Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(Continuedfrom page U) have thought it was a stupid track . "There was no way I was going to go as fast as "Hotdog" (Wil Hartog) , The bike wasn't set up properly because I didn't have enough laps in practice. I .had to follow someone around because I didn't know where I was going. There was no way I could have won the race. All I wanted to do was bea t Barry. b "l was pleased to be second because passing Hanog was almost impossible. Every time I tried to draft him, I'd pull out of the slipstream and they would leave me and I would have to pull back in : If Barry had been riding his Suzuki as hard as I was riding the Yamaha there would have been no way I could have beaten him. I " I fell off in Sweden because 1 was going too fast . With only one bike available I had to son out the tires , gearing and carburetion and learn the track at the same time. 1 made a II)-istak,: while trying to evaluate a new compound tire for Goodyear during an untimed practice session . 1 "I realized 1 was going too fast , so 1 decided to go on the grass and get back on the track later. But then 1 saw the catch fence that you couldn't see until you were round the bend. 1 locked on the front brake and tried to lay the bike down, but before 1 could get it down it flicked me over the high side . "I was knocked out for about 20 minutes, but it wasn't that that spoiled my race. The bike was not going properly because we had so little time left for practice. That's one of my big gripes about GP racing. To do the job right you need about twice as much practice as we are given now. Riders who have been to a circuit before ha ve a bike set up for the track, but I've got to set my machine up before 1 can stan trying to lap at a decent time. " Because of the lack of time I've had t o make a lot of guesses. Most of them , paniculary on tires, have been right, !>ut they could just as easily have been wrong. h "If they want to encourage more guys from outside Europe to compete, they must give them more time to learn circuits and son out their bikes So they can give a good show. OJ "Finland 1 didn't like at all. It was so slippery. 1 would take a whole practice Session for tires to cut a groove round the track that was safe to ride on , but then the can would go round between each training period and you would be back to square one. Get off that groove and you were in trouble. ' '' It was the only track I've been on where the center lines on a tire were cut awily, because when you braked . hard the back end skated around. It wasn't what I' d call a race track. It was straights linked together by ninety degree bends. "I think that if we are racing for a . world title we shouldn't be racing on streets. Over in the States we have some bad race tracks, but we've nothing as bad as Finland. 1 reckon that if 1 brought a sponsor over from America to watch the World Championships he'd either die laughing or he'd pull out of sponsorship. rn "Something like the Isle of Man, that's different. It isn't the World Championships anymore, and anyone that wants to race there, well good luck to them . But the GP's should have different standards.. In "Facilities should be better, too . A lot of times we've been crammed into pits, without any room to work , or move around. If a fire ever broke out iii a GP paddock, heaven help us alii " I've enjoyed it all , OT at least most of it . I'm delighted and proud that I've won the 500cc title. I hope that things can be worked ou t" so 1 can come back atli~i'.' Ito,~urope.~~x} SC;~~ tc:' ~~e.n.d e nt e. . . ... 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