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/126309
z " Z w w a; o ::;; =; > lD en ~ ILeft) Winner Johnny Cecotto leads Kenny Roberts (2). Steve Baker (32). Ikujui Takai (3)and Skip Aksland (93).IRight) Georgia pig farmer Dale Singleton is pursued by France's Alain Vial. Singleton lost a .certain fifth with engine failure nine laps from the end. Cecotto won the AGV World Cup Series. bringing his winnings to $45.000. King Kenny Roberts was second at Paul Ricard. second in the AGV Series. Formula 750 World Championship Road Race Series - Round two Cecotto scores again; Roberts, Baker 2·3 at Paul Ricard By Chris Carter LE CASTELET. FRANCE. APR. 9 Johnny Cecotto, beaten by Kenny Roberts at Daytona in March, has mo~e than made up for that disappointment since. At Imola he won the opening round of the Formula 75q W orld Championship and he . . • . thrashed the oppositi on to wm the second ro und at Paul Rica rd on Sunday. 14 Cecotto's win earns the yo u ng Venezuelan victory in the AGV World Cup Series . too . and so fa r t his year his race earnings have topped the 545 ,000 mark. Beh ind Cecotto in th is Fre nch classic came American aces Kenny Roberts and Steve Baker . Roberts, on the ot her fa ctory-backed Ya maha , ' m a de the wro ng choice of tire and he just cou ld not stay with Cecotto. Baker, on a pri vate er Yamaha , had tire troubles too , but it was a terrib le second gas sto p th at reall y put paid to his efforts. Fou rth at th e end of 200 tough m iles was Ja pan ese ace Ikuju i Taka i. T he 50 ,000 strong cro wd. m ainl y Fren ch , had some~hmg to shout about as th~1r hero Patrick Pons was fifth home with fellow cou nt ryma n Christian Estrosi sixth. But Estrosi, a motorcycle dealer in near~y Nice. had the embarrassm~nt of being lapped by the all conquenng Cecotl? on the final lap. . Inevitably there was drama . First Christian Sa rron, third at Imola and Pon s' tea mma te in the Gau loise Sonauto sq uad . crashed while battling with Takai . He remounted, only to fa ll again without injury. Then Austra lian Gregg Hansford on the Kawasaki , an early pacemaker , took a tumble when his rearti re bega n to wear , robbing him of seventh place. Finall y Am erican new com er Dal e Singlet on lost what look ed to be a ce rtai n fifth place when his engi ne fail ed just nine la ps from th e flag . But th a t excitement was no t enough to save what was. sad to say . not the most thrilling of spectacles. It started well . bu t fizzled ou t in the closing stages. Gregg Hansford . on the Kawasaki shocked everyone. including his rivals. by roc keting into the lead. chased by Cecotto, Robert s and Baker. The Australian stayed ahead for three laps. but the pack was now sna ppi ng at his heels and it was Rob erts who was th e first to pa ss h im . A lap lat er Cecouo had pu shed Hansford down to third . and next time round both Ch ristia n Sarron and Baker had overtaken him , too . O ther Australians were h a ving p roblems with both J eff Ay le and W a rren Willing making unsched uled stops a t th e sa me bend on the first la p wit h engine seizu res . Cecotto took com mand of the race st a rt ing the seve nth la p . His factory Yamaha was qui cker tha n Rob erts', and he nipped through to set t h.. pa c.., followed in hot pu rsu it by Bak er. Steve made him work , though. and Cecotto had to bea t th e lap record on th e I Irh lap to stay a hea d , clocking 2m 06 ,33 seconds . Even so he co uld n't sha ke off his Am erica n sha do w who watc hed with alarm as Cecotto had the bik e sid ewa ys at the fast left and right bends along the starting straight. Aft er 18 laps Cecotto stop ped for the first of two sto ps for fuel . but th e field . even now . was beginning to thin out. Am eri can Skip Aksland lost sixth spot when the ignition failed to main tain his run of bad luck. and It a lia n Virginio Ferrari . Baker's teammate in the Nava Olio Fiat squad. had to make an early pit stop to adjust the brakes, a nd he lost too much ground to stay in contention. Baker went ahead for a while. till he sto pped for fuel but he p ulled ba ck some time on Cecott o t hanks to good work by his pit crew . Wi th the pit stops co m pleted the order was sti ll Cecotto , Bak er . Roberts , Sa rro n , Takai , Pon s a nd Ha nsford . Sarro n co uldn't cope with the p ressure fro m Takai a nd stepped off. He was back in the sadd le after losing five places , b ut soon after the second fuel sto p the young Frenchman went down again , and th is time he was not able to restart. Cecotto was more than 12 seconds up after th e hal t. Baker and his