A brush with death

OPINION: Feilding's ace motorbike rider Craig Shirriffs is happy to be alive and riding after a death-defying crash at Teretonga (Invercargill) recently.

He has had more crashes there than anywhere. Shirriffs told us he was blown off his bike by a massive wind gust while competing in the Burt Munro meeting.

Shirriffs was blasting along at 260kmh on the end of the long straight at Teretonga when his world turned upside down and he cartwheeled along the grass verge.

"It was the worst crash I've ever had and I thought I was pretty much going to be dead, or wish I was," he said. "I took five minutes to get up and once I got moving I couldn't quite believe I was walking away with no serious injury."

He hurt a thumb, wrist, left knee and ankle.

A New Zealand Rugby Union email has revealed Manawatu ranks ninth of the 14 provinces in premier rugby.

It is based on unions' team numbers. Ranked below Manawatu's 109 teams are Counties-Manukau (104), Northland (95), Tasman (90), Taranaki (87) and Southland (86).

As a result Taranaki and Southland are entitled to only three votes, Manawatu and the others five each. Mid-Canterbury, which kidded itself about being a division-one union, has a mere 32 teams and is the country's fifth smallest union.

Polo's showpiece, the Savile Cup national tournament, returns to the McKelvie property at Tangimoana in March.

Eight 16-goal teams will contest the Savile proper. Alongside Auckland, Kihikihi (Waikato) and Wanstead (Central Hawke's Bay), Rangitikei is one of the big clubs, regularly fielding four teams.

Rangitikei lost the 2008 final at Tangimoana to Kihikihi and last won the cup in 2004, for only the fourth time in the club's history.

The 2010 Savile team will come from professional Angus McKelvie, brother Cam, Glen Sherriff, Michael Henderson and Will Lucas.

Not many years ago the Dannevirke Bowling Club had more bowlers than any club in the Manawatu centre.

Today it doesn't field one team in the men's interclub competition. Neither does Palmerston North club Hokowhitu, nor the tiddler clubs like Kimbolton, Himatangi Beach and Pahiatua.

Word reaches us that Chris Amon's original Maserati 250F is likely to grace Manfeild during the New Zealand Grand Prix weekend on February 13-14.

The car, reputedly worth millions, is housed in Southward's Car Museum at Paraparaumu and has had an engine rebuild to get it fit for the track. There's no word on who might drive it.

Chris Amon drove it in 1962 as a 17-year-old before heading overseas to fame.

- © Fairfax NZ News