North in the back of his brother Maurice’s
van after a motocross event in Kawhia in 2001.
A tractor towing a trailer full of children – King,
her two brothers and a cousin – crashed into
a ditch. The driver, King’s father George Philip
Tooman, 48, was killed. Ebbett freed two of the
children trapped by the trailer, and saved a third
who was lying face down in a drain, drowning.
King and her family have never been sure whether
it was she or her brother Julian who had landed in
the drain, but one thing that was always clear was
that Ebbett had saved their lives that day. She never
got to say thank you to her hero. However, she
wanted to attend his funeral to pay her respects, she
said. I would have given him a big hug and said thank
you. Thank you for being there at the right time.”
The theme of Ebbett as a hero kept resurfacing
throughout the three-hour ceremony as various
friends paid tribute to him. Long-time dirt bike
racer Solis Norton, who described Ebbett as his “true
hero”, said he was a man with a big heart, who was
steadfast, positive, and as “honest as a day is long”.
Ebbett’s humour, love for food, motocross,
the outdoors and his sense of adventure were
interwoven in the speeches made by family
and friends at the packed ceremony.
A fitting motorcycle send-off
Friend Scotty Brooker said Ebbett was an
enthusiastic guy with a larger than life attitude.
Ebbett loved his family, friends, adored his son,
and would be missed by all, Brooker said.
“You went out on top of the world, who else
can say that? – full Richie style,” he said.
Ebbett’s father Harvey spoke at the funeral
and said it was possible his son had fainted
and fallen into the crater lake. He thanked
the people involved in the search party who
scaled the mountain to search for Ebbett after
he was reported missing on the Friday.
Ebbett, a farm boy from Pahiatua, attended
Palmerston North Boys’ High School and later
went on to form the Moto SR (Moto Suspension
Research) company, based in Taupo.
He was well known and respected in the
motocross, enduro and cross-country community.
KIWI RIDER 13