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/126260
A lengthy gas stop dropped Steve Baker into second place until leader Boet van Dulmen crashed leaving Bake r w ith the victory. (lnsetl M ick Grant leads Christian Sarron . Grant crashed unhurt w ith Sarron taking second place. World Championship F7S0-Round 3 Baker tops slim field in Spain By Chris Carter ]ARAMA , SPA IN , APR . 24 American Steve Baker the lead In the 750cc World when he T he British Kawasa ki pair of Mick Grant and Ba rry Ditchburn didn't win a peseta or a point either. Their misfortu ne was as g rea t as van Dulrnen 's. Mic k Grant , lying th ird behind th e leader Bake r a nd van Dulmen in the closing stages was ca ught by Fren ch you ngs ter Ch rist ia n Sarron, and wit h th is extra in centive , Mick quic kened th e pa ce and began to overhaul the Dut chman. Bu t then , when lapping tailenders Mick went too wide, ran off the circu it into the din , and slid off a t wa lking pa ce . He was ready, and willing to start again , but not able, for the carbs had sucked a shovel full of dirt in . Mick's team mate in the Kawasaki squad , Ba r ry Dit ch bu rn , after alight ning ge ta way in th ird spot , had dropped b ack, till he fou nd his second wind, T hen he began to move bac k up the fiel d unti l he fough t his way through to fifth spo!. Then , dra matica lly with just over a la p to go , his engine fa lte red and he pull ed into the pits with a silent engi ne, for more fuel. The b ike resta rted , but went just a co u ple of hu ndred yards , before goi ng bang . For all his efforts he wasn't placed , because he hadn't seen the checkered flag. Second p lace fi nis her Christian Sarron was his usual impressive self. H e had given his pit cre w a big scare a fte r d isappearing soo n after losing seco nd spot to Baker , after the fuel sto p. Bu t he had slid off a t the same slow left hander a t th e bac k of the pits that ca ugh t him ou t in practice, and he was quickly on his feet a nd back in the race . W ith the.thought firmly in his mi nd tha t future mi stakes were to be avoid ed Christian wisely settled for second place , once poor Boet had been off, and th e 12 ch am pionshi p points lifts th e Fr en ch soldier into third place in th e table. O nly 16 riders sta rt ed the race , and only nine finished. Australian J ack Findlay, d e cep ti ve ly qu ick , wh ile looking as if he was just go ing down the road to post a letter had to su rr ender sevent h place, and a good chance of an even h igher fin ishin g spot , when th e ignition fa iled on the O bex Oil Yamaha . H is te a mm a t e , A le x George , though , kept go ing. H is wrist, broken a t Imola was very sore , and the Scotsman was happy to see the ch eck ered flag in fifm spot. Alex was glad to go the full 200 kilometers , but re veal ed that th e bike , fitt ed with 36m m Lectron carbs was a trifl e overj ett ed for th e day; with remperatures soa ri ng into th e upper-· eig hties , T he sun brought out a bigger crowd than m any ha d anticipated . Twenty five thousand Sp a nia rds tu rned up fo r the ent ert ai n ment, and despite a mi sera ble com menta ry, the crowd ap p la uded pol itel y when Baker swep t 'past young Sarron past the grandsta nds, and also when Sarron re ap peared after his tu m ble. Thir d hom e , beh ind Baker and Sarron was Hu bert Rigal. For the last ten la ps of th e 60 lap event he had a real ding do ng with Swiss star Philippe Coulon , b ut it was Riga l, by a lm ost two seconds a t th e fla g . Rigal might ha ve been higher too , if he ha dn't sto pped his engi ne on th e start line when th e temperature on the wa te r ga uge soa red , while the pack wa ited for Christian Estrosi to cu re a flooding carbo T he flag fell with Rigal's en gin e d ead . Bu t once in action Hu bert roared throu gh the pa ck in fine sty le. Est rosi wasn 't so lucky. He went away on three cylinders, and th ough he had moved u p a few pla ces, he stopped after eight la ps -aware that it was a losing ba ttle; Firs t of the 16 to pull ou t was a local runner Francisco Roman , on a big Du ca ti, dragged in to ma ke th e numbers up , He did five la ps. It was a gr ue lli ng ra ce. The ] arama circ ui t , th ou gh on ly 2.21 miles long, has 15 ben ds a lap , and even t he fittest . of riders was tired at the end of th e almost 100 minute lon g affa ir . "I would n't ha ve liked to have go ne . on m uch further ," admi tt ed Bak er afterwards. But full cred it , then , to Br itisher Piers Forester who kept plu gging away on his Ya ma ha . He fini she d four laps down on the winners , but his eighth place earned him t hree cha m pio nship po ints , and more to th e point he was lappin g quicker a t t he en d of th e ra ce, t ha n a t th e begi nning. Baker, delighte d w ith his win went off to Au stria and h is b attle in the 500cc class with Sheen e , whi le poor C h ristian , the run n e r- up , fac ed ano ther week of sq uare bashing! • Results 1. St eve Baker (Yaml ; 2. Christian Sarron IYam) ; 3. Hubert Rigal (Ya m); 4. Philippe Coulon (Ya ml; 5. Alex George (Yam); 6. Marcel"Ankone (Yaml; 7. Gilles Husson (Yam): 8 . Piers Forester (Yaml ; 9. Vog Gerhard (Yam).