Commentary On Competition

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32861, 9 March 1972, Page 19

Commentary On Competition

The 22-year-old New Zealand 500 c.c. road racing champion, G. L. Perry (Auckland), holds third place in the “Man of the Year” contest being held by the influential Austra-

lian motor-cycle newspaper, "Revs Motor-cycle News,” which also circulate? in New Zealand. The present leaders of the poll are the Australian road racers, R. Tombs and B. Kindle. The contest closes on March 31. It is open to Australia and New Zealand motor-cyclists and to overseas riders who have ridden in either country during the last 12 months. The magazine is also holding a poll to find the “Machine of the Year.” The Honda C8750-four at present leads the voting. * * «

One of the outstanding features of the 250 c.c. class in the last two South Island gold star scramble meetings has been the tremendous form of the young Ashburton rider, G. Horsburgh. On a tiny 100 c.c. Honda four-stroke —a make which rarely appears in scrambles—he has re-

gularly finished in the first three or four outdistancing machines of considerably greater power. Horsburgh, with a group of other young Ashburton motorcyclists, practises practically every day. For next season, hie is to be sponsored on a full-scale racing machine and should prove an instant success. The quality of his performances has already prompted the South Island selector (Mr W. Campbell) to include him in the team to meet the North on March 26. ♦ * ♦

The time is long overdue for the introduction of an annual speedway test series between Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand’s top team is probably the strongest in the world at present and Australia's best six are no slouches either so a test series seems an obvious step to take. Unfortunately, few people seem very interested in getting such a series off the ground. A few tentative negotiations took place a year or so ago but nothing came of them. The problem obviously concerns money. Australian promoters are understandably keen to get the biggest possible return from the smallest financial outlay. For example, it would be a lot cheaper to import two or three of New Zealand’s top riders and stage an international trophy match than to import six or seven for a test. The same applies for New Zealand. If a test series is to be started on a firm foundation it will have to be initiated at national level through the A.C.U. Australia and New Zealand will have to agree to hold the test series and then promoters should be asked to stage the meetings. A test series organised in any other manner could not be accepted by the public as a serious contest * * *

shapes up against the South on March 26. The South Canterbury Motorcycle Club and Shell have donated a set of yellow jerseys for the riders. Previously, the riders wore a square of yellow cloth which made them look rather untidy. # * * The popular opinion that speedway racing does not mix with other forms of motor-cycling is not subscribed to by the four times world speedway champion, B. Briggs, who recently ended a successful visit to his home country. “I am sure scrambling helped my speedway in the early stages,” he said. “It helps give you greater control and endurance.” Referring to the case of G. J. Stapleton, who has been advised by many people to give up scrambling entirely and concentrate on speedway, he said: “I think he would be very silly if he gave it up completely. If he enjoys scrambling, there is no reason why he should not continue.” Briggs, who is a former New Zealand scrambles champion, accompanied Stapleton to the last two South Island gold star scramble meetings and raced with some success in both the 500 c.c. and open classes. "I enjoyed every minute of it,” he said, recalling that it was about 10 years since he had previously raced in scrambles.