When a send-off is a large motorcade cruising slowly to the family home, you know the man who has passed away was a cherished member of the petrolkop community.
And this was the case last Sunday as the petrolkoppe of Atlantis turned out in their hundreds to bid farewell to a famed character on the local scene, Captain Kenneth Lombard.
Gone with the Covid-19 last Friday, Kenny, 52, was a beloved member of the community, as well as being a detective in the Table View Police. He is survived by his wife and three children.
The club, as well as a cohort of quad bikes and dune ready pipe cars, held a motorcade to his home in Atlantis to say goodbye, and honour a pillar of the community.
FLOWERS ON WHEELS: Rides of all sorts were seen in the streets during the tribute drive
As a founder member of the Destiny Riders Motorcycle Club, Kenny was an avid two-wheel fan and and active in fundraisers as well as weekend rides.
André Bennett, the vice president of the club and rider of a Honda Shadow 1100, says: “Kenny was president for 16 years of the club’s 17-year history. While we change the notion that bikers are rough guys, we’ve done fundraisers for kids and old age homes, and the entire community knows of us.
“When they would see that we have an upstanding guy like Kenny in our ranks, sitting on his Hayabusa 1300, it would bring everybody together.”
PIONEER: Captain Kenneth Lombard
Bobby also spoke to Marco Fisher, a friend of Kenny’s. Marco says: “He was a soccer player, rugby player, a DJ, a detective, a motorcycle rider, a founder and second president of Atlantis’ only bike club, and so much more.”
Marco tells of how Kenny got him into riding bikes, saying: “I remember when I met Kenny, and that everybody knew him.
FAREWELL TO COMMUNITY MAN: Mense came out in their numbers to say their goodbyes
I told him I wanted to get a bike and he sommer said right then ‘well, get on the bike’. I wasn’t keen at first but he convinced me and went for a spin around the block and that was it for me. I was in. Then he convinced me to buy a bike and I did the very next year. Kenny inspired me to start riding. I’ve never looked back.”
Granville Syme, also a well-known petrolkop in the area, says: “Kenny was always up for motorsports in Atlantis, it was his passion. He would come to the burnouts and give a big up to the guys.”
He says Kenny will be missed as part of the neighbourhood watch that he and his father are involved in. He says: “We stay up the road, and Kenny would take the lead if we came up against any funny business in the middle of the night. If it was wrong, by him, then it was wrong and there was no way to manipulate him.”