Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Sheene leads Hartog, Cecotto and ' Roberts. Dismal weather greeted the troops in Belgium. World Championship GP Road Race Series - Round six Hartog .clobbers Roberts, Sheene in wet Belgian GP By Chris Carter Photos by Francois Beau and Jan Heese SPA ·FRANCO RCHAMPS . BELGIUM,JULY 2 Dutch fans in the 100 ,000 crowd went wild when their hero W il Hartog won the 500cc race at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday leavi n g Kenny Roberts a nd Barry Sheene trailing in his wake. Bu t if his fellow cou ntrymen were happ Wil's tempora . y, ry Suzuki teammate Ba rry Sheene 18 was fa r fr om pleased at the resul t. Ha rtog's job was to help Sheen e in his bid to retain th e title. was Barry's argument and ' he wanted the Dutch fa rmer to ho ld off Roberts while he ra ced on to win . . The race did not work ou t like that , th ough . and Hartog , who picked an int ermediate rea r tire when Roberts a nd Sh eene ch ose slicks with grooves cu t in , opened an enormous lead in t he closing stages and fina lly crossed th e lin e 16 seconds ah ead of the Am eri can ace. Second place was good enough for King Kenny. who now stretches his lead over Sheene to 14 points. Since th e Venezuelan GP in March , the opening round in the cha m p ionship series, Roberts ha s bea ten Barry in every 500 cc cha m p ionship ra ce. If it hadn't rained for the last three laps of the 10·lap battle it migh t well have been a different story and Johnn y Cecotto . too , probably feels the result m ight have been different if he had not been forced to stop with engine failure while lying second in a fou r wa y scrap with Hartog, ' Sheene and Rob erts on the sixth lap . . T he wea t her m ad e its m a rk on th e who le meetin g . T he ope n ing race , for fifties, sta rted in a near downpour tha t left t he track wet , but tpough th e rain eased off soon a fte r th e start it poured ag ain fo r th e 125c c scrap that followed . . . The track was still w.et for the. 250 cc race. whe re Kork Ba llmgton fai led to take advantage of first lap retiremen ts of Kenny Roberts (Yamaha ) and Kawasaki team mate Gregg Hansfor d ; his m ain rivals in the championship ba ttle . Engi ne seizures put both Robert s and Hansford out within eight mi les of raci ng . but Ba llin gto n , after a sluggish start cou ld 'only climb to fifth place , passing reigning 250 cc world champion Mario Leg a (Morbidelli) at the hairpin on the last la p . And to corn p lete a be low-par day for Kaw asak i, Mick Grant retired with suspect ed mai n bearing failure aft er two laps . But it 'wou ld have taken a good and brave m an to ha ve stopped Italian Paolo Pi lero on th e works Morbidelli from winni ng his first G P of th e yea r , t hough Fran co U nc in i o n th e V ene rnotos Yamaha tri ed his best , and . moved nearer th e to p three in the ch am p ionship tab le by tak ing seco nd spot. The tra ck was drying ou t when the 500 cc ra ce lin ed up a nd th e sho wer of rain a t th e end did not reall y spoil it, but th e heaven s ope ned ' before the sideca rs could go , an d th e unlu cky three -wheel er men h ad to .circ u la te through hea vy ra in a nd la rge pudd les to cla im thei r cha m pio nship po ints. Swiss ra cer Bruno H olzer adapted better to th e mi serable co nd itions tha n most a nd aft er ca tc h ing a nd passi ng seco nd p lace R olf Bila nd , whq used th e convent ion a l T rachse l outfit inste ad of th e "·Relia nt" . within three la ps. took th e lead from Al aio Mich el (Seym az Yarnaha jt hree la ps late r , a nd splas hed his way home to victory , But for the second week in succession the 500cc race sto le the show . . Ad d in g e xt r a spa rkle t o the p roceedings was the fa ct that Frenchm an Michel Rougerie , who ha d been loaned Barry's spare machine to hel p . him in his ch ampionship chase , was second fastest to the works Ya mah a of Johnny Cecotto. with Wi l H a rt og . Barry Sh eene , Ken ny Roberts a n d Dutch privat eer Boe r van Du lm en separated by little more than three seconds. . . Sheene made a superb start , chased by Hartog and Roberts, bu t the spec, raters from Holland cheered loud ly when Wi l slipped a head on t he openi ng la p. And though Barry was back in command at Sta velo t, it was the familia r white leathers of Hartog. on Pa t Hen nen 's machi ne, in the lead the first time around . The race pattern qu ick ly established itself with H a rt og , Sheene , Rob erts and Cecotto out front chased grim ly by van Du lmen. H artog a nd Sheene passed a nd repassed as t he ra ce progressed , but Cecotto had split th em by the six th lap , on ly to quit wh en the Yam aha stopped soo n after. As the rain sta rted to fa ll Hartog bega n to pull away a nd Sheene's main concern was trying to hold off Roberts . After eight laps Ha rtog was seven seconds clear of the batt ling pair and goi ng like a n express tra in . Wi th a la p to go he was 18 seconds in front of Robert s who was now in second place , and even if Hartog had seriously though of slowing dow n , he wou ld ha ve been in da nger of being ca ugh t by Robe rt s. . Wi l won , the Dutchm en cheered their heads off. and Sheene. now 14 . points behind Rob erts. went off to his caravan rue fully regretting how the masterp lan had fail ed . • Even the gamb le on giving Rougerie a works bike fail ed to come off. The Fr en chm an rod e supe rbly afte r a poor sta rt a nd set th e fastest lap of th e rac e, but he ca ug h t Rob erts an d Sheene mu ch too lat e to provide a ny help. Behind Rougerie . Finn Teuvo Lan sivuo ri man aged to ho ld off a last -la p cha llenge fro m Ta ka zum i Kata yam a wh o had been in tro u ble d u ri ng pra ctice a nd then jnade t he grid by th e skin . of his teeth afte r cha nging whee ls. Seve nt h was Ma rco Lucchinelli , a nd . behind him Alex Geo rge headed home a n a ll Suzuki moun ted .gro u p in cluding Tom Her ron , Dennis Ireland , . John W oodtey an ~John Wi lliams who had kept th e crowd ent ertain ed throughout. Hartog was th e hero . b ut Roberts was happy enough with th e resu lt. Far happier, in fa ct , tha n just a coup le of . ho urs earlier whe n his 250cc race end ed early, a nd he saw his championship le a d disappea r in Kork Balli ngt on 's favor. Kork was off the grid with fast sta rting Mario Lega , while Roberts tried to ma ke his Yama ha fire up. The pack was a t th e top of the famou s Spa h ill before Ken ny was on boa rd and the stage looked set for a memorable R ob e rt s perfo r mance , j ust like Ho lland a wee k earlier. Bu t the Ya maha twi n seized , and he to u red hom e , the u nhappiest of men . Mea ntim e . Fra nco Uncini was at the head of the field , followed by Lega . Pileri , Pent i Kohonen (Ya maha) and Ba llington . Pi le ri soon swallowed up Unci ni's advantage and took co mma nd on th e seco nd lap . T here he stayed with Unci ni trying, in vain , to stay with him. W a lter Villa , on the No lan H a rleyDavidson , winner of th is race for the pas t two seasons. was t hirteent h at the end of the first lap . bu t too k th ird place a t the flag . by just a few feet from Frenchman patrick Fernandez. . Ball ingto n took some time to hit his best form , and co uld only m anage fif th place. a nd six poi nts , bu t th ey were eno ugh to ho ist him int o the titl e lead from Robert s a nd Hansford , but Uncini is not tha t fa r be hind them , now . Rolf Bila nd a nd Ken ny Williams too k anot he r step to wa rds th a t el usive world tit le with th ir d place in th e rain soa ked sideca r race. Bu t felow Swiss Bruno Holzer , who ·is now on ly four points be hi nd t hem , with three rou nd s to go . a nd h is passenger Cha rley Meie rhans took the wm . • Results SOce (6laps , 52 .61 mi les): 1. R. Torma (Bull 31m,52 .3s.99 .04mph ; 2. E. Lazzarini (Kre); 3. S. Dorflinger fKre); 4. C. Lusuardi {Bull; 5. P. Looijenstein (Krel . l 25cc:1.P. Bianchi (M in) 38m .12 .2s,110.17mph; 2 . A . Nieto (M in); 3. M. Ma ssimiami (M or); 4. A. Au ing er {Mo rl; 5. P. Ptisson (Mor) . 25Occ: 1. P. Pileri (Mar) 40m .35s,l16.64mph; 2. F ~ Uncini (Yaml; 3. W . Villa (H·DI: 4. P. Fernand ez (Varni; 5. K. 8 allingt on {Kawl. 500cc' , .·W. Ha rtog IS uzI39m,SO.4s ,132 .05mph : 2. K. Rob erts (Yaml :3. B. Sheena (Suzl; 4. M . Rougerie (Suzl; 5. T. Lansiv uori (Suzl. Sideca rs : I. 8 . Ho lzer fK. M eler hans (Yam ) 47m.SO s.98.99mph; 2. A. Michel/S. Colli ns {Yaml ; 3. R. Bilan d/K. W illi am s (Yam l; 4. · R. Ste inhause nfW . Kalauch (Yaml; 5. 8 . Hodgk inslJ . Parki ns (Yaml. W orld Cham pionshi p Point Stand in gs 5Occ:1.R. To rmo 54 ; 2. E. Lazzarini 42; 3. P. Plisscn • 35: 4. W . Mu ~ er 18; 5. S. Dorfli nger 16 . 125cc : 1. E. Lazzarini 89; 2. ·P. Bianchi 55; 3. H. Barto l 44 ; 4. M . Ma ssimiami;5.T. Espie 28 . 2SOcc: .1 . K. Ballinglon 57 : 2. K. Roberts 54 : 3. G. Hansford ; 4. F. Uncini 40 : 5. P. Fernandez 27 . sooe e.t , K. Boberts 81; 2. 8 . Sneere-ez: 3. P. Hennen 51; 4. W . Hartog 38; 5. J . Cecotto 35; 6. S. Baker 25 . • . • Sidecers :l .BilandfWilliag,s 55: 2. HOlzer/Me ierhans 41; 3 . ~ ich e l l C o ll j ns 34; 4. SchwarzellHuber 32; 5. Hobson/Birch 22 .

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