NSW: 50 bike pile up kills one, injures 14

AAP General News (Australia)
12-12-1998
NSW: 50 bike pile up kills one, injures 14

By Janine ONeill

SYDNEY, Dec 12 AAP - One motorcyclist was killed and 14 others were injured when a
motorcycle collided with a car today, causing a 50-bike pile-up during a 20,000-strong
motorcycle rally just north of Sydney today.

Rock veteran Angry Anderson was one those injured when a car and motorbike clipped each
each other, toppling up to 50 other riders in the group travelling the F3 motorway near
Tuggerah.

The victims were part of a huge motorcade of up to 20,000 bikies from throughout the nation
on a road trip commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Australian cult classic film Stone.

The noon pile-up near the Cobbs Road overpass north of Tuggerah came less than halfway
through their journey from Berowra to Raymond Terrace.

Coincidentally, the accident occurred on an extended stretch of the F3 featured in the
bikie film.

Police said it appeared a car may have been involved in the tragedy, which killed a
Maitland Gladiators group member, whose name has not been released, and injured 14 others.

"Our initial inquiries indicate that possibly some sort of collision between a motor
vehicle and motorcyclists ... has caused a concertina, domino effect," a spokesman said.

An ambulance spokesman said two people with spinal injuries had been airlifted to Sydneys
Royal North Shore Hospital and Newcastles John Hunter Hospital.

Three people sustained serious head injuries, three had multiple limb injuries and six had
minor injuries.

Angry Anderson is believed to have suffered minor injuries.

Anderson, the frontman of the band Rose Tattoo, was taken to Gosford Hospital with what his
manager, Matthew Ellard, would only describe as non-life-threatening injuries.

Mr Ellard could not say how badly injured the 50-year-old musician was, but he did say he
was not expected to remain in hospital for longer than a a day or so.

"Its not life-threatening, weve got someone on the way to Gosford now," he told AAP.

Mr Ellard said Anderson, as lead singer of one of Australias leading bands in the 1970s
and early 1980s, had a lot of bikie friends.

"Rose Tattoo is a bikie band, these guys just would have called and asked to come for the
ride. It being for charity, Angry wouldnt have been able to help himself," Mr Ellard said of
the singer who had recently done a national tour with the reformed band.

Traffic chaos followed the pile-up, which forced a five-hour closure of the motorway and
led to a four kilometre long traffic jam.

Although the road was reopened in both directions by 5pm, police warned that traffic flow
would remain sluggish while emergency workers sifted through the debris.

AAP jo/cfm/wjf

KEYWORD: BIKERS NIGHTLEAD

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