Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• King Kenny Roberts (left) and defending 500cc champ Barry Sheene confer before the 500cc race. Roberts. riding with an iniured thumb. finished seventh. Sheene won the race to puH within three points of leader Roberts. Sheene wins, injured Roberts ·finishes seventh By Chris Carter Photos by Francis Beau and Jan Hesse KARLSKOGA. SWEDEN,JULY 22·211 Barry Sheene won the Swedish Grand Prix at Karlskoga on Sunday to cut Kenny Roberts' lead in the 500cc World Championship point standing to just three points with only three to go. Sweden is country. He's race at t h e Tf rounds 20 Sheene's lucky won the 500cc t here for th,e p~st four years, but even those vtctones that have clinchrd the title for the past tw~ y~ars can hardly ?ave been more satlsf~ng than Sunday s success. While Sheene came through from the back to catch and pass quickstaning Wil Hartog, Kenny Roberts was having a day he would rather have forgotten. On FTiday he crashrd in practice injuring his thumb. The doctors wouldn't let him ride again until Saturday, and the thineen laps he managed were not enough to son out the right combination of tyres or correct carburetion. Kel Carruthers changed the cubs and made a guess, but his hunch was _WTong and a Sliff throttle did not help. Kenny's rear tire had him in trouble too and he Iimprd home seventh to see his lead cut from 14 points to three. It might have well been less than that if Steve Parrish had not run out of fuel. While Kenny strugglrd, Stavros hurrird on and was close on his tail when disaster struck and Parrish ran out of fuel. The Local fire chief had bannrd refuelling but quick-thinking Martin Brookman grabbrd the tank from Michel Rou~rie's parkrd bike and Steve went out again too Late to score points. If Barry was happy with his day's work, -Gregg Hansford should have been delighted. The tall, blond Australian Kawasaki worlr.s rider took to the Karlskoga traclr. like a duclr. to water and in practice his best 1150cc lap on the in· line twin was quicker than the best five-hundrrds. Gregg provrd it was no fluke with a great win in the 1150cc event from fellow Kawasaki teamster Kork Ballington. That had no real effect on Ballington's huge lead in that class, but it moved Gregg into second spot in the championship table ahead of Yamaha's Takazumi Katayama who finishrd in third. Katayama said that his twin just could not match the acceleration of the disc-valve Kwackers but with quicker circuits like lmatra and Silverstone coming up, he might stand a better chance of success. Hansford won the 250cc race with Ballington again in second place - a result that does effect the title positions. The gap is down just three points between Ballington and Hansford. The other worlr.s Kawasaki man, Mick Grant, had a tough time. He provrd in practice that this form is close to being lOOper cent, but in the 1150cc race the Kawasaki would not fire up and he was almost last away before pulling through to finish ninth. His stan was better in the 250cc race. From the front row of the grid he lookrd set for a top six position. But after just a handful of laps an oil seal blew and he coastrd to a standstill. In the 125cc race, Eugenio Lazzarini (MBA) saw his lead on the title chase cut to ribbons, when an ignition cable broke early on. With his retirement the Minarelli pannership of Pier Paolo Bianchi and Angel Nieto coastrd a convincing first two places, though Frenchman Thierry Espie on the works Motobecane never gave up trying. Clive Honon looked at home in the pocket· handkerchief track and finishrd seventh behind the factorysupported Morbidelli of Jean-Luis Guinbodet. . Sheene's 500cc win was a fine boost for Britain, but the performance of 19·year·old Clive Padgett in the 1150cc race would have gladdenrd the hean of British racegoers. Clive was loclr.rd in a superb fourman dice with Vic Soussan, Michel Rougerie and Miclr. Grant for more than eight laps. It was hard to tell that the teenager was in his first season of grand prix racing as he outbrakrd and at times outrode the opposition. F:inally his cranlr.shaft failrd. He provrd this was no flash in the pan, though, in the 250cc race which followed. He caught and passed reigning world champion Mario Lega on the factory Morbidelli, and survivrd strong pressure in the closing stages to finish sixth ahead of the talentrd Italian. Clive was impressive at Nogaro, venue of the French GP, and though that track and Karlskoga are similar to British shon circuits, the fact remains that Padgett shows intelligence, skill and stamina. In that 250cc race he was not far behind John Ekerold and Tom Herron who had a good race long dice (Continued to page 22)

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