Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Skip Aksland finally got his act together and moved through from a first lap 17th to fini sh sixth just ahead of fellow co u ntry m a n Dale Singleton. Ba rr y Ditchburn did not ha ve th e · ha ppiest of weekends . H e pulled o ut frb'm the second ra ce with his mot or running slo we r a nd slowe r a nd Steven Cu ll from No rt he rn Ireland . wh o q G ~lifi ed for the race in th e face of st rong' co m pe ti tio n. ha d to sto p in th e ,,!Ch nd leg with m ech anical problem s 108."3 , A ust ra lia n J ef f Say le lost severa l pf£'et·s in th e firs t leg wh en a p it stop nii~ta ke d ro p ped him down to ninth . «j,lK a tu mbl e a t th e ch ica ne in the secon d leg bu t he esca pe d inj u ry. Ithlian Fran co Uncini took a d ive o n t ~\', 18th la p wh.en the steering dam p" r b rok e to ro b hi m ol an y cha nce of, champions hi p po ints . 250cc Support Co ld. wet a nd stiff. Kenn y Ro berts ste'pged off his Yamah a loo king a tired old m a n at th e end of Sa turday's 250 race - a nd wh o ca n b la me him . T he w c a t h e r was a t roc io us a n d th e America n had pu t o n a d azzling disp lay to lea ve his rival s trail ing in his w1.ke lo ng before th e decision ca rne to cu t t he event fro m 32 laps to 2 1. " I T he crowd . c lose to 40 .0 00-st ro ng who pa id good m on ey - t o see t he Saturday ra ce program. wer e not Im pr essed with the decision. but th e riders ge ne ra lly wer e ha ppy eno ug h to get into th e dry. T he exception was Austral ian Greg g Han sfo r d ( Ka wasa k i) w h o ha d ro cket ed th rou gh in th e ea rl y stages to catch a nd pass Roberts and th en ease d th e pace ready for an a ll-out a ttack. In th e clo sin g st ages he had tak en eig h t seconds off Roberts' lead and he might well have been a ble to mount a big finish , given the c ha nce , ''I'm not com p la ining" said Gregg afterwards . " It wasn't too pl easant ou t th ere but I might have been a ble to catch Kenny if it had gone the full distance." Hansford was the only man , left in the race who could have matched King Kenny. The others had long since fallen by the wayside. World cha mpion Mario Lega o n the Morbidell i, which looked much quicker than in Venezuela, had been forced to stop wh en his clutch di sintegrat ed a nd Mick Grant slid off his Kawasaki without inju ry at th e sa me spot that was to catch o ut Randy Mamola a nd Pekk a Nurmi . So u th Afri can Kork Ballingt on ( Kawasaki) couldn't get to grips with things until the clos ing stages. Then time ran out on him before he rould improve o n sixth sp ot. Australian's Ra y Quincy a nd Kenny Blake fini sh ed 12th a nd 13t h but eve n more impressive in this co lonia l in vasion was Graham McGregor , wh o chased Balling ton over the lin e afte r a r a ce -l ong battl e with Guiuseppe Consalv i . • Results Overall: 1. J . ceccrtc IVam); 2. S. Baker IVam); 3. C. Sarron (Vam); 4. G. Hansford IKaw); 5. S. Asami (Vam); 6. P. Pons(Yam); 7. B. Van Dulmen (Yam); 8 . W . Wiling IVam); 9. B. Fau IKaw); 10. C. Singleton IVam). First leg 132 laps, 100.15 miles); 1. Sarran 1h 4m 26.95. 9324 mph; 2. Cecotto: 3. Baker; 4. G. Rossi (Yam); 5. F. Uncini (Yaml: 6. Hansford; 7. Asami; 8. Pons; 9. Sayle

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