Motor-cycle title to Briton

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34032, 22 December 1975, Page 13

Motor-cycle title to Briton

(By

ROD DEW)

lan Hindle. a young Englishman in his first season of competition in New Zealand, gained a popular and satisfying win in the Canterbury solo motor-cycle championship at the Templeton Pall Mall Speedwayon Saturday night. He scored 10 points from: I a possible 12 in the three final championship heats to beat the New Zealand test rider, Larry Ross, by two 1 points. Graeme Stapleton, !who was leading the cham- ! pionship on points after two heats, crashed in the final race but still finished third on aggregate. It was a measure ofj Stapleton’s determination; that he started in the contest at all. He has been] suffering from glandular! fever for the last two weeks and literally left his sick bed] to race on Saturday night. It was a gamble which almost) paid off. In spite of some dreadful j starts, he finished second to ] Hindle in the first championship heat and won the second. But lin the third he was trying to cut inside Ross on the south bend when his bike swung round ; out of control and tossed him on to the ground. He lay I stretched out on the track for mum moments and the race was | stopped while he received first aid. After several minutes, he I was able to walk away but was: unable to start in the re-run. . Hindle. who had been leading the third heat when the race

i was stopped, made no mistake < : in the re-run. He made a beauti- ’ ful gate and led all the way, < i with Ross looking in vain for a 1 wav through. Coming off the 1 last bend, Ross dived round the ' outside and started to draw level but Hindle drifted wide and the New Zealander was left with the choice of splattering himself over the safety fence or settling I for second. He wisely chose the ■ latter. Hindle's winning ride in the final heat of 78.8 sec was the 1 fastest of the night. It was a great finish to his first • championship ride in New’ Zealand. But the previous heat had so nearly ended in disaster. He had been leading the race on the third lap when his bike swung broadside on at the exit to the south bend. Ross, left with nowhere to go, rode straight into him and the pair rebounded in different directions. Ross shot on to the infield and Hindle weaved erratically across the track towards the safety fence. Miraculously, both regained control of their machines, but by j that time Stapleton was through I and into an unassailable lead. ' Hindle chased after Stapleton but right on the line was caught by Ross. This left the championship wide open. I The other two riders to qualify for a place in the three final ' heats were Paul Fewings, Graeme Stewart and Tom Black. All 'three rode well in the prelimini ary heats but had no chance of challenging the top three. The big disappointment of the night was the elimination with engine trouble of another English rider, Keith Anderson. On his form since his arrival in New Zealand, he was one of the favourites. And this seemed to be confirmed when he w r on his first qualifying heat with ease. But in his second ride a valve . dropped in his motor and the four points from his earlier win I was not enough to get him into !the final races. After several w’eeks of relalively quiet motoring, Alan Coles'

came to light with a brillianti win in the 12-lap supermodified! ( car feature race. His time of ’ j 3min 53.45ec clipped 4.6 sec off. J the old track record set by Bevan!' Tulett two years ago. On the way ■ to victory, he also equalled Peter < Annan’s lap record of 19sec. 1 Roger Gleeson was only third in this race behind Mike Allan 'I but he was in great form in the two previous races, winning ’ both. Gavin Parr finished the night ] on a high note with a comfort- 1 able win in the final eight-lap ! three-quarter midget car scratch race. But honours on the night 1 were well spread. Tony Davis ! won the six-lap race from Wayne ' Denovan, who had opened the meeting with victory in the four-lap handicap race. A dry, dusty track in the early part of the evening appeared to present problems for the midget cars. The fastest of them seemed unable to get traction and getting through the traffic was obviously a nightmare. For the first time for many weeks. Allan Palmer had to be content with one minor placing in his American-built Sesco racer—a second-equal with Gordon Roxburgh, in the final scratch race. And even then, he was a little lucky that this was not a third. Jack Bryan, who had won both earlier races, was being hotly pursued by the former New Zealand champion, Edwin Murray, as they entered the last lap. Murray, in his eagerness to find a gap, collided with the rear of Bryan's car and for a moment they were locked together. Murray tore clear and went on to win while Bryan limped off into the centre. Keith Schumacher was second across the .line but the stewards disqualified Murray and elevated the others one placing. The New Zealand sidecar champions, Les Dwight and Steve Unwin, won their first two starts in impressive style but left the final race in spectacular fashion after tangling with Warren Benson and Wayne Turner down the pit straight. Both outfits rockered off the track and into the centre but. were halted without further incident. Results were:— MOTOR-CYCLES Novice solo events (four laps).! —First race: A. Sintes 1, N.I Harris 2. Time: 90.0.

Second division solo events (four iapsi.—First race: A. Sintes 1, A. Crosby 2. Time: 89.8. i Second race: J. Hanning 1, G. I Taylor 2, S. Duff 3. Time: 83.3. Canterbury solo championship qualifying heats (four laps).— .First heat: I. Hindle 1, B. McMillan 2. L. Ross 3. Time: 81.0. Second heat: G. Stapleton I. Gt Stewart 2. B. Mitchell 3. Time: 83.0. Third heat: K. Anderson 1. P. Fewings 2, T. I Black 3. Time: 82.1. Fourth] heat: Hindle 1. Fewings 2. G. Forscutt 3. Time: 80.0. Fifth heat: Stapleton 1, Black 2, K.. Burt 3. Time: 80.2. Sixth heat: Ross 1, Stewart 2, G. Reid 3. Time: 79.6. Canterbury solo championship finals (four laps).—First heat: I. Hindle 1. G. Stapleton 2, L. Ross 3. Time: 79.0. Second beat: Stapleton 1, Ross 2, Hindle 3. Time: 79.8. Third heat: Hindle I. Ross 2, P. Fewings 3. Time: 78.8. Final points: Hindle 10, Ross 8, Stapleton 7, G. Stewart 3, P. Fewings 2. Sidecar events (four laps).— Qualifying race: L. Dwight and S. Unwin 1. 1. Begbie and A. Henrey 2, W. Benson and W. Turner 3. Time: 88.0. Rex Russell scratch: Dwight and Unwin 1, G. Pullan and D. Molyneux 2, Begbie and Henrey 3. Time: 5.1. Edox handicap: Begbie and Henrey 1, Pullan and 3. Time: 35.1. Edox handicap: Scobie 3. Time: 88.3. CARS Three-quarter midget racing cars.—Hornby Auto Services handicap (four laps,: W. Denovan 1. S. Woods 2, G. Parr 3. Time: 90.3. Hobbs Bros scratch (Six laps): A. Davis 1, Denovan 2, N. Chandler 3. Time: 2:15.2. Geoff Stone Motors scratch (eight laps): Parr 1, Davis 2 C. Hobbs 3. Time: 2:42.4. Midget racing cars.—Opening handicap (six iapsi: J. Bryan (20yd> 1, K. Proctor (30yd) 2, L. Millar i6oyd) 3. Time: 2:8.1. Pall Mall feature (eight laps): J. Bryant 1, E. Murray’ 2, A. Palmer 3. Time: 2:42. Firestone SlOOO scratch (eight laps): K. Schumacher 1. A. Palmer and G. Roxburgh 2 (equal). Time: 2:38.1. Supermodified car events.— Edox handicap (eight lapse R. Gleeson 1. P. Annan 2, T. Lynch i 3. Rubadub scratch <lO laps): .Gleeson 1, M. Allan 2. S. Everett ■3. Champion SlOOO feature (12 : laps): A. Coles 1, M. Allan 2,1 ■R. Gleeson 3. Time: 3:53.4.