DOECKE MOTO-CROSS FAVOURITE

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33061, 31 October 1972, Page 28

DOECKE MOTO-CROSS FAVOURITE

If he can maintain the form he has shown in recent weeks, P. Doecke (Christchurch) should finish ahead of a strong A-grade field in the zone round of the Suzuki New Zealand moto-cross championship on Sunday.

For the first time the championship has been divided into three grades, the top 20 riders from each section qualifying for the semi-finals, which will be held at Kaiapoi on December 3.

The circuit on Sunday will be at Ogg’s Farm, Tai Tapu, and Doecke has already proved he can handle the difficult hilly course. Three weeks ago he shared victory in the over-all classification of the Castrol Moto-cross event with the New Zealand open scramble champion, C. Schultz (Eketahuna). Challengers

Since then Doecke, on his 380 C.Z. has also won the Canterbury scrambles championship. The runner-up in the Canterbun? championship, R. Austin (Ashburton), wiJI again be one of the strongest challengers, and other prominent Christchurch

riders competing will include G. Holland, R. Happer, and A. G. Reid.

Leading a strong assault from outside Christchurch will be R. K. Kilgour (Blenheim), the Boyce brothers, also from Blenheim, and the young R. Horsburgh (Ashburton), who rode particularly well on his 250 C.Z. machine for third placing in the Castrol event.

An interesting entry in the championship is the noted speedway and scramble rider, G. J. Stapleton (Christchurch). Although Stapleton will not be competing on Sunday, he will have a chance to qualify for the semi-final iin repechage races.

I Good entries have been received for the B and C grades.

Heading the list of prosipects for the B grade championship are J. Nicholls, J. Hanning, L. Ross—also a noted speedway competitor—all of Christchurch; R. Chang (Dunedin), B. A. Reed, and N. Poole (Invercargill), R. J. Tait (Ashburton) and K. Keenan (Nelson). Top contenders for the C grade event, which is for inexperienced riders, include G. Goodfellow (Dunedin), W. McMahon (Nelson), G. Munn (Greymouth), R. Anderson (Timaru), and the Christ-1 church riders, G. Cox, D. Brit-j tenden, and A. Cheyne.