Dutch Grand Prix
DUTCH GRAND PRIX
HEINZ SCHNEIDER
As EXPECTED Mike Hailwood clearly won the 500 race of the Dutch TT from his MV-teamster Giacomo Agostini, who celebrated his 23rd birthday with two beautiful rides. Jim Redman on a Honda four beat the MV-Threes in the 350 event and Phil Read’s Yamaha twin outpaced Redman’s Honda six in the 250 race. The lap record was broken in the 125 event; when Read on a water-cooled Yamaha retired on the last lap, reliable Mike Duff stepped in to save Yamaha’s face. Ralph Bryans and his Honda won the poorly supported tiddlers race, making it a no-wins day for Suzuki, who have an excellent new Japanese rider in their team, Y. Katayama.
Neither Russians nor Czechs had shown up, the Jawa people giving Isle of Man damages to bikes and riders as a reason. Engineer Ivanitzki’s team had cabled that the Vostok and CKB bikes were in no raceworthy condition. Benelli and Morini were missing; so were Derbi and Kreidler in the tiddlers-class.
The Assen races celebrated their 40th anniversary with the eleventh Grand Prix on the new circuit, introduced in 1955. A break during WW II makes it 35 racing seasons for one of the friendliest meetings of the year.
350 RACE
Mike Hailwood had set the pace in practice, but when the green light flashed, Redman’s Honda four gained several lengths over Agostini’s MV-Three, Paddy Driver’s AJS and Hailwood’s MV. At the end of lap one Hailwood hung in Jim’s slipstream with Agostini a few yards behind and Silvio Grassetti in fourth place on a Bianchi twin, now sponsored by an Italian plastics factory. May be that this will set a new trend in motorcycle racing, that non-motorcycling industries will put their hands into the game for advertising purposes.
The leaders remained unchanged throughout the 20 laps, but at three-quarter distance Grassetti retired with the inlet valve gone on the right hand cylinder of his Bianchi. That let the Aermacchis of Renzo Pasolini and Gilberto Milani into fourth and fifth spot. At mid-distance Mike Hailwood fell back, but again pulled up when Redman eased off a bit. Mike said there was nothing wrong with the bike, but the Honda definitely was faster.
On acceleration the Japanese four also seemed to have the edge. Derek Minter, the British short-circuit star who makes his rare Continental appearances mostly at the Dutch, had led the Aermacchi group when his piston cracked at middistance. And Paddy Driver retired from a low mid-field place when his cylinder head, which had been cracked from the start, finally gave in. With hopes of making it to the leader-board, Jack Findlay went out and in checking his oil, sadly stated that he had “struck gold.’’ Early in the race the very fast private Jawa twin which Rudi Thalhammer races this year had its crankshaft disintegrate. All that let the British short-circuit brigade of John Cooper, Chris Conn and Dan Shorey into 6th, 7th and 8th places after a tremendous struggle. Cooper and Conn were new to the Dutch track.
50cc RACE
Without Derbi and Kreidler entries the 50cc event developed into a big bore. Six works riders on Suzuki and Honda with two privateers on slow Kreidlers qualified. Fastest practicer Ralph Bryans pulled away to win and led teammate Taveri with Suzuki’s Hugh Anderson third on the first lap. On the second lap Anderson passed Taveri to hold second place until the end; Itoh came home fifth ahead of Ernst Degner, who had engine trouble. There are not enough fast private bikes in this class to give a good behind-the-leaders race. It does look like the last year for this class, unless interest picks up.
250cc RACE
Last year Jim Redman had outridden Phil Read, but now the air-cooled Yamaha twin outpaced the Honda six, despite a slower race-average, and strong winds must be taken into consideration. Jim had made the best start and led through the first lap, then Phil steadily pulled ahead. Mike Duff held off the strong challenge of Katayama (Suzuki four), the only man to keep the temperamental design running. Frank Perris and Jack Ahearn made very bad starts on these bikes, Perris then setting a record of pit stops until he finally retired. Old Jack got away in a cloud of smoke when the leaders started their third lap. After two and a half laps Mike Duff had his Yamaha clear of the Katayama challenge and piled on the coals to catch up to Redman. Derek Woodman held fifth place on the MZ, and East German MZ teamster Heinz Rosner, who is doing extremely well in his first season on Western circuits, battled with the Aermacchis of Pasolini and Milani.
From a very bad start Bruce Beale (Honda) pushed through to sixth place behind Woodman, and when the MZ ignition trouble started, he passed the twostroke rider. Alberto Pagani rode a beautiful brand new Paton twin to tenth place. Like last year it has a 180° crankshaft. No less than 33 bhp at 12,000 rpm are said to go via a six-speed gearbox to the rear wheel (both 18-in.). The beautifully clean DOHC engine is fed through 27mm Dellorto carbs. Ceriani front forks are used, and the brakes come from Fontana, a small new accessories workshop.
Mike Duff could not pull up to Redman, but was sure of his third place. Having dropped back a bit, MZ’s Heinz Rosner got into the Aermacchi group’s slipstream again, two laps from the end. Pasolini and Milani usually stayed together during the whole event for moral support without much competition. Throwing up dust from the grass-verge, Rosner broke up the Italian duo when they came into sight, but when they flashed past the back side of the paddock half a lap later, he was out, having slid off and retired without injuries. Gunther Beer on his private Honda production racer narrowly missed catching Pagani’s Paton on the line.
125 RACE
Phil Read, Luigi Taveri and Derek Woodman led the one-two-fives off the line to a race with an astonishing finish. With 200 yards in hand Phil came by on lap one, Mike Duff (Yamaha) Katayama and Degner (Suzukis) and brilliant Englishman Bill Ivy on an air-cooled Yamaha bursting through in one lump. Taveri led Derek Woodman. Frank Perris and Hugh Anderson, Suzukis, led MZ’s Klaus Enderlein and Heinz Rosner. Frank Perris retired after two laps. As Hugh Anderson worked his way up to the contenders for second place on lap four, of fourteen, Degner also went out. While Phil built up his lead to more than 20 seconds, Duff, Ivy, Katayama and Anderson kept shuffling places.
Despite his crash the race before, Rosner rode a magnificent race and was about to catch sixth-place man Taveri when, again two laps from the end, he hit the road a second time, once more escaping unscathed. Woodman also went out, some of the four factory MZs in the race having developed a habit of jumping out of gear. Italian privateer Guiseppe Visenzi gained place after place on his CR-93 Honda production racer.
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Mike Duff ended the second to last lap in the lead, with Phil in fourth place behind the Suzukis. His water-cooled twin was running on one cylinder only and he made a gesture of resignation to his pit. Half a lap from the end he showed up fifth, some 70 yards behind the group, but then pushed into the paddock. In a brilliant effort Mike Duff held first place; Katayama was two seconds behind, followed by Anderson, to whom Bill Ivy had lost 10 seconds.
500cc RACE
Paddy Driver shot off the line first in the big banger race on his Kirby-Matchless, followed by Norton-mounted Dan Shorey and Giacomo Agostini, MV. Mike Hailwood got off fourth, ahead of Moon-eyes John Cooper on a Peter Chapman-sponsored Norton. Gyula Marsovsky was the last man to clear the grid. After half a lap young Giacomo led Hailwood with Paddy in the slipstream and Cooper in fourth place. They passed the grandstands in this order, but by then Cooper, Bill Ivy on another Kirby-Matchless and Derek Minter had closed up to Paddy.
After four laps Ivy led the privateer’s group with Derek, Paddy and John in pursuit. Dan Shorey was on his own and Jack Ahearn, Jack Findlay, Billie Nelson and Robin Fitton formed another group of four, swapping places at any given time. The MVs by now had pulled away, and Mike Hailwood entered lap six in his customary first position, quickly opening the gap on his teamster.
Driver tried hard to catch up to Minter; only Bill Ivy could keep the MVs in his sight. Jack Ahearn closed up to Shorey. In lap eight Ivy was reported to have stopped with engine trouble but he came back in sixth place, only to retire two laps from the end of the 20-lapper. Two laps later Minter went out with a bolt broken on his front brake anchor, an incident that should have sent him up the slip-road. But one of those unbelievable officials which are found even in Holland had pulled a rope across the escape where Derek got caught.
Now John Cooper led the privateers with Paddy sitting comfortably in his slipstream, waiting for his chance. Two laps from the end he made the best of a short misfire of John’s Norton just in front of the grandstands and put the Matchless in front. Jack Ahearn got fifth place from Dan Shorey, outwitting the British rider just when Mike Hailwood lapped the Norton men. Dan got lapped and lost his chance for a last-minute effort, and Jack made it to cover the full distance without getting lapped by the MV.
SIDECAR RACE
Groups of friends, mechanics and advisers had flocked to the camps of Max Deubel and Fritz Scheidegger to help with pre-race preparations. While Max and passenger Emil Horner hardly were seen on race day, Fritz and John Robinson busied themselves with the BMW’s float-chambers. Petrol piping still seems to be a tricky part of Fritz’s design; he now runs the juice through small radiators to keep it cool and clear of bubbles. Last season Fritz had quite a lot of retirements due to faulty petrol feeding.
Fastest practicer Florian Camathias made the best start, closely followed by Max. Vincent and Scheidegger shot off abreast, Fritz clinching third place in the first left-hander. The leader’s order remained the same for one and a half laps. Pip Harris and Colin Seeley had passed Chris Vincent’s Peter Chapman-sponsored BMW. During the second part of lap two, Fritz passed the reigning champ, only to be repassed in the opening yards of lap three. Deubel’s engine seized slightly during this lap, with no noticeable change on the placings at this time.
From the fifth lap on, Deubel lost ground to Camathias. Harris retired with gearbox trouble. In the second half of the seventh lap Scheidegger again snatched second spot and started after the leader. He closed up to Flori during lap nine (of 14) and Deubel fell back some 300 yards. In lap ten Fritz was reported to have passed his compatriot, and he flashed past the grandstand 40 yards ahead. Next lap Flori was left without a brake in the approach to a corner — the second time this has happened to him this season. There must be a mistake in the front fork design of last year’s Gilera frame which now houses the very special BMW engine, as the front brake anchor has a habit of breaking off. He found the escape road blocked with lorries and policemen on horseback, so he had to ditch the outfit, damaging the fairing.
Hopes of the Deubel crew rose again when, one and a half laps from the end, Scheidegger’s engine developed a misfire, which had cleared up when the outfit entered the last lap. But Deubel’s BMW engine blew up at the same time. So Chris Vincent found himself second, with last year’s Dutch winner Colin Seeley third. One-legged German driver Heinz Luthringhauser, who has had a fine season this year, came home fourth, well clear of Barry Thompson, an up and coming Aussie driver who has a BMW this year, and Otto Kolle on his fuel-injected BMW.
