Simon Crafar

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Simon Crafar is a motorcycle racer from New Zealand. He was bon in Waiouru on the 15th January 1969. He won Malaysia's Sueprbike championship in 1991. In 1993 he was racing for Harris in the 500cc World Championship before joining Suzuki for 250ccs for the latter part of the season. He did not enjoy this, feeling that he is too large for the bikes [1].

For 1994 he joined countryman Aaron Slight in Honda's factory World Superbike team, although they raced under different liveries. The bike gradually became more competitive, and Simon was strong in late 1995, coming 2nd in race 1 at Assen. He then spent 2 years with Kawasaki. In 1997 he took 2 2nd places and 5 3rds.

He rode a WCM Yamaha in 500s for 1998, winning at Donington (the last win for Dunlop in a dry race, and the only non Honda Donington win in 6 years) and finishing 7th in the standings. He remained with the team for the early part of 1999, scoring points 5 times, also taking 10th on an MuZ at Donington. In total he has contested 32 500cc races, taking 3 podium finishes.

He returned to World Superbike for 2000 as a substitute rider for Aaron Slight for 2 rounds. In 2002 he raced in British Superbike for Yamaha, coming 8th overall and peaking with 2 3rd places.