Brian Cartwright and Peter Senior How the west was won

Little did Peter Senior know after puncturing his bicycle tyre back in ‘65 that by chance he’d strike up a friendship that would endure his lifetime and introduce the young English lad to Aussie mateship and motorcycle racing. His family hadn’t long arrived in Western Australia as “10 pound poms” and the 15 year old was still finding his way. He was in Scarborough and on his way home when he struck tyre trouble. By chance, Brian Cartwright happened to be passing and stopped to help. They went back to Brian’s place to repair the tyre. To Peter’s amazement, the Cartwright shed had several old motorcycles in various states of repair, which Brian was working on.

The two clicked to become best mates and developed a shared interest in motorcycles. This would morph into racing, where their mateship and on-track rivalry spurred the two on to becoming a couple of WA’s most successful riders throughout the ‘70s.

Brian, a year older than Peter, was already entrenched in motorcycles and mechanics, having formed an interest at the age of 12 when he “gave life” to an old CZ 125 abandoned in his grandmother’s shed. By the time he was 17, he’d rebuilt 43 machines, most of which he’d sell for a bit of cash. “In those days, you’d walk down the street and see a bike leaning against a shed or fence, weeds growing around it,” recalled Brian. “Nobody wanted them. Often, I’d