Riders roared down the streets

Sixty years ago, the streets of Geraldton echoed with mechanical thunder.

Round The Houses racing was motor racing on suburban streets, and Geraldton Motorcycle Club organised its own spectacular for Australia Day, 1955.

The races on the holiday weekend attracted 36 entrants, most of them highly-ranked riders from Perth, with a local contingent of Geraldton riders including Frank Boneham, Ron Davis, Brian Wright, Keith Phillipson, Jim Power, Athol Bensley, Stewart Clarkson and Barry Crisp.

From the start-finish line in Marine Terrace, in front of Geraldton Yacht Club, the course turned left into Gregory Street, left into Augustus Street, left into Durlacher Street, left into Sanford Street, right into Fitzgerald Street then left back into Marine Terrace to the finish line.

As this image from Geraldton Historical Society’s archive show, riders were not the only daring ones, as spectators were often very close to the fast-moving bikes.

Fast they certainly were — the `star attraction was Perth rider G Scott (first name unknown) who, according to a preview in The Guardian, had “performed very creditably against World Champion Geoff Duke OBE” in a recent event.

Scott set a fastest lap of 2min 11sec in the 500cc senior scratch race before retiring with carburettor problems.

A faulty exhaust valve then saw him retire from the principal event, the Geraldton Unlimited Handicap, but not before he had lowered the lap record by another two seconds at an average speed of 62.7mp/h (100.9km/h).

Two more Round the Houses were held in Geraldton, in 1973 and 75, before safety concerns saw such events become “reliability trials”.