S.I. trio on title trail

Press, 30 November 1978, Page 11

S.I. trio on title trail

Motor-cycling ■ . >. . , 6

The rivalry which has developed between Gary Goodfellow, of Dunedin, and the two outstanding Christchurch riders. John Nichols and Ross Horsbursh, could be the spark needed to ignite public interest in moto-cross racing in the South Island. Goodfellow, recently returned after racing successes in Australia and his first appearance in the world 125 championship in Europe, has obviously progressed. The 22-year-old Dunedin rider left no doubt about this when he won the South Island 250 qualifying round of the New ' Zealand championship at Teddington, recently.

He achieved victory in spite of a bad crash in practice and a carburettor slide which jammed open at the most awkward times in later events. But his margin of superiority was slim. Nichols, unbeaten in the South Island last year, would have won the class bad he not forgotten to fill his fuel tank before the third heat. He was leading by a wide margin when the motor of his Yamaha died.

He and Horsburgh shared second place on aggregate. But on reflection, Nichols probably made the biggest impression cm the day. He was consistently fast in the early stages of the meeting and until he was put out by forgetfulness, he was far steadier than his rivals. After this, with the pressure really on, he was never quite the same.

Nichols finshed runner s up in the New Zealand 250 championship last summer and the challenge from Goodfellow and Horsburgh will undoubtedly help him lift his standard still further.

Horsburgh, who is back on a Honda in the 250 class, showed more than a few signs of the form which carried him to second place in the New Zealand open championship a few years ago. He invariably made the best start in the beats and was remarkably competitive considering he had never ridden the bike before the meeting.

The next 'major clash

between the three in Canterbury will be in the South Island championship round at Teddington on December 10. 'This will be just a week after the Aus-tralia-New Zealand motocross test at Hamilton. All three should be in top form for what promises to be an exciting shakedown for the first refund of the New Zealand championship at Nelson on December 26. It seems highly probable that one of these three will finish the season wearing the national 250 crown. Which one it will be is a little harder to predict.