Caldecott Statue Unveiled

On a glorious day in mid-August, just three days after what would have been Andy Caldecott’s 46th birthday, more than 500 people turned up to witness the unveiling of a memorial statue in honour of Australia’s most decorated desert racer. This life-sized structure is the first statue we can think of that commemorates an Australian motorcycle racer, but it represents much more than a tribute to Andy Caldecott and his accomplishments on a dirt bike. It is an indelible symbol of Andy’s strength of character, the values he stood for, and the pride and generosity of the community who backed him. After all, it was community spirit that made Andy’s Dakar Rally aspirations possible.

About two hours’ drive south-east of Adelaide, with a population of just 1200, the township of Keith – where Andy was born and raised – had undertaken a massive fundraising effort to help get Andy to his first Dakar in 2004. And now, five years after his death, they’d rallied again to raise the funds to build this enduring tribute – to celebrate his life and ensure subsequent generations know the Andy Caldecott story.

Thanks to Sonja Prax, here are a few images of what was a great celebration of Andy’s life. You’ll also find the transcripts of speeches made on the day by Rosco Holden and Rob Twyerould.

Rosco Holden’s Speech

You are all standing here because you loved Andy. I’m sure that some of you still carry very heavy hearts, but looking at this magnificent memorial, we can quickly reflect to the good times and your own Andy memories. Andy’s life was from the too short years: 1964 dash 2006. When said, it doesn’t say much about Andy’s life, but if you go back and explore between the dash, his life is full of what a person can create and achieve with fantastic support from family and friends and this community.

We all know there was so much more to Andy, so I need to share a couple of bike stories with you. I had been living in the US on and off for 13 years and upon my return, I went to a race Kevin Williams was running and that Jeff Leisk and Rob Twyerould were both doing. It was called the Yamaha Grand National Vets Championship at Traralgon in Victoria, and Andy was there. I thought, ‘Fantastic, it would be great to catch up’, and I went up and said g’day to Andy and to run past him my memories of the mid-70s when he invited 10 of us from Vic over for a weekend to race the Keith locals and some other quick kid called Steve Skilton. Caldecott Motors was on the highway I believe. Andy goes, “Yeah, I remember. And that’s right, you Vics had all the fancy stuff on your bikes. We couldn’t afford that, plus it didn’t make you go any faster than us that day, did it?” The reason for Andy’s comment was that Derrim Porter (whose father, Frank, was the DG Accessories Aus Distributor in the day) and I rode for PK Racing through a guy called Vic Muirhead, so the bikes looked trick. And as you all know, you always had to look the part, whether or not you can ride, right?!

Anyway, all day in the Over 35s at the Grand National Vets, Andy had been head-to-head with Leisky and it all came down to the last race of the day between them for the overall. And they were at it! Leisky was leading and for the last two laps, Andy poked his front wheel several times in front of Jeffro and couldn’t make the pass – although I thought he could have and didn’t know what he was up to, as I hadn’t seen Andy ride for such along time.

Then on the last lap, Andy challenged Jeff every corner and for sure I thought he was going to get Jeffro. But not to be. The boys came in with smiles all round. I went up to Andy and I said, ‘Mate, you could have passed him, couldn’t you?’. He said, “Rosco, are you mad? I need to sign my deal with Jeffro next week for the Safari and other events. He writes the cheques, and I’m happy to come second to the boss today.” This is when second actually is first, don’t you think?
I’m sure Jeffro wrote the cheques that next week. Right, mate?

The other quick story was when I was helping Leisky at the Melbourne Expo, and we had plasma set up in the middle of the display with some awesome Andy footage blasting across some Dakar dunes. The background music was like Apache Indian, with the haunting sounds and thumping beat of water drums, the native flutes and bone whistles. After all my time in the States, I’m looking at Andy, thinking we have our very own Australian Keith Native Apache Indian, with Chief Andy larger than life; his six-foot fit frame, ponytail long hair, high cheek bones and of course his infectious smile. It was a perfect marketing visual with Andy standing in front of his Rallye bike and the footage just of his shoulder.

More importantly, Andy had many questions thrown at him at the Expo. There was huge interest and fascination about the life of Australia’s greatest Safari and Rallye rider. I was standing few feet back but with in earshot of where Andy was standing, near the flatscreen and his Rallye bike, hoping for some of his girl-crumbs to even look at me. Nothing. No chance at all with the Keith Chief in town!

I will always remember when a man in his mid-40s walked up to Andy with his son, Matt, who was around 10/ or 12. Andy smiles and introduced himself. The father asked his questions with Matt patiently standing by his side. In typical Andy fashion, he answered all the father’s questions in detail and with no polish, just country facts. The father said thanks and said goodbye to Andy. Andy lent down, put his arm on Matt and said, “Have fun and ride hard,” and Matt smiled and said, “Yeeeeaahh!” As they were walking away, Matt looked up at his dad and asked whether Andy was a good rider. His dad stopped and looked at Matt. “Andy is my hero,” he aid. “I can only dream of ever being half the rider he is. He is a legend.” Matt just nodded to his dad and said, “I’m going to dream to be the best rider like you and Andy.”

As we stand here in front of this magnificent “Born to Ride” tribute to Andy, make no mistake; there has been another significant story to come out of this in the five years since Andy’s passing – that is, the family, friends, Tatiara District Council, The War Memorial Community Centre, and the township Keith have firmly become a community who has, and still is, supporting and looking after their own.

Andy Caldecott’s name is already immortalised as rightfully so, as LEGEND!
Quiet simply, this town and community of Keith also deserves legend status. This monument will be visited by many tourists. But more importantly, maybe another father and son – like Matt and his Dad – will stand and have the power to dream, to strive, to achieve their individual goals and that anything is possible to be one of the best in the world!

Rob Twyerould’s Speech

I met Andy for the first time in 1978 or ’79 at his family home in Keith; I had travelled there with my fellow apprentice mechanic and friend, Rodney, whom I worked with at Clare. Rodney was friends with Andy’s brother, Phil. We arrived and meet the whole family – Ken, Ruth, Phil, Greg and Cathy, and I was introduced to Andy, who was 14 or 15 at the time and I was 18. They told me that Andy rides bikes so we’d have something in common, as Phil and Rodney took off to the pub for the afternoon.
I thought, ‘Here we go, a mini bike rider and I’m stuck here for hours!’ But Andy had just returned from the USA where he had attended the Gary Bailey School of MX. He was sorting through the photos he had taken, and had shots of all the tracks he had ridden while he was there. There were shots of David Bailey the legend, and one shot I remember really well was of a set of handlebars and footpegs welded to a car suspension spring and them mounted on a base. The idea was you had to stand up on this spring and balance. It showed that if you moved too far rearward, the spring would flex backwards and the same if you were to far forward. It showed that a central position was the best. Little did we know that, years later, these little motorbikes mounted on springs would show up in every play ground throughout Australia. A missed business opportunity there?

Andy also taught me that day about injury management and the use of R.I.C.E – Rest. Ice. Compression. Elevation. I remembered and used it from that day onwards. We talked about our dreams of being World MX Champions and our goals for the following years, and formed a friendship that day that would also become a rivalry through competing against each other for the SA titles. One of my favourite rounds was always Keith – an incredible track, great people and over the years staying at different homes. All of us stayed at Cathy’s farm one year and the memories of the Keith Hotel disco are like it happened yesterday.

We travelled to many interstates races and I have fond memories of our return trips through the small towns of Victoria and SA late on Sunday nights and very early Monday mornings in a convoy with Daryl Willoughby and Andy in their Bedford V8 vans and me chasing in my Holden HG ute. The three of us hooked up one year and practiced together and Williamstown was a favourite track. On the way home, we would hit the Gawler bakery for cream buns and milkshakes … maybe it was only me that had the cream buns.

Both Andy and I retired from MX in 1985, both not really fulfilling the dreams that we had shared when we first meet. Years later, we would rekindle our friendship thru the Thumper Nats series where we both competed in different old-fart age groups. He hadn’t changed a bit; still had that calm, relaxed personality and silky riding style. Actually, he had changed a little – it looked like he hadn’t had a haircut since I’d seen him in 1985. It was at the Thumpers I first meet Andy’s beautiful wife, Tracey, and through KTM we would meet each other with our wives at the annual conferences.

When Andy started competing in rallies, it was like he had found his perfect discipline. It suited his effortless riding style and calm demeanour; it was a sport that was going to let him compete on the world stage. So when I look at this memorial dedicated to Andy, I don’t see Andy the racer. I remember Andy my friend who played a large part in making me the person I am today.