Riders on the move

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 18

Riders on the move

The 1974 New Zealand 500 c.c. motor-cycle road racing champion, D. Wylie, and the winner of the national light-weight title last season, M. Sinclair, leave today on the first leg of an international racing tour which will keep them on the move for the next nine months.

The first stop for t'ja two Christchurch riders will be Los Angeles. There Wylie, the winner of the recent New Zealand $lO,OOO Marlboro international series, will take delivery of a new fourcylinder Yamaha TZ7SO for use on the testing American circuit.

They will then drive overland 3600 miles to Daytona for the first major meeting of the American season. Sinclair plans to ride a 500 c.c. Suzuki in the amateur 100-mile race on March 9, and Wylie will concentrate on the $U552,000 professional classic of 200 miles the day after. “A slice of that amount of prize money would go down wen,” Wylie said yesterday. OPTIMISTIC Wylie was optimistic: “I will be starting with a solid background of racing from the New Zealand season, whereas the Americans and Europeans will be a little rusty after their winter. I see no reason why I can’t put on a reasonably good show.”

Wylie and Sinclair plan to practise hard in the week before the meeting—the most important on the international racing calendar. "We should be able to sort things out in this time,” Wylie said. Then they will travel to London for additional equipment before moving on to the South-East Asian circuit, which begins at Easter week-end. Wylie has a new water-cooled works Suzuki waiting for him in Singapore, and will use this instead of the big Yamaha. They will race in four Asian meetings — the first just across the causeway from Singapore in Malaysia. The others which follow at weekly intervals are in Kuala Lumpur. Penang, and Djakarta.

Wylie and Sinclair will then return to America for the remainder of the American championship rounds on June 2 (Atlanta), June

16 (Loudon), July 28 (Laguna Seca), September I (Talladega), and October 2 (Ontario). Between the Laguna Seca and Ontario meetings, Wylie will fly back to Asia for two more interational contests. If there are any hold-ups, he might have to miss the final round of the American championships.

But he is particularly keen to race in Ontario because most of the world’s leading riders will be there. The prize money of $U539,000 is also a considerable attraction.

The two riders hope to be back in New Zealand late in October, in plenty of time to prepare for the next southern season.