Benwar Brownle did it for dad

Kihikihi Speedway's star junior solo bike rider, 12-year-old Benwar Brownlee, rode the races of his life at the weekend in tribute to his dad Rowan.

Benwar won the junior class of the Auckland Solo Speedway Championship at Rosebank Speedway on Sunday.

Behind this victory is the sad story that he was there without his father, who was killed while riding his motorcycle two days before.

Benwar elected to race at Rosebank on the motorcycle his father had spent hours re-building and tuning especially for the meeting.

The Honda 200-powered speedway bike suffered engine damage in practice the week before and Mr Brownlee had toiled all week to make sure his boy's bike was ready to race.

Kihikihi Speedway solo bike representative Geoff Boxell has been fully involved in Benwar's career since the start.

He says his father was fully committed to the talented youngster, and on the day Mr Brownlee died they had been communicating about getting together to do some more fine tuning on the engine and making sure everything was in place for the weekend meet.

Benwar's family, together with the Kihikihi and Rosebank Speedway Clubs, are determined that his great talent as a speedway rider continues to be encouraged, knowing that his father was so proud of him and it is what he would have wanted.

The funeral for Mr Brownlee was held yesterday.