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All Australia says goodbye to `good bloke' Peter Brock

Australian motor racing great Peter Brock was remembered as a "straight-shooter" and a "good bloke" at a state funeral in Melbourne yesterday at which fans and the famous mingled to celebrate his life.

Brock, 61, died on Sept. 8 when the sports car he was driving skidded off the road and struck a tree during the Targa West rally near Perth in Western Australia.

Hundreds of mourners crammed into St Paul's Anglican cathedral in central Melbourne yesterday and thousands more lined downtown streets, to pay tribute to Brock whose nine victories in the Bathurst 1000 -- Australia's premier motor race -- made him a national legend.

Brock's coffin, draped in the Australian flag and decked with native flowers, was carried to the cathedral in a silver hearse which passed slowly along lines of mourners wearing the red and black of his Holden Racing Team.

Federal Tourism Minister Fran Bailey, Brock's local member of parliament, led tributes in a eulogy which described him as "a remarkable man" whose life had been an incredible journey.

"From growing up in the hills of the Plenty Valley in Hurstbridge to conquering and commanding racing at Bathurst and beyond," Brock had influenced and changed the lives of many people, Bailey said. "Peter was down-to-earth, a straight-shooter [who] cared deeply about the community that he grew up in."

Former Australian Rules football star Peter Daicos, a close friend, paid Brock the ultimate Australian tribute by describing him as "a good bloke."
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