Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

SEE THEe ALLI EL P OSERI S • .., . & J . ".... 01 ro.ACCOCQ ~ ~ QJ ..0 o ..... u o Steve Baker added one more laurel to his highly successful year by riding his Yamaha IVIotor Canada mount to victory over the GP "stars" in England's Race of the Ye~r. Baker roufs the world in Mallory's Race of the Year By Chr is Carter MALLORY PARK, ENGLAND SEPTE:\tBER 12 Steve Baker, aboard the Bob Work prepared Yamaha Motor Canada sponsored "works" Yamaha OW31, devastated a field of international stars on the tight,and twisting Mallory Park circuit to easily win the prestigious John Player Race of the Year by a 17 second margin over newly crowned 500cc World Champion Barry Sheene aboard the Team Texaco Herron Suzuki. The victory marked the first ever in the event by an American and except for some heavy traffic in the final 'laps of the 40 lap event, might have. been an American 1· 2 occasion as Pat Hennen took a good third on his Chip Hennen / Ron Coleman Suzuki. Gary Nixon, the only other American rider en tered in the even t, retired his Erv Kanemoto Kawasaki early on after suffering mechanical problems. Nixon, who has a good deal of track experience at Mallory from the John Player Eas ter m atch races, has had an unenviable run of mechanical difficulties la tely . Baker never really had to try hard for this convincing victory. The previous day he had followed Sheene home in the eighth round of The MeN Superbike championship shattering the 1.35 mile Mallory track record with a lap at 48 seconds. But in Sunday's big race Baker set the fastest lap of the race at 49.8 seconds on the way to winning the approximately $2,900 first prize. The first challenge to Baker came from former 500cc world title holder Phil R ead , who had been forced to switch at the last minute from the 500cc Life Suzuki that had carried him earlier in th e day to a thrilling victory in t he 50 0cc race, to his Yamaha 75 0. Only three laps later Read's race was o ver wh en the fou r cylinder Yamaha seized at the Esses. Next to ch allenge S teve was Yo rkshire man Mick Grant on th e 750 Kawasaki who, after n ine lap s slid off at the no tori ou s Ger ard s Bend escaping .injury, but o ut of th e running. South African Kork Ballingtori was next to disappear from the leading b unch . He squirted the power on just a fraction too soon coming out of the hairpin, and d own he went leaving Ba rry Sh eene and Pat Hennen to dispu te se cond pl ace ., Sheene had seem ed ill at ease o n th e two warm up lap s prior to the start o f th e race and later revealed that the front tire on the over bored championship winning 500/4 Suzuki was out of true making braking very difficult. Hennen looked as though he might make it a stateside ' 1·2 , but in the closing stages of the race he was balked by tailenders and Sheene was able to escape his clutches. Fourth home 'was Barry Ditchburn on the Kawasaki 750. He was happy with his placing after a lonely run in, but angry that many riders , except he and Agostini, had ignored the yellow caution flags when Grant had slid off ahead of them. "The others just shot past me and I never saw them again," muttered Barry. Giacomo Agostini, giving a better performance than of late in Bri tain , was fifth on a similar 750 Yamaha OW31 to that ridden by Baker . He was fifth home just 4.8 seconds be hind Ditchb urn . Sixth was Dave Po t ter , the talented young British rider on Ted Broad's Yamaha, first of the non-seeded riders to finish . Seventh was John Newbold on the Suzuki, but he had been lapped by the all conquering Ba ker and was less than th r e e seconds ahead of Takazumi Katayama on a 350 Yamahalr'Zooming Taxi," as the Japanese ace has been nicknamed by some British enthusiasts, was really impressive in a climb steadily through the field to grab eighth spot. Ninth was former Bri t ish champion Roger Marshall who had battled throughout the race with Newbold while Welshman R oger Nicholls, was tenth, only two-fifths of a second ahead of impressive French youngster Christian Sarron. Sheene's d ay of glory came on Saturday when he beat Baker and Mick Grant to stretch his lead in the MCN Superbike series to ten p o in ts with two rounds to 1/;0. Sheene :il~o beat Gra n t home in the 1000cc race that opened Sunday's program. But he was put out of the 500cc race in the cl osing stages with a rear tire puncture while b attling with teammate John Newbold, Phil Read and Pat Hennen. With Sh een e out Read blasted past Hennen to victory, with Newbold taking third spot. Kork Ballington wo n the 350cc race from Christian Sarron in impressive form on his Mallory park debut, but the race wa s cu t short b y a lap after Bill Henderson, a 29 year old mechanic from C oventry had crashed heavily a t Ger ard s Bend.Bill , a former mechanic t o Ch as Mortimer , an d himself n o m ean co mpetitor d ied from his inj uri es o n th e • wa y to hospital. -.J ~. " .. ... ..•... ."". ~:': AMA HALF-MILE NATIONAL ASCOT PARK GARDENA OCTOBER.ii,'NIGHT ~ THE BIG BIKES ARE COMING ! And along with the Ame rican Moto rcyc le Assoc ia. , MEL tion 's high speed two whee lers- the circuit's top and toug hest ride rs. The record breakers. The big boys. See 'em eat up the track while they com~ s~~ pete for cycl ing 's heavy prize mon ey. You 'll want to catch all the action from the first flag on. So co me on out-early! ~ .' ~ ,TICKET INFORMAT ION: Tickets may be purchased at Ascot Park and Ticketron locations. For further infor malion call (213) 321-1100 or (213) 323-1142 . .!&,. ; "camel Filters' and MotorcYCle Racing. One of a kind:' Warning : The Surgeon General Has Determined Thai Cigarelle Smoking Is Dangerous to Your Heallh. 18 mg "1 ,,".12 mg mccune av. per c.garene. fTC R eport APR. '76. 13

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