Getting up to speed

Three-time speedway world champion Ole Olsen visited Docklands last month, ahead of the upcoming Speedway Grand Prix.
The grand prix will be held at Docklands’ Etihad Stadium on October 24 and Olsen will lead the track construction team, which will consist of six European track specialists.

Olsen will work alongside Etihad Stadium’s arena management team and operations department team in the lead up to the event to source local materials to design and construct the track and safety fence.

Although the stadium has most commonly hosted sporting events such as AFL, soccer and cricket, Olsen said the venue was the perfect location to construct a speedway track.

“Etihad Stadium is one of the biggest venues on the circuit which means we’ll be able to build the largest and quickest track of the grand prix championship series,” he said.

Etihad stadium signed a five-year deal to stage the Australian FIM Speedway Grand Prix in Melbourne with rights holders BSI Speedway in October last year.

Etihad Stadium CEO Paul Sergeant said he was excited to bring more world-class sport to the stadium.

“Bringing FIM Speedway Grand Prix racing to Etihad Stadium has been on our agenda for some time and is a tremendous coup for Melbourne,” Sergeant said.

“We’re looking forward to an exciting five years of SGP action and are in no doubt it will become a hugely popular event due to its spectator atmosphere.”

The event already appears to be acting as a significant attractor to Docklands, with 63 per cent of ticket sales so far coming from outside Victoria and a further 7 per cent internationally.