COMPETITION TIME | Bikesportnz

The BikesportNZ.com photo archive is a treasure trove of classic old snaps.

To illustrate a story we were writing recently, we dug into the archive.

Sadly, there were so many other photos of former Kiwi greats in the archive that would perhaps never again see the light of day … unless we were to publish a book of them or run them on this site from time to time.

So, we have decided that each week we are going to run an archive photo or two – a bit of a guessing game for you. See if you can name the individuals.

We’ll offer you a few clues, but we also want to keep you guessing.

Check back and we’ll give you the answers next week, along with our next “Who’s that?” feature photos.

Crown Kiwi – EVS – 100%

Plus, we now have a sponsor for the feature. Thanks to Crown Kiwi, EVS and 100% apparel and accessories (made famous by Bob Hannah, Rick Johnson, David Bailey and Johnny O’Mara), we can offer a small prize each week – a tee-shirt or a cap – to the first respondent with the correct answers.

Email your answers to contest@bikesportnz.com

Note: Be careful to answer the questions being asked. We may ask for a time, a place, an event or ask for one or several of the individuals in the photo to be identified.

Clues for photo above:

This photo was taken in the 1980s at a rare indoor supercross in New Zealand. We want you to name four of the six riders pictured here. Who is letter E? Who is on the No.2 Suzuki? Who is on the No.6 Honda? Who is letter A on the Honda? Who is No.1 on the Kawasaki? Who is letter K on the Kawasaki? One of these riders is the current boss of Crown Kiwi. Remember, we only need you to name four of the six riders here.

Clues for photo below:

This photo shows a great gathering of iconic superbike racers in New Zealand in the 1990s (one of them an American, Fred Merkel, who has since adopted New Zealand as his home). The man at the top of the photo is Merkel, with Tony Rees the next rider down. Former MNZ president Paul Pavletich is the third rider, but the question is, who is the rider at the bottom, right, wearing an Arai helmet and sitting on the Suzuki? He is still very much involved in the sport, although no longer as a regular racer.

Last week’s characters revealed:

The man featured in the first photo last week was Phil Turnbull, the highly successful motorcycle shop owner and motocross racer from the Manawatu. He was national 125cc motocross champion in 1977. The photo was taken at Taikorea Motorcycle Park on the outskirts of Palmerston North. This venue is now owned by Kiwi international cross-country ace Paul Whibley.

In the second photo it was, of course, Aaron Slight leading the late, great Robert Holden around the streets of Wanganui during the traditional Boxing Day races. The question was, in what year did the rider on bike No.111 win the Australian Superbike Championships and what other major international stand-alone event did he win on more than one occasion? The answer is that Slight won the Australian Superbike Championships in 1991. The rider he took the Australian title off was Malcolm Campbell, before Slight moved on to spend most of the 1990s racing in the Superbike World Championship, amassing 87 podiums, 13 wins and capturing 8 pole positions. He is also the only rider to win the Suzuka 8-Hours race in three successive years, from 1993 to 1995. He won the Suzuka 8-Hours race in 1993 with American Scott Russell as team-mate, in 1994 with Doug Polen and in 1995 with Tadayuki Okada.

Well done to those who emailed us with their answers.

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