After a summer of speedway in the UK, Briggo is on the verge of his latest adventure having arrived back down-under to take part in what is described as New Zealand’s motorcycling event of the year, The Burt Munro Challenge.
Following the success of the 2005 movie about Burt Munro's inspirational life – “The World’s Fastest Indian”, the Southland Motorcycle Club created the challenge to honour Burt, his ingenuity, determination, and love of speed and motorcycles.
It is now one of New Zealand's major motorsport events and has been steadily growing a strong local, national and International following. This year it will feature several current and former Kiwi World Champions and Briggo will be among them.
Five events take place from 23 to the 27 November and at an amazing seventy six years young Barry has signed up for the lot, either as a competitor or in demonstrations.
The events start on Wednesday 23 November with a 1000 metre Long Track meeting with speeds reaching in excess of a 100mph. The following day is the Bluff Road Hill Climb before Beach Racing takes centre stage on Friday 25th at the now famous Oreti Beach, well documented as ‘Burts Beach’. It was here that the legendary Kiwi laid his testing and race strip.
Briggo reckons that this could be his highlight of the week, if he gets the chance to ride on Burt’s original Indian bike. If not, on one of the copy bikes built for the ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ film. His biggest problem will be to get his new left knee to bend enough to fit into Burt’s stream-lining!
Saturday 26th is the Teretonga Road Race by day and that evening will herald Speedway Night at Oreti Speedway where Briggo intends to attack and break the track record (even if he has to bend the rules to do it!)
The Final event takes place on Sunday 27th at Wyndham where the action returns to road racing.
To get back his competitive edge, Barry must pull a master trick on his sub-conscious, to fool his aging body into once again being able to focus, judge and calculate in split seconds at speeds in excess of 100mph.
Why would Briggo want to put it all back on the line once again? Maybe, there’s a simple answer. Still lurking inside him is the 17-year-old kid who travelled halfway round the world from New Zealand seeking fame and fortune, and he’s trying to break-out once again.
The Week starts on a high note with the city of Invercargill honouring Burt by unveiling a life-sized bronze statue of him and his beloved 1920 Indian Scout motorcycle, on which he established his world land speed records.
Over 15,000 motorcyclists are expected to converge on Invercargill to participate in this very special event.