Nice to see the Yanks remembering Geoff Perry

[merv]

Check this out http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2005/Aug/theywonatl.htm

Suzuki fans will like it that a Kiwi did it first for Suzuki at Road Atlanta.

[TonyB]

5. Doug Polen and certainly Mat Mladin are better known as riders who have won on Suzuki machinery at Road Atlanta, the man who scored Suzuki's first win in Georgia should not be forgotten: Geoff Perry.

This ultra-rare Geoff Perry Atlanta win poster hangs in the 'Soup office.
image by otter
Perry, a second-generation racer (his dad is said to have been a factory AJS rider) from New Zealand scored Suzuki's first win at Road Atlanta with a decisive victory in 1973. How good was Perry? Consider the two other men on Road Atlanta's semi-infamous cement block and plywood podium that day in '73: Kenny Roberts and Kel Carruthers, two (then) future and former world champions.
Perry was a working racer even as a factory star, winning races here in the US, and, incredibly, jetting back to New Zealand several times a year to work as a mechanic for Air New Zealand.
Why is this factory Suzuki and former race winner's name muddled in obscurity? He was dead six-weeks after his Road Atlanta win. Perry was killed in a plane crash while traveling from New Zealand to the US to race at the '73 Laguna Seca round.
To this day stories are repeated about parts from Perry's bike being used on the motorcycle that Pat Hennen crashed at the Isle of Man, which is said to be the same bike Cal Rayborn was killed on in New Zealand.
Makes you proud to be a Kiwi reading that. Well done for finding it.

[Motu]

He was a kid going somewhere alright,and it wasn't even a bike that took him out,I remember we were pretty shocked about it.Geoff was also a very strong speedway rider too,cleaning up in his novice year,like his father,a multitalented rider.I can't remember him doing MX,but it was a fair way back.I used to see Geoff around a bit,as my brother worked at the garage on the hill above Perry's bike shop - Len had owned the garage at one point,and Geoff was often hanging around like a bad smell waiting for someone to press a bearing off a shaft or something....I always thought he looked a bit thick....Bob Haldane also worked there and lots of famous people were customers....grumpy old Len and Dave Tompkins down the hill,they were good times....

[merv]

I saw him race at Onekawa on the old aircooled TR500 and then at Gracefield on the TR750 and he was just awesome. At Gracefield at the end of '72 Ginger Molloy was there with a Kwak750 triple which seemed to handle like a pig, stepping out on the bumpy corners while Perry just blitzed into the lead and he was so far ahead in what were sprint races he was just able to ease back after a few laps and would look back to see where the rest of the field was but no-one was in sight.

By the time '74 came around I had been so gutted to hear of his death on the Pan Am plane. The Air New Zealand man normally flew with his own company but because of some hassle he ended up on the Pan Am plane that went down. We definitely lost a great champion. His performances on the Suzukis in USA had been amazing at that time, almost winning Daytona on the TR500 when the chain snapped just before full distance.

You can see his 500 at Southwards so this says (haven't been out there for a while myself) http://www.southward.org.nz/viewgallery.php?id=4&offset=60

[merv]

Here's some Yanky pics http://www.ozebook.com/compendium/tr750/gordine/gordine2.htm

[LB]

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Hey Merv, thanks for this. You always post such neat stuff to remind us of the old days.

It was indeed a sad end to a very short, successful career.
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[SPman]

Geoff Perry - the future looked so bright when his life was snuffed out in that tragic Pan Am crash. Saw him race a couple of times and was gutted when I heard the news.....not the way to go we expected...........
Thanks for the reminder, Merv.

[merv]

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Hey Merv, thanks for this. You always post such neat stuff to remind us of the old days.
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What happens is I look at Superbikeplanet reasonably often to check out race results and those guys are tops and obviously full of nostalgia themselves because they keep finding all this old stuff. They quite often mention Kiwis like Ginger Molloy, Crosby, Britten and now Perry so they must have a soft spot for our guys.