Glen Britza Memorial award for dirt bikes

The rapidly approaching The Bike Shed Times Capel River Classic Show & Shine is set to honour one of south-western Western Australia’s most passionate and talented motorcycle riders — Bunbury Motorcycle Club life member and Motorcycling Western Australia Hall of Fame inductee Glen Britza.

The Show & Shine award for best dirt bike will be titled the Glen Britza Memorial Award in recognition of Glen’s contribution to the Western Australian motorcycling community in general, and his role as one of the founders of the Bunbury 200 enduro, forerunner to the Capel 200 Trail Bike Rally.

Glen’s nephew, Shawn Stokes, said Glen was key to the event’s success for 25 years.

“He did all the preparation for the event, including getting all the permits, marking out the course, and running the event on the day,” Shawn said.

The Capel 200 will be held alongside the show and shine event on Saturday June 25, at the same venue on Goodwood Road, Capel River, in south-western WA. (Read more about the 2022 Capel 200 here.)

In addition to the award, Glen will be remembered on the day with a display of an historic 1968 Yamaha DT1 trail bike that Glen was restoring with Shawn when he passed away in June 2020, and a collection of memorabilia from Glen’s life of dedication to motorcycling.

Glen and his nephew Shawn Stokes were restoring this 1968 Yamaha DT1 250 Enduro when Glen passed away two years ago. Shawn has recently finished the job and the bike will be on show at The Bike Shed Times Capel River Classic.

Glen was born in Bunbury WA in 1938 and started racing in 1956 on a 250cc Triumph Tiger. He went on to have a successful career across dirt and road racing, including a period when he successfully raced on the tarmac with a modified 400cc Husqvarna motocross bike. His record includes 11 State titles across a range of disciplines.

Nephew Shawn worked with Glen to restore several bikes, including a Malvern Star Auto Byke that now graces Shawn’s games room in Bunbury.

The pair were working on the DT1 when Glen passed away.

“Most of the work had been done, but the bike was still in bits and there were some hard-to-find parts still to come,” Shawn told us.

“The tacho was especially hard to track down. It was a one-year-only part, but I managed to find one. The other really rare part is the front mudguard. The bike still had the original guard, but it was in terrible condition and broken into three parts. It has been carefully repaired and restored and looks great.”

Shawn Stokes with the DT1, now restored to its former glory.

The Glen Britza Memorial award for dirt bikes is one of seven classes in the show and shine, in addition to a Best in Show award and a People’s Choice by popular vote on the day.

If you’re planning to make the trip to Capel to see all the great bikes on show, do register your attendance on Facebook, here.

Glen and friends in the early years. Pic courtesy of Shawn Stokes.
Glen raced as number 23 for most of his career. His CZ380 is now on show in the National Motorcycle Museum. Pic courtesy of Shawn Stokes.
Peter Terlick
pterlick@hotmail.com