This morning on my Facebook site, one of my friends published a series of photos that were taken at the Mount Cootha hillclimb back in 2008. They showed the 250cc, 350cc and 750cc Kawasakis that were raced by the late Gregg Hansford during the late 1970’s. These bikes, along with a couple of others, belong to a Brisbane enthusiast who was a close friend of Gregg’s during his lifetime. They are presently on semi-permanent display at the National Motor Racing Museum at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.
What caught my eye more than the bikes, however, was that the photos included pictures of Gregg’s two sons, Rhys and Ryan. Both boys would have been pretty young when their dad was tragically killed at Phillip Island in a CAR race, for God’s sake, but both have grown up into young men who seem to have inherited their dad’s passion for motorcycling and who seem to deeply appreciate their heritage.
Here are the two brothers, then, Rhys sitting on Gregg’s KR250 and Ryan standing beside it with the rag in his hand.
Now, if you’re a fan, I’m sure this picture would bring a shiver to your body as it did to mine, mainly because of the uncanny, almost eerie resemblance that Ryan has to his late father.
This is my photo taken of Gregg at Oran Park in 1976. Now apparently the resemblance is even more remarkable in real life than it is in a photograph, but I have to tell you, it stunned me. The facial thing is obvious, but even the body language and the mannerism looks eerily the same. Like father, like son? In this case, it sure is.
And, while we’re on the subject of the great man, I found this photo on the net last night. Taken at Imola in 1978, it shows nearly all the Aussies who were actively campaigning O/S at that time. I don’t know who owns the copyright for this pic, but I hope they’ll forgive me for publishing it.
(Standing l-r) Ray Quincey, Dave Hall (Itinerant mechanic), Lyn (Greg’s Johnson’s girlfriend) Greg Johnson, Neville Doyle, Gregg Hansford, Kenny Blake, Jeffrey Sayle, Lionel Angel, Warren Willing, John Dodds.
(Kneeling l-r) I know this guy’s face as well as anything but I just can’t put a name to it, Alan Adams, Graeme Macgregor, Mick Smith
A truly amazing snapshot of some of our “greats”