Eight speakers have been stolen from the Masterton Motorplex International Dragstrip.
The speakers, which sit atop eight poles on the side of Sandy Lane in the drag course, are used for driver briefings and announcements when the facility holds drag meetings during five weekends each year.
Site manager Bob Wilton said he first noticed the speakers were gone on Sunday night.
“Whoever took them must have been there a while,” he said.
“They would have had to stand on a car or a ladder, remove the plank of wood at the top of the pole, and unbolt each speaker.”
Wilton wasn’t sure how the thieves got into the facility but said it was potentially through the front gate, which he had earlier found unbolted.
Even though Wilton first realised the speakers were gone Sunday night, he said they could have been taken at any point from late last week.
All the speakers down Sandy Lane had been taken but seven speakers along the back fence of the facility had been left untouched, which Wilton said was strange.
“Maybe it was dark and whoever broke in didn’t know they were there. Maybe they ran out of time.”
The Motorplex has just finished its annual season and the next drag meet won’t be until October.
“If this had happened three weeks ago, we would have totally been in a panic, because the season final was in March,” Wilton said.
“It’s still concerning – they’re worth quite a bit.”
