William Robert Sanders (9 September 1955 – 23 April 1985) was an Australian international Speedway rider who won six Australian Championships and was a five time Speedway World Championship finalist with a career best second place in West Germany in 1983.
Early life and family
Billy Sanders was born in the Windsor Private Hospital in Sydney to Bill and Bonnie Sanders on 9 September 1955. He attended Rooty Hill High School and with a group of friends joined the local country fire service. When life at school became boring, Billy and his mates would sneak out during recess and light a scrub fire in the neighbouring paddocks, then return to school and wait for the siren to signal that the school was closed for the day because of the fire.
Australian Speedway
On advice from his father, Billy Sanders bought his first speedway bike, a second hand JAP, from a man named Bruce Gardiner rather than going to the expense of buying a brand new Jawa. The bike was one previously owned by five time Australian champion Aub Lawson and Sanders used it to hone his skills at the Nepean Speedway in Sydney's outer north-west during 1969/70. He then went on to make his competition debut at the Liverpool Speedway in Sydney on 4 July 1971 in a winter meeting, quickly becoming a crowd favourite. He also competed at Sydney's other major speedway, the famous Sydney Showground Speedway against riders such as Australian and NSW Champion Jim Airey. A regular competitor at both Liverpool and the Showground, Sanders would consider both speedway's as his home tracks.
Sanders first made Australian speedways fans take notice by finishing in third place in the 1973 Australian Championship held at the Sydney Showground when he was only 18 years old behind winner John Boulger from Adelaide and fellow Sydney rider John Langfield. He again finished third in both 1976 and 1977 before winning the first of a then record six Australian Championships at Claremont Speedway in Perth. He would also win the Aussie title in 1980 (Sydney Showground), 1981 (Brisbane Exhibition Ground), 1982 (Claremont) and 1983 (Speedway Park, Adelaide, where he famously told the unruly crowd that after the reception he got he might consider changing nationalities. He told the crowd to "Get Stuffed" at the end of his victory speech while being booed unfairly following the unpopular decision to exclude crowd favourite Phil Crump in their heat clash, costing Crump the title). His run ended in 1984 when he finished second to local hero Crump at Olympic Park in Mildura, a track Sanders had previously admitted was the one Aussie track he never quite came to grips with.
Billy Sanders regained his Australian crown and won his sixth and last Australian Championship in 1985 at the Pioneer Park Speedway in Ayr in Queensland, where he would reverse the previous years result by defeating Crump, with Queensland's Stan Bear finishing third. Sadly, this was to be Sanders last Australian championship win as he died in England three months later. The Australian Speedway Championship now incorporates the "Billy Sanders Memorial Trophy" in recognition of his six championship wins. His record of six national championship wins stood until 2003 when Victoria's Leigh Adams won his seventh title. Adams would go on to record another 3 title wins taking the record number to 10 wins.
Sanders also had a virtual stranglehold on the NSW State Championship, and would win all of his record eight titles from 1977 until 1985, with the exception of 1983 when the title wasn't held. He also won the 1984 and 1985 Australian Masters titles at his home track at Liverpool. Both Masters finals were held over 10 laps and included the top 10 riders at the meetings. He also won the North Arm Classic at the North Arm Speedway in Adelaide (his first appearance in Adelaide since his infamous speech at the 1983 Aussie title). It would prove to be his last appearance in Adelaide and his only time at the tight North Arm track.
Billy Sanders won the Australasian Championship in 1979 at the Rowley Park Speedway in Adelaide, and again in 1980 at the Ruapuna Speedway in Templeton, New Zealand.
In addition to riding, Sanders also wrote a regular column for Australian motorcycle magazine Motorcycle News during the 1970s.