History of the 6 Hour - 1973 October 14
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Race Report
With the exception of model updates, 1973 saw only two new race competitive motorcycles; the Kawasaki Z1-900 and the Yamaha TX500. Ken Blake took over the Kawasaki Australia Zi ride after Ron Toombs broke his ankle two weeks prior to the event. Ken rode to an easy win.
Blake was last away but rode through the field to relegate the Warren Willing/John Boote Mach IV Kawasaki into second place after 70 mintues of racing. Willing had been flying early in the race and had set a new lap record of 59.6 seconds. Boote flew from New Zealand for the race which had also attracted British Internationals Percy Tait and Mick Grant. They both returned to England with a healthy respect for Australian road racers, finishing fourth, eight laps behind Blake on an identical machine.
The event also saw the continuation of the much publicised feud between film maker Julian Grant and American millionaire Frank Wheeler. Grant rode and finished, collecting $20,000 from a bet with Wheeler. The American failed to show up.
Several factory prepared Yamaha TX75Os ran in the event, apparently to save face. Brian Hindle’s TX threw a rod, another blew in practice and another finished tenth, narrowly ahead of the Sayle brothers’ 250 Yamaha.
BMW began to make its presence felt for the first time in the 1973 event. Tony Hatton rode an R75 into third place. Another R75 placed sixth. Triumph also made a strong comeback when John Warrian took fifth place on a 750 Bonneville after electrical problems cost him several laps. Another 750, ridden by Dave Burgess blew a clutch whilst in fifth spot early in the race.
In the 500 class, the TXSOO Yamahas ran well, finishing second, third and fourth. First in that class and fifth outright was that man Eastmure. Joe was still cross about being disqualified from the 1972 event so he’d put a new set of barrels (and a horn) on his 315 and scorched to a three lap class win.
The Murray Sayle/Jeff Sayle entry in the 250 class really set the pace alight. With fast, consistent riding and smooth fuel stops they had opened up a class lead of around ten laps by 4.00 pm.
Ken Blake tried out new Avon tyres in the race and just made it through six hours. Several heartstopping slides in the closing minutes spelt a gloomy forecast for the big four-cylinder machines.
Results
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