Riders to Remember....Bruce Cribb
By Tracy Holmes

Bruce Cribb

I will never forget the first time I saw Cribby. Early 70's, Gisborne, NZ. He had taken on Freddie Timmo, Colin Farquharson, Bob Andrews, John Goodall, Jim Wells, Mike Fullerton... What a night!

I took my programme into the pits and got his autograph. He towered above me, scrawled his name and walked into the night. With all that hair, he could have walked right into any one of my brothers LP covers and joined Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin or Jethro Tull. I knew very well who he was and what he had done so far in his career as my trusty Champions Books of Speedway 1 & 2 had told me. League Champion with Poole in 69!

From that night on, I followed his racing exploits closely and was so thrilled when he won the NZ Championship in 72. That may mean very little to outsiders but here, it was big news. He had travelled to Christchurch and beaten the local guns Roger Wright, Graeme Stapleton and Tom Black, on a borrowed bike, to finish the night unbeaten! Brilliant!

Over the NZ seasons, Bruce had also been a regular sight in NZ Test colors, taking on the British Lions, Sweden and even the U.S.A.

Cribby's career in the British League is well documented in Backtrack and the Cradley websites but this is a little piece that looks outside League box. Could Bruce ever be a World Champion? Unlikely BUT a World Champion he became!

Cribby rode for NZ in the World Cup every year from 1974 to 82 and when the Kiwi's won the Gold Medals in 1979, his long service efforts were well rewarded. Then after a 5 year break, Bruce was needed in the same competition, riding for NZ in the 1988 campaign.

Another competition where Bruce got a shot at stardom was the World Pairs Championship. In 1975, NZ was to be represented by Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs. However, Briggo got dinged up and couldn't ride while Mauger chose not to take the selection. So, Cribby got called up alongside Gary Peterson. They went to Frederica in Denmark for the Semi-final where only the first 3 of the 7 teams would join Poland in the Final. Well, they didn't make it. The hosts by Ole Olsen/Bengt Norgaard won with 24 points. 2nd were Sweden, Anders Michanek/Soren Sjosten 22 then Australia by John Boulger/Phil Crump 22. The Kiwis were 4th on 20 points. Pretty close but sadly, not close enough.

It was the same year that a truly bizzare situation occurred that may have robbed Bruce of a shot at a place at Wembley, for the World Speedway Final itself.

In the World Speedway Championship, Bruce had made it to the British Semi-Final stage a few times. If the World Final was at Wembley, the British Final was the last hurdle for Commonwealth riders. In other years, there would be further rounds. A British/Nordic Final then a European Final. But in '75, it was change about. Kiwi and Oz riders would compete in 3 British rounds, then split to a new round, the Intercontinental Final before the European Final. The Poms only would ride in their British Final. Well, only 2 places were made available to NZ in this Intercon... round. And when Barry Briggs was injured in a Longtrack smash, he was seeded direct to one of those spots! It appeared that the Kiwi 'old boy network' was in full steam.

Bruce rode in his 3 qualifying rounds and scored a splendid 34 points out of a possible 45. But this did NOT secure him a place in the next round. Ivan Mauger was brilliant, 45 points the maximum. So he joined Briggo. Now it must be said that Briggs did offer Cribby all of his equipment should he decide not to ride. But, ride he did.

Instead of Bruce lining up at Gothenburg for the biggest meeting of his career, for which his hard earned points had justified, Briggs got himself doctored up and scored a single point! 3rd in round 1, he got smacked-up in the second and was unable to take any further part. This fiasco was a disgrace and poor Bruce was cruelly denied his rightful opportunity to grace the World stage.

Could he have qualified? Not the point. Bruce went into print, "I'm annoyed as any man has been but I've seen what happened to other riders who have shouted their mouths off in public."

In 1976, it was all change again for Australasian riders with their own qualifying rounds in NZ and Australia. But Bruce decided on staying in Europe where he had the opportunity of riding in the World Ice Championships.

Taken from Backtrack, "Bruce qualified for 3 World Ice Finals, although he only remembers his last appearance- at Eindhoven in 1988- for the fact he failed to score a point after suffering from gout in his knee, although he only found out what was causing the problem 4 weeks later."

In the last several years, Bruce has been frightening the life out of people, roaring around tracks on his ice bike, as 'The World's Fastest Maori'. Still the entertainer and still with that wicked but endearing smile.

Looking through the years of his career, it's amazing to see his name linked with Poole, Exeter, Cradley, Bristol, Wolverhampton, Oxford, Berwick and Birmingham, have I missed any?

From his first rides in 1963 to still blasting around in the 2 k's, Deep Purple's hit Black Knight could well be his anthem.

We want to feature similar articles on riders from any era of the sport's rich history. If you'd like to contribute a piece then email us at speedwayplus@hotmail.com or fill out our form here.

Andrew Farrar:

"The Brough Park meeting was in 1984 and was called the "Marlboro Best Pairs". As the Diamonds were British League that season, I think Cribbie only got the invite because he was then doing something of a mini-tour breaking track records on his ice bike."  

 

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