Vic Ctercteko 1932 - Unsung Speedway Hero No 1

This is Victor Ernest Ctercteko from Perth in Western Australia. Vic was one of the pioneer speedway riders who came to the UK in the late 1920s and also rode in the very first meeting at the famous Claremont speedway track in Australia in 1927.

Vic's Grandfather arrived in Australia from Greece back in 1863, allegedly jumping ship so that he didn't have to return. His name was actually Kepeotus, but for some reason it got changed to Ctercteko (pronounced Ter-Chee-Ko) over a period of time. One theory is that his name was mispelt during the process of him becoming a Australian citizen and that is how it stayed. Vic was born on 11th Oct 1909 and began his working life as a motor mechanic. He was also a budding speedway racer and competed at Claremont on its opening night, 10th September 1927. Vic finished in 2nd place in his very first ride (heat 2 of the Handicap event) and his first outright victory came on 15th October 1927 winning the Handicap final.

At some point during his racing career he had a nasty accident and smashed up both of his legs. As a result he was a couple of inches shorter than he would have been and his legs troubled him until he died.

Following the lead of the Australian pioneers who found fame and fortune on the dirt tracks of the UK from 1928 onwards, Vic arrived in the UK around 1930 appearing at Marine Gardens (Edinburgh), Leeds in 1931 and also signed for Wimbledon in 1932. He never really made the grade of the top Australian stars of the time but he did have some success on his travels, notably winning the first ever Workington Track Championship at Lonsdale Park (Cumberland) on 27th August 1932. Vic also rode grass track while in the UK and appeared at the famous Scale Hall (grass) speedway near Lancaster in the same year.

On his return to Australia, Vic joined the Royal Australian Navy as a CPO mechanic and later had his own garage business in Queensland and NSW. He started working for Massey Ferguson in the early 1960s as a rep/instructor/troubleshooter and eventually became a salesman for a Ford dealership.

After he retired he maintained his mechanical interests repairing and rebuilding machinery in his garden workshop. Vic never really spoke of his racing days to his family and once told his son, Neil, that if he wanted to ride the motorcycle he'd just been given have to learn how to fix it first!

Vic finally passed away on 14th Sepember 1992 and deserves his place in speedway history as one of the lesser recognised pioneers of the sport. He was there right at the start in Australia and travelled halfway round the world to thrill the UK audiences too.