; eene,
; Suzuki nab
~ 150 Series
!l'Oa race
d
lead
~
By Chris Carte r
ANDE RST O RP, SWEDEN, JULY 18-20
Barry Sheene won both th e Formul a 75 0 ro und, and th e 500cc
race in the world ch ampionship
series to co mplete a unique double
in th e Swedish TT.
Sheene, on the 750 Suzuki won
th e first par t o f Sat urd ay 's two-leg
Formula 750 p rize fro m Finn
Te uvo Lansivouri by a clear 18 and
one-half seco nds , bu t a fter a superb
battle wi th Kawasaki's Barry Ditchburn
in the second le g, Sheene h ad to settle
fo r sec o nd p lace jus t .6 seconds in
arrears !
"".
Th is victo ry moves Sh eene into a
n arrow l e ad in the FlM F750
championship series as most of his
major rivals failed to add to their scores.
Johnny Cecotto and Giacomo Agostini
decided not to ride in the gruelling
Formula 750 race.
Cecotto pulled out of th e 250cc race
with ignition trouble when leading.
Reigning world champion Walter Villa
then won, giving Cecotto a rougher time
for the title.
Agostini's bad luck was even more
dramatic. Just one and one-half laps
from home in the crucial 500cc race,
-
-
Walter Villa (1) shadowed Cecotto (36)
in the 250 dass until Cecotto's bike
broke.
Tight group in second 750cc heat.
Lansivouri leads second heat winner
Barry Ditchbum (12 ) and Sheene
(half·hidden ).
-,
26
~
"
All eyes tum upward as double-winne r Sheene launches a cork.
Giacomo crashed h is 5 00 Yamaha four
whilst lying second t o Sheene , but
ah ead of Ph il Read an d the MV l He
tr ied to restart the machine, but found
th at the front tire wa s flat. In an
o u tburst of Latin temperament, Ago
flung the m achine o n to th e ground,
whi ch did not go down well with the
cr o wd.
Now Ago has t o win both the
Finnish and Czech GP races to clai m the
ti tle,
The 5 00cc world ch amp io nsh ip r ace
ga v e Eu genio Lazzarini and the
Piovaticci fac t o ry from Italy their
first-ever GP win. And a record-break ing
performance from th e Morbidelli p air of
Paulo Pile ri and Pirpaulo Bian chi in the
I 25cc race gave the 30,000 crowd their
money 's worth.
Th e only miserable effort of the
seve n rac e, two-day event was
Saturday 's sidecar race. Onl y the first
three outfits home showed anything like
international class, as did the unlucky
Go te Brodin who retired midway
through th e race.
•
A stu dy in tight-lipped conce ntration, Phil Read (MV) advances in 500cc Championhip standing as Ago crashes.
