MotoFest at Hampton Downs this weekend will be like a motorcyling Mardi Gras, says businessman and former national motorcycling champion Mike Pero.
"It's a huge event and nobody will go away disappointed. It was a major event last year and, this year, with ACC involved with their Shiny Side Up programme too, it's going to be like a motorcycling Mardi Gras," he said.
The second Mike Pero Motorfest would be one of the biggest and most colourful events of its kind in the country.
"There will be so many categories of motorcycles that it will appeal to the whole family," he said.
The six-time former national motorcycling champion, has become a household name in New Zealand off the back of his real estate business and he now enjoys the same status in the motorbike community.
Pero’s passion is Grand Prix machines which are included in the MotoFest programme this year, a category reserved for two-stroke racing machines, typically from the 70s’ 80s’ and 90s’.
"Having raced bikes back in the 1980s, I thought it would be great, given the popularity of post classic bikes, to run not only F1 and F2, but also to have a class dedicated to Grand Prix machine class and that's pretty much how the Mike Pero Shoei GP class of racing evolved for MotoFest," said Pero.
"On the grid there will be everything from 125cc bikes to the legendary TZ750 and I myself will be running a 1995 Yamaha TZ250.
The weekend of racing will include in the action a swathe of exotic and classic machinery, with the Mike Pero Shoei GP and Post Classics an integral part of the programme.
Among those at the event will be English author, commentator and former British champion Steve Parrish; Kiwi former GP winner and current MotoGP commentator Simon Crafar; Australia's 2003 World Supersport Champion Chris Vermeulen and Kiwi superheroes Aaron Slight, Graeme Crosby, Stu Avant and nine-time former national superbike champion Andrew Stroud.
Record eight-time former New Zealand moto trials champion and twice Australian moto trials champion Jake Whitaker and international X Games freestyle motocross favourite Levi Sherwood will also be among those at Hampton Downs, not to mention the current crop of road-racers who will be there contest the national superbike championship.