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Sad loss for motorcycle precision riding
COURTESY OF OPP
Const. John Verral rode in the OPP Golden Helmets from 1968 to 1971, when his death in a performance was top of the news in the Star.
I wrote in last week's Wheels about the OPP Golden Helmets precision motorcycle riding team, but I made a serious omission. I made no reference to Const. John Verral, who was a member of the team from 1968 until 1971, when he was killed during a performance in Simcoe.
Verral's death is sad proof precision motorcycle riding is dangerous work. After several people told me this week of the accident, I found Verral's son in the phone book and called to ask about his father.
"Short of being a hero, he was just a wonderful, kind and respected gentleman," said Chris Verral, who lives in Hagersville and builds Toyotas in Cambridge. "His joy was motorcycling, and he took his job very seriously."
Const. Verral was an OPP officer in Oakville who rode a motorcycle as part of his regular duty. There is an account of his accident in the OPP's publication Dedication to Duty:
"On Oct. 8, 1971, John was really looking forward to the show the team would put on because it was in his hometown. The officers would perform to a capacity crowd at the Norfolk County Fair in Simcoe.
"That evening, PC Verral experienced some trouble with his machine. At first, people in the audience, which included his wife, Lynne, did not notice anything out of the ordinary. The problems started when the second-last ride was performed. This manoeuvre was called `Threading the Needle.' In this run, the officer experienced difficulty maintaining speed, control and balance of the bike. He had the opportunity to substitute bikes but declined to do so, feeling he could control the problem.
"The last ride was called `The Charge' or `Finale Formation.' In this crowd-pleasing event, two teams of machines in parallel lines ride toward each other with flashing lights and sirens in full operation. As they approach each other, they pass through and continue to the opposite end of the show track.
"When the piece commenced, the noise of both machines and the roar of the crowd was deafening. Verral was leading a team of three machines and had almost reached the end of his leading run when his bike began to wobble. He veered to the right and struck the last rider in the oncoming group. This threw him in the path of another machine proceeding parallel to him in the same direction. The rider could not avoid PC Verral and ran over him.
"Lynne Verral left her place in the stands and was rushed to the hospital to be with her husband. Two other members of the team suffered head injuries and one received a back injury. PC Verral died of a broken neck and other injuries."
John Verral, 32, was given a full police funeral and buried in his uniform. There was never any explanation for the bike's steering failure; the team disbanded until 1975.
Chris Verral, 8 at the time, watched his father die. So did 20 or 30 members of his family, gathered at the fair for a reunion. "I remember it clearly – completely clearly," he said. "I used to think about it every day, but now, it's probably once or twice a week. It'll never go away."
His father had bought him a dirt bike. At 16, he bought his first street motorcycle and now rides a Harley-Davidson, as his dad did.
Last year, he and his wife attended the Golden Helmets' first show of the year and he spoke with the officers about his father's accident.
"They told me that there isn't one of them who does this who doesn't know about my father, and about the danger. But they said they don't think about it when they're riding – they have to concentrate on the job at hand."
Did he ever think about becoming a cop? "I did," he said, "but the shoes were always a little too large to fill. They're very big boots, my dad's."
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