Three motorcyclists killed in crash on State Highway 1: Club president says police investigating whether car was on wrong side of road

The president of a social motorcycle club says he understands police are investigating whether the car involved in the crash that killed three riders was on the wrong side of the road.

Three motorcycle riders died in the crash on State Highway 1 in the central North Island yesterday morning near Utiku, south of Taihape.

“We overheard the cop telling somebody there it was a head-on,” Road Pirates Social MC‘s Rob Miller told the Herald.

He understood police were investigating whether a car was on the wrong side of the road at the time of the crash.

When approached by the Herald about the possible cause of the crash, police said it was too early to provide comment.

Miller said the riders had been attending an “old school biker rally” in Mangaweka, near where the crash happened.

“Our lady, from the Manawatū chapter of the Road Pirates Social Motorcycle Club, she was a very bubbly lady, lots of laughs ... [She was] a very competent rider.”

He said the woman, in her late 40s or early 50s, was the “life of the party”.

Miller said one of the men killed had been riding since he was a “knee-high grasshopper”.

“He was mischief,” he said endearingly.

Miller told the Herald he didn’t know the other man well.

A fourth motorcyclist, belonging to Sulphur City MC in Rotorua, was still fighting for their life in hospital, Miller said.

“We’re all still at my place waiting to hear anything,” Miller said yesterday.

Miller said of the gathering: “It was just basically; sit around a campfire, talk s***, drink p***, and play games – that’s what everyone was going to do, and it all turned to custard.

“You’re going to have our social motorcycle club community really come together at the moment,” he said.

“We had the Kinsmen [MC] turn up, the Brothers in Arms [MC] turn up with some military guys, and God knows how many turned up just to be there for us, for the Pirates and Bay MC.”

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.