Geoff Perry memorial sportsmanship award

Press, 29 July 1976, Page 10

Geoff Perry memorial sportsmanship award

An annual New Zealand Motor-cycle "Sportsman of the Year” award will be instigated later this year, when a trophy donated by Mrs Janet Perry, of Auckland, is presented to the person judged to be the finest sporting motor-cycle personality of 1976. The trophy, which stands 48in high, is in memory of Mrs Perry’s husband, Geoff, a top New Zealand road racer who died in an air crash in 1973. But nominations will not be restricted to road racers. The award will be open to competitors and personalities from all branches of motor-cycle sport, and need not necessarily be made to an outstandingly successful rider.

Nominations will be expected for a person who is popular with and helpful towards his fellow enthusiasts. He should be a good ambassador for motor-cycling and should be a “trier,” in spite of the odds against him. He must be resident in New Zealand and predominantly interested in the New Zealand scene, although overseas experience will not count against him.

Nominations for the award will be made only on forms available in the publication, “New Zealand Motor Cycle News” and anybody will be eligible to submit nominations, al-

though) it is expected that motor-cycle club members, in particular, will take an active interest in the award. The major trophy will be presented to the winner at Auckland, during the Pukekohe round of the Marlboro international road race series on December 18. The trophy, however, will be retained

for one year by the club of which "the recipient is a member, for display and publicity purposes. The winner will keep in perpetuity a smaller trophy donated by “New Zealand Motor Cycle News.” The name of the winner will remain secret until the announcement at Pukekohe.

Geoff Perry will be remembered as probably the most outstanding New Zealand road racer of the modern era. He won numerous New Zealand championships before gaining a place in the Suzuki works team in the United States. Rather than live in America, Perry elected to fly backwards and forwards between New Zealand and America for each major race meeting. It was during one of these trips, when at the height of his career, that he was killed in an air crash.

It was his ability and success which inspired New Zealand’s newest international star, Stewart Avant, to carve out a career in road racing for himself. Before travelling to Europe this year, Avant had a picture of Perry stuck on the wall of his office to remind him that it was possible for a New Zealander to reach the top in world road racing.

“If I can ever ride as well as he could I will be content,” Avant once said.