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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126432
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EAGV Nations Cup Team
; Challenge
t Roberts, Mamola
§ lead Team USA
By Chris Carter
DONNINGTON PARK, ENGLAND,
SEPT.2!1
Kenny Roberts, with a pair of
wins, and Randy Mamola, with
a win and second place finish to
his credit, led highly rated
Team USA to a third place finish in
the second round of the AGV Nations
Team Cup road race at England's
Donnington Park circuit. Crashes and
mechanical problems slowed the
charge and left Team USA 70 points
shy of Team Great Britain and !l5
points off the pace of The Rest of the
World.
Joining. Roberts and Mamola on the
aU Yamaha mounted squad were Dale
Singleton,. Dave Aldana, Wes Cooley,
John Long an4 Rich Chambers. Rich
Schlachter was scheduled to ride, but
a broken wrist and collarbone
sustained in a crash while practicing
opened t~ slot to Chambers.
Britain, spearheaded by Baryry
Sheene (Suzuki), dominated the
second round of the AGV Nations
Team Cup and moved into second
place in the competition.
Showing far more teamwork than
they have done for several years,
Britain produced a display that
delighted the 4O,OOO-strong crowd,
and had the opposition on the run in
all their four outings.
But France, thanks to their victory
in the opening round at Paul Ricard in
April, still lead the series with 150
points to Britain's 140, with the Rest
of the World on 1!l0, and American
and Italy in equal founh spot with 120
points.
.
Sheene was in magnificent form. He
was unbeaten in his team races. But in
a surprise invitation race, requested by
the teams and funded by the Donnington Park promoters, Barry had to
settle for second place behind Kenny
Roberts.
Race 1:
USA 83. Italy 67
World champion Kenny Roberts
began his four races at Donnington
Park the way he meant all of them to
go . with an emphatic victory as he led
the United States team to an easy win
over Italy.
But for the first two laps of the ten
lap race he must have been slightly
worried as young USA team member
Randy Mamola scorched to the front
of the pack, only to retire with gearbox
troubles.
Roberts' main opposition came
from Gruziano Rossi, riding a Serge
Zago 750cc Yamaha. He harried Ken·
ny for most of the race after fighting
his way through from founh place at
the end of the second lap, passing USA
men Dale Singleton, Dave Aldana and
team·mate Giovanni Pelletier.
Behind Rossi, Aldana finished
third, Singleton founh, Pelletier ruth
and John Long sixth. Then came Marco LucchineUi and Italian team captain Franco Uncini. Besides Mamola,
West Cooley also retired with ignition
problems and Richard Chambers took
a tumble, but still finished.
over a weakened French squad in their
opening race of the day, thanks to a
pre-race team talk by skipper Barry
Sheene.
The plan was to pack the leading
places for the first six laps, and after
that it was every man for himself. And
when the time came to go it was
Sheene who opened up a comfonable
margin over the rest of the squad, till
he eased off on the final lap, letting
Suzuki GB team· mate Steve Parrish
close to within three fifths of a second.
The French had no-one to match
the British except Bernard Fau who
managed to prevent a clean sweep by
easing past the ailing Dave Potter to
tue seventh spot.
Race 3:
Rest of the
WorId.l.
Italy 59
Two men dominated the Rest of the
World versus Italy clash - Australians
Gregg Hansford and Frenchman Bernard Fau endeared himself to the
40,000 spectators at Donnington with
. a heroic effon on split the USA top
pairing of Kenny Roberts and Randy
Mamola in the USA/France clash.
But Bernard's effons were all in
vain. From the start Dave Aldana had
led, followed by Mamola, Fau and
Roberts. Roberts went to the front on
lap six, with Mamola, pulling some
tremendous wheelies, tucked in
behind. Fau pa~ Aldana but
couldn't make any impression on the
two in front.
Behind them Christian Estrosi, still
suffering from recent in juries, rode a
lonely race in fifth position. while Dale
Singleton fought hard with Jean Francois Balde. Only casualty in the race
was Pierre Soulas who crashed, luckily
without injury.
RaceS:
BrItain 75.
Rest of the
World 78
There was no time. for Britain to try
team tactics here. Barry Sheene
needed to ride at his very best to beat
Dutchman Wil Hanog, the captain of
the Rest of the World squad.
Hartog led till two laps from home,
then Sheene went ahead to the delight
of the fans, but at the flag the British
ace was only two-fifths of a second in
front, and he ahd to set a new 'Iap
record of 1m 14.7s to beat his lanky
rival.
Behind Hartog came a bunch of
visitors and that was enough to tip the
final score in their favour. With
Graeme Cl'05by third and Gregg Hansford founh, not even fighting performances from Roger Marshall and
Steve Parrish - who beat Jeff Sayle and
Boet van Dulmen in a blanket finish
with less than one second covering
them all - could stop the world stars
winning by just three points.
But Sheene said late.r he was lucky
to win. His crankshaft gear had broke
just before the chicane on the last lap,
and he had to coast over the line. The
Suzuki would not have gone another
50 yards.
Race 2:
10
RaceS:
Fnlnce43.
BrItain 110
Britain
Fnlnce88,
Italy 62
Christian Estl'05i led the French to
scoi-ed
a crushing victory
victory over Italy in a clash of the two
bottom of the table teams, closely
followed home by teammate Bernard
Fau.
The French pair did just enough to
hold off a determined last lap
challenge from Grazziano Rossi, who
recovered well from an excursion onto
the Donnington grass early in the race,
while looking as though he could win.
Behind the leading trio came Jean
Francois BaJde, Gioavanni Pelletier
and Marco Lucchinelli. But the
Italians' good mid-field positions were
not enough to stop the French winning
convincingly. An early retirement for
the Italian squad was Gianni Rolando,
who seized his engine.
Race 7:
USA 73.
Reatofthe
WoridBO
A tremendous battle between
American teenager Randy Mamola
and Dutchman Wil Hartog produced
another grandstand finish. This time
it was Mamola who took the honors by
just a second.
Mamola gave credit to his Dunlop
tires for his success, claiming they
lasted the pace better than Wil's
Miche1ins.
But sadly the Californian found lit:
tle support from his teammates in the
battle for points. Even though Graeme
Crosby crashed unhun at Copice on
the fifth lap, the others in the Rest of
the World squad packed the midfield
places.
Gregg Hansford was third, holding
off Kenny Roberts who had a slipping
clutch, while Jeff Sayle and Boet van
Dulmen had a private dice for fifth
and sixth places.
Race 8:
GB 109. Italy 41
Barry Sheene won yet another race
and led the British squad to a brilliant
victory in the GB VS Italy clash. From
the stan, it looked as though the race
could only end with a goqd British
win.
Continuing the team policy of
making sure everyone was doing well
for six laps, and going for home in the
final four. Sheene only went to the
front on the ninth circuit. after he had
followed the closely knit leading bum:h
of Ron Haslam, Steve Parrish, Roger
Marshall and Mick Grant.
The best Italian rider followed this
bunch. But Giovanni Pelletier could
not make any impression on Grant,
and was hard pressed by Dave Potter
and Alex George, who got the better of
Marco Lucchinelli.
Race 9:
Re.tofthe
World 96.
Fnlnce54
Not even a convincing win over the
French could provide enough points to
give the unbeaten Rest of the World
team overall victory.
Again Wil Hanog was their star
man. The Dutchman led from the
opening stages, chased home by
teammates Greg Hansford, Jeff Sayle
and Boet van Dulmen.
Again only Bernard Fau and
Christian Estrosi could provide
anything liite a serious challenge from
the French ranks, but on their own
they could do little.
Unlucky Graeme Cl'05by had to pull
into the pits lane after the warm-up
lap when his rev counter stopped
worlting for no apparent reason. He
missed the stan, and though he went
out later he was counted as a nonstaner and failed to score any points.
Race 10:
BrItain 87.
America 66
Barry Sheene completed
his
domination of the team races with
another magical performance that
took him from a first lap founh to vic-
tory. But it was never easy, for
American youngster Randy Mamola
fought bravely.
Mamola almost came to grief at the
chicane on the final lap after
struggling to stay in contention
without fifth gear on his Serge Zago
Yamaha. He missed his gear and came
within a whisker of clipping Sheene's
rear wheel and crashing.
Robens took third spot after a
sluggish stan, but with Marshall,
Parrish, Potter, George and Haslam
filling the next five places the result
was never in doubt.
To complete a sad day for the
Americans, Dave Aldana crashed
heavily early on. He escaped uninjured
but Paul Dahmen's bike was badly
damaged.
Invitation rece
Sheene's unbeaten run came to an
end in the eight· lap invitation race
that was staged as a bonus for riders
and fans alike, when Kenny Roberts
emerged triumphant after a tremen·
dous three-man dice.
Sheene took second spot, just one
fifth of a second down on the
American, with Wil Hanog only three
tenths of a second behind the. British
·ace.
Boet van Dulmen fell victim of the
mass stan when he was forced wide at
Red Gate Corner on the first lap, and
others pulled out of the race as the effects of exhaustion and machine
problems took their toll.
Only 12 of the !l2 staners made the
flag, but for most of the fans who
stayed to the bitter end there were only
three - Roberts, Sheene and Hanog in the running.
Founh place went to Roger Marshall, capping a great day for the former Bntish champion, and Mick
Grant showed that he and his 500
Suzuki were a match for the 7505 by
grabbing fifth place:
But hero of the crowd, thanks to an
amazing display of wheelies all around
the circuit was Randy Mamola. He
knew before the race started that his
gearbox problems would stop him
winning, so he went out to entertain
the crowd. And entenain he did!
•
Results
(AJ1 _ _ l01apa.19.57mi....,
_ 1 : 1. Roberts, 13m 7.3a, 89.49 mph; 2. _ ; 3.
Alc:lImo; 4. Singleton; 5. _ ; 6. Long; 7. Luc·
_ ; 6. Uncini; 9. R _ ; 10. Pierli. CompleIed fi""
• • ~ CompleIed lour 1Ipo. Cooley end
MomoII. _
lop, R-.o, 1m 16.50. 92.10 "1'1>.
_
2: 1. ~, 13m 2.30, 90.07 "1'1>; 2. _ ;
3. _ I ; 4. Gnlnt; 5. _ ; 6. George; 7. Feu; 6.
_ ; 9 . _ ; 10. Boine1; 11. Torree; 12. Soul8I; 13.
_ ; 14. _ . F_lIIp.
1m 16.2a, 92.47
"1'1>.
_
S-...
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