Aust. Riders Surprise N.Z. Team

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31540, 30 November 1967, Page 17

Aust. Riders Surprise N.Z. Team

The Australian riders had been “completely underrated” by the New Zealand moto-cross team, the South Island open scramble champion, G. Holland, said yesterday in Christchurch after his return from the Australian international series.

Holland rode in all three matches but was slightly underpowered on iris 250 c.c. C.Z. His best meeting was the second at Woolongong where he finished runner-up to the top Australian 250 c.c. rider, M. Daly, in the lightweight class, took a third in a heat of the main event and finished sixth over-all. The team's visit to Australia had been a tremendous success but it had found the

opposition far stronger than expected, Holland said. New Zealand’s top riders were about equal to the leading Australians but there was a far greater depth of ability across the Tasman, he said. At one meeting there had been 60 riders in the 250 c.c. class alone, all mounted on good machines.

The possibility of a team of Australian riders competing in the seven-meeting New Zealand series, which will begin in New Plymouth on December 31, had been discussed but was "still very much in the air.” Riders such as Daly and R. Fisher had been considering it, Holland said, but he was not sure how they would fare on the tighter New Zealand circuits. Two of the three sponsored internationals who will compete in the New Zealand series—J. Lewis, the Welsh champion, and G. Lindstrom, of Sweden—impressed Holland,

Lewis, who won all three main international races in Australia, was fast and consistent in spite of the fact that he rode on borrowed machines. The best had not been seen of Lindstrom but he had showed himself to be a very spectacular and capable performer.

The first meeting, at Snake Gully near Adelaide, had been held in 96 degrees. I. Miller, of Blenheim, finished second over-all only one point behind Lewis., He won two heats but finished fifth in the other. Any place higher than fourth would have given him outright victory. Lindstrom was third. At Woolongong, Lewis won from Daly, who rode a fantastic race on a 250 c.c. Husqvarna. Lindstrom was again third. Miller was unhappy with the hard, fast surface and had not fully recovered from h fall in the first race. M. Shirriffs (Palmerston North), the third member of

the New Zealand team, was plagued with mechanical troubles. However, in the final international near Melbourne, Shirriffs was outstanding. He took the most prize money at the meeting and with a first and a fifth in the two main heats finished runner-up to Lewis. A piston had collapsed in Miller’s 360 c.c. C.Z. in the previous meeting and he had to ride a borrowed machine. Holland’s chances were upset when he had a spectacular fall in practice. “I went over a jump sideways. It would have come off in the dry but the surface was wet and greasy and down I went,” he said. The Australians were keen to get a similar New Zealand team back next season, Holland said. The visit had done much to strengthen scrambling ties between the two countries and everybody concerned had-benefited from it.