Grand send-off for popular PE biker
POPULAR Port Elizabeth biker Dayalin Padayachey is being given a grand send-off at the Boardwalk International Convention Centre by his family.
The memorial service for Padayachey, who died in an accident on the N2 near Baywest Mall on Tuesday, is expected to draw a large number of bikers on Sunday.
“We will be saying goodbye in style,” his wife, Maya, said at their Humerail home, smiling and crying at the same time.
Padayachey, 50, was killed when he was flung from his motorbike after it clipped, or was clipped, by a car heading in the same direction on the N2.
He had just left Baywest, where he had spent the day with family and friends, and was on his way home.
He hit the barrier rail on the side of the road and died at the scene.
The car he came into contact with swerved and hit another car in the next lane that was also heading towards the city.
The drivers of both cars were taken to Netcare Greenacres Hospital, where they were treated and discharged.
The tragedy occurred within minutes of Padayachey leaving the mall, where he had spent the day with his wife, son Dayaan, 20, and daughter Neritika, 18, together with about 15 close family and friends, playing tenpin bowling and having lunch.
His close friend, Clint Frieslaar, who had been riding behind Padayachey when the collision occurred, believes he died doing what he loved.
“It was his day. He planned everything, and everything went the way he wanted it to go,” he said.
“It was like a final bonding session for him and his family, and despite it ending in such a tragic way, I truly think he could not have been happier at that moment.”
Padayachey, who was born and raised in Malabar in Port Elizabeth, worked at his uncle’s shipping company after graduating from Woolhope Secondary School in the 1980s.
He spent the last 25 years building up his own transport company, Born
Wild Transport in Korsten, from one bakkie used to transport furniture to a 22-truck fleet transporting freight containers all over the country.
Maya, 51, said her husband’s main priority had been providing for his family, and no matter what she had asked for, he had never refused.
“He always said he was the only man for me and I would never find another person like him. And he was right,” she said.
Neritika said she was so glad they had spent the day together as a family before her father had died.
“We were all together, and my father left us the way I believed he wanted to,” she said.
While his family came first, his bikes were his second love. And he was able to put his two passions together through son Dayaan.
“Making him proud was always the best feeling in the world,” Dayaan said.
“He would always set my bike up perfectly before a race and was always the first one on the racing strip after I finished, cheering me on.
“He helped me when I first got onto a bike at the age of four, and was still setting me up to win until the day he died.”
Lifelong friend Visva Pillay said Padayachey’s father, Soondraj, had planted the seed of biking that grew into a love that Padayachey nurtured from the age of 14, when he got his first bike, throughout his life.
“He had a lot of different bikes in his garage, so whenever someone wanted to ride with him but did not have a bike, he just let them use one of his. If you had a bike, or just wanted to ride a bike, you were automatically Dayalin’s friend.”
Padayachey’s passion landed him numerous Wheelie King and Drag King titles at the Swallows Rally in Worcester, the Straw Dogs Rally in Graaff-Reinet and the Dolphin Rally in Port Elizabeth over the years.
He never aligned himself with any motorcycle clubs, but always travelled with a small, close circle of friends and family to biking events.
Frieslaar, who was about 20m behind Padayachey when the accident happened, said he believed no one was to blame.
“Dayalin must have been in the driver’s blindspot. The car changed lanes and a collision was unavoidable. It is nothing more than a tragic accident.”
Padayachey’s memorial service will be held at 9am on Sunday.