Legends of Motorcycling
At the recent Shannons Insurance Broadford Bike Bonanza, a feature of Saturday night’s K-Tech Gala Dinner was the presentation of two Legend of Motorcycling Awards by committee chairman David White on behalf of Motorcycling Australia.
The first went to Ron Kivovitch, who was president of Motorcycling Australia for ten years. Ron’s entire life has been linked to motorcycling in one form or another, initially as a talented racer on Short Circuit dirt tracks and in Scrambles. Ron won the Australian 125cc Short Circuit Championship at Heit Park, Brisbane in 1959 and continued to race until the late ‘sixties. He was president of Willoughby District Motorcycle Club for many years and instrumental in the formation of the Castrol Six Hour Race in 1970. Ron was also an industry figure, working for Bennett Honda in Sydney, and later with Yamaha distributor McCulloch of Australia and finally Suzuki Australia. He also worked extensively with accessory distribution companies.
Also awarded on the night was Ron Angel, who was a successful racer in the ‘sixties on BSAs, Manx Nortons, early Yamaha TD models and Ducati singles. Originally from Wagga Wagga, Ron moved to Melbourne and into the industry in 1965, opening premises at Richmond and importing Ducati, Moto Guzzi, BMW and Moto Morini and lots of Italian accessories. He was also a very talented two-stroke tuner, and brought young Ken Blake from South Australia to ride A1R, A7R and H1R Kawasakis. He subsequently sponsored a long line of talented riders including Albury’s Graeme Geddes. Since 2008 Ron has conducted his own Classic Racing Team on a wide variety of machinery, along the way amassing one of the world’s foremost collections of significant racing motorcycles. ■