North Arm Speedway
After the 1984/85 season, bikes were off the program at Speedway Park following safety concerns after the death of rider Kevin O'Connell on 25 January 1985.O'Connell had been killed after he hit the speedway's concrete retaining wall which offered no protection to riders or passengers.The record he broke had been set in Heat 1 of the championship by reigning South Aussie Champ Craig Hodgson who won in a time of 59.11 seconds.This meeting also saw the crash which almost ended the career of Australia's former World #3 from 1990, Todd Wiltshire who suffered a multiple back injuries and broken pelvis which force him to retire at age 23 though he did make a successful comeback in 1997.North Arm Speedway's spectator capacity was pushed to the limit on a number of occasions including test Matches between Australia with riders such as Phil Crump, Todd Wiltshire, Leigh Adams and local riders Shane Parker, Scott Norman and Shane Bowes taking on visiting 'teams' such as a "Rest of the World" team in 1990 including Gary Havelock of England, Mitch Shirra of New Zealand, and Shawn Moran of the United States (while the injured Sam Ermolenko was guest commentator on the night).They faced a South Australian Select team in their visit to North Arm on 28 December 1990 with the locals, strengthened by 'ring-ins' Dennis Löfqvist from Sweden and David Norris from England (resident North Arm international riders) defeating the Russians 53–37 in a match closer than the score suggests.Twenty-year-old Gary Havelock from England (the 1992 World Champion) spent the 1987/88 Australian season based at North Arm, while 2010 World Champion Tomasz Gollob from Poland (along with his brother Jacek who made a number of appearances), made North Arm his Aussie home during 1994/95.