Iain Leonard Pero
July 7, 1961 – March 23, 2022
Keen photographer, successful motorcycle racer and salesman, general manager of a major car franchise, globe-trotting entrepreneurial businessman and devoted husband and father. These are just some of the accomplishments Iain Pero crammed into his 60 years on the planet, before cardiac arrest claimed him whilst trail riding on his mountain bike in rural Victoria on March 23. At the time he was holidaying with his wife Ruth and former motorcycle racing team-mates Rob Phillis and Geoff McNaughton after returning from an extended overseas business trip.
Pero’s interest in racing motorcycles was piqued by older brother Mike. Too young to have a competition licence, Iain accompanied his brother to race tracks and viewed the action through the lens of his camera. Amateur photography was to be something he continued to pursue. From the white-hot 410 Production class with its scores of Yamaha RD400s in New Zealand to the even harder Australian Production
Racing arena, Iain Pero excelled, winning the 550cc class of the inaugural Yamaha 750 race at Oran Park in 1981 teamed with brother Mike. A year after that win, he and Glenn Williams won the 550cc class in the Yamaha race, on a Darcy Bliesner-prepared
GPz550 Kawasaki. From there it was onwards and upwards on Bliesner-prepared Kawasaki GPz900s with pole positions, podium placings, fastest laps and race wins culminating in his winning the six-round REVS Production Championship in 1985. He also contested the Yamaha RZ350 Masters Series that year, winning a spot in the World Final at Zandvoort, Holland where he was pipped for the win by diminutive French GP rider Jean-Phillippe Ruggia, with Kevin Magee-replacement Graeme Muir third.
After that he spent a year as team-mate to Malcolm Campbell at Honda Australia racing VFR750s in all the major Production and Superbike races.
Then in 1987 he and first wife Nicola headed to the USA to race in the big dollar CCS Series, finishing the year racing the Phillips Tracer Series in South Africa. With the demise of the long-distance Production races in Australia, he decided to start SuperStreet racing – a class that allowed only limited modifications rather than the factory kits that had already put Superbike racing beyond the reach of many private entrants. Pero returned to selling motorcycles, then moved into a Toyota dealership and eventually General Manager at Terry Shields Toyota as well as Lexus of Parramatta. The next chapter was buying into a flight simulation business in Australia, which he built into a global enterprise. In the past two years Pero would sometimes post humorous photos on his Facebook page. One was a simulation of an escape from yet another hotel quarantine, with knotted bed sheets…
Iain Pero was a fun-loving man who enjoyed company and maintained friendships with many of his former motorcycle racing comrades. Former team-mate Phillis is still struggling with his loss.
Iain Pero is survived by wife Ruth Sarah Wastie-Pero, their three sons Ben, Harry and Oliver as well as brother Mike and sister Shelly. ■