Copyright John Ford image printed on 250gsm Kodak paper:
Ron Toombs was twelfth on lap two of Sunday morning’s Australian 500 Grand Prix after making a great start from grid No. 34. He moved to ninth on lap three after passing John Pace, Steve Fisher and an eighteen-year-old Wayne Clarke. On lap six of the eight-lap race, Toombs had moved into eighth and was in pursuit of the group in front – nineteen-year-old Wayne Gardner, Stu Avant and Steve Trinder.
Eye-witnesses said Toombs was giving chase and appeared to get on the power a little early exiting the Dipper and ran wide. His right shoulder clipped the triple Armco on the inside of the right-hand exit to the corner, which sent the bike out of control and over the Armco on the other side of the track and down a ten-metre embankment, launching Toombs into a tree. “We were lap scoring for Ron up Mountain Straight, and when he didn’t come around for a few laps, we knew something was wrong,” remembers Toombs' Arai Three-Hour partner, Dave Robbins. “We’d been out with him the night before, it just left everyone numb. We couldn’t believe it.”
top of page
PriceFrom $36.00
bottom of page