Motorcycle racing can be extremely therapeutic, just ask Taranaki’s Shaun Harris.

A near-death experience just over eight years ago, when Harris crashed spectacularly at the infamous Isle of Man public road races in 2007, has not dimmed his passion for the sport.

If anything, motorcycle racing is one thing that really helps the New Plymouth man relax and enjoy life, that and his loving and very understanding wife and four children.

As a three-time former winner at the Isle of Man – and therefore a rider with an enviable international reputation – it stunned many when news arrived that Harris had come off his bike at high speed and made such a mess of his body.

“It was the failure of a small mechanical part that caused the crash, although that’s not much consolation for the pain and suffering I had to go through,” said Harris, who celebrated his 52nd birthday this week.

“I had a pretty severe head injury and bit out my own upper four teeth. I broke my left and right humerus (upper arm) bones and had four breaks in the bones of each leg, as well as breaking bones in my back.

“The coroner was at the ambulance to declare me dead. Then my heart stopped another three times on the operating table. So really, I am a very lucky man to be able to do this.

“I was a wreck. I thought that was the end of my life. I’ve always been a bit fiery … it’s the red-head thing you know … but I really became out of control and needed anger management.

“I’m good now and recognise when a wave of hot-headedness comes over me. I walk away from the situation. It took me a long time to learn that.

“But I still felt lost as a man and I wasn’t doing what Shaun Harris was supposed to do, race bikes.

“I’m using it now as a tool to rebuild my confidence and health and to find positives in life. I have a whole new lease on life.

“I only returned to the race track earlier this year and raced three rounds of the Auckland Motorcycle Club Championships and now two rounds of three in the Suzuki Series.”

The final round of the Suzuki Series is on Whanganui’s famous Cemetery Circuit on Boxing Day, like the Isle of Man a public road circuit, but also a place where Harris has excelled in the past and it’s a place that he holds no fears for.

“The prospect of racing the bike gives me the drive and motivation to get out of bed in the mornings. I’d say it’s therapy for me.

“I don’t have anything left to prove in my racing career. I’ve done plenty and achieved at the highest level,” said Harris, who has won the 600cc, 750cc and 1000cc production class titles at the Isle of Man, as well as winning national titles in New Zealand.

“I’m happy with all that I’ve done and achieved. Anything else now is just a bonus.”

He said he plans to contest the four-round New Zealand Superbike Championships too, starting at Ruapuna, near Christchurch, on January 9-10, “depending on my budget and the generosity of sponsors”.

Harris is 15th overall out of 27 riders in the Formula two 600cc Supers class after two of three rounds of the annual Suzuki Series at Manfeild on Sunday, not the position he’d wanted or expected to be in, but also not too bad considering some of the mechanical problems he’s had to deal with.

Class leaders after two of three rounds of the Suzuki Series are Liechtenstein’s Horst Saiger (F1 superbikes, Kawasaki ZXR-10R) and Wellington’s Sloan Frost (Suzuki GSX-R1000) (first equal); Wainuiomata’s Shane Richardson (F2 600 supers, Kawasaki ZX6R); Taumarunui’s Leigh Tidman (F3 sports bikes, Yamaha RS450); Te Awanga’s Eddie Kattenberg (post classics seniors, pre-89, Bimota YB8S); Hamilton’s Shayne Lawrey (post classics juniors, pre-89, Yamaha FZR600J); Feilding’s John Oliver (Bears, juniors, non-Japanese bikes, BMW S1000RR); Raglan’s Robert Whittall (Bears, seniors, Aprilia SXV550) and Waipukurau’s Craig Sergeant (Bears, seniors, Triumph 675R) (first equal); Whanganui’s Richard Dibben (super moto, Honda CRF450); UK pair Tim Reeves and Mark Wilkes (sidecars, LCR Kawasaki ZXR-10R).

© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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