‘My dream was to ride the most beautiful bikes’ Simon Crafar,
MCN catches up with the Kiwi who competed against, and beat, the best in the world
Josh Close
Simon Crafar is known by younger race fans for his in-depth MotoGP tech analysis across race weekends and pre-season testing. But for those who are a little older, he’s the New Zealander who beat Mick Doohan in his prime along with some of the very best riders to have graced the world championship paddock.
MCN caught up with Crafar to reflect on his incredible career.
From New Zealand to the UK
Crafar’s journey started back home at a motocross event, on a farm bike… “I wore a rugby jersey with jeans and a cheap open-face helmet,” he recalls. “I don’t even think I had gloves. I didn’t know what I was doing!”
Crafar improved on a better bike and was inside the top 10 in the North Island of New Zealand before switching to road racing and winning the 250 production title aged 19. As a result, he was invited to contest the Suzuka 8-Hour onboard a Yamaha OW-01.
Crafar was undertaking an apprenticeship with Mike Webb (current MotoGP Race Director) when he was offered a ride by Yamaha Malaysia. He’d win the Malaysian Superbike Championship in his first full campaign in 1991, with racers Mark Forsyth and Tim Wild telling Crafar he was ‘fast enough to mix it with the British’.
“I bought a plane ticket, and took £500 for tyres for a one-off ride on an RC30 built by Ron Grant. I did one hour at Cadwell in the freezing cold and Ron had this big grin looking at the stopwatch. We did the Sunflower that weekend and then the Brands Power Bike event.
“I remember trying to force it past Ron Haslam on the Norton entering McLaren, but I lost the front and destroyed the bike. It was too early, not enough heat in the tyre. But it did turn into a job with Honda UK in 1992!”
Alongside British Superbikes, Crafar competed for Rumi Honda at selected World Superbike rounds, giving him a taste of the world championship. He wanted more, turning down a new BSB contract despite not having a ride.
“I told Honda chiefs Bob McMillan and Neil Tuxworth, ‘I’m bored here and if I’m bored, I’ll chase girls and drink’.”
Taking it to a world level
The call eventually came from Peter Graves and Harris Yamaha in the 500GP class, while Crafar also competed in the 250GPs along with several rounds of WSBK.
“Harris was the team with the smallest budget. We had two sets of tyres per race weekend. You had to save one for the end of qualifying and then one for the race, which we’d use again at the next meeting until qualifying. I finished ninth at Assen like this! That was unheard of for a Harris rider… we all dreamt of a top 10 so I was over the moon.”
A full-time WSBK ride with Rumi Honda followed, proving that Crafar’s decision to leave BSB was the right one.
“It’s the decision that I’m most proud of in my whole career because without that, if I didn’t have the determination, belief, or risk in me, I wouldn’t have got to the world championship.
“It’s really important to tell the young guys that really want to go to
A Suzuki GSX-8S
simply by getting a quote at www.mcncompare.com