David humbles Goliaths

Few would immediately suggest that the T350 would be a viable race bike yet this was exactly the choice of Joe Eastmure when he competed in the 1972 Castrol Six Hour race at Amaroo Park, New South Wales, Australia. When the chequered flag dropped he’d beaten 750cc H2 Kawasaki triples, TZ750 Yams and host of bigger and supposedly more competent machinery. If the fans loved the result it was a different story with others. The race was a huge PR generator for the manufacturers and their importers; having a privatelyentered pipsqueak Suzuki Rebel taking the laurels wasn’t what they wanted. Allegations and insinuations about the Suzuki were bandied about. The organisers were faced with the dilemma of a 350 blowing away the superbikes that were supposed to be the stars. Eastmure’s pistons and barrels had been blue printed to eradicate some factory induced misalignments of the porting and this was probably the real reason for the ultimate disqualification that ensued. Not, of course, that the TZS, Z1s et al hadn’t been similarly massaged. Officialdom being what it is the stated reason given at the time was that the horn had been removed (to aid cooling) and therefore the bike was not genuinely a pukka production machine. Such pettiness neatly circumvented the key facts; the Suzuki needed fewer pit stops than the bigger machines, its chassis was pretty much ideal for the job and the 750s were unwieldy brutes that weren’t agile enough to best a humble 350: sour grapes perhaps? Similar scenarios would happen around the world with Yamaha’s TZ350 privateer racers. More often than many are willing to admit a well ridden and feisty 350 is more than a match for the bigger brutes.