Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

International dateline The start of the 250 race. Cecotto (96) and the field watch the starter, bu t Villa (8) is getting set to win . 1Impromptu pit sho we r. Ago trounced champ Phil Reacl. AgO is toP act at Italian camival Toracca took fourth be h ind Kanaya. are orders! Bianchi 's own lap record fell no fewer than 12 times in this 21 lap race , three ti mes to Pileri , and the rest to Bianchi hi msel f whose best was 2m 9.2s, wh ich was 4.3 seconds be tter than the o ld one! Next was the 350cc race, which was a tactical move by the organizers that favored Agostini, as it gave him a break during the 250cc race, to recover from the exertions of the 350cc battle. After the sheer spectacle o f the previous week's 500cc battle at the West German GP at Ho ckenheirn between Ago and Read, it wo uld be a brave man who said that .th is 350cc race was better. Yet in many ways it was . T rue the main co n te nders , Cecotto and Agostini, were neve r closer than three and a half seconds, except on the grid at the start, but the climax of the ra ce, co up led with the hysteri a of the rivals' supporters were unforgettable . Agostini made a hash 0 f the start. That was the crux of the matter. Not that Cecotto's ge taway was ligh tn in g, b ut it was better than average, wh ile Ago p ushed and p us hed. Cecotto ca me ro und in sixth p lace on the second lap after Patrick Po ns and Dieter Braun had set the pace. Pons stayed out in front for four laps then Braun took co m m an d. Cecotto, riding superbly, swept from sixth place to the lead in six laps. By now Agostini had blasted through to sixth position, and the gap between lirst and sixth was 10 seconds. Af te r 10 lap s the gap was down to eigh t and one-half seconds, b ut between Cecotto and Agostini were Pons, Braun and young Frenchman Gerard Choukroun, and these were not going to move: over easily , Agostini or no Agostini. By Chris Carter IMOLA, ITALY, MAY 18 A record crowd of more than 140,000 fans, overjoyed at Giacomo Agostini's superb victory in the 500cc race at the Italian Grand Prix, invaded the track to acclaim Ago on his lap of honor. But, having once force d their way onto the circuit, the fans 22 wouldn't leave , causing the cancellation of the sidecar race. It is the first time that crowd behavior has preven ted a world championship race. Sidecar competitors pleaded with the organizers to wait a while for the c ro wd to leave the track, but there were no further efforts to move people ba ck, and that was that. The fans had p len ty to make them happy. Earlier in the m ee tin g Eugenio Lazzarini on the Piovaticci , made just 60 miles down the road from Imola, overcame a very poor start, broke the lap record and grabbed second spot to Angel Nieto in the 50cc ra ce. Then Paulo Pileri and Pirpaulo Bianchi dominated the 125cc race on the Morbidellis, shattering the lap record between them on several occasions. Next a magnificent 350 race be tween teenage r J o h n n y Ceco tto and Giacomo Agostini ended in a win for Cecotto, but only after a dramatic battle in which Ago broke the lap record eigh t times, only to lose ground on the last four laps after his rear brake lever bent. Cecotto figured in the 250cc battle, but his Yamaha just wasn't quick enough to match the Harley-Davidson of Walter Villa. Finally there was Ago's start to finish supre macy in the 5 00cc eve nt. He beat Phil Read by more than a minute, shattered the circuit's absolute lap record, and even though the temperature was in the 90s, Ago managed to lap faster and faster on every lap, as his rivals wilted under the heat and pressure! The 125cc race led off the major interest events and had once again ~I~i~~ CI II: .. .., > .. :J Z

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