Robert Holden
NationalityNew Zealander
Born(1958-12-17)17 December 1958
Norland, Yorkshire, England
Died31 May 1996(1996-05-31) (aged 37)
Isle of Man
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Isle of Man TT career
TTs contested7 (1988–1990, 1992–1995)
TT wins1
First TT win1995 Singles TT
Last TT win1995 Singles TT
TT podiums2

Robert Lorne Holden (17 December 1958 – 31 May 1996)[1] was a motorcycle road racer from New Zealand.

Biography

Born in Norland, near Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire in 1958, Holden emigrated from England to New Zealand with his family in 1973.[1]

He was the most successful of all Ducati Supermono racers. In 1994 Holden placed second in the Isle of Man TT, then returned to the 1995 Isle of Man TT to win the singles title.[2] Holden also won in Ireland's North West 200 Supermono class in 1995.[3] Holden died the following year in practice at the Isle of Man TT while riding a Ducati 916.[4]

Holden would ride up to four different machines stepping off his Superbike onto a 250 Production machine then straight onto a 600 sports production bike followed by 15 laps and his Rotax 250 GP bike, it seemed at the time that Holden's only rest was during the sidecar race although he did passenger for Kevin Maxwell for a season of road racing on one. . He was helped early on in his career by Steve Dundon from Wellington Motorcycle Centre the combination of Dundon's experience and technical skills and Holden's hard riding led to many NZ titles.

One of Holden's more famous exploits was known as "The Holden Sign" incident. This happened at the Manfeild Autocourse in Feilding. While leading the Open Production Race on his 1135 GSX Suzuki, he crashed at 200 km/h, the bike slid and cartwheeled through a large sign advertising "Holden" cars. The whole incident was televised and was shown on the 6 o'clock news. Holden was unhurt and walked back to the pits to the applause of the crowd.[5]

Later on in his career, Holden teamed up with retired Ducati racer turned team manager Dallas Rankine. The BMS team supplied Holden with four-valve Ducati 916 motorcycles and a Ducati Supermono. Some of New Zealand's best racing was seen during the early nineties between Holden on the Ducati and Andrew Stroud on the famous Britten V1000. Holden's death at the Isle of Man in 1996 was a devastating loss for New Zealand racing. Dallas Rankine withdrew from all professional involvement in racing after losing his rider and close friend.[6]

The Robert Holden Memorial feature race at the famous Cemetery Circuit meeting in Wanganui, New Zealand is named in his honour.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Briggs, Robin (6 June 1996). "Versatile talent on race track". Evening Post. p. 7.
  2. ↑ Competitor Profile: Robert Holden, IOMTT official website, retrieved 23 September 2009
  3. ↑ 1990s results, North West 200 official website, archived from the original on 19 June 2009, retrieved 23 September 2009
  4. ↑ Robert Holden, Motorsport Memorial, retrieved 23 September 2009
  5. ↑ "Not forgotten - Robert Holden". Australian Motorcycle News. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "Where are they now? Dallas Rankine – Kiwi Ducati supertuner". Australian Motorcycle News. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Paeroa preview, Motorcycling NZ, 16 February 2004, archived from the original on 13 February 2007, retrieved 11 February 2009
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