Craig Hyde, Racer #86

[Yow Ling]

On Saturday at Levels raceway Craig Hyde , a Bucket Racer, engine builder and general nice guy lost his life doing what we all love
Keep him and his family in your thoughts over Christmas

Craig recently returned to Bucket racing and immediately was a cat amongst the pigeons, he showed us old guys there was still hope, he finished 4th in the battle of the buckets behind the legendary Hoogie boys, and was capable of building engines we could only dream of.

If you have something interesting or memorable to add to this thread please do.

Im sorry to have to be writing of a fatal accident at our CAMS Christmas meeting.

Craig Hyde from Ashburton, seemingly, lost the back end in the first sweeper at Levels and went down in front of a rider who had no chance to avoid him. It was within seconds of flag drop in their first race of the day. Despite the red flag being called straight away and the very speedy Ambulance response, they could not revive him.

It's a sad time for a lot of riders and friends of his from around the Canterbury area and further afield.

Tragic as it is, this is what we do. It was a racing incident and no other rider had any bearing on the incident.

No matter how hard we try to be one of the most safety conscious clubs and are pushing even harder to make safer racing, we have to be aware that when the green flag drops our fate is uncertain. No amount of off track preparation and enforcement of safety related rules can change this.

Our collective hearts go out to his family and friends.

Neil Morrison
CAMS
Pres.

[seymour14]

That's real gutting news, seems motorcycling has had a bad few weeks in that department.

R.I.P Craig, and sincere condolences to family and friends.

[Kickaha]

Craig did the dyno work on two of the sidecars I raced on as well as my LC and Bucket where he diagnosed my Bucket problems fairly promptly and let me know where I'd gone wrong

For some reason he always seemed to turn up at our Branch whenever I was working in Ashburton to, a very friendly and helpful guy

[bigreddog]

#86 Craig Hyde on his luminous green FXR that he had put so much work into gave my son Lewis the thumbs up on the dummy grid at levels on Saturday as he always did...We know what happened next.Thats just the sort of guy he was.RIP Craig.

[gav]

Found some photos of him in action

[Buddha#81:Me]

Yes it was a sad day Saturday when I learned of his passing. Craig returned to bucket racing recently and I have enjoyed our battles on the track and banter off of it. Nice guys are found throughout bucket racing and this is what I enjoy the most about our sport. Craig you were one of the true nice guys, you will be missed.

I was packed and ready to go on Sarurday, my heart wasnt in going so stayed at home. My thoughts are with those that were there, I can only amagine how hard it must be for some.

Here is the last time we battled each other

[richban]

Very sad news. My thoughts go out to all the people close to Craig. I am stunned as I'm sure many of us are.

[ellipsis]

...just received this message...


Just a note for anyone coming down for Craigs funeral on Thursday, there will be a guard of honour as he leaves the hall. For those wanting to be involved bring your helmet with you to be held as Craig goes past. The funeral starts at 11am, can you please pass this on to the members.