Dad and daughter share thrills, spills
DAD and daughter sidecar racers Tim and Sian Plummer regularly share the thrills of the speedway track.
But last Sunday, the West Auckland pair also got to taste the daredevil sport’s spills.
Tim and Sian were hospitalised after a horror crash at West Auckland’s Rosebank Speedway.
Tim broke a vertebrae in his back and Sian dislocated her wrist and had ribs cracked in the high-speed accident, during the annual Remembrance Meeting race.
‘‘It could have been a lot worse,’’ Tim told Sunday News. ‘‘I am off work for about six weeks. ‘‘They say it is a stable fracture, I can walk around . . . but it’s a bit painful.
‘‘It is just resting until it heals and then I can start doing stuff again.
‘‘Sian has dislocated her wrist . . . she has fractured a couple of her ribs . . . but she went back to work on Tuesday.’’
The crash occurred on the first corner of their race.
Film footage shows the Plummers battling for the lead with two other sidecar crews when they collide with one.
Their sidecar flicks into the air, and the bike upends and lands on Tim and Sian.
‘‘You have no control . . . it just tipped us upside down,’’ Tim recalled.
‘‘I think the main damage was when the bike landed on top of me.’’
The crash was a painfully memorable farewell to their 71a sidecar.
The Remembrance Meeting was their last race in the vehicle, as Tim is building a new racer for the 2012-13 season.
Speedway is a real family affair for the Plummers. Mum Anne is a swinger for top Auckland 21a sidecar racer Glen Murray.
A swinger is the passenger on a racing motorcycle sidecar, who athletically moves from one side of the sidecar to the other, altering its weight distribution for cornering.
Anne suggested Tim should recruit their now 20-year-old daughter when he was looking for a swinger about four seasons ago.
‘‘Sian was keen to do it as she’s grown up around it,’’ Tim said.
Asked about the level of his and Anne’s rivalry on the speedway track, Tim said: ‘‘Just the normal banter, it’s
nothing too serious.’’