Book review with permission from www.tz350.com

"The Privateer" by Jon Ekerold.

So, you’re into old TZ’s ( or any other old 2 stroke roadracer from the 70’s ) and enjoy reading about them and their riders during the era ? You need this book. Period.

For the first time in years I have just sat down and read a book cover to cover without stopping. Jon Ekerold’s truly brilliant book about his motorcycle racing history as a GP Privateer had me riveted to my sofa, it is quite simply enthralling, I could not put the thing down !!

On offer here is a "no holds barred" account of Jon’s riding and racing history, from the time he began riding at age 17 on a 50cc Honda and recording his first race win on the same bike less than a year later, to a lap by lap story of his 1980 World 350cc Championship winning final race at the Nurburgring.

The book is jam packed with highly entertaining anecdotes, some very funny, some quite sad, others simply amazing. From his encounter with a baboon troop on a country jog one evening, to his relationship with the late great Tom Herron, to Jon’s exploits in trying to get GP promoters to give him a start and the highs and lows he experienced both financially and emotionally while part of the GP "circus". It's all there.

But best of all from a TZ owner’s perspective is the intimate look at racing Yamaha TZ’s and later Bimota TZ’s in this golden era of motorcycle competition. Jon gives us and his thoughts about some of the famous names involved in motorsport at the time and the false image they portrayed (according to Jon) in the eye of the fickle media. He certainly doesn’t hold back at all in letting us know exactly what he thought of these people at the time, and one can definitely sense a bitter disappointment there that despite racing and winning at World Championship level, he was never offered factory support of any kind, due mainly it appears, to the fact that he is South African, and this was at a time when "apartheid" was at it’s peak and the focus of world attention. The riding ability was unquestionably there, the right passport was not.

The book was written by Jon alone, without the aid of a "ghost writer" and is simply brilliant and a "must have" for any motorcyclist’s collection. It has been printed in a limited edition 4000 copy run with proceeds going to the South African Aids fund, a very worthy cause indeed. The African continent is said to have the highest concentration of HIV Positive people in the world. Jon is doing his little bit to combat it and improve the lives of sufferers of this terrible disease.

Jon Ekerold, I take my hat off to you mate.

Andrew wrote: "It is certainly one of the most informative, most enjoyable and best written motorcycle racing biographies I have read. Michael Scott's preface is totally accurate. Ekerold tells the story clearly, directly and with a wonderful dry sense of humour. As a writer, I think Jon challenges Ted Macauley and I really hope he follows this book with others."

How badly do you want to reach your dreams? Read Jon Ekerold's fascinating story and see what it takes to reach the top. While South Africans are bombarded with news about guys playing with balls on lawns, these guys risked their lives and everything else. If only the general South African public knew about the true SA heroes. - motorcyclesa.co.za