1612 DT final

Farewell Syringa
S t o r y C l i v e S t r u g n e l l / P i c s c o u r t e s y Z e n B i r k b y , I a n M c l a r e n a n d l o t s o f f r i e n d s …
Syringa has a special place in the hearts
of thousands of motocross riders and
fans. It’s one of those places which just
seemed to have a life of its’ own. In many
ways Syringa was a lot like Kyalami. It
was the home of off-road racing since the
early sixties. In the beginning cars and
bikes both raced there, and it was always
an exciting place to be. The early race
cars, like Ken Gillibrand’s “Soggy Mango”
and John Smith’s famous “Baja Bug”
were legends.
The late Steve Swanepoel, well known
as “Suzukiman” also raced there in a
VW racing beach buggy long before he
became well-known in the motorcycle
industry.
The founder of Syringa Spa, as it was
known then, Jannie Stander, was a South
African motorcycle road racing champion.
More significantly he was Johannesburg’s
second Yamaha dealer. His shop was
called “Racing Motors” and Jannie was
instrumental in launching the careers of
many famous road racers, many of whom
became SA champions themselves. One
of the best known was Tommy Johns,
an appy in Jannie’s shop. Jannie put him
on an early 250 Yamaha racebike, and
despite not even having a motorcycle
license, Tommy ruled the racetrack at the
time, and then went on to become even
more famous as Yamaha South Africa’s
technical manager.
When Yamaha off-road bikes, and in
particular their MX race bikes arrived
on the scene Jannie knew that racing
was the best way to promote them and
soon his off road race track was home
to not only to local MX races, but to
national and even international events..
In the off road community Syringa was
definitely as important and as famous as
Kyalami. Jannie climbed in boots and all,
and even sat on the National Motocross
Committee.
Grant Maben, one of the 1970’s
South African MX superstars, put into
words the essence of what Syringa was
back in those day when Dave Petersen
interviewed him at Syringa’s last event:
Grant said “ Syringa wasn’t just
for the riders, it was for all of us”. He
was referring to a whole generation
of youngsters growing up in that era.
“Syringa was the place we all learned
who we were, and where we grew up. It
was the place where we raced hard and
played hard, where we learned to live and
love. We weren’t out on the streets and in
the clubs, we were racing. And it wasn’t
only motocross…from this place we
made our plans to ride in events like the
Roof of Africa. We met riders from all over
the world, and from there our dreams
of racing internationally also grew. Look
how many of our World Champions and
famous riders learned their skills here.
There will never be another place quite
like Syringa” Such heartfelt words
indeed, and who better to say them than
Grant Maben. Even though his racing
career was cut short by a tragic road
accident, he is still the inspiration for
many, many of our best riders.
After Jannie senior passed on, Syringa
remained in the family, and most recently
was revived and renewed under the
curatorship of his son, Jannie Jnr. The
track itself was redone, most recently
managed by Grant Foley to an astonishing
standard, and was the favourite of another
new generation riders and fans. By now
everyone knows the events leading to the
decision of the Stander family to sell the
property and finally say good bye to the
famous MX track.
A blast from the past... some very famous old faces...
Bruce Joelson from Elna sponsored a huge amount
of Motorcycle stuff. This is Russ Campbells Maico.
Chris Brand, Greg Wilson and Deon Du Plessis - all
SA champs.
It was Paulo de culio’s 50th
30 DIRT & TRAIL MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2016