My dad used to talk about the 1970 season like it happened last week, Ginger Molloy on that Kawasaki chasing Agostini with basically no team behind him. I was five but I grew up hearing that story at our kitchen table in Sydney. Sad to see he's gone.
Their story
William Garth "Ginger" Molloy, the New Zealand Grand Prix motorcycle racer who finished runner-up to Giacomo Agostini in the 1970 500cc world championship, died on 16 September 2026 at the age of 88. Born on Christmas Day 1937 in the Waikato mining town of Huntly, he earned his nickname from…
William Garth "Ginger" Molloy, the New Zealand Grand Prix motorcycle racer who finished runner-up to Giacomo Agostini in the 1970 500cc world championship, died on 16 September 2026 at the age of 88. Born on Christmas Day 1937 in the Waikato mining town of Huntly, he earned his nickname from his orange hair and grew up playing rugby league for Huntly United alongside future motorcycle champion Hugh Anderson before turning fully to road racing.
In 1963 he left New Zealand for Europe in a journey that became part of privateer lore: polishing a Matchless G50, packing a suitcase and toolbox onto the saddle, taking the train to Wellington, and spending six weeks aboard a ship to Southampton. On that crossing he met Claire, who became his wife. From 1965 to 1969 he campaigned Spanish Bultaco machines across the continental circus, winning the 1966 250cc Ulster Grand Prix, his only world championship race victory, and finishing third in the 125cc title and fifth in both the 250cc and 350cc classes in 1968.
His greatest season came in 1970 on the Kawasaki H1R. Facing Agostini's dominant MV Agusta factory effort with a privateer's truck, tools, and friends who could wrench, Molloy scored four second places and finished second in the premier 500cc world championship, the first New Zealander to do so. Keith Turner, Kim Newcombe, and Graeme Crosby later also finished second in the class, but Molloy got there first. Across Europe, America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand he amassed dozens of international wins; Motor.nl credited him with 66 after his decade abroad.
Back in Huntly and Hamilton he ran a motorcycle business, remained tied to Kawasaki's early H2-R programme, and kept racing classics well into his seventies, including after a serious head injury at home in 2009 from which he returned to the track within two years. Motorcycling New Zealand inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2014. Journalist Amy Herl, who interviewed him in 2007, remembered a man who summarised his career as doing what he could and finding that it sometimes went surprisingly well. He returned from Europe with Claire and three children, and left a record that helped put Kawasaki and New Zealand privateering on the world map.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (Ginger Molloy), CC BY-SA 4.0; Motor.nl / Amy Herl interview tribute (17 Sep 2026); Motorcycling New Zealand Hall of Fame profile; MotoGP.com rider records; SPEEDWEEK and Mat Oxley tributes. Wikipedia ↗
In their own words
“Ik deed maar wat. En soms ging dat verrassend goed.”
Ginger Molloy to Amy Herl, 2007, summarised in Motor.nl (Dutch original)
“Ago had a team, a truck, mechanics, everything. I had a bike, a toolbox and a few friends who could wrench. But I had fun, and that is worth more than money.”
Paraphrased English sense of Molloy remarks quoted in Motor.nl tribute
“Very sad to hear Kiwi Ginger Molloy - MotoGP runner-up to Agostini in 1970 - has died, aged 88.”
Mat Oxley on X, 17 September 2026
Photos
1Ginger Molloy
by People Forever
Same, my uncle followed him too, said the whole privateer thing was the real story