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/125991
International dateline Packed grandstands watch the start of the 250 race . Cecotto (12) and Villa (1 ) locked horns soon after the start. Villa withstood Cecotto's charge. Ago edges Read in 500cc classic thriller fast est , Barry Sh een e , But in the race it was th e MV pairing of Ar mondo'Torraccaan d Phil Read wh o r us he d in to th e lead , ch ased b y Agostini . Both La nsi vuori and Shee ne m ade p o or starts . Coming in to th e stadium are a , where g r a n dst an d seatin g ac c om od ated 10 5.000 fans, Read mo ved ahead of his te am m at e, with Agostini still third and Kanay a fourt h . German GP By Chris Carter HOC KENHEIM, W. GE RMANY , MAY 10 -11 If Phil Read 500cc world that IS by no not giving up 12 IS gOIng to lose his title this year, and means certain, he IS the crown without a fight. A c a p aci t y c rowd o f 135000 . . . ' ent h u siasti c c o n t i nen tal fans roar e d their del ight for all 20 la p s o f the 500cc rac e a t the West German Grand Prix as Phil , on the fo ur st roke MV Agusta b at tled wi th the two stroke works Yamaha of Giacomo Agos t ini. ....'hat a fantastic race! Someone had to lose, of co urse , and for Read fan s it was tough that it should be the w orld champion . During the last couple of lap s, in wh ich Agostini smashed th e ci rc uit 's absolute lap reco rd , held b y th e late grea t Jamo Saarinen, by 2 .7 seconds , Read 's MV broke awa y in so me hear t stoppin g slides . He had to ease the all-ou t effort , and Agostini went o n to win by four seco nds. T hi rd h o me was Fi n n T'e u v o Lansivu ori o n th e Su zuk i 4, aft er a poor start, and fourth was Yamaha fact ory man Hid eo kan aya, wh o now lead s the w o rld cham pio nsh ip b attle w ith 35 p oints , to Re ad 's 32 , Ago stini's to t al of 30 and Lan sivuo ri ' s 22 . Th ere was an im pressive ride, too, from British sol o ch ampio n Stan Woods , a vastly under-rat ed rider. He was given the ch ance to rid e one of the w o rk s Su zukis fo urs inst ead of the tw in, and he grabbed th e op portunity with both h ands. Sixth be st in practice Stan finished fift h in th e race , its elf, despi te a race-long misfire. Agostin i w as deligh ted t o have won th e 5 00cc race , o f co urse, especially afte r b reakin g d o wn again , for the second successive we ek in the 35 0cc race . His Ya maha stoppe d wit h alleged ca r b u retio n pr o b lem s, th ough th e feeling is th at Yam aha at presen t has some seri ou s ign it io n tro ub les o n all t he factory machines. Kan ay a, t o o , w as fo rced ou t of the 35 0 cc battle with a sic« engi ne , and left Jo h n ny C e c o tt o , the 19 year ~ ld Ve nz ue lan wonde r bo y an easy Win. Sec ond was West German Dieter Braun after a last lap inciden t in which .Sp an iard Vic tor Pal omo an d Frenchm an Pat rick Pon s both co llided . Pons ac t ually fell o ff at high speed , b ut tho ugh Palomo o nly took t o the gras s, he wasn 't abl e to co n tin ue th e race. Ceco tto was out of luck earlier in th e day , th o ugh . He tri ed hard , to o hard mayb e, t o catc h reigning w o rld 250cc ti tle h older Walter Villa o n the last lap of the 250cc race, and fell off at th e seco nd ch ic ane , luc kily without injury. Even so it was th e South Am erican yo ungster's . fourt h cra sh in as many weeks. The It alian p airing of Pirp aul o Bian ch i and Paul o Pileri o n th e ultra-qu ick Morbidellis dominated the l 25 cc ' race again. The lit tle It alian two stroke co ughe d o n the last lap to put Bian ch i back into the lead , an d th ough Pileri t ried hard to cat ch his team mat e , that was the o rde r they finis hed . Swed e Ken t Ande rsso n, the reigin g ch am pi o n was third agai n, but he ca n see his crown drifting away un less Yamah a can find so m e mo re power, and quick ly! Forme r w or ld ch am pi on Angel Nieto wo n the 50 cc race, b ut as he eased the p a ce i n the closing stages . It alian Eug en io Lazzarini o n the Piovaticci clo sed th e gap , afte r he in t um had dealt effectively with a stro ng challenge fro m Belgian Julian Van Zeebroeck . Sad to say , the sideca r eve nt was less than exciting in th is six race, seve n ho ur long rac e d ay . Swiss Ro lf Biland w on eas ily fro m Werne r Schwarzel, the West Ge rman. with ano ther Ge rman Ro lf S tei n hausen third . Steinhausen no w mo ves well clear of his rivals in t he world champio nship b at tle, b ut this race d id little to win fans for three wheeled spo rt . Out of 29 starters, o nly 12 finished th e ra ce. But if th e chairs we re disap p o in ti ng t hat 500 cc so lo race mo re th an m ade up for it . Te uv o Lansivuori had been q ui ckest in pract ice b u t only tw o seco nds separated him , from seventh But Read's team mat e failed to hel p him m uch . There were no serious attemp ts to slow Agostin i d own , an d at th e end of t he thi rd lap Ago nipped th ro ugh eas ily to ch ase Re ad. For a while it looked as tho ugh Ph il m igh t hold his fo ur sec o nds advantage, Ph il Read and Agostini finally got together in a sidewall flexing contest.