PETER MATHIA

Cheshire racer Peter Mathia told us Jim Sandiford was his first sponsor and he rode Montesa for him from 1973-1976, then back for 1979. “I was on the 250 which was a fabulous bike,” he recalls, “alongside that came a 360 which wasn’t brilliant, though could have come good, then came the 414 when I was back in the fold. That was a great bike and would have led to better things as there was a full 500 prototype waiting to go, but the factory hit trouble and it was shelved.” Peter said he’d been flown to New Zealand to do the 1979 national championship there, when word came the factory had closed. “Jim contacted me to say there was a problem but not to worry as it would be sorted in a few weeks…sadly for them it wasn’t.” So Peter, did you enjoy your time with Montesa? “Oh yes, and Sandifords were good to be with too, my 250 was competitive and I’d done a bit of modifying to it, Jim often turned a blind eye to such things. I was at a GP and racing against Mikkola who’d got lay-down shocks on his Yamaha, they never did anything for fun so I thought ‘I’ll try that’ so I did and it made a difference. It was good that they didn’t mind us riders trying stuff.”