Strong Chch sidecar team

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 36

Strong Chch sidecar team

The New Zealand champions, Les Dwight jun. (rider) and Steve Unwin (passenger), will lead a strong Canterbury team against Auckland at the Templeton Pall Mall Speedway tonight in a motor-cycle sidecar contest. The contest will bring the best combinations in the country together for the first time. Dwight and Unwin will be out to head the scoring in the three four-lap heats and on recent form they must be favoured to do this. But they will also be watching for any signs of improvement among the rivals likely to challenge them for the national crown later in the season. The biggest northern threat appears likely to come from Bill Buckley (rider) and Hoyd Drake (passenger), who have been highly placed at national level in recent seasons. They will be riding a machine powered by a 1000 c.c. Vincent engine.

The other two combinations in the Auckland team will both be relying on Japanese 750 Suzukis for their power. They are Graham Smith (rider) and Peter Trimble (passenger), and Terry Soffe (rider) and Kerry Wright (passenger). The Canterbury team is, on paper, even stronger. Supporting Dwight will be lan Begbie (rider) and Tony Henrey (passenger), of Ashburton, and the French brothers, Kevin and Paul. Begbie holds the sidecar lap record at Templeton at 19.9 sec — a time he set with Bill Lee as his ballast. The French brothers, who are sponsored by Dwight’s father, Les Dwight sen., made tremendous progress earlier this season, setting a new four-lap record of 82.6 sec before being involved in a crash which kept them on the sidelines for several weeks. They made their first racing appearance since the crash only last Saturday but there was no sign of any diminishing of their determination.