87 replies to this topic

[stuavant]

Originally posted on the "Marlboro Series" thread ... a copy here seems relevant to me

Sponsership/Merchandising/Presentation beyond its years...

[robinmck]

I worked for John in the early '80's, when he had "The Pits" motorcycle dismantlers in CHCH. We, being John, Darrin Bayliss and myself used to go for the odd Sunday blast over the port hills and out to Akaroa, John and Darrin on their RG250's and me on what ever bike happened to be available at the shop that day. I also was 1/2 of his pit crew when he did the Castrol 6 hr on the GPZX550 in, I think, 1983 or '84.
I also recall helping John build the RG275, that was his RG250, overbored and using RM125 pistons that were 2mm larger diameter at 56mm than the std RG bore of 54mm.
I never realized that John rode one of the Steve Roberts TR500's. I actually owned one of them for a time, before I met John. I think it was 1980 or '81, I found one sitting in a shed somewhere in CH CH, paid the owner the huge sum of $500 for it, took it home, got it going and competed on it for a season, before trading it on an old TZ250. It wasn't till after I sold off the TZ I found out that it was the one that Randy Mamola brought out here for the '74/'75 season, crashed it badly at Wanganui and ended up leaving it here when he went back to the states.
I have never been able to confirm which of the Steve Roberts TR I had, but I think it was the Dale Wylie one. Photo below in the trim I rode it. I had removed the original TR seat and fitted a TZ one.

[lukebaby]

It wasn't till after I sold off the TZ I found out that it was the one that Randy Mamola brought out here for the '74/'75 season, crashed it badly at Wanganui and ended up leaving it here when he went back to the states.

Maybe not Randys bike He first rode in NZ in 75/76 on a 125 ;)

[stuavant]

Maybe not Randys bike He first rode in NZ in 75/76 on a 125 ;)

He had a 250 as well!!

[philippe7]

He sure did...unless he's lining up with his 125 on that pic, which is from the 74/75 series at Timaru according to Ian Dawson who took the pic



The guy who was there with a V on his number plate should remember, really

[lukebaby]

He sure did...unless he's lining up with his 125 on that pic, which is from the 74/75 series at Timaru according to Ian Dawson who took the pic



The guy who was there with a V on his number plate should remember, really

Righto....maybe it was a 250 (just maybe) ...but it was 75/76 cos I know the guy with a V on his fairing

Hass has some pics that he will post when he gets back from North America as evidence.

[philippe7]

Actually, I thought it was 75/76 too, but didn't want to correct the man who took the pic until there was proper evidence to back it up . If VC first came for the 75/76 series, then it's obvious.... IIRC Randy started riding a 250 in US races during 1975, the machine that Patrick Pons borrowed for the end-of-season Ontario race documented with T54's pictures on the relevant thread
http://forums.autosp...w...t&p=4341207

[lukebaby]

He had a 250 as well!!

Yes I stand corrected

[TheChow]

He sure did...unless he's lining up with his 125 on that pic, which is from the 74/75 series at Timaru according to Ian Dawson who took the pic



The guy who was there with a V on his number plate should remember, really

I was wrong this is Ruapuna , the first year 75/76 , as the C Model TZ with Monoshock was 1977

V= Vaughan Coburn
A= Randy Mamola
103= Rod North (I think)
J= Jeff Sayle
= Brent Wylie
69 = Paul McLaughlin

[TheChow]

I was wrong this is Ruapuna , the first year 75/76 , as the C Model TZ with Monoshock was 1977

V= Vaughan Coburn
A= Randy Mamola
103= Rod North (I think)
J= Jeff Sayle
= Brent Wylie
69 = Paul McLaughlin

Plus 250's and 350's where together in first year support I seem to remember. Randy on 250? 350's Blue backgrounds and white numbers not that it matters Brent Wylie has no number!!!

[GD66]

#28 Nigel Caigou, and #41 Ian Disney there too, I think... but who's the mystery polesitter ?

[philippe7]

I thought it would be appropriate to copy here this picture posted by Redneb on the Marlboro Series thread

[TWR]

I thought it would be appropriate to copy here this picture posted by Redneb on the Marlboro Series thread

TWR june 27 2010

I worked for John as a mechanic during the early to mid nineties but had known him for many years prior. We still keep in regular contact and in agreeance with the many comments made previously in this forum he was one of those few naturally gifted riders who could ride the wheels off what ever he got on. Convinced him to get on a F2 spec CBR 600,that we had, and race it at Wigram in the early nineties and it was like he had never been away. As Stu has mentioned "still a very determined buggar today". A shame he stopped racing proffessionally when he did but it was Johns choice.
I still clearly remember him getting on Darrin Bayliss`s ZZR1100 at a club day at Ruapuna and "smoking" the F1 field.

[skeeternz]

I remember reading an article in Cycle magazine by Phil Schilling in '75 about John Boote and how he shipped this TZ 750 to California for the Ontario 250 mile race in October '75. Apparently John dismantled the whole bike and packed it up as checked luggage. The bike was kind of trick and was converted to a monoshock by John himself. I wish I still had that copy of Cycle, great magazine that was killed off by a bunch of greedy executives at Hachette Publications in 1991 to save Cycle World, The executive's name that killed off the mag, Dick, very fitting indeed.

I have a copy of that Cycle Mag - will dig it out1

[philippe7]

I have a copy of that Cycle Mag - will dig it out1

Please do !

[skeeternz]

See the Marlboro Series forum No 11

[philippe7]

Skeeter, hello, just back home after a week away from the PC , thanks a lot for that, hope you won't mind me copying it here, I feel it's just as well for the sake of "completism"

After much searching through old magazines I have found the article on John Boote and the Suitcase Caper as mentioned earlier.

[do14]

Nope I think its Dave Ogden..by the way Mike Sinclair emailed me the other day to say he had stumbled on the Nost Forum .

You get the cigar Stu. Was browsing through these old posts and saw the pic. Like to think i got the holeshot and John and Trevor were just catching me up lol.
Have been racing against Trevor in Post Classics ( TZ 350's ) and he is still bloody fast at 67 years young. Cheers Dave O.

[GD66]

A belated welcome aboard, Dave...can you help with the id of the polesitter at Ruapuna in Philippe's post #55 : it's got us snookered !!

[do14]

A belated welcome aboard, Dave...can you help with the id of the polesitter at Ruapuna in Philippe's post #55 : it's got us snookered !!

Hi Glen, noticed that pic and has me snookered as well. The only rider i recall that wore those coloured leathers was Barry Wylie but only an outside guess really.

[Angus Lamont]

John Boote also won the 7th Malaysian Motorcycle GP held at Batu Tiga on 6 April 1974 and the 5th Penang Motorcycle GP held on 1 September 1974 where he also set the fastest lap.
I have a Gary Boote winning the 6th Penang Motorcycle GP on a Yamaha 700. (Is this an error or did he have a brother?).

[philippe7]

Welcome to the Motorcycle section of TNF Angus !

John Boote certainly had a youger brother called Gary, if you check out the Marlboro Series thread he appears in the results

http://forums.autosp...w...t&p=4401090

[Angus Lamont]

Welcome to the Motorcycle section of TNF Angus !

John Boote certainly had a youger brother called Gary, if you check out the Marlboro Series thread he appears in the results

http://forums.autosp...w...t&p=4401090

Thanks for the welcome. Although I've not contributed before I have enjoyed being reminded of all the racers that I used to watch in the early 60's who ran at the short circuits in England. A great time to be there witnessing the transition from the big singles to the yowling 2 strokes. My particular heroes are Bob MacIntytre and Mike Hailwood. I treasure those memories!

[stuavant]

Thanks for the welcome. Although I've not contributed before I have enjoyed being reminded of all the racers that I used to watch in the early 60's who ran at the short circuits in England. A great time to be there witnessing the transition from the big singles to the yowling 2 strokes. My particular heroes are Bob MacIntytre and Mike Hailwood. I treasure those memories!

I have just been talking with John and there has been some difficulties of Late.His partner was badly injured in the first ChCh quake in Feb.Then in early April whilst riding his push bike in the dark down a mountain road ( yes I told him he was crazy and being fit may kill him) John had a front tyre blow out. He ended up in a ditch and did the usual, my fingers and toes work so I am OK. 6 hrs later or so he woke up in hospital with a fractured hip. Blood clots, pneumonia, and so on. Near death. So when I call it's day one on his feet ( after 7 weeks) and he is getting on a stationary wind bike. Tough bugger. You bet

[philippe7]

Well here are some sincere wishes that he gets better soon

We need him to be fully fit in January 2013

[peterd]

Jeez, Stu, yet another sad, quake-related story. This continues to be a truly awful time for those in Christchurch. What was number last Monday, more than 60 aftershocks in 24 hours? Please send them both our very best wishes.

[stuavant]

Jeez, Stu, yet another sad, quake-related story. This continues to be a truly awful time for those in Christchurch. What was number last Monday, more than 60 aftershocks in 24 hours? Please send them both our very best wishes.

7350 aftershocks
since Sept. My pal went back to live a few weeks back and called me to say that he had just seen two 12story buildings, separated by a path and some landscaping, touch at the top as they swayed popping all the windows. No thanks!

[peterd]

How's Mike Sinclair faring?

[stuavant]

How's Mike Sinclair faring?

His house is a demolition job but he is still living in it for now as things are going at a snails pace it seems. I think he said his workshop/barn is a mess as well. My brotherinlaw who is a senior person on the ChCh council says around 10000 homes need to be demolished and no one had the bollocks to announce it.

Ruapuna race track is alive and well though!

[skeeternz]

I found another photo of John's bike at Pukekohe Marlboro Series. About 74? Note no mufflers on TZ.

[picblanc]

Think it will be 75 as 1974 bikes had twin rear shocks.

[sml]

Heres a vid of John racing a RZ25RR in the 1985 Countrywide series at Hamilton in 1985, dishes out a bit of a riding lesson to the field which included a bloke called Slight who went on to do a bit of Superbike riding. JB stopped at Paraparumu on the way up and talked his (formerly Keith Turners when he was runner up in 500's) old mechanic Woody into going. Woody hadn't been to a race meeting for probably 8 years was good to see the old team back together.

[philippe7]

Just found this stunning pic on the Ron Grant Racing facebook page.... this is John's first visit to Laguna Seca for the AMA Nationals in 1974...



Can anybody identify the two other people in the pic ? Also, note the suitcase in the van with the Gregg Hansford sticker....Gregg also was at that race, running on a "spare 750 H2R belonging to Hurley Wilvert...." Same machine that was later raced by Pat Hennen and Murray Sayle in Australia and NZ ???? Gregg had ridden his own 700 TZ so far that year, before getting this guest ride on a Kawasaki..... the start of something !



I left a little bit of text on the right hand side, the only mention of John's fate in that race....he would of course be much more successful the following year, finishing 2nd in the first leg, as documented ealier in this thread

And finally, Warren was also there to add up to the antipodean contingent



Oh, and where did they figure in terms of results ? Well, John retired as we read earlier, and the two others did fairly well, despite being in serious company....

[ccmUS]

The amount of information and camaraderie on these Forums is amazing. I'm awestruck!! Well done guys.

Still have the John Boote/Levis t-shirt that was given to me at Laguna Seca in 1974.

Edited by ccmUS, 07 January 2012 - 20:32.

[robinmck]

I just came across these for sale on ebay.
http://cgi.ebay.fr/O...=item1c29702e30

[ccmUS]

Just found this stunning pic on the Ron Grant Racing facebook page.... this is John's first visit to Laguna Seca for the AMA Nationals in 1974...



Can anybody identify the two other people in the pic ? Also, note the suitcase in the van with the Gregg Hansford sticker....Gregg also was at that race, running on a "spare 750 H2R belonging to Hurley Wilvert...." Same machine that was later raced by Pat Hennen and Murray Sayle in Australia and NZ ???? Gregg had ridden his own 700 TZ so far that year, before getting this guest ride on a Kawasaki..... the start of something !



I left a little bit of text on the right hand side, the only mention of John's fate in that race....he would of course be much more successful the following year, finishing 2nd in the first leg, as documented ealier in this thread

And finally, Warren was also there to add up to the antipodean contingent



Oh, and where did they figure in terms of results ? Well, John retired as we read earlier, and the two others did fairly well, despite being in serious company....

Philippe: The older of the two young men in the photo with John Boote is Bill Moore. I have emailed Bill to ask who the other person is, but have not yet heard back from him. This is what Bill wrote to accompany the photo, which he posted on Facebook:

Really stoked to hook up with John Boote NZ, Road Racer that trusted me to change his tires, mix fuel and put a wrench to his TZ when I was just a teenager..



Here are a couple of photos from 1974 Laguna Seca taken by Pat Hennen's Dad. Sorry for the poor quality, but it's been 38 years!!


Red jacket with his back to the camera is David Hennen, Pat's younger brother, Chip in the blue jumpsuit, family friend Matt Christe (curly hair). John Boote's bike is #61, John can be seen just over the fence.



Poor photo of Gregg Hansford talking to Kerry, Pat's mechanic

[robinmck]

Claudia, I emailed a copy of the photo of John leaning on the fence to John last week,
This was the reply I got
"Hello Robin,
Thank you sooooo much for taking the time to forward that pic to me.
It gave me goose bumps.
F**king brilliant Mate.
Taken at Laguna Seca in 1974..?.
The guy in the Levi's tee **** who's head is obscured was my mechanic and we
still correspond so I will be forwarding it on to him.
Hope all is well with those who you hold dear.
Stay safe and keep smiling.
Cheers>
JB

[robinmck]

It is amazing what turns up, now I see this for sale on our local NZ auction site, trademe
http://www.trademe.c...px?id=497511460