Motor-cycling ace arrives
By ]
ROD DEW
The winner of the 1976 Isle of Man junior (350 cu. cm) T.T., 27-year-old Chas Mortimer, of England, has arrived in Christchurch to prepare for the forthcoming $30,000 Marlboro international motor-cycle road racing series. Third in the world 350 championship recently completed in Europe and fresh from a resounding victory in the 100 mile Macao Grand Prix near Hong Kong nine days ago, he is among the favourites for outright victory in the open class of the five-meeting Marlboro series, which begins in Auckland on December 19. “On the continent I have been quite consistent and 1 feel that I can be the same here,” he said. “In a series like this consistency is very important. I think I can finish in the first four or five in each race. I will have to be a bit lucky but if I can do this I should finish ahead.” Mortimer, who has 11 years of motor-cycle racing behind him and was the most successful privateer in Europe last season, believes there are six or seven riders likely to prove a threat to him as well as others “I don’t know about.” He considers that the defending champion, Pat Hennen (Suzuki), of the United States, will be a problem and is aware of the recent fine form of the Australian unlimited champion, Warren Willing, who will ridp a cantilever TZ7SO Yatnaha.
But he believes that Hennen’s bid to retain the Marlboro crown will depend oil whether he has the new experimental RG7SO Suzuki being currently tested in Japan. If the factory sends this out for him, Mortimer is satisfied that it will not be reliable enough. His two cantilever Yamaha racing machines — a fourcylinder TZ7SO and a smaller TZ3SO twin — are scheduled to reach Auckland by ship on November 28. This should give his New Zealand mechanic, John Rogers, plenty of time to set them up for New Zealand conditions.
But Mortimer, who regards his visit to New Zealand as a working holiday, will not be restricting himself to sightseeing in the weeks
leading up to the start of the international series. Next Sunday, he will partner the leading New Zealand international, Stewart Avant, on
an RD4OO Yamaha in the Castrol six hours production race at the Manfeild Auto Course and the following week-end both he and Avant will race in an international meeting at the Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne. Mortimer, who won the Isle of Man 250 production T.T. this year and was the outright winner of the production class on handicap, considers that the six hour event “should be a lot of fun.” The RD4OO Yamaha will handle much like the RD2SO he rode in the Isle of Man and the pair are hopeful of outright victory. For the Melbourne event, Mortimer hopes to take delivery in Australia of a TZ2SO Yamaha racer ordered for his younger brother, Robin Mortimer, who also intends to race in the Marlboro events in New Zealand. He arrives next week. Chas Mortimer plans to convert the machine to 350 cu. cm. But in the event of the delivery in Australia being delayed, he will borrow one of Avant’s machines for the races.
In the New Zealand international races, Mortimer will use his bigger TZ7SO for the faster circuits such as Pukekohe and use the smaller twin for the tight, bumpy road circuits such as the Wanganui "Cemetery Circuit.” He will also contest the 350 series' being held in conjunction with the open
class events — a series which promises to attract a big field of top Australian racers. He is not impressed by the scale Of prize money offered in New Zealand. “In Europe, it is quite good. You can make ends meet. It is certainly considerably better than in New Zaland. If I was only interested in earning money, I would not have come here.”
Sponsored by the cigarette lighter manufacturer, Sarome, Mortimer has been assisted in his visit to New Zealand by Tommy's Yamaha and the , Canterbury Auto Cycle Club, which is organising the last round of the Marlboro series at Ruapuna Park on January 16. Personally involved in the controversy over the change of status of the historical Isle of Man T.T. races because of his success there, Mortimer is appalled by plans to turn it into a series of “glorified production races.”
Because of its dangerous nature and the large number of riders killed there, the T.T. will not be a world championship round next season. Instead, the F.I.M. has approved plans to stage a world championship T.T. event for modified production bikes. ’The T.T. will either die or continue in its old format. If the A.C.U. continues with its plans to make it an event for modified production bikes, I won’t be there. If the old format is retained, I will tide.” Mortimer said he was fairly certain that the Isle of Man Government, which gave more than $200,000 towards the running of the races, would object to the proposed plans. Mortimer, who won the junior race this year by 7sec from his fellow countryman, Tony Rutter, admits that the circuit is dangerous. “But the course at the Macao Grand Prix I rode in last Sunday was 20 times more dangerous. There are walls right on the edge of the circuit. At one place the road , ends in the sea and there were frogmen waiting in, boats to collect anybody who went in.” Mortimer will return to Europe immediately after the Marlboro series in Janu- . ary. He hopes to contest i
both the 250 and 350 world championships next year and might also start in the 500 grand prix events. He has a new TZ7SO Yamaha on order but will not contest all the Formula 750 world championship rounds because some clash with big-money meetings. Avant and Mortimer intend to ride as a team in the world championships next northern season, although both have different sponsors. Some indication of their prospects might be gauged from the six hours race next Sunday, when their partnership will begin in earnest.
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Press, 23 November 1976, Page 40
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1,015Motor-cycling ace arrives Press, 23 November 1976, Page 40
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