The Greymouth Motor Cycle Street Race was first held in 1989  as part of the Octoberfest.
Octoberfest was initiated after the flooding of 1988 as a way of attracting visitors back to Greymouth & the West Coast and is the only surviving activity from the event.
The Greymouth Motor Cycle Street race runs through the streets of the central business district of Greymouth, on a tight 1.3km circuit and is run under permit from Motor Cycling New Zealand.
From a small idea & bet the Street Race became reality. The event was run by a group of volunteers from local businessmen, service groups and interested motor sports groups.  With the assistance of the Borough Council and numerous sponsors the event was first held Sunday 22nd October 1989, with the proceeds going to the Mayoral Relief fund.
These volunteers did all the organizing, marketing & advertising, as well as the actual running of the event on the day.  The initial meeting attracted around 60 riders in eight classes.  Unfortunately there are no records of the number of spectators who attended the first race day.
The event has been held annually during Labour Weekend since its inception.
As Motor Sports grew in New Zealand so did the rules and regulations surrounding the organizing of events and in 1983 the Greymouth Motor Cycle Street Race became an incorporated society.  This gave the group greater access to sponsorship monies.  As far as can be ascertained the Club is the only motor bike club in New Zealand set up solely to run a one off motor sports event annually.
Over the period until 2004, the event survived with the rider numbers fluctuating as well as the number of spectators attending.  The number of volunteer hours required to organise the race increased as did the safety requirements & regulations, and in 2005, the race went into hiatus for a year.  After an organizational restructure the event returned to the calendar in 2006.
In 2007 the event was filmed by Legge Work Television, through community sponsorship from Development West Coast and screened on the Sports channels. This raised the profile of the event with both riders and spectators. The event was again filmed in 2009 and currently there are negotiations for 2010.
Top Gear NZ is lined up to do a six – eight page article on the 2010 event for publication over the Christmas period. Two other biking magazines have also expressed an interest.  This extra profile can only add to the growth of the event

Check out more rider information on

http://greymouth.visordown.co.nz/Contact/Our%20Details.php