March 2012 part 1 - NZ Post Classic Racing Association

Summers had obviously made the right decision with
that bike, so when it was time for Bone to move up again,
it was the Kawasaki agent that came forward with a Z1
900 Kawasaki. It was turned down by Bone, because he
“didn’t think it was his scene”. However, spectators at
the Castrol Hour Long Race at Pukekohe in 1973 saw
Bone’s brilliant ride on a Kawasaki 750 in the wet to
grind other riders, virtually into the dust and finish miles
ahead of his nearest competitor Alan Collison.
But since then, Bone’s luck has hardly been on form and
he hasn’t won a race. After having an accident free ride
for six years, Bone was obstructed by a less experienced
rider at Pukekohe in December 1973, and he broke this
record. Since then he has fallen off three times during
racing, and his bike has given considerable trouble.
He may not be flamboyant, but he sure is fast. Bone goes around Dick
Bedford on Pukekohe’s bends.
“I always used to tune my bikes by ear, but I gave the 750 to a guy to tune with all the tools, and it hasn’t gone right
ever since, although I am starting to get it going okay now,” he says. This is proved by the fact this his 750 is now pulling
1500 revs more that it ever did. His other main problem hss been the “young whipper snapper” Graeme Crosby.
“The other reason I haven’t won is because Crosby has been there all the time”, he says. “I teach him everything I
know and then he goes out and beats me”.
“I got lots of places, but it was not a good year last year – it must be better this year, it’s got to be.”
He wants to race more bikes this year that he did last, and has already started sorting out another A7 – not a rightoff
this time – and has plans for having a go at the proposed New Zealand Motorcycle Championship series, now in
remits to the ACU. “I have been racing a few years and I might lose the initiative it I don’t try a few different things,”
he says.
But one thing is for sure – he will not desert the production racing field and its riders. Ask Graeme Crosby, who Bone
taught to race, and Rodger Freeth, another “pupil” of Bone, they will tell you how much Eric enjoys production racing.
Bone on the big 750 on Pukekohe
Page 10 The Post Classic January 2010