Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

International dateline b ut that did no t ta ke into accou nt A ngel Nie to! The little Spaniard m oved t hrough from fourth o n th e first lap to second behi nd race lead er Paolo Pileri nex t ti me th rough . Nieto ' s Bul t aco co u ldn ' t ca tch the Morbid elli, but when Pileri crashed on the six th lap it looked more in ter esting, Paolo's teammate Bian chi was then in co m m an d, but Nieto was reall y fly ing in second. But the Bultaco wen t o n one cylinde r th e las t lap, and Piler i, who had remo unt ed, was a lu ck y second , with Angel t h ird. an d the y oung Fre nch ace jean Lo uis Guinabode t m a kin g hi s 125 GP d ebut on the Morbid ell i, fourth. Ken t An de rsson ' s GP d ebut for the ye3:r was no t an overwhel ming success: T he new Yamaha despit e a lo t o f effort was n' t co m petitive in ei ther p rac tice o r raci ng and final ly he was forced to retire after t en laps when the motor sto p p ed. When the 500cc race st arted. Dutch . hero Wil . Hartog led off th e grid. The "Flying Farmer" stayed in front, but only until Barry Sh eene had d one four laps of hard work to shoot fr o m eigh t h pl ace to secon d. Chin on th e ta nk Barry we n t ah ead, but Hartog stuck to h is j ob an d it too k Giacomo Agostini, riding superbly, another two laps to p as s him. Ago loo ke d d etermined to catch Sheen e, if h e co ul d. but t he Bri tish boy , with an unbeat en record so far this year in 50 0 GP s always had th in gs under co n trol, and he was stil,! almost six secon ds clear of Ago one lap fro m th e e nd. But runner up wasn't Ago . His Suzuki had stopped on the fin al lap leaving Pat Hennen to take a deserved second place . ._ Pat had crash ed on Thursday in practice, but h e didn't put a wheel wrong in Sa turday 's rac e. • AboYe, A'IJ gave the MV 350 its first GP win. Below, Holland is the only country that takes its tiddlers seriously . Sheene Blisters Dutch heat wave By Qlris Carter ASSEN, HOLLAND, JUNE 26 B'!IT)' Sheene moved yet another step towards the 500cc world title with a convincing victory in a roasting ho t Dut ch IT. The English rid er was deli ghted at his win, after com ing throu gh from a poor start to catch and pass earl y leader Dutchman Wil Har tog, and 10 then hold off a strong ch allen ge from Giacomo Agostini. Ago's hopes of championship points were foil ed on th e last lap when a piston broke up. Racing opened with the 50cc race , which in Holland, possibly more than any other European country, is treated with reverence . West German Herbert Rittberger, off the second row of the grid after practice, had a "flier" and was well clear of the pack as h e swept in t o the first gentle left hand bend. But at the end of the firs t lap he was being chased by Angel Nieto, with the little Italian Eugenio Lazzarini, out for the rust time on a Kreidler, third, and Dutchman Nico Polane . fourth. Lazzarini found some pace from _ somewhere, though, ' and by the e n d of the second lap h e had passed both Rittberger and Nieto to take the lead. N'leto was on his tail, w ith Rittberger losing contact, and Po lane now under pressure from fellow country man Theo van Geffen. Though Lazzarini was still ahead next time through, Nieto ap p ear ed to have things firmly under co n tr ol. He even gave the "thumbs up" sign to the Bultaco mechanics as h e wen t p ast the pits. By th e end o f t he fi fth lap Angel had tired of shadowi ng Lazzarini, and he moved in to the lead stretching the gap t o m ore th an 10 seconds, But oor Eu ni o did no t even have the satisfaction of second place for his efforts. The clutch starting to play up, and he dropped back to fourth spot. Now after five r ou nds just seven points separate the top four m en : Nieto, Rittberger, Graf and Kunz. It looks like the best 50cc championship battle for a few seasons. After the drama of the 50s th e 350cc race was perhaps something of a h igh speed procession. Ago was in superb form. If an yone thought the Italian world ch ampion was ove r the .hill they had to think twice after this performance. Through the "S" b end at the back of the paddock he was the o nly man in the ra ce to go through without easing back t he th ro ttle. The re was little rest fo r m an y riders, wi th th e 250cc race fo llo w ing st raigh t on af t er th e 3 50cc battle. d espite a n a eal to th e FlM urv to switch wi th the 125cc event. Paolo Pileri (Mor ), took the lead from the start of the lightweight event, and he stayed ahead o f.the pack for a full lap, with john Dodds, sixth in the previous race, snapping at his heels. But Katayama was really motoring and he leapt from third place to take the lead a lap later. Katayama stayed in front till the seventh lap, wh en reigning 250 cc champion Walter Villa took co m m an d. Villa pulled away from the Japanese ace by up to three seconds a lap to end th e race 16 seconds clear. john Dodds held on to third spot, but · Franco Bonera, Villa's H-D t eam m at e misjudged his effort in the closing stages, and th ough he cut the m argin to six seco n d s, ti me ran o ut for h im. T h e 125cc race loo ked as t ho ug h it would be the usual Mo rbid elli benefi t, Results soee (9 lapsl : 1. A. Nieto (Bul). 2. U . Graf (Kre). 3. H. R ttberger (Kre) : 4. E. Lazzar in i

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