Michael Oosthuizen in action
MICHAEL Oosthuizen had never sat on a speedway bike, much less ridden it around a track. But he admits: “I have always
dreamed of doing it.” Michael isn’t your usual customer at a Ride ‘n’ Slide Dayz Experience and for him it really was something very, very special. He revealed: “I have been diagnosed as terminally ill with liver cancer. I don’t know how long I have – I told the doctor that I didn’t want to know. Unfortunately, it is what it is.” Michael, who saw his first meeting when he was growing up in South Africa, moved to Britain in 2000 and would go to watch Coventry as regularly as he could.
He said: “I have always wanted to have a go on a speedway bike and this is my dream. “When I was seven, my dad took me to my first speedway, to a track just outside Johannesburg. It was a country track and I don’t even know what it was called. “I came here when I was 16, I’m 33 now and I went to watch
Coventry quite a few times but I watched it more on TV, obviously living in Northampton there’s no speedway team or track. “I got diagnosed with cancer in 2012, I have had five major operations, I was on chemo for six months and it didn’t work. “Now I’m at the stage where
there’s no more they can do.” Except live the dream – and fulfil his own personal ambition, which he has now done.
So how did it feel by the end of the day? “It’s awesome. I just wanted to sit on a speedway bike and feel what it’s like to go round. If I slide, it’s a bonus. “I did one round of the 125 and then I went on a 250. It feels so quick, the acceleration is so quick. “It’s hard to explain how I feel, just amazing, it’s absolutely amazing.
“This was top of the list, people say do a bucket list but I never have, and all I wanted to do was ride a speedway bike.
“Oh man, I loved it. The start is amazing, such an adrenaline rush!”
For more on Michael’s amazing story and the Ride ‘n’ Slide Dayz, see this week’s
speedwaystar
www.speedwaystar.net In print or for online and app. speedwaystar
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42
