Top biker ready to celebrate

JACOB PAGE/Timaru Herald

PUMPED: Grant Ramage, inflates the tyres of Little Horace, a slightly modified Honda CL50 motorbike, in preparation for the South Canterbury Motorcycle Club centenary.

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Few New Zealand motorcycle riders have had a career better than Grant Ramage.

Ramage won two national titles in the 250 production championship in 1985 and 1993, and has had major success in endurance races over the years.

He is one of seven national champions to come from the South Canterbury Motorcycle Club, which is celebrating its centenary this Labour weekend.

Ramage started riding when he was 15, and his first race was at Levels Raceway in 1976 on a 250cc Kawasaki Triple SI.

He has raced against some of the best riders in New Zealand , including Simon Crafar, Andrew Stroud and former World Superbike contender Aaron Slight.

In 1989, Ramage enjoyed success in the Castrol Production six-hour race with Mike McCutcheon at Manfeild, on a Suzuki GSX600F and then backed it up with a 10th place finish in the final round of the World Superbike Championships, also atManfeild.

Ramage said he enjoyed the endurance races because of the strategy required.

"You had to use the brain a lot more, and use things like fuel stops to your advantage.

"It was good because often you could just sit back and wait for the younger riders to make a mistake."

During the 1990s, Ramage continued to race, before he began working for a couple of Grand Prix teams, after which he returned to Timaru to start up his own motorcycle business.

Ramage said he was looking forward to seeing "some of the old faces" during this weekend's celebrations, and hoped the younger guys would remember it fondly. "I was around for the 75th celebrations, of course I was a lot younger. I'm looking forward to the atmosphere of the whole thing." Herald staff

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