Mike Pero's passion for Motofest and GP Machines

Mike Pero lauds MotoFest’s emergence into the ranks of the best motorbike events on the New Zealand calendar.

"It's a huge event and nobody will go away disappointed. It was a major event last year and, this year, with ACC involved with their Shiny Side Up programme too, it's going to be like a motorcycling Mardi Gras," he said.

"There will be so many categories of motorcycles that it will appeal to the whole family. We are just so proud to be part of MotoFest, the biggest and most colourful event of its kind in New Zealand."

This year's second annual Mike Pero MotoFest promises to be another sensational motorcycling experience, two days of bike action that would be hard to match anywhere in the world.

Mike Pero, a six-time former national motorcycling champion, has become a household name in New Zealand off the back of his real estate business exploits and he now enjoys the same status in the motorbike community.

Pero’s passion is Grand Prix machines which are included in the MotoFest programme this year, a category reserved for two-stroke racing machines, typically from the 70s’ 80s’ and 90s’.

"Having raced bikes back in the 1980s, I thought it would be great, given the popularity of post classic bikes, to run not only F1 and F2, but also to have a class dedicated to Grand Prix machine class and that's pretty much how the Mike Pero Shoei GP class of racing evolved for MotoFest," said Pero.

"On the grid there will be everything from 125cc bikes to the legendary TZ750 and I myself will be running a 1995 Yamaha TZ250.

The jam-packed weekend of racing will include in the action a swathe of exotic and classic machinery, with the Mike Pero Shoei GP and Post Classics an integral part of the programme.

With MotoFest also welcoming guests such as English author, commentator and former British champion Steve Parrish; Kiwi former GP winner and current MotoGP commentator Simon Crafar; Australia's 2003 World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen and Kiwi superheroes Aaron Slight, Graeme Crosby, Stu Avant and nine-time former national superbike champion Andrew Stroud, among others, assembled for the event, it's going to be difficult for fans to know which way to look.

Record eight-time former New Zealand moto trials champion and twice Australian moto trials champion Jake Whitaker and international X Games freestyle motocross favourite Levi Sherwood will also be among the "glitterati" in attendance at Hampton Downs, not to mention the current crop of road-racers who will be there contest the national superbike championship races, a vitally important part of the weekend's bulging programme.

For more information on the Mike Pero MotoFest weekend, go to http://www.hamptondowns.com

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