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/126052
lnternationu I datel ine Steinhausen/Huber. the sidecar champions about have another in the bag. Huber needs a drag wheel on his rump. End of an era at the Island By Chris Carter ISL E OF MAN , ENG LA ND. JUNE 5· 11 are over, and Th e 1·9 7 6 TT be the same agaIn .' they will This was th e last 'time the -races , star ted 69 years ago, will have a place world th er e abo ut 14 in the normal roa d racing cha mpio nship series, bu t was little sign o f sad ness the week long race-meeting. T here was the usual share of drama, excite me nt, re cords an d sad ly , death s too. A West German sid ecar p assen ger Walter Worner was kill ed in Monda y 's 5 0 0cc Sid ecar race. a nd Les Kenny , th e popular A ustralian d ied ins t an t ly on th e first la p of Saturday's 250cc ra ce when he crashe d 2 1/ 2 m iles fr om the start. Bad weather forced the po stponement o f the ten lap Production Machin e race fro m Saturday till Tuesd a y , but th e co n d i ti o n s w ere near perfect for Monday's race program . The 35 0c c Junior TT opened . th e show, and it gave Chas Mort im er , one of the handful of top liners who co m pe te in both European GPs and the TT, a deserved victory. At the finish he was just 6.8 seco nds clear of runner up Tony Rutter, but Chas always had t he job under co n trol. By t he end .o f the first lap Mortimer, with a lap just a co up le of seconds slower than Mike Hailwood's 500cc lap re cord, was already 19 seconds ahead of Tom Herron in second place . Charlie Williams was third , but he was lucky even to be in the race. He 'd ridden in Italy the previous day at the 1000 kilometres o f Mugello, a nd the co nec ti n g flight fro m Liverpool to the Isle o f Man was delayed through fo g. Due to sta rt at number I , he was ab le to join the pack at the rear, wi thou t any . time p en al ty. Mo rtime r pu t o n th e pressure o n th e next lap .z ip pi ng rou nd at a record breaki ng 108 .45 m ph , but h is re cord d id not last long. T ony R u tt er, slo wed o n the first la p by p et ro l sp lash ing fro m h is fue l ta nk, stormed ro und at 108 .69 mph th e sa me la p . Ch as was still in th e lea d o n corrected time, . fro m Herron an d Ale x Ge orge , w ith Rutter now fo urt h . Bu t w ith a no the r lap below 2 1 m inu tes T ony pushed h im self into sec o nd 'sp o t b y the e nd of the thi rd lap, and th e chase was on. l\lortimer sto pp ed for fu el. He worked o u t that , with more than 3 5 seconds in hand, Rutter would meet two laps at o ver III mph to sna tc h victory. Th at wasn't possible , so Chas toured round co m fo rtably t o win by just under 7 seco nds. Tom He rron, third o n the fo ur t h lap was out of luc k when his chain jumped off the rear sprocket at Hillberry on the final lap . He didn 't notice that the chain was still in o ne piece until he had pushed to Gov ernors Bridge, a nd he dropped down the pack to 27th . His fellow co u n try m an Billy Guthrie moved into take third place . Both Alex George, out with a sei zed e ngine , and Charlie Williams , forced to s t o p w ith a n ignition fault, were leaderboard men who found the going t oo tough . The 500cc sidecar race had drama, too. Quickest in practice had been Englishman George O'Dell, who with Alan Gosling in the chair of his Yamaha powered outfit, had lapped at 99 .37 mph. But on the first lap less than halfway ro und, Alan hit a wall leaning out of the chair, and though the outfit did not crash , George had to stop soon after for Alan to re ceiv e hospital treatment. That left Ro lf Steinhausen and Joseph Huber an easy task, and after seeing a r e cord bre aking opening lap they " t oured" aro und for an easy win, and 15 world cham p io ns h ip points. Tuesday 's delayed Produ ction Machine race saw the nicest day of the week. It was so hot that melting t ar ca ugh t some of the riders o u t around the circu it and spill s , though generally minor. were frequen t. Worst hurt o f al l was popular veteran Per cy T ait who was kn o cked off line in the hurly burly o f the open ing lap after the massed start of th e I OOOcc class. At firs t detained in the intensive care unit h e recove red swiftly from several bra ken bones, in Icuding sho uld e r , knee and five ribs to be due to be dis charged from the h ospital midway through the week a fter the ra ces . And the determined ace , nearer 50 years old than 40, is plotting a re turn to the sport at Silverstone in August, Run on a handicap basis, the race p roved a boring opening ni ne laps for all but production machine race enthusiasts. It was only o n the final 37 3 /4 m ile circuit that the excitement st arted. It looked as though the leading 5 0 0cc m ach ine, a Ho nda Four ridden b y Bill Smith and Geoff Bar ry mi ght catch the leading 250cc Ya maha shared b y Ch as Mortimer and Bill Sim p son. . But with the gap down to o ne m in ut e and still almost 20 m iles to go, the big Honda ran out of petrol. Mortimer, on ' the l i ttl e Yamaha raced o n to a c o m f o rtab le victory I 1/2 m in u t es ahead of Tony Rutter an d David Hughes on a 250 Suzuki. Wednesday's 50o.c Senior TT looked a walkover for John Williams and his four cylinder Suzuki. His greatest threat, Mick Grant on the Kawasaki, was an early retirement after seizing twic e on the opening two laps. But WIth wtll over four m inutes in hand o ver nex t be st m an Ian R ich ards, John Williams st alled the e n gine a t Govern ors Brid ge and h ad to push th e fin al six hundred yards. . Tom Herron , lying third at th e st art 0 1 th at sixth a nd fin al lap afte r sto p p ing to adj ust the c hain , ca ugh t and passed Rich ards in th e clo sing sta ges 1.0 win b y . j ust 3.4 seco rid sf . r ' Un luc ky J ohn William s had b een in tr ouble from th e ' s ta rt . From the very b eginn in g th e clutch le ver h ad not worked and he h ad ridden th e e nti re race wi thout a cl utch . His second lap had sha ttered th e Island 's abso lute lap record set b y Mick Gran t in th e Ope n Cl assic th e p rev io us year. J oh n had sped aro un d at 112.2 1 mph ! But after a p it sto p on th e th ird lap , J oh n had st rugg led to rest art th e big bike without a clutch. Nex t , the steering d a rn pe r br o ke off and finally, to co m p let e his dismay , a spri ng b roke in the gea r se lector mech anism ! ~I ore b y luck th a n judge me nt Joh n fo u nd b o ttom gear at th e Ramsey hairp in , a nd the G o o sen eck , but he came into Go ver nors in wha t he hoped was bottom gear. o n ly to fi nd it wasn't and the e ngine stalled . Without a cl u tc h he co uld n 't res t art it. a nd , ex haus ted , h. push ed home se ven th . • Beh ind Herron, Rich ards and Guthrie cam e J ap ane se ace T ak azami Kat ayam a, rap idl y learn ing h is way aro und in h is TT d ebu t ye ar . A heavy downpour of rain forced the postponeme nt of the 1000cc sidecar race fo r I 1/2 hours, but wh en the three lap event did finally get underway co nd ition s were good with th e roads drying rapidly, and visibility on the Mountain exccllen t. It was British star Dick Greasley in co m m a nd fr om the word go ahe ad of R olf Stc ingh auscn , Mac Hobson and Schauzu . Gr easlev, wh o had sta rted 't e n sec ond s behind fJ obson h ad ca ugh t the Geordie a nd. as he h ad d one o n Monday. • decided to fo llo w h im .