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/126327
(Topl Barry Sheene. who DNF. leads Finnish SOOcc winner W il Hartog (51. (Left) King Kenny Roberts (21 also was a victim of mechanical problems. (Abovel Gregg Hansford finished second in the 250cc race . World Championship Road Race Series . Round 7 Hartog scores as Roberts, Sbeene DNF By Chris Carter Photos by Francois Beau and Jan Hesse IMATRA , FINLAND , JULY 30 T he jubilation of the Yam ah a camp when Barry Sheene's Suzuki retir ed in a World Championshi p race for the firs t time this year, turned to dismay when their challenger for the 28 ti tle , Kenny Robert s, him sel f retired with mechanical pro' .blems three laps later, at t he Finnish G P at Irna tra on Sunday . " We live to fight a not her day t he n?" said Barry to an equally disappointed Kenny Robert s in the pits after they had watched Dutchm an Wil Hartog (Suzuki) beat Takazumi Katayama (Ya m a ha) and J ohnny Cecotto (Ya m a ha) to the line. So still three points sepa ra te the pair with Silverstone at th e week end , a nd th e W est German GP at th e Nurburgring two weeks la te r. But Sheene was angry as well as sad. He'd told his Japanese mechanics that a crankshaft bearing was breaking up, but they did not want to change it because a new one would hav e meant a slower bike for the race. " I'd rather have been slower. and finished , than qu ick for a few la ps," sa id Barry who had closed on Kenny Ro berts' rear wheel when diaster struck , and the crank failed . But th ree la ps later Rob ert s, too , was out. His Yama ha had had ignition failu re and with the bik e backfiring through the carbs he had to stop . " Hell, t hat would hav e squared me and Barry up with one retirement eac h to go with m y sto p in Ven ezuela . But - rhar's how it goes," sa id Kenny aft er, wards. Hartog was natura lly j ub ila nt aft er th e ra ce. W ith She en e ou t team orders were go ne, and th e Dut chman led th e race t hro ugho ut. Cecotto managed to get within just over two seconds of Wil , but then h is rear tire start ed to br eak up, and 1 akaz um i Katayama on the other work s Yamaha went int o second place. Virginio Ferrari (Suzuki) looked a good bet for fourth spot , till he began ' to run short of fuel , but finally he wh ipped his gear lever off when lie clipped a strawba le a lap from home . His departure let Teuvo Lansivuori take fourt h place , first privateer home, to the delight of the partisan locals. Beh ind Lansivouori came Steve Parrish (Suz uki) . The British boy was flying, a nd thi s res u lt was probably his best GP ride of the season. J Steve Ba ker (Suzuki) made up for a slow start by moving through to sixth place , wh ile Boer Van Du lmen (Suzuki) held off Alex George (Suzuki) in their battle for seventh berth. Cliv e Padgett, giving his RG 500 Suzu ki a rare GP outing, was eleventh, . just behind Bruno Kneubuhler, after John Woodley lost tenth place when he holed a piston. ~ Michel Rougerie , on the th ird works Suzuki , had a miracu lous escape wheii he crashed on the opening lap at a fast right-hander soon after the famous Irnatra jump. The Frenchman forgot . he had a full load of fuel and ran off the road . He was lucky, but Philip pe Coulon was not so fortunate . He crashed at a slow hairpin . The bike.landed on him, and he was taken unconscious to the hospital, thought he woke u p just before being X vrayed. The 500cc ra ce was interesti ng rather than exciting, a nd the drama overshadowed another superb day for Sout h African Kork Ballington who won both the 250cc a nd 350cc races. The Ka wasa ki ace opened > his scorecard wit h th e 350cc victo ry. H was chased home by Takazu mi Katayama (Yamaha) who was literally c last off th e grid . He charged through the pack to catch Kork , but when the gap dropped to three seconds , Ballington cut his lap times another two seco nds to ease his way out of danger.