Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

; l1li • ~ '- By Chris Carter Photos by Francois Beau t lMATRA , FINLAND. AUGUST I r- ~ O"l Pa t Hennen made motorcycle roa d racing history on Sunday by being the first American to win a Gra nd Prix race whe n he led the 500cc event at the Finnish Gr and Prix fro m st art to finis h. Hen ne n, ma king his d ebut on the World Champio nship trai l thi s .-4 ~ .-4 C(") .... "-' ::s eo ::s < season , alw a ys had things under con trol, and he led Finn T eu vo Lansivuori hom e by alm os t h alf a m inute. .New 5 0 0cc World Ch ampion Barry Sheen e d ecided no t to race at th e even t because o f di ssati sf acti on with th e start m on e y o ffe re d, but his a bsence, altho ugh di sap pointing for the 50, 0 0 0 fan s who lin ed th e roads o f th e lrnatra circuit , just five kil ometres fr om th e R ussia n b ord e r, m e ant a wide ope n race , T he da y ' s othe r even ts , al l solo races, pr od u c ed m oments of tremendous excite me nt an d acu te boredom. The 35 0cc sa w Wal ter Villa notch the fi rst win of his d ouble bu t th e battl e behind, wh ich saw D ieter Braun, Tom Herro n an d Ch as Mortime r finish th e race just a fe w feet apart, was supe rb . Mor ti me r 's fig h t b a c k a fter a dia bolical start earned h im th e 35 0cc c h a m p io nsh ip lead, wi th Villa and Ceco t to close o n his tail. Only th ree poin ts separate the leading trio. Villa wo n the 250cc event, to o , b ut this ti me he h ad t o figh t a lit tle harde r fo r h i s s ucc es s. Th e litt l e Har ley- Davidso n is lik e a rocke t on whe els a n d h e won eaSily " w ith c ha m pi o n sh i p contender Takazumi Kata yama second and Pentti Korhonen th ird. That win puts V illa ba ck into a tw o-poin t champio ns h ip lead from Katay am a. And Angel Nieto might well have won both the 50 and 125cc races, but inst ead his day 's scorecard re ad one fall and one e ngine failure . He crashed in the 50cc race, run o n wet roads, while trying to ca t ch Belgian J ulian Va n Ze ebroeck who suddenly clicked into form. But with Swiss ace Ulrich Graf taking .secon d sp ot and H erb ert Rittbel'Ker o n ly managing fourth, th e 50 cc title ch ase is gripping , too . Nie to's Bul taco sto p ped early in the 125 cc race wh en he was battlin g with He nk Van Kessel fo r second place. However they ne ver lo o ked like b eating the in vin cib le Pierpaol o Bian ch i an d his Morbid ell i. Eve n with Nieto ou t, Van Kessel h ad a problem on his hands with West G erman Ger t Bende r , tho ugh th e Dutchman 's Condor was faster. A tailen der baul ked h im at a crucial momen t o n th e last lap an d he had to settle for th ird sp ot , chased in vain b y yo ung French man J ean Louis Guin abodet whose p rivat e Morbide lli was quicke r, it ap p eared, th an Pileri ' s wor ks bike, for th e rei gn ing World Champio n was fi fth. The 350cc race op ened th e d ay, an d though still fine, the threat o f heavy rain showers was eno ugh to persuade the organizers to ban slicks in all classes , for the ra ces as well as the practice period. Johnny Cecotto's practice session on Saturday afternoon in fact did him very little good. He was quickest o f all , but he used " slicks" and the FIM Jury , meeting later that day, added a fra ction more than three seconds to his time. dropped him from first to tenth place on the leaderboard, Cecotto's efforts to over come this perhaps self-inflicted handicap led t o hi s undoing o n th e firs t lap o f the 2 0-lap 35 0cc even t. He c ras he d tryin g t o o u tb ra ke Chas Mortimer, wh o himsel f had not made the best o f sta rt s. He was unhurt but well down and one lap from the ch eckered flag he p ulled Califo rnian Pat Hennen leads Lansivuori and Agostini in the 500cc: event. H'ennen held off charges by both for his victo ry and in do ing so became the first American to win a road race GP. . ' o u t, h aving fa iled to cl im'b in to th e points. : - Few p eop le watched h is efforts for all eyes wer e up fr on t. V illa led from start to finish, but after Gi acom o Ago sti n i' s MV h ad stopped once again with igni ti o n failure , the scrap for se cond plac e was between T om H err on and Diete r Br aun. Br aun's Morbidelli was quick bu t Herron is on form at th e m oment a n d th e pair co n ti n ual ly passed a nd repassed. Behind th em Ch as Mortim er was m oving quickly through th e p ack. Eighteenth on th e first lap he w a s ci rc ula ting m uc h quicker th an almos t everyon e , and b y th e end of th e tenth lap h e was seve nth - o nly 16 sec o nds b eh ind the Br aun /H erron d ice. It lo oked as th ough Chas mi ght d o it , but at th e flag Di eter held off Tom and th e Uls te rman wa s just a littl e wa y clea r of 1\1 or tim er. A nother lap o r tw o , th ough a nd it co uld have been a very different s to ry . Bru no K neubuh ler also m ad e a poor start and he ch arged through th e field to gra b fif th p lace on th e last lap fro m under th e no se o f y o un g French m an Ger ard Choukroun , who h ad to fly th e Gaul o ises fl ag o n hi s o wn after Patrick Pons had crash ed in p ractice at th e level crossing an d broken h is co lla rbo ne. R ain held o ff t ill the race e nde d , but th e 5 0cc even t which fo llo we d was run on stream ing roads. Nie to led a fte r p as s in g Ulrich Graf, but then the Sp an iard found an unexpected challe nge fro m Belgi an Julian Van Zeeb roec k. Julian swep t into th e lead o n the fifth lap and Ni eto crashed soon after - ei th er fro m giving his Bultaco too much throttle o r an engine failure. G raf was left an easy second p lace and beh ind h im th e race was a rather bori ng affair wi th E uge nio Lazzarini improving h is ch am p ionsh ip h op es b y be at ing Wes t German H erber t Ri ttberger on the Van Vee n -tun ed Kreid ler. Pentti Korhonen led th e 250cc fo r j u st fi ve o f its scheduled 19 lap s, then T a k a z umi Ka tayama swo oped past. So o n after, Walter Villa's h igh -speed Harley-David son took b oth th e J apanese Shoulder brushing the padded po le, Ago leads a rac:e-within-a-race. ace and the Fi n n . Once Mortimer , fo u rth fas tes t in practice , made a terrible start and though he was moving rapidly through the field his ra ce ended early on because of a front fork problem. Alex George was out early , too, his Suzuki sliding away from him on a fast bend, He crashed, injuring his thumb ' and badly d amaging the bike. Tom Herron's brief excursion as a Suzuki G B teamster was not a roaring success, sad to sa y. The bike oiled a plug in the early stages and he p ulled out. New Zealander Stu Avant crashed on the first lap when his brakes failed and his out-of-control mach in e rammed the unlucky - Boet V an Dulmen, bringing him off. Avant ' s leg w as badly bruised and Boet, though able to remount, was not happy with his handicap and pulled out when he saw how hopeless his task was. Fellow countryman Marcel Ankone looked set for a good p lace, to o , until a faulty front brake fo rc ed h im to stop . While Hennen raced o n to th e c heers o f the crowd Austrian Karl Auer pushed his machine home out o f petrol , to grab tenth place and one hard-earned championship pain t. • Results SOcc: L Julien Van Zeebroeck ( K r e ). 2 . Ulricn Graf (Kre) ; 3 . Euven lo Lazzuln l (Kre) ; ... Herbert Pittberger (Kre) ; 5 . Hans J. Hummel (Kre) ; 6 . Theo T immer (Kre): 7 . R ol f B la tter (Kre) ; 8. Cees Van Donge" (Kre) ; 9 . Gerrlt Str lkke r (Kre) ; 10 . Gunter Sch irnh ofer (KreJ . ~ 125ce: L Pier eaeto Bia n c h i (M or) ; 2 . Gert B ender ( B en) ; 3 . Henk Van Kessel CAGY); 4 . Jean-Louis Guignabodet ( M or ); S. Paol o Pllerl (M or) ; 6 . St ef a n Oorfllnger (Mor); 7. Anton Mang (M or) ; 8. Per· Edw . Carlsson (M or); 9. Matti K innunen (M or) : 10. Eugenio Lazzarini (M or) . 25 0 cc : 1. Wa lter V illa (H·D); 2 . T akazuml Katay ama ( Y a m ) ; 3. Glanfranco B oner a ( H -D ) ; 4. Pen ttl K orh o nen (Yam ) ; 5. T o m Herr on ( Y am); 6. D iet er B r au n (Ya m ): 7 . J ohn Dodds (Yam); 8 . Patri c k Fernandez (Yam) ; 9 . Jean· F r. a alde (Yam ) ; 10 . H en k Van Kessel ( Y am) . 35 0ce: 1. Wa l t er V il la (H · D); 2 . D iet er Br aun ( M arl; 3 • • T o m Herron (Yam) ; 4 . Chas M ort mer ( Y am) ; 5 . Bruno K n eubu hler ( Y am) ; 6 . Gerard Chou k rou n (Yam); 1 . J o n £kero l d ( Yaml ; 8 . V ic t o r Pa l o m o (Yam); 9 . Yam); 10. Pat r i ck Fernandez JOh n D o d ds (Yam) . 50 0cc: L Patrick Hennen (Suz); 2 . 'reuvc Lansi vuorJ (Suz) ; 3. Ph ilippe Coulon (SUZ) ;4 . John Newbold (Suz) ; 5 . Marco Luccinelll (Suz) ; 6 . Dieter Braun ( 5 uz) ; 7 . Jack FindlilY (Suz); 8. Christia n Estrosl (SUZ); 9 . Pekka Nurmi (Yam) ; 10. Ka rl Aue r ( Y a m ) . 33

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