Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Cycle News 1979 08 15

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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to ,finish thini. well down on the leading duo. 'but an impressive per· formance that earned him the lap record in 1m 26. 7s. Dick Greasley and John Parkins (Yamaha) were left on the line at the start of the race but like Biland, they battled through in convincing style to finish fourth and lift themselves far· ther up the championship table. Barry Sheene had enother good race in Sweden. winning there for the fifth consecutive year, (File photo.l World Championship Road Race series: Rou"'" Sheene • wIns; Roberts takes points lead • By Chris Carter Photo by Francois Beau/DPPI KARLSKOGA, SWEDEN, JULY 22 Barry Sheene won the 500cc race at the Swedish GP at Karlskoga, but it wasn't enough to stop American Kenny Robe~ 20 taking the championship lead on his works Yamaha by finishing fourth. The Swedish air must do something special for Barry. This was the fifth time in as many years that he has won the ~cc event at the Swedish round of the World Championship. But Barry wasn't the only British win~r of the weekend. Jock Taylor scored his first ever GP victory, by beating West German Werner Sch· warze1 home in the B2A Sidecar race. In front of his delighted sponsor Den· nis Trollope of Fowlers. For Jock's passenger. little Swede Sengt Johansson, it was a triumph too. This was only his second ever outing in a sidecar and what bet.ter way to start a grand prix career than with a win in front of 10.000 of your own coun· trymen? The 500cc race was without doubt the main event of the show. It gave Sheene his second win of the year and provided plenty of drama and excitement along the way. Sheene's Suzuki was well down the field at the end of the first two laps, but he moved smartly through the pack from down in eighth place to pass Roberts on the 10th lap and move into third place. . It was Swiss privateer Philippe Coulon who had set the pace for the first four laps until Wil Hartog passed him. But he hung on to second place for another twelve laps before Shee~ could fmd his way through. With Barry breathing down his neck Hartog had to hurry, and on the eightl!enth lap the Dutchman crashed heavily. but without injury when the rear chain tensioner broke. locking his Suzuki's back wheel. Once ahead Sheene never looked like being caught. and his winning margin grew when unlucky Philippe Coulon took a dive at the hairpin. He was taken to hospital battered and bruised. and with a suspected ~roken nose. That left Roberts struggling hard to cope with a Yamaha that was handling badly with a failed monoshock unit and a suspect rear tire. In fact Kenny had no answer to the twin·prong ~ttack of Dutch privateers Jack Middelburg and Boet van Dulmen on their RG500 Suzukis. Boet managed to get into second spot for a while but in the closing stages had clutch problems and settled. for third place. Sheene stormed homr to win by five 1ec0000, and pulled himself up into fourth place in the championship c~. While Middelburg and van Dulmen made the plane load of visiting Dutchmen happy by being the first two men f~ that country to stand side· by-side on the winners podium. Fourth. chased over the line by Steve Parrish, was Roberts, far from happy at his mechanical problems, but back once again in the lead of the championship. Parrish looked impressive in what was easily his best performance in Europe this year. He was catching Roberts hand over flSt and might well have nailed the Californian if the rear tire had stood up better to the punishment. But Parrish was under pressure him· selffrom American teenager Randy Mamola (Yamaha) who was choppmg over a second a lap off the gap bet· ween them until the penultimate lap when he had a slide. and lost a lot of time check.ing the rear tire. Marco Lucchinelli (Suzuki) was the first Italian home after Ferrari had pulled out, and unl~cky Franco Un· cini had slid off his Suzuki at the banked hairpin. Sheene was happy at his win, t!tough Hartog has the consolation of a record·breaking lap in 1m 24.Ss almost a second·and·a·half better than Cecotto's old record. Cecotto had another terrible ride. His Yamaha was well down the field when he finally pulled out, and teammate Christian Sarron did a little bet· ter. He couldn't catch the Japanese rider Ikujiro Takai, on the prototype production Yamaha. But if Barry was happy at his suc· cess. Jock Taylor was over the moon at grabbing the first British sidecar world championship win since Chris Vincent's victory at Finland in 1964. Yet things might have been a lot tougher for him if Derek Jones had gone the full distance. The British champion, with Brian Ayres in the chair of the Daytona Yamaha, swept into the lead from well down the pack. Jock had been having a tussle with Rolf Steinhauaen in the early lUges. but the West German started with a misfire, and he and Pa5le~ Kenny Arthur slip~ slowly back to finally quit with Ignition problems before o~-thiTd distance. Rolf Biland. with Kurt Walltiaperg in the chair were in trouble too. They stopped to change plugs and restarted at the back of the pack. And that left Taylor and Jones dicing for the lead. Then a pebble flicked up by the rear wheel of Taylor's outfit punet1lred Jones' radiator, and though Brian Ayres tried to stem the flow of water by putting his thumb over the hole, the engine fmally blew up. It was cruel luck for Jones who has been struggling all season to hit the form he showed last season on the new outfit. With Jones out Taylor liad only Werner Schwarzel to worry about, and the West German never really gave the Scotstnan a worrying moment. Biland though was hurrying through the pack and pulled through But unlucky Bill Hodgkins, and Bill Boldison in the chair of the Yamaha outfit, were robbed of championship poinu when they ran out of brakes in the dOling stage and had to quit. Opening Sunday's race card was the 125cc event and that was thrown into chaos by a shower of rain midway through. Many of the pace-makers slid to ear· th without injury including West German GUrt Bender (Bender) after outbraking Italian Pierpaolo Bianchi (Minarelli). who went on to score his first world championship success in a year. Bruno Kneubuhler failed to take advantage of his outing on the factory Minarelli. normally raced by the in· jured Angel Nieto, and after making a sluggish start he too went out. Saturday's sole World Championship, race was the 250cc event where Italian Graziano Rossi notched his third successive victory on the works Morbidelli. Rossi. like many. was a lit· tie wary of the track conditions early , on. particularly after losing control and forcing the unlucky Randy Mamola (Yamaha) completely off the track on the first lap Australian Gregg Hansford gave chase to Rossi's Morbidelli, but his Kawasaki just couldn't match the pace of the Italian machine and he had to settle for second spot ahead of Patrick Fernandez on his privately owned Yamaha. After a poor stan West German An· ton Mang battled through to fourth place but unlucky Randy Mamola. fighting back after his first lap en· counter with Rossi. had to pull out when his gearbox began to play up. Reigning World Champion Kork Ballington (Kawasaki) was fifth home after being last off the grid but those six poinu were enough to keep him well clear of his rivals in the cham· pionship chase. Belgian privateer Rene Delaby (Yamaha) was looking good for his fir· st ever World Championship poinu until he was brought down by another rider. Delaby broke a bone in his back in the high·speed fall. • Results 125cc: 1. P.1IiInchi _ ; 2. J. GUilllllbodot IMGl; 3. T. _ lMorl; 4. A. _ _ lMorl; 5. F. l.oz2aini lMorl; 8. C. _lMorl; 7. 8. _ tMllAl; a s. .lor>_lMllAl; 9. G. _lMllAl; CompIel8d 31 10. J. W_lMorl. _ l i p : 8. KnoubuhlIr lMinllm_ 250cc: 1. G. _lMor......; 2. G. _ at-!; 3. P. _ IVoml; 4. A. Meng *-'= 5. It 1lIIIngDl1KMt; 6. C. _ at-!; 7. J. nc-t CompIol8d 34 a R. "'-Yrnond IVoml: 9. o. ~ IVoml: 10. Eo HywrilwlIVIl'III. 5OOcc: 1. 8. 51-. CSuzI: 2. J. M-.rv CSuzI: 3. B. _ ~ CSuzI: 4. Itllabona IVIl'III: 5. S. _ CSuzI; 8. R....... IVIl'III: 7. M. l.ucI:inIII CSuzI; 8. I. T_ IVIl'III: 9. C. IVoml ~ 39 10.S.RouoetSuzl. RECORD LAP: W. HIrtog lSuzllm 21.3 •. ~ Il2A: 1. T8l'lorf_ . . - Yoml; 2. -= -= s..on e- -= ~IVoml:3. _~IVoml;4. ~ lIIuol; 5. Sir_IV., cIor ~ IVoml: 6. _ -= a IVIl'III; 7. V...-.IGoIn lBuol CompIol8d 31 _ I V _ I ; 9. La-...... II \li~ 1V1l'III; 10. -.lB. GIIllioo IV_I. WORlD CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDlNGS: 25Occ: 1. K. _ _ IS. Afric8. K8wl82 ptL 2. G. _1AuoIrIIio. K8wl57; 3. G. Rolli tllaly. MorI56; 4. R. ~ IUSA. Yom! 38; 5. P. Fenw1doz IFf"""", Y_I35; 6. A. Meng CWOOI GermIny, ~132. 500cc: 1. K.1labona lUSA, Y_I83 pili; 2. V. Ferr.i 1IIIIy. Suzl 81; 3. W. Honag l_'~ Suzl 56; 4. 8. ~IGB. Suzl 50; 5. F. Uncinilblv. Suzl38;6. 8. V. Dulmen tHollond. SuzI29. _ _ t82Al; 1. R. 5 - . _ CW. Germonv and GB. Y_I 52 ....; 2. S. SchIuzuIl. Puzo CW. Gemw1y. Y_I; R. 1Iilond/l(. - .....11 ISwiI· _ . Y_I 37; 4. D. ~/J. PIrtlft 1GB. Yom! 38; 5. J. Toytor/8. "",,*-l~, YIl'III31; 6. G.IItodinIB. GIIlroo I~, YIl'IIIZl 125c:c: 1. A _lSpein, _106 pili; 2. T. Eopio tFr8nce. . . . 48; 3. M. M. M . ''''i I........ M8AI 36; IS 'li "ill, M8AI Ifill W. Koohcino 4. H. _ _ GonNny. e- Fiwitlel2S; 6. H. _ - - . Moo_Ifill G. "'-CW. Gemw1y, "'-124.

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