PETER KELLY

Former popular Bandit of over 50 years ago, Peter Kelly, has passed away on 2 January in a Christchurch, New Zealand Rest Home aged 87. The news was broken by Peter’s son David who also lives in New Zealand.

The sincere condolences of all at Berwick Speedway go to Peter’s wife Moira and all the family.

Peter was born in Manchester in 1935 and his speedway career saw him race for Stoke, Belle Vue, Bradford, Newcastle and Berwick among others and he was also capped by England.

He made his debut for Berwick under the promotion of Liz and Ken Taylor, on 8 July 1969 at Nelson,  having come in from Newcastle Diamonds.

However, ironically it wasn’t to be a debut as it was deemed by the authorities that he had not been eligible to ride! Bandits had won that one 42.5-34.5 with Peter scoring 8 from 3 finishes! The heats were amended and victory went to Nelson 39.5-37.5.

So Peter’s official debut came the following week at home to Teesside.

Peter rode in 68 official matches for Berwick between 1969 and 1971 with his three seasonal averages reading as 7.93: 7.28 and 5.77.

Original Photo courtesy of John Somerville