MOTORBIKE riders turned out to bid farewell to one of their own, joining popular racer Roy Gunning's funeral cortege.

More than 20 bikers, including Mr Gunning's two surviving sons Richard and Vincent, joined the procession to Kingsdown Crematorium yesterday.

Mr Gunning, 64, died last Tuesday after a battle with cancer of the oesophagus.

His brother Trevor said Mr Gunning was among the top motorcycle racers in Swindon in the 1960s.

Known as "Tonner Gunner", he raced at local airfield competitions as well as taking on famous British circuits including Silverstone.

In a tribute published in the Advertiser on Monday, Mr Gunning said his brother was good enough to compete at the highest TT competition level but a shortage of funding meant he stayed in the amateur ranks "It's difficult to have a happy funeral but it was what Roy would have wanted," Mr Gunning said.

"We had a good number of riders. It was really good.

"There were three or four people we hadn't seen for a long, long time.

"There were a lot of people who turned up because they saw it in the paper.

"Some of the people at the crematorium said they could hear us coming.

"There were five bikes that my brother had built."

Mr Gunning got his first bike in 1961 as a 19-year-old and won his first race in 1962.

His nickname "Tonner Gunner" was earned hitting the ton, or 100mph on trips, between coffee shops around Swindon and Wiltshire.

Mr Gunning drifted away from racing, working as a gas engineer and starting a family before returning to it in his 40s.

He competed on classic Nortons, which he rebuilt himself.

In 1985 he came third in the British Classic Racing Club championship. His last project was rebuilding a BSA Goldstar 650.

Mr Gunning, who lived in Old Walcot, was married twice.

He has four surviving children sons Vincent and Richard and daughters Tanya and Holly and grandchildren.

His youngest son, Scott, died in 1982.

He was riding his bike up until a week before he entered hospital.