Grandstand finish likely in international motor-cycling

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34047, 10 January 1976, Page 4

Grandstand finish likely in international motor-cycling

(By

ROD DEW)

For the second successive year, the outcome of the Marlboro $30,000 international motor-cycle road racing series will depend on the result of the final meeting at Ruapuna Park tomorrow. The defending titleholder, Pat Hennen (750 Suzuki), of the United States, and the two top Australians, Murray Sayle (H2R Kawasaki) and Greg Hansford (H2R Kawasaki), are ah in with a chance of claiming aggregate honours. After the incident-packed penultimate meeting at the Levels Raceway, near T'imaru, last Sunday, Hennen has 142 points and leads by only 10 points from Sayle. Hansford is a further point behind. With 20 points at stake for the winner of each of the two legs tomorrow, Hennen cannot afford the luxury of a mechanical breakdown or a low placing. But he must now’ be the odds on favourite to win for the second successive season.

The quiet 23-year-oid American put the seal of victory on last, season’s series at Ruapuna Park, winning the final and deciding leg in convincing fashion. And he seems set to do it again. But it might weil be the eleventh placing he gained in the second leg at Timaru which will spell that difference between being Marlboro champion and an also ran. Hennen’s rear tyre punctured six laps from the finish but instead of pulling into the pits, he soldiered on at what must have seemed to him like a walking pace and was rewarded with nine valuable points — satisfactory compensation for a ruined rear slick. In the finai round, two fifth piadings will be sufficient to assure him of overall victory. But this is dealing in statistics, which can be unwise. So much can happen in a motor-cycle race. A link in a chain only needs to break — or a tyre puncture — and it is a whole new ball game. Hennen is not unaware of this and has made it clear that he will be out to finish first in both legs. Hansford, who has held the Australian open title for the last four seasons, is equally determined to finish on a high note after spoiling his chances with a disastrous crash at Timaru while challenging Hennen

for the lead. Before Timaru, he and Hennen shared the lead in the series. Fortunately, both Hansford and his air-cooled Kawasaki three received nothing more than superficial damage. Murray Sayie, who has played second fiddle to Hansford in the Australian Kawasaki team, has gained his second position with consistency as much as ability. He is one of the few top riders to have finished every race and if Hennen and Hansford beat one another into submission at Ruapuna Park, he will be right there to take the series.

One thing does seem certain — the lap record at Ruapuna, as it has at every other track where the Marlboro stars have raced, will fall, This currently stands to the credit of an American, Randy Cleek, at 44sec. As much as 2sec. could he lopped off. And that would be really motoring on a 1.1 mile circuit.

If Hennen, Hansford and Sayie are likely to be the leading contenders for overall victory, this does not necessarily mean that they will dominate the racing in the final rounds. Ruapuna Park is home territory to the 21-year-old Christchurch internationals, John Boote (RGSOO Suzuki) and Stewart Avant (RGSOO Suzuki), and it is also a

familiar setting for New Zealand’s 350 c.c. champion, John Woodley, the flying airman from Blenheim.

Boote, who was third equal with Sayie in last season’s series, had little success in the early rounds but came to light in spectacular fashion at Timaru, finishing runner-up to Sayie in the second leg, inches behind. He might well become the first New Zealander to win a Marlboro round tomorrow, provided he has a trouble-free run with his four-cylinder two-stroke Suzuki.

Avant is currently the leading New Zealand rider on points, although he has failed to finish two races through mechanical failures. One of the most stylish riders among the young

campaigners, he is certain to do well at Ruapuna, where he won the New Zealand senior and junior Grand Prix titles as a 19-year-old two seasons ago. Another New Zealand rider likely to be prominent Is Trevor Discombe (TZ7SO Yamaha), of Cambridge. He was the leading performer in the recent North-South contest at Ruapuna and is capable of riding above the ninth placing he currently shares with the American, Mike Nine! (TZ7SO Yamaha).

Aucklanders Bob Haldane and Ken Fletcher, both aboard formidable TZ7SO Yamahas cannot be disregarded either. Apart from Hennen, Hansford and Murray Sayie, only two others of the overseas contingent are playing leading

roles, Jim Allen (TZ7SO Yamaha), the Canadian champion, is lying fifth overall and Jeff ’Sayle, the Australian 350 c.c. champion, is just one point behind him — a fine effort considering he is racing a I TZ3SO Yamaha half the size of the bikes ridden by I the majority of his rivals. Official points with only I the Ruapuna Park meeting remaining are: P. Hennen (U.S.A. 142, Mr. Sayle (Aust.) 1.32, G, Hansford (Aust.) 131, S. Avant (ChCh) 96, J. Allen (Canada) 92, J. Sayle (Aust.) 91, J. Woodley (Blenheim) 88, J. Boote (Christchurch) 83, T. Discombe (Cambridge) 59, M. Ninci (U.S.A.) 59, K. Fletcher (Auck.) 55.