Christmas' Past  :

Dwayne Bishop, aka Bish, born in Patea and now living in Wanganui, has a need for speed.  Dwayne raced motorbikes and sidecars in his younger days and, since his return from the UK four years ago, has rekindled his love affair with the race track and the highs and lows that go with competing in Formula 1 class.

Competing in the Cemetery Circuit in 2007 on his Aprilia RSV1000, he did well but always remained keen to do better.

We have our own Christmas Carol -

Christmas Past, Christmas Present , Christmas Future

2008 was an unfortunate year, the rim of the front wheel broke in the qualifying laps sending the bike somersaulting through the air while Dwayne continued along the road at high speed and on his rear.  The bike had a close encounter with a lamp post but was repairable.  Dwayne suffered a sore thumb, also repairable.

Christmas Present :

This year has again been one of highs and lows. Dwayne was offered the chance to get back to the sidecars in the Totalspan chair.  On a test day he and his swinger had a fabulous day and were excited to be taking the chair to Hampton Downs along with the Aprilia.

On practice day at Hampton Downs, the Aprilia suffered engine trouble while Dwayne was taking a bend at 100kph.  The back wheel locked highsiding the bike and sending Dwayne tumbling along the track.

Despite a very swollen wrist, he continued to ride the sidecar the following day to a very satisfying 2nd place.  Unfortunately the sidecar was pulled from the final race of the day with clutch problems.  It wasn't going anywhere.

Dwayne's return home found his arm swollen and blue/black requiring a trip to hospital, 2 hour surgical procedure with  plates and screws in his wrist to show for it.

Sadly, this racing season too is over but he will be back for more 

Christmas Future :

 2012  Bring it On    -   the remaining Christmas season  hopefully brings with it the healing needed to repair that  shattered wrist which will then let Dwayne fulfil his dream in 2012.  

He will be back racing in the Hottest Show in Town, an event that will be celebrating its fantastic 60th year of racing in Wanganui at the same time.

The pics above are from Hampton Downs racing on Saturday 10th December 2011.

Dwayne is the rider on the yellow Totalspan chair  (note the camera on top of his helmet -              am told it makes for some scary viewing). 

The 'swinger' is Dave Dennison of Laser Plumbing.

The Wanganui Ladies are in the 'Pink'.

The Wanganui Chronicle reported Wanganui pairing  Adam Unsworth and Stu Dawe were the winners of the Cemetery Circuit on the day.