Bruce Ovenden

Bruce Ovenden passed away at the end of last month in a care home in his native New Plymouth. He was one of Trevor Redmond’s original septet that brought speedway back to Glasgow’s White City in 1964 after an eight year absence. He had had a couple of years riding at Palmerston North, Napier and latterly New Plymouth, prior to coming to the UK.

He had a fairly dramatic start to his British career. A first ride fall on his debut left him with a broken forks and he couldn’t come to grips with borrowed bikes and failed to score. However he managed a heat win in the second half. The Tigers were at Sheffield the following night and his van, which also had Maury Mattingley’s bike and leathers, broke down en route.  He managed to hire a replacement car and pulled out the back seat to take the bikes, but arrived after heat seven by which time Tigers were 35–7 down. Furious Sheffield promoter Frank Varey refused to let him ride. So a gross loss on his first two meetings!

However the long White City track seemed to suit his style and he settled into some good scores there, notably 7+4 against Newcastle. His crash in the derby meeting with Edinburgh in early June is remembered to this day. He was chasing Bill Landels, who was never the smoothest of stylists and the Monarch got into trouble coming out of the fourth bend, catching his footrest in the fence. This caused him to fall right into Bruce’s path. Fortunately he managed to avoid the sprawling Landels but ploughed into his bike, which threw him up in the air. Landels sustained damaged knee ligaments and Bruce a broken collarbone in a crash, which hardened observers reckoned could have been much worse. Landels helmet, split right down the middle was a testament to this.

No ambulances in these days and he was driven to the local hospital where he was told there would be two hours to wait. He coolly went out to the nearest pub for a beer. And the nurses were not too pleased when he returned well refreshed.

However it meant a spell on the sidelines and with the Tigers toiling with an injury crisis, notably losing Chris Julian with a fractured skull, he was pressed to return well before he was fully fit, which, in hindsight, meant it probably took longer to recapture his preinjury form, although by August he was again scoring well in Glasgow, earning a Scottish “cap” in the Glasgow test match against England.

He was due to ride for The Rest of the World against Scotland in the season finale but with Maury Mattingley being stuck in the Gatwick fog, he was “transferred” to Scotland for the night.

He bravely wintered in the UK though it is believed he decamped to warmer climes ob the south coast of England. He was based in Manchester for 1965, staying with Graham Coombes family and was part of the Tigers team that led the BL in early May.

His engine blew quite spectacularly during the home defeat by Oxford with it blowing out his frame and bouncing into the fence. He missed a few meetings that summer being on the injured list with broken toes but returned in time to help the Tigers beat Edinburgh to win the Scottish Cup.

The Tigers were at Wimbledon on a Saturday night in September and Trevor Redmond got the Supporters Club to pay for the team to travel out on the plane he had chartered to fly the GB team out to Germany for the World Team Cup. Bruce was hugely impressed by how much beer they got from the handful of deutschemarks that manager Redmond had given them. The plane was decidedly low budget and in helping Charlie Monk recline his seat he only succeeded in pulling it out of its mooring and ripping a hole in the floor. A few weeks later Bruce bade farewell to Glasgow, returning home. He rode briefly back in New Zealand before retiring and running motorcycle and car dismantler businesses amongst other ventures..

Although nearly sixty years since he was in Glasgow, he is fondly remembered as a friendly and affable guy who always had time to speak to supporters and sign autographs.