Surtees Steps Up

SURTEES STEPS UP

John Surtees, the only man to have won world championships on both two and four wheels, is returning to the racetrack. The 74-year-old Brit announced this past May in Shanghai that he will lead China's first-ever Grand Prix effort. Backed by Haojue Motorcycles, a leading Chinese bike-maker, the Maxtra GP 125 will use a Harris-built chassis and be powered by a Jan Witteveen-designed two-stroke engine featuring a downward-pointing cylinder. Recalling his racing days in the 1960s, Surtees said, “That was when the fledgling Japanese first came to world attention via GP racing. The Maxtra has many echoes of those times.” Benefiting from its close ties with Suzuki, Maxtra currently exports motorcycles to 70 Asian countries. Matthew Miles