Robert Lorne Holden (17 December 1958 – 31 May 1996) was a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racer Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed public ...

from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

Biography

Born in Norland, near

Sowerby Bridge Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703. History The town was originally a fording point over the once mu ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

in 1958, Holden emigrated from England to New Zealand with his family in 1973. He was the most successful of all

Ducati Supermono The Ducati Supermono is a lightweight, single-cylinder racing motorcycle made by Ducati and named after the Supermono racing class. 65 Supermonos were built by Ducati between 1993 and 1995. Technology This lightweight, compact racer incorporated ...

racers. In 1994 Holden placed second in the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May and June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event begins on the UK Spring Bank Holiday at the e ...

, then returned to the 1995 Isle of Man TT to win the singles title. Holden also won in Ireland's

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a motorcycle racing, motorcycle road racing, road race first held in 1929 on a street circuit known as "the Triangle" between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast and Glens. It ...

Supermono Supermono is a class in European motorcycle road racing. Supermono class machines have a single-cylinder engine with a maximum displacement of 800 cc. The British Supermono series allows "unlimited" engine size, but this involves keeping u ...

class in 1995. Holden died the following year in practice at the Isle of Man TT while riding a

Ducati 916 The Ducati 916 is a fully faired sport bike made by Ducati from 1994 to 1998. Featuring a fuel injected, 4-valve, desmo, liquid-cooled, 90° V-twin engine in a trellis frame with a single-sided swingarm and USD forks, the 916 is frequently cit ...

. Holden would ride up to four different machines stepping off his

Superbike A sports motorcycle, sports bike, or sport bike is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

onto a 250 Production machine then straight onto a 600 sports production bike followed by 15 laps and his

Rotax Rotax is the brand name for a range of internal combustion engines developed and manufactured by the Austrian company BRP-Rotax GmbH & Co KG (until 2016 BRP-Powertrain GmbH & Co. KG), in turn owned by the Canadian Bombardier Recreational Prod ...

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 Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

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 Manfeild: Circuit Chris Amon (formerly Manfeild Autocourse) is a motor sport circuit located in Feilding, New Zealand. It was built by thManawatu Car Clubin 1973 as a purpose-built course. In 1990 extra land was acquired and the circuit extensi ...

Feilding Feilding is a town in the Manawatū District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on New Zealand State Highway 54, State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North. The town is the seat of the Manawatū District Council. ...

. While leading the Open Production Race on his 1135 GSX

Suzuki is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...

, he crashed at 200 km/h, the bike slid and cartwheeled through a large sign advertising "

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

" 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. 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 The Britten V1000 is a handbuilt race motorcycle designed and built by John Britten and a group of friends in Christchurch, New Zealand, during the early 1990s. The bike went on to win the Battle of the Twins in Daytona International Speedway's ...

. Holden's death at the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

was a devastating loss for New Zealand racing. Dallas Rankine withdrew from all professional involvement in racing after losing his rider and close friend. The Robert Holden Memorial feature race at the famous

Cemetery Circuit Cemetery Circuit is a temporary motorcycle street circuit in downtown Wanganui, New Zealand, so named because the route bisects the old town cemetery. The daylong road race has traditionally been held on Boxing Day (26 December) since 1951. Th ...

meeting in

Wanganui, New Zealand Whanganui, also spelt Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whanganui is ...

is named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Robert 1958 births 1996 deaths People from Sowerby Bridge Sportspeople from Calderdale English emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand motorcycle racers Isle of Man TT riders Motorcycle racers who died while racing Sport deaths in the Isle of Man New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in England