Bazza’s banger
THIS RGB500 MIGHT HAVE been built partly to pay homage to one of the most popular Grand Prix stars but it will not be sitting in silence for evermore. Many racers over the years have been paid homage by fans who built replicas of the machines raced by these heroes back in the day. Whether they be actual race bikes or road going replicas, the passion is the same. Countless hours and more money than the builders wish to acknowledge go into these mechanical marvels.
An admirable example of such a bike that we saw at the 2016 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed was Paul Edwards’ RGB500.
‘Woody’ as he is known to most people, is no stranger to race tracks, having campaigned a Kawasaki 400 for many years. More importantly, he was the man who kickstarted the career of numerous current road racing stars, including Mike Jones, Matt Walters, Josh Hook and Jack Miller. All these young riders, and many more, started their road racing career in the Motorcycle Road Race Development Association (MRRDA) series, and the MRRDA series would not have got off the ground in the first place had it not be for the efforts of Paul.
We thought we’d let Paul tell you about his RGB500, and how it became a tribute to one of the most popular GP riders the world has ever seen.
THE WHY
“I saw Barry many times when I was a youngster in the UK at circuits like Brands Hatch, Donnington and Silverstone,” said Paul. “I was actually there at Donnington for his last professional ride in 1984. I
