Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Y MATCH RACES Barry won Britain's only ra ce of th e series. Kenny was ch ased home by Mick Grant with Baker fourth, Hennen fifth and Ditchburn sixth. Thanks to the mid-field places Britain won that race 70 ·63 , shrinking Am erica's lead to just eight points. Roberts was America's hero in the second race, pulverizing the opposition to win easily . For a while it looked as though Barry Ditchburn, migh t push him , but Barrv slipped back to finish fourth . He was overtaken by both Baker, who was throwing up sparks from his machine as he hurled himself round Devil's Elbow, and Sheene, Britain won that race 72 -63, and with only Oulton Park's races to go they were now one poin t in the lead. '-D r-, O'l ,...., ~ -.::t' ~ '" ~ Oulton Park Facing page, Phil Read (11 and Steve Baker (321 check out the Mallory Park circuit together. Suspension ills plagued Steve at Mallory. Read had problems all weekend. Above. Steve Baker (left) • and Barry Sheene (rightllook properly elated after their individual wins. JL . ~ meeting at Quiton Gene switched to Roberts' spare Yamaha and m or e than doubled the points he'd scored up to that point. f The' Norton Cosworth made a brief and unspectacular ap pe arance a t Brands Hatch, ridden by Dave Croxford. In practi ce the gearbox failed an d in the first te am race th e replacement box stuck in top gear after only a few laps. . Dave did not ride th e b ike again that da y , and from then on te en ager Ron 'Haslam took his pl ace on th e squ ad, leaving Britain without a sp are man . He collected nine points at Brands and ten more at Mallory, afte r the Yamaha, "g';arbo x broke on the warm-up lap of the first race. ' Ro n , only 19 years old, sh owed n o r~spe ct for age and experien ce in the two Oulton even ts by grabbing a fifth place in the first race and a se cond place behind the all-conquering Baker in the other. >i Britain turned their Brands Hatch IS .point deficit into a one-p oint lead, thanks to some good mid-pack places a t Mallory, and after winning the first race "i Oulton , they extended their fragile lead to just five points . , ! I t was stilI anyone's series, but after Roberts and Sheene had had their misfortunes, British riders fill ed five out of the first seven places. America was crushed b y a composite score th at did n ot really do justic e to th eir fine fighting spirit. (Sco ring: The sco ring f or th e J ohn Transatlan tic Troph y ma tch races IS 'done via a decreasing scale of 16 points fo r a w in through one p oint for six teen th place. A rider m ust f inish in order to receive p oints. Th e p oint to tals fo r th e six-race event, tw o races each at Brands 'Hatch. Mallory Park and Oul t on ~lay er I Park, are then tallied w ith the highes t sco ring team th e victo r. . .Edit or) . The visitors had other problems, to o. For the entire series they were without a reserve when Marty Lunde co u ld not find a replacement machine , after loaning his own bike to British teamster Steve Parrish, before learning that he was to ride for America. Marty "(as too much of a gentleman to sna tch the bike ba ck , but it put a load on the shoulders of the Stateside Squad. But Britain also had reserve troubles. Brands Hatch Steve Baker sh owed the American fighting spirit to the full , right from th e word go at Brands Hatch. He was more than 150 y ards behind race leaders Roberts and Sh eene at the start of th e first race in the series. Yet in brilliant st yle Baker carve d the seconds off th eir lead to catch , pass and finally pull away to a co nvinc ing victory . America started that race with just seven riders , after Pat Evan's ' Yamaha radiator boiled o ver on the warm-up laps and teammate Gene Romero last ed just two laps before he also had to st op . Soon after that Britain was struggling too . Mick Gr ant had to stop to ch an ge a plug when lying fourth , and on lap seven Phil Re ad's Yamah a seized an d he wa s out. To make matters worse Steve Parrish had his engine cut au t , and as he coasted back to the paddock the con rod broke, smashing th e cr an kcases an d the gearbox. That left the youngste r with a bill for $ 2 ,000 to repair th e damage to Lunde's motor. Baker ran on to an easy win, bu t Sh eene got the better o f Roberts to th e delight of the 40,000 spec tators. G ary Nixon took fourth pl ace ahe ad of Britain 's other Kawasaki runner , Barry Ditchburn , and with Hennen sixth America wa s looking good. That gave America a twelve-point lead an d Baker, with a start to finish victory in the second race , did hi s bi t towards extending the margin. Roberts was se cond this time , but Sheene's last-lap da sh cu t the lead from seven seconds to just one at the flag. Phil Read wa s fourth, but Pat Hennen held off Mi ck Gr ant's r a ce-long cha llenge and Gary Nix on be at teenager Hasl am by half a m achine's length. length . Both teams lost a rider early on . Gene Romero and John Williams both coasted into the pits with silen t engin es after the tw o warm up laps, alth ough y oun g Pat Evans did n ot make the start, he j oined _ in late to grab four points wh ich helped s t re tch t he Americans ' lead t o IS points, 137 to 122 . Mallory Park Brands had been fine, if a little cold , but Mallory o n Sunday was a much warmer pl ace , both on and ofi the tra ck. Again unlucky Romero missed the first race when a plug oiled before the star t. Britisher Ron Haslam was out on the warm-up lap , also , with a broken gearbox on his Yamah a. Baker led the pack for th e first lap and a half, bu t then Read overtook him at the hairpin. Phil held o n to th e number one spot for a lap, but then Baker regained the lead chased by Barry Sheene , Read and Mick Grant. , Sh eene took c ont ro l o n the fifth lap and whil e Read dropped b ack, Roberts appe ared o n the scene to ca rve his way through to sec ond position soon after the halfway st age in the 22 -lap affa ir. He co uldn ' t ca tc h Sheene though, and with the Union Jacks wa ving vigorously Pat Hennen led first time round the opening race at the Cheshire circuit with Baker second and Roberts third, bu t the support was a little weak. Only Nixon and Cleek were in the top ten and, as Cleek's engine went off song, he dropped further and further ba ck. Baker to ok the lead o n th e second lap and from then on the only interest was to who would . be second. Roberts pass ed Hennen and then so did Sheene, but Barry c ould not get near th e leading American pair as Hennen was ' alway s close enough to make him worry. The British squad knew th at they onl y had to pack the leaderboard to do the damage and, with Haslam fifth andJohn Williams, sixth , despite being restricted to just fifth and six th gears, Britain stre tched their lead to five points. Early in that second Qulton race it looked as though it was not going to be enough to salvage things for the Britishers. After one lap n o fewer than four A meri cans were at th e head of the field: Roberts, Baker, Hennen and Nixon . But Gary slipped ba ck, th en Pat Evans crashed. When Kenny overdid things, the Am erican challenge had collap sed and Britain was safe and sound. Baker romped home to victory, bu t his teammates could only collect another 38 points between the.J:!l and that was not enough to tip ilieSCales. This was Britain's best possible squad and th ough th ey had their problems, so too did the visitors. Next year it will be only the most partisan British supporter who forec as ts an easy win for the hosts. Results BRANDS HATCH FI RST RACE (13 laps, 33.93 miles) , 1. Steve Baker (Yam) . 2. Barry Sheene (SUZ). 3. Kenny Roberts (Yam). 4. Gary N ixon (Kaw). S. Barry Dltchburn lKaw). 6. Pat Hennen S UZ I ' 7. Dave Potter Yam). 8. John Will iams Suz • 9. Randy Cleeek (Vam). 10. Ron Pierce Yam). 11. Dave Croxford (Nor). 12 . Mlck ~ rant (Kaw) . WINNER 'S TIME , 21 min . 43.8 sec. 93.68 mph. FASTEST LAP: Baker. 1m37.8s, 93.68 mph . USA 69; BRITIAN 57. SECOND RACE: 1. Baker. 2. Robe rts. 3. Sheene. 4. Phil Read (Va,). S. Hennen . 6. Grant. 7. N ixon. 8. Ron Haslam (Yam), 9. Potter. 10. Steve Parrish (Yam). 11. Clee k . 12. Pierce. Ditchburn. 13. Pa t WINNERS' Evans TIME: (Yam). 14 . 21m34.2s. 94.23 mph. FASTEST LAP: Baker.lm37.6s. 96.26 mph. USA 68: Br itlan 6S. TOTAL, USA 137 ; Britain 122. MALLORY PARK FIRST RACE (22 laps, 29.70 miles),!. Sheene. 2. Roberts. 3. Grant. 4. Baker. 5. Hennen. 6. Dltchburn. 7. Read . 8. Nixon. 9. Williams. 10. Cleek. 11. ParriSh. 12. Potter. 13. Pierce. 14. Gene Romero (Yam) . 15. Evans. WINNERS' TIME: 18m30.2, 96.30 mph. FASTEST LAP, Roberts 48 .2 sec., 100.83 mph . USA 63 : Britain 70. SECOND RACE: 1. Roberts. 2. Baker. 3. Sheene. 4. Ditchburn. 5 . Hennen. 6. Read. 7. Haslam. 8. Williams. 9. Potter. 10. Nixon. 11. Cleek. 12. Parr ish. 13. Romero. 14. Pierce. 15. Grant. WINNER'S TIME, 18m24s~ 96.85 mph. FASTEST LAP: Roberts and Sneene, 49.2s1 98.78 mph. USA 63 , Britain 72. TOT",L, USA 263, Britain 264. OULTDN PARK FIRST RACE (18 laps, 29.77 miles), 1. Ba ke r. 2. Roberts. 3. Sheene. 4. Hen nen, 5. Haslam. 6. Williams. 7 . D itch burn. 8 . Nixon. 9. Re ad. 10.~ Potter. 11. Grant. 12. Evans. 13. P ierce. 14. Romero. 15. Parrish. 16. Cleek. WINNER'S TIME, 19m39.2s, 90.89 mph . FASTEST LAP: Robert and Baker. 1m4.6s. 92.1 7 mpn. SECOND RACE: 1. Baker. 2 . Hasl am. 3 . William s. 4. Grant. 5. Henne. 6. Oitchburn. 7. Read . 8. N ix on. 9 . Cleerk. 10.. Romero. 11. Potte r. 1 2. Parr ish . 1 3. Sheen e. 14. Pierce. WINNER'S TIME , 19m41s, 90.70 mph . FASTEST LAP, B ker, 1m4.2s, 92,75 mph. (Record). TOTAt;., ·USA 384 , Br itain 412. ' • 11

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