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A great New Zealand motorcycle tradition will be revived at Manfeild on Sunday, when most of the country\'s top riders will compete in a four-hour race for production bikes.
The first running of the Quality Hotel race - counting as the New Zealand endurance championship - recalls the days when the Castrol Six-hour race was one of New Zealand\'s top motorsport attractions.
Big crowds flocked to Manfeild every year to see riders like Graeme Crosby, Dave and Neville Hiscock, Robert Holden and Glenn Williams battle for honours that were likely to boost sales for the winning bikes.
Twelve years after the last running of the Six-hour the joint winner of that race, Tony Rees, starts as favourite for the new event on his Yamaha R1 - a 1000cc bike that makes more than 150 horsepower and weighs about 170kg.
The Kawerau racer is not only the reigning double New Zealand sports production champion - in both the Open and 600cc classes - he also has a great deal of experience with long-distance racing, including two years in the world endurance championship with a best result of fourth in the 24-hour race at Spa in Belgium.
Rees is paired with Aucklander Paul Gee and the pair have the added advantage of considerable experience with the fast Yamaha, while many of the other top riders have switched teams and are therefore riding bikes that, while competitive, are new to them.
Former New Zealand Formula One champion Andrew Stroud (Christchurch) is back after spending the year overseas, and has moved from Honda to Suzuki, sharing a GSX-R750 with Daniel Coughey (Rotorua).
Suzuki is also fielding Shaun Harris (New Plymouth) - who rode a Kawasaki last year - and Brian Bernard (Wanganui) on a similar bike. Although smaller than the Yamaha, the Suzukis are light and powerful race-oriented bikes that should be right on the pace.
Reigning F1 champion Dean Fulton (Mt Maunganui) stays with Kawasaki, riding a 900cc ZX-9R with fast young rider Jared Love (Hamilton), who has moved from the Suzuki team.
Honda also has a strong entry with a 900cc Fireblade to be ridden by Ray Clee (Auckland) and former Suzuki stalwart John Hepburn (Timaru).
The 600cc class has also attracted many fast riders - and one of them could even win the race outright, some of the experts say. The latest 600s have up to 120 horsepower, their lap times at Manfeild are not far off the big bikes\', and they should be significantly better off with regard to consumption of fuel and tyres.
Rees estimates that the big bikes will go less than an hour on a tank of fuel, and will need to change tyres at least twice. Refuelling and changing wheels will be relatively slow processes.
Leading 600cc entries include Andrew Bretherton (Wanganui)/Ivan Smith (New Plymouth) on a Suzuki GSX-R600, Daniel McLachlan (Lower Hutt)/Derek McAdam (Wellington) on a Kawasaki ZX-6R, Brad Selfe (Oamaru)/Glen Jeffery (Auckland) and Glen Williams (Auckland)/Craig Shirriffs (Palmerston North) on Honda CBR600s, and Warren Turner/Paul McQuilkin (both Palmerston North) on a Yamaha R6.
A total of 30 bikes will start the race, 13 in the Open class and 17 in the 600cc category.
