HE DIED FULFILLING A LIFELONG DREAM
Family pays tribute to TT superbike racer
TRIBUTES have been paid to a biker who died as he fulfilled his lifelong dream of competing in the Isle of Man TT.
Davey Lambert died in hospital following a crash in the opening superbike race at the Isle of Man TT on June 4.
Hundreds flocked to Saltwell Crematorium to say their farewells, standing to watch as his coffin was driven through the streets, flanked by a fitting escort of friends on bikes.
Now his heartbroken partner Tracey Boyes, 50, has spoken of a generous, funny man who “never stopped talking” and was loved by all who knew him.
She said: “His life-long dream, his ambition, was to race at the TT and he managed to achieve it. He got there; that’s all he wanted to do.
“I’ve got to take comfort from knowing that he went the way he wanted to go and enjoying himself. He’s gone out of the world happy.”
Davey’s love of motorsport had roots in an obsession with vehicles that began at an early age.
Mum Patsy Lambert, 81, said she believes this love was in Davey’s blood – as his grandfather, also David, started the first bike club in the North East, before the interest was passed through the family through his father Don. Close to his family, Patsy says Davey will also be greatly missed by his older brother, Michael, whose footsteps she says he often tried to follow in.
And generous Davey used his talent for machines to help anyone who needed him.
Tracey said: “If anyone was stuck, broken down at two or three in the morning, he would be there, straight away.”
The pair met through work around 12 years ago – he took over his dad’s caravan haulage business after studying maths at Newcastle University – and his mum remembers him telling her: “I loved her from a distance but I never believed she would have anything to do with me”.
Their office flirtation soon became a loving relationship.
The pair enjoyed adventurous holidays and spent Sundays on motocross bikes together.
Tracey said Davey had become a second father to Tracey’s son, Brad Boyes, 27, and in turn like a grandfather to Brad’s children Lexie and Maizey, now five and six, who were all “devastated” to lose him.
She added: “What you saw is what you got, just a totally honest bloke. He didn’t suffer fools but there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to help anybody; he had the biggest heart.
“He will be so missed by us, but also around the paddocks at the North East clubs, on the Isle of Man. The best way to describe him is that everyone who met him took an instant like to him.”
Tracey said Davey’s sense of fun helped to make Christmas and birthdays extra special.
One Christmas he ‘wrapped up’ the house for her to hide a present, while another year he filled helium balloons with £20 notes for adults and chocolate buttons for the children, inviting everyone to pop the balloons to access their presents.
“I don’t know how the thoughts even entered his head,” she said.
Childhood friend Andrew Proud, 45, remembered his friend, who had loved trucks and bikes from a young age, as the ringleader of the games, with a “fearless streak”.
He said: “He was always our leader. He was always an enormous character.
“Anyone from the top end of Dunston who had a nickname in the 80s, it probably came from him. He had a great sense of humour and was famous for his storytelling. Most of his stories were exaggerated but it worked, and he would play us like a fiddle, the stories getting more outlandish as we laughed along with him.
“He was a loyal friend who always looked out for his mates. and gave his time willingly to help people.”
Showing a picture of a young Davey in racing gear at a street party, he said: “He was always destined to be a bike racer.”
His family paid tribute to his strength and willingness to support anyone who needed him.
Tracey said: “Nothing fazed him at all. He took on everything that was thrown in front of him and everybody always felt better after talking to him. He was the glue within his family and friends.”
He didn’t suffer fools but there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to help anybody; he had the biggest heart
Tracey Boyes