History of the 6 Hour - 1974 October 20
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Race Report
The sensations which seem to have dogged the Castrol Six-Hour re-emerged in 1974.
Brian Hindle and Clive Knight piloted the new BMW R90/6 to the winners’ circle after their BMW R9OS entry was rejected (machines with fairings were ineligible at that time).
After the race, a lap recount showed them to be second whilst scrutineering found them to have non-standard front fork internals. The third-across- the-line bike, the Thomas/Cairl BMW was disqualified for a similar reason.
The win eventually went to Ken Blake/Len Atlee on a Kawasaki 900 with an identical lap score to the previous year, 344 laps.
Kawasaki actually led the entire six hours, first the Mach IV of Gregg Hansford/Warren Willing then the Z1 of Blake/Atlee. Warren Willing cut a mean pace early in the race and when he stopped shortly after the one hour mark, Hansford took over, still in the lead but with only half a tankful of gas. Three laps later he stopped for another half tankful and within 15 minutes he was back in the lead again. Just before 3.00 pm Hansford ran out of fuel and when the rear K81 was inspected by Willoughby Club officials the ignition key was removed, ending their race in dramatic fashion.
Greg Pretty had his first start in the race in 1974 but crashed at Repco while trying to wrestle third place from Joe Eastmure. Eastmure crashed his BMW R90 shortly after.
Ron Toombs, riding a Mach IV for Team Kawasaki continued his run of Six-Hour outs by crashing just after the one hour mark. He was holding second place at the time.
At the flag, Len Atlee was only eight seconds ahead of Hindle with Thomas two laps down. Fourth across the line was the Kawasaki 900 of Dennis Neill and Roger Heyes but they were disqualified for using an oversize fuel tank. John Warrian rode a solo race to place fifth and eventually collected second prizemoney on his Z1.
The Yamaha RD350 of Barry Lemon/Dave Robbins collected the 500 class win and fourth outright in a spirited display of riding. A convert from the four-wheeled world, Doug Chivas placed fourth in the 500 class on an RD350. Doug is the father (brother?) of current Suzuki star, Neil Chivas.
The 250 class saw yet another disqualification. First 250, Roebuck/Parkin were outed for using a bigger fuel tank than was applicable to that model. The disqualification gave Victorians Barry Smith and Paul Grayden the class win on a Yamaha. Jeff Sayle lost his chance of a 250 class hat-trick when co-rider Mick O’Brien crashed at the halfway mark.
Results
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