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French World Championship Road Race
Baker's gas cap opens,
Sheene vvins 500cc
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By Chris Carter
N.~
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CitY
SUite _ _ Zip
[ CIINr .
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0..1 Inqu i, .
...
LE CASTELLET. FRANCE, MAY 29
_
Another win for Barry Sheene,
another giant step towards his
retention of the 500cc world
title; that's the story of the Fren.c h Grand Prix . 100 ,000 e n thusiasts went home from the
Paul Ricard circuit asking
whether there is anyone who can
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stop Sheene and Su zuki th is season ,
American St eve Baker , fast est in
practice on the works Yamaha , was
ahead of Sheene fo r half of the ra ce
until his petrol tank cap sprung open ,
throwing fuel on his visor. While he
stru ggled to clear it, Sh eene rocketed
past to take com m and.
Baker was never back in the hunt
but even so Barry's victory wasn 't easy.
for veteran Italian Giacomo Ago stini
on a .fo u r -cylin d er Yamaha came
through from last away to chase the
British boy over th e line,
But the result was never in doubt
despite Ago 's record-breaking efforts.
Baker was third . and he 's now 20 po in ts behind Sheene in the ch am pionship
chase with six more rounds to go .
Sheene's super ride overshadowed
another excellent pe rfor m a nce from
St eve Parrish on th e other Texaco
Heron Su zuk i. He was six th ho me
among top class opposition.
Britain 's other chances of victory a t
this five-race Grand Prix were dashed
in the 250cc even t when Barry Ditch burn on th e factory Kawasaki tumbled
fo r t he sec on d week in successio n
when lying seco nd behind his Japanese
tea mmate Kiyoha ra . Ba r ry wasn ' t
hurt . but shortly after Kawasaki had
a no the r blow when Kiyohara 's engine
stoppe d with a broken cra nksha ft.
T h at sho u ld ha ve given Mick Grant
a debut victory on t he little Kawasaki.
He had been closi ng on th e lead ing
pa ir at more than a second a lap until
the leaders stop ped, but wit h t he race
in his pocke t the Yorkshireman's cha in
sn a pped.
South Afri can Jon Ekerold went on
to win his first Grand Prix with fellow
countryman Alan North secon d and
Australian Vic Soussan th ird . Tom
Herron was seventh home a nd holds
third in th e world championship table.
Ekerold was secon d to Takazumi
Katayama in the ~50cc event while
North 's engine seized when chasing the
Japanese ace.
George O 'Dell, ba ck on his rebuilt
ex -Rold Biland o u tfit, was second
home in the sidecar ra ce to Fr ench man Alain Michel but because Biland,
quickest in practice, d idn't fini sh the
ra ce, The British star now lea ds th e
world cha m p ionship by four points.
There was no doubting wh ich rac e
the crowd had come to see , though. By
mid -aftern oon the rra ckside w
as
packed and eve n th e start grid for the
500cc event was a sea of pushing and
shovi ng jou rn a lists. photographers.
me chanics, offi cials and ha ng-n s on.
W h en rel uct a n tly they moved
away. it was to reveal a front row made
up of Baker, Sheen e, and French hop
Michel Rougerie. It was Sheene wh
m ade th e best getawa y with Baker no
much la t e r t o fire up . Gia com
Agostini was the last to push hi
machine into life.
At the end of the opening lap,
Italian student Virginio Ferrari wa
ahead of Baker and Sheene with th
pack streaming out behind them. Ag
had scooped up 10 riders already. Ago had taken four more next tim
around and it was obvious that h
would be a serious threat to the leader
if he maintained this pace. After fiv
laps he was up to 10th place whil
Baker and Sheene nipped ahead lo
Ferrari the next time round.
T
Could Baker win this one? It looke
like it. His Yamaha was quicker tha
the Suzuki as Sheen e confirmed afte
the race , and Barry had odie
problems to cont end with. 'A blocke
sinus forced him to try all manner
remedies on Saturday night. so muc
so that he 'd lost his appetite an
