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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126338
l-o Q) ..c 6 Q) IAbove) Mike Baldwin (43) wu top Amerlcen In points; Berry Sheena m led everyone In polnts.IBelow) Gregg Hansford lead. Skip Ak.lend. > o Z Kenny Roberts not only hoisted the flag, but led the USA to victory. Americans sweep Imola team races By Chris Carter Photos by Patrick B!3har and G. Pietro Sanna IMOLA . ITALY , OCT. 7ยท8 America, led by World Champion Kenny Roberts, won the first AGV World Team Cup at Imola, Italy, at the weekend. They beat their nearest rivals, the Rest of the World, by 62 po ints and in the process produced yet another world-class racer for Europe to see Mike Baldwin. ' 14 " I lik f ks " 11 h 1 e ast tra c . was a t a t Ba ld wi wou ld say a ft er th e wee ken d ' s . wm ter t . racmg h a d Ie f t hiim secon d hiIg hes t i est m ' d IVI ua I 'mts scorer 0 f t h e senes , ivid po bea ten on ly by Barry Sheene, Brita in's bri llia nt ca p tain . Spearheaded' by Sheene , who scored 640 of his team's tally of 1509 poi nts. Bri tai n wa s fa r from disgra ced . Thanks to wins over Fra nce a nd Ita ly on Saturday, they qualified easily for Sunday's th ree team run-off. T he Brit ish boys . with Sheene on for m and Steve Parris h at his best . battie d bravely and beat bot h t he Rest of th e W orld a nd t he Americans in t heir Sund ay heats. but wh en th e point s were added to Sa tu rday's scores, Britain dropped to th ird pla ce. Ameri ca hammered th e Rest of the ~orld in th eir Su.nday encounter t.o clinc h the firs t pnze , b ut the multi. I I' . I d' W' I H na trona me-up me du 109 G H f S d I A a r. tog . regg J h or . a ao d d I ans C sam d . h an ca pta m 0 nny eco tto, a on e h . enoug h to keep t err runner .u ~ spot. Fo u rt h pla ce . afte r a d ecid er on Su nday. -;ent to Italy with 971 points to Fr~nce s. tot a l of 900. - but Fre nc h capta in MIchel Rou gene cr ashe d on the opening la p and was rushed to hospital with hea d.injuries. . Later a hospital spokesm an 10 Bologna said that Rougerie was only concussed an d would not need surgery . although he wou ld have to stay in hospit al for 50 d ays. Ba rry Ditchbu rn needed hos pita l treatment , too, after being brought down by Wes Cooley during the GB versus America clash on Sunday. Ditchburn needed 16 stitches in a leg wound and also damaged a tendon . Cooley was unhurt . There were other crashes ; W il Hartog came off tw ice , but injuries were few and far between despite the fierce racing inspired by nationalistic pride. Even though Italy were already out of the running for a top place, 50,000 enthusiasts lined the track, and millions more watched on television with the races screened live by Italian TV. On Saturday Am ericans were the pacemakers with Roberts winning all his four outings, including a clash with Sheene; and with teammate Baldwin always close on Kenny's tail, thanks to a loan of one of Robert's spare 750 Yamaha engines, the Yanks won the day. But on Sunday they suffered a hammer blow when captain Roberts had to pull out of the clash with the .Rest of the World on the start line, Kenny's Yamaha had broken a clutch plate on the warm-up lap and the damaged parts brok e the clutch housing. How ever , th e remaining Americans pulled their weight to in flict a crushing defeat on the starstudded World squad. Baldwin was brilliant, and right from the start the pack d id not see which way he went. Behind him , though . the contest was cut -throat. Skip Aksland headed a four-man dic e for just a lap , then Cecotto went through to secon d spo t chased by Aksland , teammate Rand y Mamola and Australian H ansford (750 Ka wasaki) . : Cecotto did not last long . At the halfway stage of the 10-lap race . his clutch began to slip and he dropped ba ck to fifth behind Ba ldw in , Hansfor d . Aksland and Mamola. A lap later. he retired wh en th e cl utch failed completel y. W il Hanog was moving through the pack and the Rest of the World's chances began to look a bit brighter, particularly as Sadao Asami was up to sixth place . Then Franco Uncini, unwanted by the Italians because of his Venezuelan licence, stopped with a broken crankshaft and the scales tipped back in the American's favor . Baldwin stretched his lead, while Hansford and Aksland fought it ou t for second spot. Then Hanog's 650 Suzuki suddenly lost a cylinder and he dropped back letting Mamola through tofounh. Rocked by that defeat the Rest of the World were in for an even b igger shock when Britain, agairi spearheaded by Sheene, scored a morale boosting victory in the race which followed . Sheene won the race, chased home by Asami , but the British ace had enough in hand to delight the crowd with a couple of wheelies. Second home was Asami, but teammate Hansford, who had led for the first five laps with Sheene and Asami on his tail , was forced out by a broken crankshaft at the halfway stage. With Hartog, Cecotto and Jeff Sayle non-starters in the race, the Rest of the World had looked in trouble from the' word go , but their reserves, Hubert Rigal from Monaco and Swiss Michel i Frutschi both performed well. Riga l headed home Ditchburn, Roger Marshall and Dave Potter after a race-long scrap , to grab fifth place. Ahead of him Steve Parrish , despite th e pain from a mystery back ailment that struck on Saturday night and threatened to put him out of the contest , was once aga in th e best Bri to n' apart from Sheene . f He grabbed fourth p lace in th is race , but could not ca tch Finn T ep i Lansivouri , who was racing in his very last international event before retiring from the sport; The British team effort gained th em a