Ray Fisher
One of Australia’s greatest-ever motocross riders, RAY FISHER passed away in Melbourne on 1st March, aged 86 after a battle with cancer.
Before he left for a six-year stint in Europe in 1959, Ray was a top-level rider with an Australian Championship – the 1959 500cc title in Adelaide – to his name. When he returned in 1965, bringing with him a 500cc
Matchless Metisse, he was a giant, a master, with an effortless style that was in marked contrast to his incredible speed. Ray instantly became the standard by which all other locals were judged. Aboard the Matchless he won three straight Australian 500 titles. Through his friend Neville Doyle, Ray received a pair of the rudimentary Kawasaki MX models, and on the 125, won the 1968 Australian Championship in WA – the first Australian MX title for a Japanese manufacturer. On the same day he won the Unlimited title on the Matchless. But the two strokes were taking over the larger classes too, so he switched to a 250 and 360 CZ, with occasional outings on Lyell O’Brien’s Montesas and Ken Rumble’s 360 Husqvarna. Quitting solos, he raced a Wasp outfit for five years until a crash at Broadford convinced him to hang up his helmet at age 50.
In retirement, Ray continued to dabble in bikes, including restoring many Metisse models, the bike that had made him famous. Fishing was a great love, as was golf, at which he became very proficient, playing off a single-figure handicap. It was poignant that our story on the great Ray Fisher’s magnificent career appeared in OBA Issue 33 – his riding number in Australia throughout his career, which lasted, yes, 33 years.