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Mauger Motorsports - Press Release.
This year's Long Track Speedway World Championships finale in New Zealand will have a royal flavour.
The son-in-law of Yang Dipertuan Besar, the sultan of Malaysian state Negri Sembilan, Crown Prince Tunku Mudzaffar, will travel to Taranaki for the November 6 event.
“I phoned Tunku Mudzaffar and we chatted for hours,” said the promoter of the New Zealand Grand Prix, nine-times former world speedway champion Ivan Mauger.
“He's very enthusiastic about the trip.
“It's a huge honour for New Zealand, and New Plymouth, for royalty to come to this part of the world. As president of the Asian Motorcycling Union and president of the Automobile Association of Malaysia, Tunku Mudzaffar is also the top-ranked Federation Internationale Motorcycliste (FIM) official in the Southern Hemisphere.
“He will have official duties in that he will present the world champion with his gold medal. This will be done at the GP National Motorcycle Show, inside the TSB Stadium, about an hour after the track-side trophy presentations at Pukekura Raceway.”
Mauger said this was rare because the sport's governing body, the FIM, usually made medal presentations, to the world champions in all bike codes, at the annual congress, this year set for Monaco. The New Zealand speedway GP is the final world championship event of this season.
The Crown Prince may join up to 100 other keen golfers, the speedway riders among them, who will be grouped into 25 teams of four for the tournament. Because his overseas trips are arranged for him, the Crown Prince was unable to confirm whether he will be able to arrive a few days early to take part in the GP golf tournament organised for the Ngamotu course on the Wednesday (November 3)
The Crown Prince will be joined in his official duties by Italian Renzo Giannini, the FIM's track racing commissioner.
