Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125872
beat in g- two Swiss ride rs. Peter Williams on t h'; J oh n Player No r to n was fourth. Cha rles se t a new lap rec ord to bring his seas on tally t o four wins, one th ird, a nd four lap reco rd. in five Fo rmula 750 ra ces ! Mo st riders were qui c kly on their way t o Finl a nd . land of beautiful girls, mixed sa u na baths. a nd there . a t least, whis ky doesn't cos t four dollars a shot, an d a Coke one a nd a h alf. • Y amaha's nh a igtmre is MY's dream as Phil Read wails away from Agostini Wo rld Champ Kent Andersson already ha s h is 125 Yamaha ro lling while others are st ill b ump-starting . SPA F RANCO RC H,,,\1 PS, BELGIUM J ULY 7 WorldC pionship Road Race ham Swedish Grand Prix By Chris Carter ANDE R ST ORP; SWEDElI:,JULY 20 ·21 A mystery crash at the end of the second lap of the 500cc race of the Swedish Grand Prix injured both Barry Sheene and Giacomo Agost ini, rea rra ngIng the World Champi onship battIe. With Ago and Barry carted off to the hospital afte r the 100 MPH 16 acci de nt, Teuvo Lan sivuori rode o n to a convincing w in on th e other Ya maha four with Phil R ead ta king second pl ace. Ho w th e crash happened n o o ne is qui te su re . At fi rst it was th ought that Sheen c 's Suzuki fo ur seized or struck gea rbox t r o uble. A prel im in ary examination of the m achin e afterward showed no signs of ei t h er happe ni ng. Whate ver it wa s made Barry lose contro l as he peel ed off in ruth place on to th e lo ng, sweep in g 180 degree bend leading on to the start/fi nish straigh r, As Sheene fo ught to stay on the bike he touc hed Ago. Eyewi tness Ph il Re ad, wh o barely escaped being in volved , saw Barry t hrow n 20 feet thro ug h the air, Med ical examination sho wed Ago had br o ken a small bone in his shoulder, an d Barry had frac tu red a small bone in his nec k. Both fle w home after t he mee tin g but indica t ed th ey hoped to ride in Finland next week. With She ene an d Ago o ut , Read's confide nce grew. Unhap py aft er cla imed insufficient pract ice t ime (4 5 m in utes on T h urs day an d t wo 25 m in ut e pe riod s on Friday) , Phi l had ended ti m ing seventh fas tes t. Modifications wer e m ad e to the machine Friday night. Phil wen t out o n th e un te sted m ac h in e co nfi den t of finis h ing no high er t ha n eighth or n in th, pr o ba bly lapped by Ago. Read 's seco nd pl a ce ga ve him 62 po in ts to Bonera 's 54, Lan ssivuori's 47, and Agostini's 42 . T he re are only two mo r e road ra ce G ran ds Pri x to go ! It looks as th ough Read will retain his 500cc ti tle. If h e doe s , t he cry will go up tha t he is lucky, but ma ybe determinati on a nd eftort have won for him. Bonera's fourth pl ace for MV will have pleased hi m . It was hi s fir st visit t o th e Swedish circuit wh ich is ex t re m ely difficult t o learn. T h e 5 00cc race was part of S aturday 's race program. With out Agostini in the Iin e-up , Lanssivuori was able to add to hi s victory - a fin e wi n in Sunday's 35 0cc race . It took Lansivuo ri seven laps of the 28 lap race to ca tc h' an d pass Ko rh o n en , but o n ce ah e ad , "Tep pi" p ul led away. Down field both French man Patr ic k Po ns an d Italian Wate r Villa on the works Harley -Davi dson made po or starts. While Pons sliced h is wa y th rough th e By Chris Carter pack, Walter co uldn't ma ke u p a ny ground. Pons was fl ying. This you ngs ter will be Wo rld Ch ampion on e d a y , if he doesn't hurt himself. It was Pons wh o finally cl oc ked fas te st lap of th e race at 1:44.46, a new clas s record a nd a bs o lu te lap reco rd for th e tra ck. Pons p ulled through to second spot bu t could not ca tc h Lansivuori. Do no t co me a way with th e id ea th at all th e race s p roduced expected re sults. Sa turday 's 25 0c c ra ce saw th e J apanese . newcomer Kat ayama win hi s firs t Grand Prix in co n vincing s tvle, He be a t c h a m p io n sh ip lead er Walter Villa (Harley -Davids o n), Patrick Pons (Yam) and Charles Mortimer ( Ya m) . Aga in Vill a m ade a terrible start, a nd th at fault, wh ich has be en with him all year, m ay cos t him the c ham p ionship . It too k Vi lla II laps to pull thro ugh to seco n d . T he other race sho u ld ha ve been th e Sw ed ish round of th e F IM Formul a 750 cha m pio ns hip, b ut fo llo wi ng th e F IM d ecision to ban 70 0 Yam ah as fr om co m pe t it io n . th e Swedes op ted o ut , like ma n y other 'org an izer s, So the big Yamahas could run. Br itain 's Charles Mortimer head ed hom e a 1·2·3 for th ese bi!!: tw o -strokes F inn Teu vo Lans ivuori no tched 350 and 500 wins fo r Yamaha. His wate r-coo led fo ur seems to have expansi on ch a mber proble m s, t oo. If Agostini co uld be said to have destro yed th e oppo stion in last week's Du tch IT th en Ph il Read pu t th e boot firmly on th e other foot in Su nday's Belgian Grand Prix Road Race World Championships at Spa Fran corch amps, Just as in the Du tch meeting eig h t days earlier Read had an eigh t second lead a t t he en d of th e fir st lap , bu t u n like Holl and, the Belgian G rand Prix saw Ph il an d th e MV Agu sta walk away fro m his ri vals w ith so much ease th at i t see med like a da ydream, or a nigh tm ar e if you were fro m the Yamaha ca m p. Agos t in i, rid ing th e new ligh te r, lower a nd hope fully qu ic ker Yamaha fou r cy lind e r , wasn 't just bl o wn o ff, he was t h ras he d ou t o f sigh t. On ly th anks to th e re tiremen t o f Bar ry She ene on the four cylinde r Suzuki when his gear leve r broke o ff and a pit stop b y Gianfr an co Bonera (MV) who needed a refill o f front b rak e hyd rau lic fluid , did Agos tin i cl aim second spo t. But in matter s o f good and bad fo r t une. th e It ali an ca n poi n t to hi s di sappo in tmen ts in Fra n ce an d It al y earlier in th e year, to balan ce th e pict ure, Read sto rme d home with n ew lap an d ra ce rec ords over o ne minute . 12 seco nds ahead of Agostini. T his impressive pe rfo rma nce n ot o n ly gives hi m a fo ur point lead in the champ ionsh ip battle fro m te amma te Bo ne ra, but it m a kes the psychological batt le bet ween Re ad and Ago stini a crucial co n flict in th e remai ning three rounds o f th e Worl d Champ ionship. For this m ee ting MV ha d arrived at Spa Fran corchamps with mac hines fitted with the most revolt ing lo okin g fai rings ever seen. In th eory, the ide a was to improve the hand lin g of the Italian mach ines. but both Read and Bo n er a · e le c l e d to rid e mo re co n ve n t io n al ly faired machi nes in the ra ce. Yam ah a ca n hardly claim th at th eir t w o -s t r o k e s w e re s lo w. beca us e Lans ivo u ri was ab le t o co m e wit hin . 1 of a second o f Read in p ract ice and in t he race . ARo's bike was as q uic k as bo th Boner a's and Barry Shcenes. It was. as Read clai med , a day wh e n he. the machine an d th e circu it all click ed. 10 prod uce a m em orabl e performance. Bone ra, who lo st a lmost a c o m p le te lap in hi s pit stop , tagog-ed on be hi nd Rea d , to b attle fur at least a few Worl d Ch ampi onsh ip po ints. A t th e final co rn er. La Source h airpin. Read ea se d o ff to let Bonera through to com p le te th e fu ll 12 laps and th e Italia n wasable to sn at ch wh at m ay p rove a va luab le po in t by takin!!: tenth pl ace.