Former World Champion, Barry Briggs may have hung up his steel shoe many moons ago, but the world famous Kiwi is having to slow down ever so slightly until his latest appointment with the surgeon has healed.

After a lifetime of two wheeled action, Barry had to admit that his hips were wearing out and needed a 10,000 mile service, so off he went to London to have a replacement hip fitted. He tried to get the surgeon to use a ball-joint that he had made himself, a Briggo Mk3, adapted from one of his old Jawas, but the hospital had other ideas.

Following a few weeks recuperation, BB headed back to California to let the warm sunshine help the healing process. So successful was the operation, that Barry was back out on his dirt bike riding in the Californian desert after modifying the brake and gear levers to take the strain off of his new hip. 
The photo shows him relaxing in his armchair on the sundeck of his home overlooking the yacht harbour at Dana Point, but he doesn't sit there for long before he is out riding his motorcycle or mountain bike or just playing a round of golf, retirement has never been so busy.

When I visited Briggo, along with former American legend, "Wild Bill" Cody, he offered us the chance to come riding in the desert with him, nodding towards a couple of rather ancient Kawaski Motocross bikes under a cover. The Kawasakis had seen better days with worn-out suspension and brakes, but in another garage, Barry had a new Yamaha tucked away for his own use. This Yamaha even had an electric starter, so no furious kicking for BB to get that bike started, just sit there and press a button and laugh at his Scottish friend sweating trying to get the Kawasaki fired up.

Fortunately, I didn't have time to go riding as I had to fly back to UK later that day and I didn't fancy being stranded out in the California desert with a broken down motorcycle whilst Briggo disappeared in a cloud of dust chuckling to himself.

Barry isn't the only member of the Briggs family to hit the headlines as son Gary has won the "Salesman of The Year" award for American Rover and was due to fly to London to collect his prize at a glittering gathering of world wide Rover salesmen at a London hotel.  I guess that Gary, who also works as a male model in the U.S., can wow the Americans into buying a Rover. I wonder if he can persuade his dad to buy a new dirt bike for friends visiting from overseas?

Former Cradley favourite, Phil Collins, shown right having swapped his handlebars for a tennis racked, has also settled down on the West Coast of the USA and still throws his leg over a 500cc Speedway bike from time to time. Phil even blasted round for a few laps at the Ivan Mauger
Training School in Northern California much to Ivan's disgust. The six times World Champion had just finished giving advice to his pupils and the track was being graded and watered before Ivan was due to go out to "show-them-how-it's-done", well, the track looked great after grading, but before Sprouts could pull on his famous chequered helmet, P.C. was out of the pit gate and spraying dirt everywhere saying something about ".....The Early Bird Gets The Worm"..

Phil, who looks more like his namesake pop star as the years go by, now lives in Arroyo Grande, a small town near Santa Barbara and, by coincidence, he is a near neighbour of ex-Edinburgh Monarch, Alex Hughson so now they meet up for dinner, trips to Speedway and very competitive games of Tennis, with lots of Speedway gossip thrown in, comparing races, tracks and injuries. They are a long way from the UK, but they are having fun and, as I said earlier, "Old Speedway Riders Never Die, They Just Limp Away.

Bert Harkins

Below on the left ex-Edinburgh Monarch, Alex Hughson partnering Mrs. Harkins and on the right the Briggo's (Barry Briggs) sundeck at his home in Dana Point in California with R to L  Bertola (Bert Harkings), Barry's friend Jan, Fran Cody (wife of 'Wild Bill' Cody) and Briggo.