Dear CR
Hope this note finds you well and continuing with your great endeavour of producing the wonderful magazine that is Classic Racer. It’s always a good day when my subscription arrives in my mailbox here in Canada.
I wanted to send in this letter for a well known motor-sport figure and bike racer (and my much loved uncle), Rodney Gooch.
As you may know Rodney passed away during April and so I wanted to write down a few words about his lifelong adventure in racing to prompt a few memories for the many in the sport whose lives he touched.
Rodney started his love affair with racing, as many a young racer did, in the early Sixties with the Bantam Racing Club (BRC), helping co-ordinate the south east section and editing the club’s national magazine.
That role combined with his friendly enthusiasm making him a well known and popular figure in what was surely the best club of the day.
On track, ‘Rodders’, as he was affectionately known by his contemporaries, was a fierce competitor, being a regular runner in the 125cc class at international meetings in the late Sixties and early 70s on Bantam (the White BSA) and then the SONDELL Yamaha with many good results to show for it.
The Island beckoned for Rodney in 1967 and he accomplished some creditable finishes, taking a best of ninth place in the 1974 Lightweight TT.
Read more in the July/August 2019 issue of CR – on sale now!
