History of the 6 Hour - 1979 October 21

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Race Report

The Yamaha XS1100 win of 1978 clearly indicated large displacement 4 Cylinder Transverse 'Shaftie Tourers' had a real chance of winning the Six Hour again.

Not surprisingly top Rider pairings including Len Atlee/Gary Coleman (Bike No. 9), Greg Pretty/Jim Budd (Bike No. 12) and Ron Boulden/Steven Gall (Bike No. 14) and many others, were entered on the model.

The 6 Hour 1979

Left: The Start Right: Blanco, Baillie and Fleming

Honda offered a very different machine, the CB900/4, Dennis Neill (Bike No.2), Ken Blake/Tony Hatton (Bike No.5) and Wes Cooley/Murray Ogilvie (Bike No.11). Kawasaki had a hot pairing on a Z1R, in Graham Crosby/Akihiro Kiyohara (Bike No.4), mind you Croz had the communication problems worked out with his Team Mate, a Japanese Phrase Book on the grid, good grief!! Trust Croz.....

Oh, Suzuki, they were making do with a quiet professional pairing of Alan Hales and Neill Chivas on a Suzuki GS1000 (Bike No.6). Don Wilson's BMW R100S (Bike No.40) and a CBX1000 (Bike No.24) were entered but did not place. In fact the BM had the engine seize during the race, ouch.

The final practice top six were a surprise, only one XS1100 was there, albeit in fourth, that of Greg Pretty. The top three grid positions were taken by Dennis Neill (CB900), Graeme Crosby (Z1R) and Alan Hales (GS1000). The surprise to me was Hilton Steel on a CBX1000 achieving fifth on the grid, just over half a second off the pole time!

The race saw Dennis Neill very well placed, incredibly on the 'last lap' he dropped the Bike coming onto the main straight right in front of 'me' and the Pits! The Bike stayed in the middle of the track for some time, on the racing line! A very dangerous place to loose it, Dennis was OK luckily.

Alan Hales and Neill Chivas on that Suzuki were very consistent and took a well earned win on 360 laps with no tyre change, Alan being a very popular winner. Greg Pretty and Jim Budd brought the first of the XS11's home in second place covering 357 laps and right with them was that man Len Atlee with Garry Coleman on another XS11 credited with the same number of laps. Roger Heyes teamed with Dave Robbins brought another XS11 into fourth place also on the 357 lap count.

So, once again the XS's showed that a reliable shaftie could be there at the end in much the same way as BMW Boxers had over previous years.

Results


Overall

1

A.Hales, N.  Chivas

Suzuki GS1000

360 laps

2

G. Pretty, J.  Budd

Yamaha XS1100

357 laps

3

L. Atlee, G. Coleman

Yamaha XS1100

357 laps

4

R. Heyes, D. Robbins

Yamaha XS1100

357 laps

5

D. Hiscock, P. Fleming

Suzuki GS1000

357 laps

6

W. Cooley, M. Ogilvie

Honda CB900

356 laps

7

J. Pace, W. Gardner

Kawasaki Z650

355 laps

8

K. Blake, J.  Warrian

Honda CB900

355 laps

9

G. Thomas, C. Knight

Kawasaki Z1-RMkII

354 laps

10

J. Judd, M. Fiddock

Honda CB900

354 laps

11

M. Campbell, R. Cox

Honda CB900

354 laps

12

R. Browne, B. Gregor

Kawasaki Z650

351 laps

13

B. Smith, C. Oldfield

Yamaha XS750

350 laps

14

R. Moorhouse, P. Walker

Yamaha XS750

350 laps

15

C. Blackburn, G. Fenton

Honda CB900

347 laps

16

J. Miller, S. Stone

Honda CB900

347 laps

17

A. Blanco, E. Blanco

Yamaha XS1100

347 laps

18

P. Cawthorne, L. Willing

Kawasaki Z650

345 laps

19

R. Scolyer, C. Bye

Suzuki GS1000

344 laps

20

L. Carle, G. Muller

Honda CB750

342 laps

21

T. Turner, G. Turner

Honda CB900

340 laps

22

R. Mingay, M. Thompson

Kawasaki Z500

339 laps

23

K. Sundstrom, D.  Topp

Kawasaki Z650

335 laps

24

J. Coates, D. Brinkley

Suzuki GS750

335 laps

25

M. Feehan, S. Peet

Honda CB750

333 laps

26

M. Hill, M. Cork

Yamaha XS750

331 laps

27

G. Taylor, M. Bundy

Kawasaki Z650

319 laps

28

G. Crosby, A. Kiyohara

Kawasaki Z1-R MK11

282 laps

29

R. Boulden, S. Gall

Yamaha XS1100

216 laps

Qualifying Times

1

D. Neill

Honda CB900

57.7

2

G. Crosby

Kawasaki Z1-R MK11

57.7

3

A. Hales

Suzuki GS1000

57.8

4

G.  Pretty

Yamaha XS1100

57.9

5

H. Steel

Honda CBX1000

58.3

6

D. Hiscock

Suzuki GS1000

58.3

7

W. Cooley

Honda CB900

58.4

8

M. Campbell

Honda CB900

58.4

9

R. Boulden

Yamaha XS1100

58.6

10

G. Thomas

Kawasaki Z1-R MK11

58.6

11

K. Blake

Honda CB900

58.9

12

J. Miller

Honda CB900

58.9

13

L. Atlee

Yamaha XS1100

59.0

14

R. Scolyer

Suzuki GS1000

59.0

15

R. Heyes

Yamaha XS1100

59.0

Acceptances

1

Roger Heyes, Dave Bobbins

Yamaha XS1100

Team Avon

2

Dennis Neill, Alan Decker

Honda CBX1000

Team Honda

3

Rob Phillis, Andrew Johnson

Yamaha XS1100

Team Milledge

4

Graeme Crosby, Akihiro Kiyohara

Kawasaki Z1R

Team Kawasaki

5

Tony Hatton, Ken Blake

Honda CB900

Honda Metzeler

6

Alan Hales, Neil Chivas

Suzuki GS1000

Suzuki Cornell

7

Gregg Hansford, Rick Perry

Kawasaki Z1R

Team Kawasaki

8

Dave Hiscock, Peter Fleming

Suzuki GS1000

Total Hunter Suzuki

9

Len Atlee, Gary Coleman

Yamaha XS1100

Pye

10

Gary Thomas, Clive Kniqht

Kawasaki Z1R

B & B Trackburners

11

Wes Cooley TBN

Honda CB900

Swedencycle Dunlop

12

Greg Pretty, Rick Blackmore

Yamaha XS1100

Pitmans Motorcycles

13

Ron Boulden, Stephen Gall

Yamaha XS1100

McCullochs Pepsi

14

Terry Kelly, Stu Avant

Ducati Darmah

Norm Frasser

15

Mal Campbell, Rod Cox

Honda CB900

Continental Tyres

16

Paul Cawthorne, Len Willing

Kawasaki Z650

Geo. Bolton

17

Alan Blanco, Emanuel Blanco

Yamaha XSI100

Pye

18

Wayne Gardner, John Pace

Kawasaki Z650

Mentor Motorcycles

19

Jeff Miller, Simon Stone

Honda CB900

Taylor Ansett

20

Barry Smith, Chris Oldfield

Yamaha XS750

Team Milledge

21

Brian Cartwright, Steven Ford

Honda CB900

Honda Aust.

22

Jenny Coates, Debra Brinkley

Suzuki GS750

DJ Racing Suzuki Dealers

23

Hilton Steel, Ron Baillie

Honda CBX1000

Pauletto Racing

24

Robert Scolyer, Craig Bye

Suzuki GS1000

White City Sales Suz Tas

25

Lynton Carle, Otto Muller

Honda CB750

Honda SA

26

Craig Blackburn, Glenn Fenton

Honda CB900

Team Boge-Mulholland

27

Mike de Silva (HK) TBN

Suzuki GS1000

M.P. de Silva

28

Warren Walker, John MacDonald

Suzuki GS750

JCW Motorcycles

29

Rob Moorhouse, Peter Walker

Yamaha XS750

Highway Motorcycles

30

Ross Pentecost, Malcolm Edwards

Honda CB900

Team Boge-Mulholland

31

Jim Judd, Richard Fiddock

Honda CB900

Trevena Honda

32

Rick Mingay, Max Thompson

Kawasaki Z500

Parry Motorcycles

33

Bob Payne, Bill Burnett

Triumph 750

Geo. Heggie

34

Murray Hil,l Mick Cork

Yamaha XS750

Bardahl

35

Terry Turner, Garry Turner (NZ)

Honda CB900

Gus Liu Motorcycles

36

Katrina Sundstrom, Dale Topp

Kawasaki Z650

Kawasaki (Aust)

37

Glen Taylor, Mike Bundy

Kawasaki Z650

Parry Motorcycles

38

Bob Gregor, Rod Browne

Kawasaki Z650

Midway Kawasaki

39

Greg Drew, Max Enklaar

BMW R100S

Don Wilson

40

Mike Feehan, Steve Peet

Honda CB750

Bondi Motorcycles

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