Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

1:7!'""",,--~-----------------"';"----------::,--:--,~-----, WII H-mg Is shown here leading Kenny Roberts. But at the finish the order _ By ChrIe C8rter Phem. by O...hem Hanallp JARAMA. SPAIN. MAY 20 Defending 500cc World Champion Kenny Roberts moved into the championship lead by winning the 500cc race at the Spanish Grand Prix, his third classic win in four outings since his practice session accident in Japan earlier this year. But while Kenny can see the title back on his mantlepiece. 22 hia arch rival Barry Shccnc must now face the fact tbat any serious chance of regaining hia crown has gone. Barry crashed in the final practice period on Saturday afternoon. hitting the same spot on his elbow he hun in hia Qonington Park fall in March , There was doubt that Shccne ~uld L_' II' d race bec ausc 0 f tn., pam. !We Ing. an lack of grip on his right hand, But he ~• ....l fi b L_ d I was y--~ It Y tnc oetor, on y to sec the rest of the pack disappear off the grid while his pushed his reluctant r . hi macId ne over 200 yar ds b elore It wou start, . Shccne gavc ch~, but after ~Ight laps he had only chmbcd to twenueth. his arm was giving him trouble. so he, pulled out. Roberts' hard-fought win pushes him on to 57 points. 54 ahead of Sheene in sixth place. and a slender three points in front of Virginio Ferrari. who could only manage founh place becausc of ~ndling problems on the factor:y Suzuki. It wasn't Ferrari this rime who put the pressure on Kenny. but Dutchman Wi! Hartog on the works Suzuki, and American Mike Baldwin on Serge Zago's standard Suzuki. Baldwin had been on pole position ~n t~e ~d .after setting fastest pracuce time. Mike had looked g~ fro~ the first few laps on the Jarama Clrcwt, but when his batch of Goodyear tires a~ived on Satur~ay he was able to shce off the extra ume he nceded to go f h i d bo d top 0 t e ea er ]or , In the race, though, Hartog gave K h' F W') d'd ennya toug u~e. or once I I not r,nake a partlc~larly good start, and It was not unul the seventh Lap R be ' t hat he caugh tons, "I' couldn't get away from Hartog. and he couldn't pull clear from me. so when Mike Baldwin started to catch us both, I began to worry. It's bad enough two riders trying to pass tailenders here, but three men, thaI'S bad news." said Kenny after the race. Baldwin cut the lead to just thr~ seconds. but then Roberts pulled something extra out of the bag. and " reversed and the win gave Roberts the point lead. began to stretch a second-a.lap lead ovcr Hartog. who in tum pulled away from Baldwin. . Founh home was Ferrari, his machine showing clear evidence of where things had been touching becausc the bike bad been set up too low. but the eight points were enough to keep him very much in the championship chase. and his tuner. friend and manager Robeno Gallina welcomed the break until the Yugoslavian GP on June 17 to son out the bikes. But while Hanog, Ferrari and Sheene had reason to be unhappy about the way things had turned out. unlucky Tom Herron was even worse off. He had taken a tumble in Saturday's fmal practice session. too. and hurt his thumb. ' He had an operation in Madrid on Saturday evening. but there was no chance of him racing. and in fact. there must be doubts about his fimess for the lucrative Nonh West 200 and Isle of Man TT races. Kork Ballington showed his rivals that he wants to keep the 250cc and 550cc titles he won last year. Though he was only second fastest in training 10 Gregg Hansford (Kawasaki) in the 250cc class, he was quickest in the 550cc class with a time that would have put him and the factory Kawasaki on third spot in the 500 gridl Kork's 550cc win opened the fiverace program early on Sunday morning with the bulk of the crowd still streaming into the circuit from the Madrid motorway which runs alongside. . It was really a very easy win. despite the efforts of up-and-coming Swiss ace' Michel Fruuchi (Yamaha). Michel refused to be shaken off as Kork pulled away from the rest of the pack. and when the champion hit the slower riders. Fruuchi closed the gap to less than a hundred yards, before Kork piled on the wick to pull away. Fruuchi was so worried he might run our of fuel. he pulled in for a pit stop that went on much too long and cost him a couple of places before he rejoined thelray. But the excitement of reaching second spot, and closing the gap on Ballington was all too much for the unlucky Christian Estrosi (Kawasaki) who slid off gracefully at the tight right hander at the back of the pits. His retirement let Gregg Hansford move into runnerup spot. chased home by the impressivc Fruuchi. Estrosi was not the only leader to crash, though. Veteran Italian Walter Villa went down early in the race when shadowing Ballington on his Venemotos Yamaha. Fourth home was Patrick Fernandez (Yamaha), with Patrick Pons taking . fifth place on the Sonauto Yamaha. but another lap and Japanese ace Sadco Asami would undoubtedly have taken him on his charge through the . pack after another terrible start. But Asami had the consolation of setting an astonishing new 550cc lap record at 1 min,. 54.1 sec. Ballington completed his double with another impressive win in the

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