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/126317
has passed Herro n on the drop down the Mount ai n . The American screamed throug h first o n the roads with H er ro n some 300 yards behind hi m . And Hennen had lapped at under 20 m inutes - th e first rider to break th e 20 -mi nu te barrier in both practi cing (when he di d it o n h is bigger Su zuki ) a nd in a race. The qu iet America n h ad lapped at 19 m inutes 53.2 seconds. 113.83 m p h and it was all o n th e last la p. Co u ld Hennen pull out those preciou s secon ds? At Ballacraine , on the last lap . Her ro n led on time by just I T seconds so m a th ematical ly Hen nen had to do even better to win the race! Then . to pile drama upon d ra m a . Hennen d isappeared somew he re bet ween Ba lla cra ine a nd the jump at Ballaugh o n the last lap . This left Herron way o u t a head o f Bill y G uthrie . th e q ui et I rishm an who does so well in the Island . -..!STAR T & FINISHI DQUGL.AS a "d~r - - ") Qua'! ! ·r ISLE OF MA N . J UNE 3 Mike Hailwood's TT comeback hada fairytale start in the Isle of Man on Saturday when he won the Formula One race ' on a Ducati to notch his tenth world title , and his thirteenth 28 WIlliams (888 Honda). after the o the r fac tory Honda ridden by Phil Read . a nd the Mocheck Honda raced a t th e last m inu te by T om Herron had bl . . . .h UP kt:ymgM)kusthtoB .sktaYTwh~ td own b record - rea h mg le K e I e . t rr · d ki was Ian R IC a r . S on a awasa I . After the six-la p gallop ~n ~he Spo rts Mot or Cycles Du ca ti Mike l?Oked as fit .as a fiddl e , and fa r ~rom tir ed . afte r h is exe rtions th at had lifted th e class lap record to 110 .62 m ph. and the race ave rage to a staggeri ng 108 5 p h ... .m , . I T,.red . No. why sho~ld _ be . It wasn ~ a very .ha rd r.ace . sa id MIke . And m t ru th It wasn t a hard ta sk for him! Starting fift y seconds beh ind last year's winner Phil Read: Mike tried hard for the first lap until he reached his sign alling post nea r Ramsey. T he board to ld him he was six secon ds in th e lead . After that Mike eased his pa ce. a nd t he race was always in his pocket. Read was trying ha rd , but almost unnot iced by the fans and the amateu r tim ekeepe rs a round the circu it . T om H erro n .. was mak ing a st ro n g challenge for th e lead. By the end of t he la p Herron was N ew Ze al a n d h a d pl e nty to cel e b ra te too wi th Den is I re la nd (Suzuki) sevent h and newcom er J ohn W ood ley (Suzuki) ninth . sa nd wiching G ra ha m W aring (35 0 Yamaha). Cha rlie W illia ms was o ut of luck. H e ra n ou t of fuel on th e last la p at the Bu nga low a nd th e last news of why J o hn W illiams had retired was tha t his Suzuki had bee n overheating from the second la p onwa rds and a radiator hose had fina lly bl own . • Resu lts i . T. Herron (S Ul) ; 2. B. Guthrie ISuz); 3. C. Mortimer IYaml: 4. G. Fogarty ISU 5. A. George ISU I: 6. W. l}: l S m ith (S uz); 7. D. Irefand (S ull; 8 . G. W a rning (Yam); 9. J . Woodley (Suz); 10. W . lngham IYam ). S airyta e victory By Chris Carter TT victory. H e crossed the fin ishing line a whisker u nde r two mi nu tes h d f TT I Jh a .e.a 0 regu ar 0 n An d Fogarty . recoveri ng fro m th e two p it sto ps . had used th e extra power of his Suzuki to close the ga p on ' Mo rti m er. An anxious gro up of T exaco Herr o n T eam Suzuki p ersonn el ga t he re d round the officia ls box in the pit area as th ey waited for news of Hen nen . Eventu ally it ca m e th rough and was no t goo d . The Ameri can had crashe d on the flat -out sect ion j ust be yon d Bishopsco urt . . Takazumi Kat ayama . who was lying in 13th positio n sto pped at th e scen e of t he Hennen crash to see if he cou ld hel p the Ma rsh all s befo re taking up the race ag ai n. Mea nw hile a t the Bunga low, Tom Herron waved his leg to the crowd . He h ad p a ssed H enn en b efore th e Amer ican had crashed a nd so had no idea what had happen ed and that Hennen had been flown to No bles un co nsc ious , Herr on flashed over the lin e to win a nd Gu thri e ca me hom e sec ond to make it a on e -two fo r Ulste r. And in a tight fin ish Mortimer , on his little Ma xto n frame d 350cc Yam a ha . bea t Fogarty fo r third place - a fine effo rt. Be h in d th em Sco t ra nds A lex George (Suzu ki). violentl y sick th e previous day and still suffering fro m a stomach bug . took fifth p lace with that inc redibl e vet er an Bill Sm ith (Su zuki) a m ag ni ficent sixth . less th an n in e seco nds be h in d Ha llwood. with' Rea d trailing in third pla ce . over II seconds d ~wn o n th e Ulste rman , and three ri ders: J oh n W illiams (888 Hon d a ). Ia n Richards (900 Kawasaki) and Helmu t Dahne (860 Honda) sepa rated by less than five seco nds . . d f A la p later a nd H ailwoo . ast ca tching Rea d o n th e roa d . had st retched hiIS Iea d over H erro n to more t h an 15 -'i I seco ncs, t h ough It h a d b ee n as I' tt Ie as fou r seconds . and Read . st riving ha rd to stay in front of Mike on the ro ad . was dropping farther and fa rt her behind on time . . . It w~s Herron s Ho nda t~at q uit th e scorchi ng pa ce firs t. Ha llwood h ad lapped at 1l0.62 mph . sha ttering Ph il Read's lap record, set las t yea r in th e wet , by ten m iles per hou r . o nce he was aware of the th rea t from Herron . Mike 's average speed on th e Ita lian Twin was over the 110 m ph mark . too . Tom was re po n ed m a kin g adj ust rnents to his m ach ine at Q uarry Ben ds. a nd soo n a fte r ca me news th a t he was ou t. H is retirem ent left H ailw ood 52 seco nds a head of Read who m oved up int o second spot , with Phil's Honda Britain tea mm a te Jo h n Willi am s third. 40 seco nds beh ind him . Bu t th ough Phil m anaged to rega in th e lead on th e ro ad after he and Mike pitt ed together for fuel a t t he end of th e th ird la p , his efforts to stay in fro nt were tOO m uch fo r t he Hond a . At the Bunga low o n the fo urth la p the comment a tor reported that Phil's engine was sm oking . and between Ball acr aine and Ball au gh o n the fifth la p Rea d wen t Missing . The Hon d a m oto r had fina lly bl own th e last of its oil o ut a t the II th m ilesto ne . and Phil was ou t. Ph il was chee rfu l eno ug h a fter th e ra ce. de sp ite his d isa ppoint me nt. " I had to red -line th e Hon da to stay with Mike . and th e engine co uld n' t ta ke it. But was n't Mike riding well?" sa id Phil. \ Vith Read out. the int erest began to fad e a littl e . a nd it was ob vious th a t on Iv cruel m isfort u ne wou ld ro b Ha ilwood of his fai ryta lc vistory. Bu t surely no t even th e Isle of Ma n at its most wicke d would ha ve wanted to m ar Mike's comeback? W it h every m ile of th e route lined by c hee ring, deligh ted fans wh o waved , ap pla uded and shou ted th eir encourage m ents Mik e kept for cin g on . With the ra ce in his pocket though he ease d off his pace, and lapped at a " m ere" 105.9 mph on the fin a l circuit. Hailwood was perhaps the m ost relaxed man in th e Grandstand area after the race! "T h at's one race won , I m ight as well go hom e now." he quipped. The res t of th e finishe rs wer e ver y m u ch a support in g cast to the Ha ilwood Show. J ohn Williams . victi m of so much ba d lu ck in the pa st was run ne r up and he didn't m ind t hat th e ga p was close on two m in u tes. ," I had a good ride. apart fro m the m in or d eta il of m y pet rol tank flying off down th e Cronk-y-Vod d y straight on the sec ond -la p! I t hou gh t I ' was go ing to crash when th e st ra p b rok e on the bumps. a nd the tank sudden ly lifted up . My kn ees are ac hing becau se I've had to ride for t fie last fo ur la ps with the m holdi ng the tank d own ," said J o hn . Ia n R ich a r d s. w ho h a d taken delivery of his Kawasaki j ust two days before t he race and who ha d com plet ed on ly three p ractice laps as had J ohn Williams o n his Formu la One m ount . was pl eased to be on th e win ner 's pod ium . too . " l ' had to m a ke ' two sto ps for fuel . wh ile everyo ne e lse m ade just o ne. but th e eng ine went well . a nd th e o nly problem I had was on the scratc hy bends because of some oil o n th e rear tyre. O n the qu ick b its that wasn 't a worry ." sa id Ia n . West Germa n Hel mu t Dahne was fo urth home . bea ti ng Sco tsm a n Alex George o n a T riumph triple by just 1.4 seconds. after m ore tha n 128 minutes racing . Sixth o ve-r th« lim- was Chas :\Ior timer . who Ia ik-d to r(,ca ptur(, th .. sp,·..ds he had in pra rr ic.. o n th c big Su zuki, ·... m sha ru-red . I th ought I wou ld f....1 tir..d a ft..r six la ps. so I ma de a d ..cisio n no t to )::0 as fast as I co u ld ca r ly on . a nd I'm gl ad I did . My co n ce nt ra tion went several times on the last lap . and I was all over the road . The tank slap pe rs almost tore m y arms out of their sock ets," said Chas. T he heat of th e sun , and the heat of . the racing forced many riders to qu it . b ut Sports Motor Cycl es. the Man chest er dealers were happy tha t just on e of their seven entries m ade it to the flag. Beca use the man who rode it th er e • was Mike Hailwood l Results Formula One TT: 1. M. Hailwood IDue}108.515: 2. J . G. Willi ams (Hanl 106.817; 3. I. Richards IKaw) 106.013; 4. H. Dahn e IHonll 05 .747; 5. A. J . S. George (Tril 105.747; 6. C. S . Mo rtimer ISU l 103.812; 7. M. l l ucas IBSAl l 02.895; 8. K. Wronon IKawl l 02.858; 9. D. Casement IHen) 101.787; 10. l. Tomkinson (Tri) 101.155. Fastes t u p: M. Hailwood 20m 27.as 11 10.62 mph. record lap), Old record P. Read (Honda 22m 15.05 101.74 mph l.