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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126322
The 350cc class blasts off the start grid . Winner Kork Ballington III is second from the left on the front row. Roberts regains 2S0cc points lead; loses to Cecotto in SOOcc race By Chris Carter Photos by Francois Beau & Jan Heese ASSEN , HOLLAND ,JUNE24 • Defending World Champion Barry Sheene battled bravely bu t in vain to cu t Kenny Roberts' lead in the 500cc World Championship a t Saturday's Dutch TT. ' But he could only manage third , and now trails Roberts by 12 points. • Bu t Ro berts wa~ n~t the winner of the spellbmdmg 500cc 12 battle at Assen. He cr ossed the line one tenth of a second behind his Yamaha teammate Johnny Cecott o , despite a record b reaking fin al la p. Roberts took a trip up the slip road at the right hander soon after the pits midway through the race, and Sheene managed to hang on to a king size slid e in the closing stages of the event , but Cecotto did not put a foot wrong after battling through from a lowly start. This trio, a nd Takazumi Katayama on yet another wor ks Yam aha all did their bit towa rds mak ing t he race one that everyone in th e 120,000 crowd will remember for a very long time. Unfortunately, though, it was the only race in the six event programme that really captured th e imagination on a day when rain show ers and a cold, blustery wind tested the en thusiasm of everyone. Fo r Robert s, though, it was a h igh ly satisfactory day, desp ite his 50~cc defea~. That runner up spot puts him 12 points -clear of Ba rry Sh eene , who moves int o second place in th e cham ' pionsh ip , _a nd Kenny's im p ressive 250cc win ta kes him onc e more to th e head of the championshp table for that class . T he way Roberts left th e grid in the race , though , victory was the last th ing that seemed likel y. But he gobbled up places like there was no tom orrow, and was a he ad of the Ka wa a ki duo of Kork Ballington and Gregg Hansford in less than a handful of laps. Ballington followed him home to improve his world title hopes, but ' Hansford , looking fighting fit after his th ree wee k h oli d a y ba ck hom e , surrendered the tit le lead to Roberts, by fin ishing third a fter choosing the wrong tires . He must hav e been glad that Christian Estrosi on yet another Ka wasa ki had to pull out while shadowing the tall Australian . Ballington now loo ks an even better bet for the 350cc title . too. He made min cement of th e opposition and now leads his nearest cha llenge r Takazumi Kat ayama , th e reigning champion, who had to pull ou t because of a ser.ious oil leak. by a colossa l 30 points! Eugenio Lazzarini rod e th e Van Veen Kried le r to victory in a n unin sp iring 50cc ra ce , but Rica rdo Tormo on th e Bu ltaco , in second spot , sti ll leads the cha m p ionship chase. Lazzarin i won th e l 25cc ra ce. too. after Pierpaolo Bianchi had, brok en . the Minarell i whi le leadin g . Bin ach i's hopes of reta in ing th e titl e now look decidedl y thin . a nd La zzarini , who beat fe llo w co u nt ryma n Mauri zio Massimi ami by over ha lf a minu te . is 40 points clear of Austrian Harold Bartol, who was third , and 44 ahead of Bianchi . But th ese r ac es wer e child's pla y co mpared with th at 16 lap 500cc event . If it had lasted all aft ernoon. th er e woul d have been no com p lai nts fro m the specta tors ,' th ough th e riders might hav e hada different view. To the del ig ht of th e Dutc h fans it was their hero W il Hartog who won last year; at the head of th e field after the first la p , and there he stayed , ne xt time round . But th e Dutch fa rmer d isco vered that th e works Suzuki did not have th e brakes his own RG 500 has , and overshot at the right hander soo n after the pits. That let Barry Sheene , chased by Ke n n y Rob e rts a nd Takazumi Kataya ma th rou gh . Bu t Wi l res ta rted in fourt h spot , just in front of Cecotto. Ka taya ma had caught Sheene and Roberts by the fourth lap , and sp lit them a lap la ter , whil e Cec otto cased his way through to fourth place. The leading trio were setting such a scorching pace it did not seem possible for anyone to catch them , b ut Cecotto did , a nd in two la ps, one of which was a record b reaki ng effort , he too k the lead! At the same time Robers had done a Hartog. He - had overshot the right hander, scattering t he photographers in the process. " I just took a ha nd fu l of throttle a nd gassed it back into the ra ce" ex plained Kenny a fterwa rds. While a few spots of rain had the mechanics and fans more than just a tou ch worried that weather would ruin the scrap, the skies soon brightened. Sheene went a head for just a lap, but first Ce cotto and then Roberts passed him . Then ca me the hai ry moment , and Barry lost contact with th e leading pair. As the laps peeled off to the flag the records tumbled to first Cecotto and Roberts together. 't ha n Cecotto alone and finall y, in a desperate bid to win , to Roberts. But Johnny, look ing good, hung on . Sheene, for a ll his efforts, lost mor~ grou nd, but if he fig hts th is hard in the remaining rounds th e prospects look superb. Hartog went up the slip roadaga in before the race was over. but even so it was unlikely that he would have caught Ka taya ma , who was fourth . Fifth was Michel Rougerie , just a fifth of a second ahead of Joh n Newbold , wit h Boe t van Du lmen , Steve Baker and Steve Pa rrish filling the remaining top 10 p laces, The weather behaved itself for the 500 cc event, but th e 350cc race was caught on the hop, when a shower during the warmup lap had the me chanics working franticall y on the grid to change wheels. South African Jon Eke rold , Kork Ball in gt on and Tom Her ron wer e th e ea rly pacem ak ers, but Tom's ga m ble of staying with slic k tires ca me uns tuck and he dropped back as conditions worse ned . The rain did not worry Balli ngton, though . He nipped ahead of Ekerold at the chi cane on the fifth la p , and disappeared into the distance. J on was ca ugh t in the closing stages by on-fo rm Italian Fra nco . Bonera, who used a simi lar outb ra king m aneuv er to pass fir st Penti Korhon en , arid the n Eke rold within two laps. . Herron was sixth , unable to hold off Christian Sarron, but Mick Grant. who had been joint fastest in training with Franco Unci ni, when it was d ry, could only manage sevent h, one better t ha n Gregg Hansford .