Keith Turner

Keith Turner (born 11 November 1946) is a former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer from New Zealand. He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix world championships from 1967 to 1972. He had his best season in 1971 when he finished the year in second place in the 500cc world championship, behind the defending champion, Giacomo Agostini.

Motorcycle racing career Turner was born in London, England, but lived in New Zealand from the age of five. He purchased a Matchless 500 as his first motorcycle at the age of 15. In the 1970 250cc Finnish Grand Prix, he placed fifth aboard a Yamaha TD250. At the Dutch TT, he made a poor start but recovered to finish the race in fourth place. After retiring from the Belgian Grand Prix with an engine failure he rebounded to score to consecutive second-place finishes behind Agostini at the East German and Swedish Grand Prix races. He was in second place at the Finnish Grand Prix when an engine misfire forced him back to fourth place. He ended the season with a sixth place in Italy and a fifth place in Spain to secure second place in the 500cc world championship, just one point ahead of Rob Bron, also riding a Suzuki T500. New Zealand road racers had a string of second placings in the premier class – Ginger Molloy in 1970, Turner in 1971 and Kim Newcombe in 1973.

Turner suffered through numerous mechanical problems in 1972 causing him to become disillusioned with racing in Europe and decided to return to New Zealand. After racing motorcycles for a few more years and operating a motorcycle business, he retired in Rotorua, New Zealand.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results Source:

Points system from 1950 to 1968: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1969 onwards: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins1967 250cc Bultaco ESP- GER- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR10 CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- CAN- JPN- 0 – 0 500cc Matchless GER- IOM24 NED- DDR13 CZE- FIN8 ULS- NAT- JPN- 0 33rd 01968 250cc Aermacchi GER11 ESP- IOMRET NED- BEL- DDR- CZE11 FINRET ULS- NAT- 0 – 0 500cc Matchless GER15 ESP- IOM10 NEDRET BEL- DDR8 CZERET FINRET ULS6 NAT6 0 33rd 01969 250cc Aermacchi ESP- GER- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR9 CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- YUG- 2 45th 0 500cc Linto ESPRET GER- FRARET IOM- NED11 BEL- DDRRET CZE- FINRET ULS- NATRET YUG5 6 36th 0 1970 250cc Yamaha GER- FRA- YUG- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN5 ULS- NAT- ESP- 6 28th 0 500cc Linto GER- FRARET YUG- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- FINRET ULSRET NAT- ESP- 0 - 01971 350cc Yamaha AUT- GER- IOM- NED- DDR- CZE- SWE- FIN- ULS- NAT8 ESP- 3 40th 0 500cc Suzuki AUT2 GERRET IOM7 NED4 BELRET DDR2 SWE2 FIN4 ULSRET NAT6 ESP5 58 2nd 0 1972 500cc Suzuki GER13 FRARET AUT- NATRET IOM- YUGRET NEDRET BELRET DDRRET CZERET SWERET FINRET ESP- 0 67th 0