Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Chertie Williams took II8COnd In the Formula One TT. Isle of Man Formula One n George and Honda smash Hailwood's record By Chris Carter Photos by DOUGLAS, ISLE OF MAN, JUNE 2 Alex George, picked by Honda as a "stand- by" for the injured Mick Grant, stormed to a record-breaking clear-cut victory in Saturday's Forward Trust/"Motor Cycle Weekly" -sponsored Formula One race from Charlie Williams (Dixon Honda) and Ron Haslam on the other factory Honda. From a standing start the Scotsma" smashed Mike Hailwood's existing Formula One lap record - and then went quicker still n..xt time round to Isle of Man Senior lap at a staggering 112,94 mph. ".This is the race that manered. I'm delaghted to have won - and honestly. I didn't have any problems. I went quick early on because I thought Mike Hailwood was fooling in practice and I thought that the others. like Charlie Williams and Ron Haslam. would be a real treat," said Alex after the race. But Hailwood nev..r looked lik.. challenging for victory. The Sports Motorcycles Ducati, though hal,dlin", ~tter in the race after switching ba' to lasl year's frame. was not as fasl , the Hondas - and after a s('ries problems Mike limped hom!: in fifth place. . "I was outpowered. It's as simple as that. The bike was handling well, but I was just short of horsepower." said a surprisingly ~Iaxed and cheerful Mike later. ·"1 know that I tried harder than last year, but it jsut didn't work out. " But lack of pace wasn'l Mike's only worry. During the rac.. Ihe exhausl pipe splil - and Ihough Ihat did nol s.-riously rlfecl performanc.., a bigger prohlem followed wh..n Mik.. found that h.. bad losl top g..ar on th.. Ducali on Bray Hill starting Ih.. last lap. Struggling on wilh jWiI f'lur gears. Hailwood then discoven-d Ihe battery hoMer had broken! When th, Ducali's engine stopped at Keppel Gate on the last lap. Mike did not know the cause until he coasted to a slandstill at HiII~rry to invesitage. The battery was hanging on by just one wiret Reconnecting the ignition, Mike restarted but he had lost another place to N"ft' Zealand newcomer Graem.. Crosby (Kawasaki). Second place fini.her Charlie Williams might well 113" been on board the winning Honda if contrac· tual difficulties with his oil company, Bel Ray, and the Honda factory's backer, Shell,had been overcome. ''I'm sorry that we couldn't fix things. but I was delighted with David Dixon's Honda - and considering we only had three laps practice on the bike. the result wasn't too bad. "After all w.. might not have ~aten the worlts Hondas. but we split them, didn't we?" said Charlie. whose new leathers gave him circulation probletTb thaI made his legs ache. The closest Charlie ever came 10 catching Alex George was early in the race - when the gap was jusl 24 seconds, bUI even afler two stops for fuel, Ihe firsl a long one taking 75 seconds at the end of the third lap - and the other a much shorter halt as a precaution starting the lasl lap, Alex finished 55 seconds ahead at the flag. Third homt' was Ron Haslam, m~king a much tidier and polished performanct' in second TT ap· pearanc,'. He losl Ihird pia,',' for a whilt' in ,h,' middle of Ihe race when his Honda had carbun'tion problt-ms. The bike was suffering fuel slarvalion because the carbs wert' emptying Iheir floats on Ihe quick seclions, but the trouble passed and Ron riding swiftly, caughl Mike lailwoo.. ,'[!7I r, 0,1 th(' road. Mike did' .,01 giv.. in ..asily thouRh. The pair swappc-d places fice or six limn before Haslam finally managed 10 shake offth,' Ducali. Fourth place wt'nl to Graem,' Crosby taking advantage of Mike Hailwood's lap· by-lap l'alalogue of misfortune. But tht're was nothing lucky about the New Zealander's performance. RighI from the word go the Kiwi showed h.. had done his homt'work on th.. circuit. He was sixlh, ~hind George, Williams, Haslam, Hailwnod and unlucky Ian Ro~rt. (Honda) at th....nd of the first lap. That first lap was at 108.25 .uph. bUI Graeme had nlll shown his best. StArting num~r 46, Gra..me carved his wa)' through Ihe pack and the Ka... asa~i rider went round at over 109 mph on his second lap and gOI into fifo th place just 17 ll"Conds down on fourth place man Mike Hailwnod. Ian Richards. by now, was out of the running. The likable Li'Cerpudlian, who had gone all practice without a moment's bolh..r stopped at Ramsey Hairpin with a broken engine. Out, tOO, we~ De~k Huxley and his sponsor 'Bill Smith. Derek. on a Honda. stopped at Cronk·y·Voddy af· ter rebuilding his engine follow,ing a holed piston in Saturday's early morning practice. Rill went out at Guthries after losing a lot of oil. Early ~pom said he had crashed. but tbat was not so. All he did was lay down the oil for unlucky Alastair Frame (8S0 BSA) to fall on! Alastair bruised his leg and out of Iud too was Stan Woods (Honda) who took a dive at the Gooseneck and had to go to hospital by car for treatment to a hand injury, when lying seventh on the fourth lap. A last lap puncture for Tony Rutter (Honda) cost him sixth place. allowing Roger Bowler (Honda) to move on to the leaderboa rd. He finished over two minutes ahe.,! of Georg.- Fogarty on Ihe second Spor IS Motor Cycles Ducati, who had to SlOp on Ihe third lap at Sulby Bridge to removt' a damaged megaphone off the exhausl. Eighth was West German Helmut Dahne (Honda) wilh his Metzeler rear tire down to Ihe canvas· and ninlh was Brilish privateer Asa Moyce (Honda) showing out on the Irack, what he thought aboul Ihe ACU's decision to pay him only Ihe basic minimum start money. Completing the top 10 was Roger Corbett (Kawasaki), lapping consistently at over the ton, but finishing 12 minutes down on Ihe flying SCOI. Results 1. A.J.S. George 1997 H.>nl; 2. C. WoIIiamo 1996 Hun); 3. R. . - . . , 1996 Hanl; •. G. C.-., C9!M ICIJ...I; 5. S.M.B. Hoilwood . . Duel; 6. R. _ C953 H<1n1; 7. G. "-'v . . Duel; 8. H. Dohne 1970 Han) .1 A. Moyce 19lM KwlI; 10. R. Co

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