below: James
Dimmock with
former World
Champion Jason
Crump
Above: James Dimmock
Below: Pat McLaughlin
We are keen to establish the Canberra Region as the pre-eminent speedway centre in
Australia. A track at Yass is an essential step in the right direction. We know we have considerable
support, both from the controlling bodies, including Motorcycling Australia and Motorcycling
NSW, and from the local community.
We also have already attracted several exciting young riders, including James Dimmock,
Adam Thompson, Del Levy, Jake Schneider and Pat McLaughlin (pictured above). We know that,
in a few years from now, and thanks to the track at Yass, the Canberra Region will be producing
champions, because we have done it before!
Benefits to the Yass Region
Opportunities for young people
Our ambition is to become the engine room of Australian speedway. To do this, we have to focus on
developing young riders, as we did so successfully in the 1980s, when several of the Canberra Bulls reached
professional and semi-professional standards. Motorcycle speedway is a surprisingly low-cost form of racing,
with competitive entry-level machines costing only in the region of $5,000. In recent years, Australian
speedway has benefited greatly from the introduction of junior-level competition, using machines as small as
80cc.
Solo riders as young as ten years old are permitted to ride, under supervision, eventually graduating to
350cc machines and then, when they reach 16 years of age, to the full-sized 500cc bikes. Similar classes are
available for young sidecar riders.
We have the capacity to do this:
 Our membership already includes several of Australia’s top teenage riders – sons of former Canberra
Bulls of the 1980s.
 We have a potential coaching team second to none, with many successful years of racing between
them, on both solo and sidecar bikes.
 We have an impressive network of contacts in speedway around Australia and in Europe, ensuring

that our junior riders get the very best chances of emulating former Bulls’ captain, Jim Burdfield,
and reaching the international professional ranks of the sport.
We have access to the Australian Institute of Sport’s Elite Rider Camps, which provide sport science
education specifically aimed at elite speedway riders.
With these skills on hand, we would focus on providing opportunities to young people in Yass and
surrounding districts. In its approach to the development of young speedway riders, the Club would include:
 machine preparation and maintenance,
 competition rules and regulations,
 racing techniques and skills, and
 track preparation and maintenance.
The benefits to the region therefore include the provision of a wide range of sporting and engineering
skills in a nurturing environment to young people of the region – particularly perhaps those at greatest risk in their difficult teenage years.
Risk-taking amongst juveniles is a very well-known phenomenon, and channelling those behaviours
into more constructive forms of risk-taking can be extremely therapeutic. For example, in contrast to many
other sports, there is no known performance-enhancing drug or procedure for speedway racing, and there
are considerable disincentives for young competitors in speedway to engage in these types of behaviours,
including significant loss of performance.
Learning how to maintain and race a speedway bike can also lead to a range of rewarding professions,
even for those who eventually choose not to aim for the elite end of the sport.
Economic impact of visitors and TV coverage
Mark Webber observes that “Overseas, speedway racing helps drive significant regional interest and
seems to be gaining increasing coverage in the media. … I believe the benefits to the district are quite
apparent.”.
Twenty five thousand people attended the Speedway Grand Prix at Etihad Stadium Melbourne in October
2015.
Our Plan
The obvious primary requirement for the Canberra Bulls’ successful re-introduction of motorcycle
speedway in the Canberra region is a track. As the ability to run practice and coaching sessions is vital to the
long-term success of the Club, our first concern is to identify a track where we can conduct these types of
activities, regardless of the level of spectator facilities. What we have in mind eventually is a track in the
Canberra area where we can put on professional-standard racing, attracting spectators from the large
population base, and a “feeder” track where we can develop young riders, giving them coaching and
competition opportunities in a more informal setting. We believe that the Yass track could play a very
important role in our dream.
Our primary purpose would be to construct a senior track of around 300m and a junior track of 150m.
The area would first be tidied up, and made safe for competitors and spectators, the tracks – of decomposed
granite or similar – would be prepared, and then we would need to get them inspected and licensed by
Motorcycling NSW. Given the extensive areas around the track, we expect that safety fencing would be
limited to the spectator areas, but this would have to be agreed with MNSW. Once all this is done, we would
be in a position to run “come-and-try-it” days and race meetings.
We expect to attract solo and sidecar riders from around NSW, as well as local Yass and Canberra riders,
since there is a shortage of tracks across the State. There are classes for age groups from 10 years to veterans,
and there are now growing numbers of women attracted to the sport.
We would also propose to encourage other types of small speedway machines, including Dirt-Karts and
Formula 500 cars as these do not impact on track conditions in ways that pose dangers for the bikes. Our
experience is that the larger sprintcars and sedans would be incompatible with our purposes.
Noise Issues
We are aware that motor sports can impact on local residents, particularly in terms of noise. In 2013,
the Club had a preliminary acoustic investigation conducted into the potential noise issues, based on a site
that could potentially have hosted our sport. Conducted by Acoustic Logic Consultancy, the review
investigated the suitable acoustic criteria by which noise from speedway should be assessed in the ACT, and
the potential compliance with the noise level criteria in the event the speedway is to be located at that site.
We chose the particular site on the basis that the results would almost inevitably apply to any other potential
site in the ACT, and that the regulations imposed in the ACT mirrored those in force in NSW.
Zone Noise Standard dB(A) L10
Noise Zone
ACT Zone G (residential areas)
Mon – Sat
Mon – Sat
7am – 10pm 10pm – 7am
45
35
Sun and Public
holidays
8am – 10pm
45
Sun and Public
holidays
10pm – 8am
35
Their conclusions are based on the assumption that up to 5 bikes would be on track at any one time
with races typically being approximately 2 minutes in length, with up to 15 races in any given hour. The
speedway events would also be required to operate not later than 10pm.
As part of this assessment a desktop model was undertaken which would provide the typically
expected L10 dB(A) noise levels at surrounding receivers. The inputs included a model without any barrier
and a model with a barrier to the western side of the speedway—the only side where residential development
exists. The nearest residential premises at this site are approximately 200m from the nearest part of the
speedway track., which is similar to the circumstances at the Yass site
The test concluded that the noise from speedway at 200m from the track would be approximately 66 dB(A)
L10 without barrier and 59 dB(A) L10 with barrier. At 400m from the track, noise levels would be only around
50 dB(A)10
The Club believes that this Report demonstrates that noise issues are manageable.
Recommended Reading/Browsing List
Canberra Bulls, Speedway—Review of Speedway Noise, Acoustic Logic, Sydney, 2013.
Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, FIM Standards for Track Racing Circuits (STRC), FIM, Geneva, 2010.
Greyhound Derby, http://www.greyhoundderby.com/Brief History of British Speedway.htm
Hoskins, I., History of the Speedway Hoskins, Vintage Speedway, Clipsham, 2000.
Motorcycling Australia, 2013 Manual of Motorcycle Sport, Motorcycling Australia, Melbourne, 2013
Patrick, M., Speedway through the Lens of Mike Patrick, Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2003.
Shepherd, J., A History of Australian Speedway, Frew Publications, Sydney, 2003.
Speedway Grand Prix, http://speedwaygp.com/.
Canberra Bulls Speedway Club, http://www.canberrabullsspeedway.org.au/
World Speedway, http://www.worldspeedway.com/.
Foxtel “Speed” Channel—Speedway Grands Prix and British Elite League Speedway.
Bringing Speedway
and an Economic Boost
to the YASS REGION
The benefits to Yass include:




a significantly enhanced profile amongst the motor-sports communities in New South Wales and
the ACT
increased tourist income from the competitors and spectators who would come to the town for the
race and practice meetings,
an exciting range of new opportunities for young Yass district riders to learn and compete in the
sport.
an exciting new venue for spectators who love the thrills and spills of the sport.