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/126060
Barry Sh-:ene (7) ovel1Dok Teppi Lansivuori and went on to win both the Swedish GP and the 500cc World Championship. For more pix of your "average" road racer see page 32. Shean. da.1I ~t hIm way By Chris Carter Photos by Francois Beau I ANDERSTORP, SWEDEN,J ULY 25 Barry Sheene needed just to finish In the first three to win his first World Championship crown, but he did it .his way WInnIng - m the seven th round of the Grand Prix road rac e series, the Swedish TI. The Briti sh ace had n o easy go of it, th ou gh, as Fin n Teuvo Lansivu ori held him o ff for the majority of the race . Tepp i was relegated to fou rth spot by Sheen e, Aus tralian J ack Findlay and Britain's Chas Mortimer , who caught him at the last bend after the Finn h ad been slowed when the ...swinging arm sp indle on his Intern at ion al Su zuki cam e loose. Japanese ace Takazurni Ka tayama won the 250cc race, rep eating his debu t vic tory of 19 74 a t the Anderstorp tr ack. But re igning champion Walter Villa re tire d.. after makin g a long pi t stop . to ch ange a spark plu g. No w Katayama lead ; by just a sin gle poin t from Villa 's Harl ey -David son, bu t he was on tenterho oks for some hours after the race until a protest from the Italian factory conc ern ing Takazumi's silenc ers was reje cted by the organizers. Second to th e Japanese ace, af te r a superb battle, was West German Dieter Braun, with Franco Bonera th ird . But Katayama might have had a mu ch tougher race if Paolo Pileri 's Morbidelli had not seized midway through. The Morbidelli factory h ad consola tion in the l25cc nce, though not c~IIlPJe te satiifolction. Pitpaol.o Bultaco were too Jast for Pileri , on th e second Morb idelli. Th e 50cc r ace was p erh ap s the best of all fou r, though. An gel Nie to finall y triumphed with a tac tical ride that took him in to the lead on the last lap ahe ad of th e slightly qu icker Kre idler of Swiss s tar Ulrich Graf, bu t it was a close run thing. West Germ an Her be rt Rittberger was on ly fou rt h, and loses th e ch am p ionship lead to Nieto. I t was a dramatic an d inciden t p acked meeting. Friday's prac tice day was ruined a fter the organizers de cided to take notice of a str on gly worded le tter from the FIM p ointing out th at 250 mach ines co uld not use "slick" tires, following a decision at th e F l l\~ Con gress in Berl in last October. But n o t on ly th e r iders were cau gh t on. th e hop by thi s new s. The tire fac tories were not car ryi ng en ou gh st ocks of dry weather, tre aded tires to fitthe full entry. Desp ite protests from bo th Michelin and Dunlop, th e organizers, on furth er instructions from the FIM o ffice in Geneva stood firm. Th e riders refused to practice if they c ou ldn' t use slicks, but finally the organizers won th e battle of nerves , and with serious fears exp ressed by both tire and experienced r epresentatives competitors, Saturday 's practice and Sunday 's race were run on p atterned tires. Fortunately . th e fears of crashes undless but were for the most art the general feeling was that to make a stand on a rule that had been deliberately ignored by the GP organizers for the first seven rounds in the championship, was not wise. Opening race of Sunday's four event program was the 50cc battle. From the start Dutchman Theo Timmer took the lead from off the third row of the grid, on his J amthi, with Austrian Hans Hummel and Ulrich Graf behind, and Nieto down in eighth spot. Graf was through to take the lead by the end of the lap, though, with Nieto in second pl ace and Hummel third. This trio dominated the race until the fourth lap ,'. when little Italian Eugenio Lazzarini arrived on the scene. But though Nieto and Graf battled it ou t for sup remacy, with the Kreidler always able to pull b ack any lost ground down the long back straight, Lazzarini cou ldn ' t hold them, and Hummel faded into fourth place. It looked as though Nieto was wastin g his tim e as he took the lead , yet again from Gr af starting th e last lap. But th is time An gel 's lead was enough to comp ensate ' for Graf's pace on the strai ght, and the Bul taco rider held on to win by just th e narrowest of margins. Lazzarini was a lonely third, but slo w starting Rittberger pulled through to fourth, a fter catching and passing Hummel seven laps from the end. Now Nieto leads Rittberger by seven points, while Gr af is just two points behind the West German in third pl ace. Th e 3 0,0 00 specta tors who lined the Anderstorp track saw Swede Leif Gustafsson lead the l25cc pack into the first lap , wi th the Morbidelli pair of Bianch and Pileri hard on his heels. But Leif''s Yamaha ju st wasn't quick enough to h old the factory bikes and he soon dropped b ack. . , But Nieto's Bultaco was a match for • th em. He caugh t and pass ed Pileri, and for a few lap s at least looked as though he might do the same to Bianchi, but th e Italian began to pull awa y, while Nieto, in tum, mov ed out of Pileri's sight, Pileri found himself under pressure fro m Gustafsson and Dutchman Henk van Kessel after the Swede had found h is sec on d win in the closing st ages. To the deligh t of the fans Leif moved b riefly in to th ird place on the last lap, but . the .Morbj