Biker hospitalised in summit crash

UPDATED 11.30am. A 34-year-old motorcyclist was taken to Tauranga Hospital following a head-on crash with a car near the top of State Highway 29 over the Kaimai Range on Sunday afternoon.

St John Ambulance have confirmed the man suffered multiple abrasions.


The crash happened near the top of the Kaimai Range. Photo: File.

Two motorcyclists were involved in the crash, says Waikato highway patrol senior constable Warren Watts, who was first at the scene.

They were with a group of other riders when they collided, pushing one of the bikes into the path of a car heading towards the Waikato with a woman and two toddlers on board. The other rider also dropped his bike.

'There was two of them involved,” says Warren. 'They certainly seemed to be going quite a bit quicker than the rest.”

He was first Police officer of the scene and from what had been described on the police radio, was expecting to arrive at the scene of a fatal accident.

'I was highly surprised, pleasantly surprised that it wasn't as severe as it could have been,” says Warren.

St John Ambulance says one of the men was taken to hospital suffering multiple abrasions. The other rider is believed to have taken a ride in the ambulance.

A witness who drove past the scene only minutes after the crash says the high speed impact completely destroyed the bike as well as the front of the car.

Returning from the Waikato, the Tauranga couple saw the car first. The front was 'completely munted”, and they admitted they didn't see the bike at first.

'The car was heading towards the Waikato and the bike was on the side of the road in a crumpled heap,” says the witness. 'There were bits of metal all over the ground.”

The silver bike was so badly damaged that the female witness says she could not tell the make of the motorbike.

'The front end was taken out,” she says. 'It looked like one of the wheels was completely ripped off. It was a mess. If someone walked away from that, it's a bloody miracle.”

The front of a blue station wagon, which was heading towards the Waikato, was also completely taken out.

There were two car seats that looked like they had been taken out of the car, and a woman with two children standing beside the road.

There were also some other bike riders seen talking with police.

'They just looked like a bunch of guys out for a ride,” says the witness.

'There were two or three older gentlemen on the side of the road and a female. They were all in leathers, but they didn't appear to have patches or anything on.”

They later saw yellow Greasy Dogs patches on about five riders heading up towards the summit on the Tauranga side as the witnesses were heading down.

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