By Since 1951 36 different competitors have taken feature race honours at the ‘Southern Hemisphere’s Isle of Man’, the Whanganui based Cemetery Circuit Races.
Tony Rees holds the current record for the most feature race successes, triumphing to date on seven occasions across three decades (1990, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2014, 2015, 2016).
Three times Grand Prix winner Pat Hennen took three successive premier class crowns from 1974-1976 whilst added two wheel racing giants to take New Zealand’s No.1 pure road race title include Hugh Anderson, Jim Redman, Ginger Molloy and most recently TT, Ulster GP lap record holder Peter Hickman.
Photo by Terry Stevenson
In chronological order, the full list of those to claim the ‘Southern Hemisphere’s Isle of Man’ biggest prize, which since 1997 has been titled the Robert Holden Memorial feature race, in honour of the 1995 Singles TT winner, reads as follows:
1951 Dene Hollier
1952 Rod Coleman
1953 Rod Coleman
1954 Rod Coleman
1955 Peter Murphy
1956 Rod Coleman
1957 Peter Murphy
1958 John Hempleman
1959 Hugh Anderson
1960 Forrest Cardon
1961 Hugh Anderson
1962 Hugh Anderson
1963 Jim Redman
1965 Bob Coleman
1966 John Hempleman
1967 Graham Lacy
1968 Ginger Molloy
1969 Ron Grant
1970 Dale Wylie
1971 Ginger Molloy
1972 Ron Grant
1973 Dale Wylie
1974 Pat Hennen
1975 Pat Hennen
1976 Pat Hennen
1977 Greg Hansford/Jeff Sayle
1978 John Woodley
1979 Len Willing
1980 Rodger Freeth
1981 Dave Hiscock
1982 Bob Toomey
1983 Dave Hiscock
1984 Robert Holden
1985 Richard Scott
1986 Richard Scott
1987 Bob Toomey
1988 Jason McEwen
1989 Robert Holden
1990 Tony Rees
1991 Chris Haldane
1992 Robert Holden/Jason McEwen
1993 Robert Holden/Russell Josiah
1994 Jason McEwen
1995 Robert Holden
1996 Jason McEwen
1997 Chris Haldane
1998 Jason McEwen
1999 Jason McEwen
2000 Tony Rees
2001 Tony Rees
2002 Tony Rees
2003 Johan Bruns
2004 Jared Love
2005 Craig Shirriffs
2006 Andrew Stroud
2007 Craig Shirriffs
2008 Craig Shirriffs
2009 Andrew Stroud
2010 Dan Stauffer
2011 Dan Stauffer
2013 Nick Cole
2014 Tony Rees
2015 Tony Rees
2016 Tony Rees
2017 Scott Moir
2018 Peter Hickman
2019 Richard Cooper
Words by Stevie Rial, information found out via the Cemetery Circuit Races official website
