Dramatic endurance motor-cycle race

Press, 16 November 1981, Page 6

Dramatic endurance motor-cycle race

PA Palmerston North In probably the most dramatic long distance motor-cycle race staged in this country two Australians, Michael Cole and Malcolm Campbell, gave Honda its first Castrol win at Manfeild. •

It has taken eight years for Honda to win the Castrol SixHour unlimited class.

At the same time the pair put an end to the winning run. of Dave Hiscock (Wellington) and Neville Chivas. (Australia). Hiscock and Chivas did not race as a pair yesterday but both were on Suzuki Katanas.

Hiscock’s dethroning was the most dramatic part of an actionpacked race. While Dave’s partner and brother, Neville, was battling with Campbell it was announced that the Wellington Suzuki pair was likely to be penalised 60 seconds for exceeding the speed limit in the pits. The pair carried on and after the Australians stopped twice with wheel problems it appeared that Hiscocks may win in spite of the penalty, but the Suzuki camp hadn’t banked on Campbell, who was only called in on Friday night to replace the injured Roger Heyes. Despite doing only six laps of the Feilding circuit in Saturday’s official practice the Australian

rode like he knew every inch of Manfeild.

With a little over 30 minutes left in the race he was lapping two seconds faster than Neville Hiscock and as time ticked past so did the Suzuki lead. Campbell’s advantage could be largely attributed to the fact that he had a tyre change during the event while Hiscock did not.

. The real crunch came, how-ever,-about eight minutes before the chequered flag. Campbell was just two seconds behind Hiscock when the Wellington rider came off and the bike hit the ground, From there the Honda CB 1100 R sped into the lead and there was little doubt that it would win the race.

Provisional results of the Castrol Six-Hour — Unlimited class: Michael Cole and Malcolm Campbell (Honda CB 1100 R), 274 laps, 1; Robert Holden and Neil Chivas (Suzuki Katana 1100), 2; Dave Martin and Stephen Ellison (Honda CB 1100 R), 3; Steve Broadbent, and John Woodley (Suzuki GSX 1100 SZX), 4; Paul Pavletich and Adrian Godden (Honda CB900FB), 5. 750c.c. Class: Bob Toomey and Rod Cox (Suzuki Katana 750), 1; Peter Stark and Warwick Hall (Yamaha XJ 750), 2; Alan Collinson and Alex Scobie (Honda C8750F), 5.