Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

BULLETIN. RahierISmith split in Italy leil wails in France In what was ' described as a super close race both m o tos, '. Gas to n 'Rahier (Suz) and Marty Smith (Han) traded mota wins in the Italian 125cc Grand Prix April I I. First mota was Rahier-Smi th; second was Smith- Rahier, Gas ton was given the overall nod based o n the fastest lap , while Jiri Churavy scored third overall. ' On mota finishes, this should put Rahier on top of the ·125cc standings over Churavy and Smith. ·In the French 500cc GP, an evergreen Adolph Weil (Mai) went 1-2 over a mending Roger DeCoster (Su z) 5·!. Gerrit Wolsink was 2-4 for the day, third overall. By rna tos, the top five in each were: First mota - Weil (Mai), Wolsink (Suz), H. Schmitz (Puc), Willi Bauer (Mai), DeCoster (Suz). Second mota - DeCoster, Weil, Ake Johnson (Mail. Wolsink and Bengt Aberg. Full coverage in coming week~. Baker breaks Imola records By Chris Carte r IMOLA,ITALY, APRIL 4 Ste ve Baker, the bes pectacled American who look s m ore like a . college st udent than a motorcycle racer, leads the FIM Formula 750 point standings after an impressive, record-breaking victory in the "Lmo Ia 200. Baker set a scorching pace in both' hundred mile legs, beating Frenchman Michel Rougerie on the Elf Yamaha by almost a minute in the first and heading him home again in the second by more than 34 seconds. Britain's Barry Sheene opened " his championship score by grabbing third overall, after ' following Baker and Rougerie home in each race. 'Than ks to ' the generous Imola payouts Baker collected around Sl5,OOO for his Italian efforts, and takes his winnings in the series t o the $50,000 m ark ! He deserved every cent of his Imola eash as he , rode head and shoulders above th e rest. Gary Nixon, the championship leader before the race, d id n o t qualify to start. His Kawasakis we re ' lost in -transit, and t ho ug h he was able to borrow Kenny Rober ts ' spare Ya maha for th e final practice session, he was no t ab le to lap qu ic kly enough to make t he race. Pract ice was he ct ic. More "th an 90 riders chased a p lac e am o ng the 4 0 starter s, and no fewer than' th e top IS wen t quic ker th an t he fastest m an in practi ce in 1975! But fastest o f all was , Baker, and he left no ' d oub t in the m inds o f the 120,000' fans that he deserved first position. Nixon was n o t the only shock non-qualifier, either. Cliff Carr, Randy Cleek and Pat Evans also failed t o lap fast enough. Al l had problems of one sort or another, but Cleek was in the biggest trouble. His Bel·Ray / B.S.&W. spon~ored Yamaha was delayed in transit fr om Caracas following the Venezuelan F750 round and he missed Friday's practice session. Phil Read, Britain 's former 500cc World Champion, who is keen to make the grade in the F75Q series, qualified for the race and then had to pull out on Sunday morning after doctors confirmed a mild case of penumonia, a result of his Modena crash two weeks earlier in which he broke a rib. The tension was overwhelming at the start of the first 32·lap race. As Roberts, Baker and Rougerie led the howling pack around at the end of the first lap, news came tha t Cecotto .' h ad crashed halfway around, after a handlebar had b roken off. Cecotto was unhurt, but out of the race. ' . The Kaw saki duo of Mick Grant and a Barry Ditchburn stopped in the pits after two laps, while Bak er blasted past Roberts along the start/finish straight . Kenny hung on, but it was going to be hard work.. , Baker pulled further and further away, and Roberts then came under pressure from Michel Rougerie, who/had held off a challenge from Gi acomo Agostini. After seven laps Baker was I S sec onds ahead o f Rougerie, wh o h ad outsted Roberts from second. Agostini .wa s in trouble , and dropping down the field. Barry Sheene, ninth on the opening lap , was up to fourth . On the 13th lap Kenny Roberts' Yamaha seized and pitched the young American off at nearly 70 mph. Roberts suffered a sp rain ed ankle . . Baker rolled on like an express train, and the interest lay in who would be second, third and fourth . Ago had stopped and rejoined the battle a lap later, but he was well out of tin: running, and the bike was off song. He retired shortly thereafter, Sheene was the first of leaders to pit for fuel, and the few.seconds cost him his fourth place. He dropped to ninth and a lap later American Pat Hennen, riding a steady race, stopped for "fu el , also. Yo ung Swiss ace Phi llipe Coulon had moved t hrough to third, but he overdid it and crashed, letting Victor Palamo, the Spaniard, m ove into the top three. Swiss Bruno Kne ubuh ler, Barry Shcene, and ,J apan ese ace Takazumi Katayama trailed behind him. Bruno was next for fuel and he dropped to sixth, With Palamo and Katayama also refueling the leaderboard began to switch. But nothing slowed Baker. He was more than 30 seconds up when he stopped, and the second place man Rougerie wasn't even in sight when he re-staredl With six laps to go Baker was a minute clear, with Sheene now second after pressing on, Rougerie third and Kneubuhler fourth . Un lucky Palamo had broken a water pipe in his pit stop, and that coupled with a decidedly rough rear tire forced him to circulate slowly, losing place after place. Rougerie overtoo k Sheene, and th e pair had a real battle for supremacy. Baker's engine seized three laps from the finish, bu t freed again immediately. Easing off the p ressure he rode home a comfortable winner. Ro ugerie held off Sheene's last , lap challenge, with Kne ubuhler fourth, Pat Hennen ni p ping past Katayama on the las t lap fifth , the JapaneSe ace sixth, and Scotsman Alex George on t he He rmatite Ya maha seve nth. An incredible di sp u te b etween the co urse co mmentator and Gi aco m o Agostini ended wi th Ago grab bin g th e m ic ropho ne fr om the m an . In a very emotional state Ago told the crowd that · . as much as he wante d t o ride in the second leg, he could not because h e had give n all h is spare pistons t o Steve Baker. The incident, and a general rel uctance by the other riders to co me to the grid gave Baker enough time to rebuild his engine fo r the second race. Only 27 starters out of the original 40 came to the start of the warming up .- s-. . 0.. < Steve Baker - he may look like a college kid in repose. but he blew off a lot of Europe's best in both 100 mile heats. lap, and one of those, Dutchman Boet Van Dulman had the engine lock up before completing that circuit! Cecotto was there, b ut Roberts with a painful ankle was not, nor was Ago . But the South American youngster had no be tter luck in t his race. On the second lap his engine seized. Baker was unbeatable again, but this time he was content to nurse his engine along. He maintained a few seconds lead over Rougerie and Sheene, who were again battling it out. When t hey got too close, he simply opened the throttle and p ulled away! John Newbold, not impressive in the first race, had found a new lease on life in the second. On the first lap he had been second to Rougerie past the pits, but even after Baker and Roberts had gone through, the young English rider was always about the place. . Palamo's bad luck continued. A petrol pipe burst and he Crashed at the chicane, fortunately without injury, but that was a very tame fall compared with Scotsman Alex George , who had his 700 Yamaha gearbox, seize. Alex c1 _aims it was the "best" of the meeting, and his worst injury was a badly grazed elbow which took three m illimet ers off t he bone, when he leve red h im self from u nd er t he sliding bi ke ,t o sit o n 'to p of it! Baker, out front, had a much easier time. Rougerie was not likely to catch hi m , and in d eed Sheene went into second spo t when th e French man stopped fo r fuel. Baker's le ad 'was n ow 38 seconds, and in te re st lay in whether Ro ugerie could reclaim second pl ace. Ire did, · t ho ugh fo r a fe w laps it loo ked as tho ug h Katayama wo uld ca tch the pair o f them . But he slowe d and that was that. _ , . Results 1. S. Bak er (Yaml. · 2. M. Rou ger ie (Y am) . 3. B. Sl"leene (Suz). 4. T. Katayama (Yam) . S. P. Hennen (Suz). 6 . J. Newbold (S uz l . 7. V . Duhamel (Kaw). 8. G. Chorkr~un ( Yam ) . 9 . R. Rulz (Yam) . 1 0 . J. Fin dlay (Yam ). 11. M. An ko ne (Suzl . 12 . A. ScJaresa (Yam ). 13. V. Pal o m o (Ya m). 14. P. K orh onen (Vam). 15. C. Bou rgeois (Vam) . 1 6 . G. H usso n ( Va m ) . 1 7. B . Kneu buh l er (Vam ). 1 8. R. Ha slam ( Yam ); AUSTRIAN 125 GP MX Rahier &ChUrHVV' score moto wins CORINTHIA, AUSTRIA, APRIL 4 World Champion Gaston Rahier had to settle for a tie in the 125cc Gran d P r i x point standings following the season's opening round.in southern Austria. Czech Jiri Ch uravy , aboard a CZ, took the win in the opening moto over

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