Race Watch
RACE WATCH
Baker Dominates Match Races. Honda Eyes Road Racing. Will They Return?
ISDT SUPPORT TEAM
If you follow the ISDT scene at all, perhaps you’ll want to pitch in a bit and contribute to the United States’ effort. A $1 donation will help provide jackets, insurance and entry fees for the 40 Americans scheduled to head for Austria this fall on our behalf. The dollar will get you a colorful sticker, $3 a patch commemorating the 51st running of the event. Donations should be forwarded to:
ISDT Support Fund c/o American Motorcycle Association P.O. Box 141 Westerville, OH 43081
HONDA BACK ?
It has been some time since Honda has participated in any type of factory road racing, but rumors lately indicate that the factory has renewed interest in this facet of the sport. Rumors such as this stir excitement in those who remember the Honda efforts of the early and middle ’60s. . .1966, in particular, when Honda monopolized five solo Championships.
Recently, what may be only the first step toward a full pavement racing effort was announced. Honda France and Honda UK, the Honda distributors in Europe, are combining their energy to form a powerful racing team to take part in the big European endurance events, with assistance from Honda Motor in Japan.
With the title Honda Endurance Racing Team ’76, the group will no doubt be one of the most organized and formidable teams ever to compete on the endurance racing circuit. The eightrider team is highly experienced in this type of racing and will contest nine different events, five of which are Championship races.
The machines to be used are extravagant and exotic mounts based on the CB750 Four. Without a doubt, they will pose a serious threat to the Kawasaki machines which, for the most part, have dominated the big European endurance races. In case you’re wondering about the popularity of such events, the 24-hour epic on the Bugatti circuit at Le Mans in France, known around the world as the Bol d’Or, drew approximately 150,000 spectators!
The next question is, “Will Honda get back into G.P. racing. . .particularly in the U.S.?” At this point we can only hope, knowing that the presence of Honda team bikes at places like Laguna Seca would give U.S. road racing a shot in the arm.
RATHMELL LEADS WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Leading the World Championship as of this writing is Malcolm Rathmell. He is 1 5 points ahead of 2nd-place Martin Lampkin (Bultaco), the current World Champion. Yrjo Vesterinen (Bultaco) and his teammate Charles Coutard follow closely.
With seven events left, it is still anybody’s title, but Rathmell is confident. He has a buffer against future disasters.
JOHN PLAYER TRANSATLANTIC TROPHY
The cold hard facts were that Great Britain had beaten the U.S. 412 to 384 in the 1976 running of the John Player Transatlantic Trophy meet. While a margin of 28 points seems conclusive, the affair can be summed up quite simply by saying that while the Yankees had the aces, the British held the trumps.
The aces were Steve Baker, who netted 92 out of a possible 96 points, team captain Kenny Roberts (75 points), Pat Hennen (72) and Gary Nixon (57). Between them the four had netted a whopping 296 points, while it took four Limeys to score 291. Their top scorer was Barry Sheene (77), followed by Barry Ditchburn (60), team captain Phil Read (52) and Mick Grant and John Williams with 51 apiece.
The series was set alight by the brilliance of 23-year-old Steve Baker, who started off in grand style by winning both races at Brands Hatch and tucking a record lap under his belt for good measure. The weekly Motor Cycle summed up the first day’s racing with the succinct headline: “British Battered at Brands.” In the first race Baker took 1.6 sec. off the record held by John Williams, and then shaved it by an additional .2 in the second race. Sheene split Baker from Roberts the first time out, but in the second leg it was the Americans placing 1st and 2nd, with Sheene 3rd and Read taking 4th, his best showing in the series. Although the points at the end of the day were 137-122 in favor of the Stars and Stripes, it was at Brands that the first seeds of American defeat were sown.
Pat Evans spilled his Yamaha in the third corner of the first practice; he then lost the head plug on the warm-up lap, losing all of the water and becoming a non-starter. Just barely into the race Gene Romero was sidelined after a skirmish with Dave Potter of the British team. Romero’s Vesco Yamaha seizing on the line in the second race was just a foreshadowing of bad luck to come at Mallory Park, where he wasn’t even able to start. Gene’s total at the end of the series was a paltry 14 points. . .which he bettered in a single race last year. No team can expect to do well when they lose a starter of Romero’s capabilities.
What really ruined American chances was the fate of poor Phil McDonald, who was injured in the States before the whole thing had even started. Californian Marty Lunde had been called upon to act as a reserve, but before getting the news had loaned his machine to British teamster Steve Parrish. That meant there was no reserve rider to pop into the team in the two races where one was sorely needed.
The first Mallory race saw Baker finish 4th, his worst ride. It seems he wasn’t fond of the 180-degree turn at the end of the starting straight. But Steve is made of stern stuff and wasn’t going to let a little “dislike” get him down. He quickly got it together and followed Roberts home for 2nd in the next race. By this time it was obvious that the Americans had found an extremely useful team man in Pat Hennen, who in four rides had one 6th and three 5ths to his credit. Sheene had taken the first event at Mallory, for the only race win by a British rider. The day’s racing at Mallory gave the British 142 to the Americans’ 126; adding that to the Brands totals, they would go into Oulton Park with a one-point lead.
Oulton saw another 1-2 for Baker and Roberts, who jointly set a new lap record of 92.17 mph that knocked 5.4 sec. off the figure held by Stan Woods. Sheene chased the pair of them home, followed by Hennen in 4th, his best ride of the series.
At the end of the first Oulton race all was not quite lost for the Americans, who were down only four points. It merely meant pulling out all of the stops in the last race of the series. Baker began it by setting a new lap record, but Roberts crashed while running 2nd, as did Pat Evans on a bike borrowed from his team captain. So, despite the brilliance of Baker and the consistency of Hennen, the British placed 2-3-4-6-7 to win the final race 78-55. Thus, while the Americans came through for the most numerous and spectacular wins, consistent British mid-pack placings once again saved the day.
SCOTTISH SIX DAYS TRIALS
Thirty-six Scottish Six Days Trials have been held since World War II, and those 36 years have seen the. trial dominated by just four men. Sammy Miller and Mick Andrews have each won five times, Hugh Viney and Gordon Jackson have taken it four times apiece. In addition, Artie Ratcliffe and Jonny Brittain have each won twice.
A record that will take more to beat than even the five wins each of Miller and Andrews is the three individual wins of the amazing Lampkin brothers. Martin Lampkin’s win this year on a Bultaco with a loss of only 37 marks won him the trophy his brothers Arthur and Alan carried home in 1963 and 1966, respectively.
Bultaco dominated the trials this year, with Dave Thorpe taking 2nd and Alan Lampkin 4th. The three of them joined forces to win the Manufacturer’s Team award. Martin Belair, brother of CYCLE WORLD’S associate editor, Fernando Belair, was awarded a special first-class award for his riding aboard a 348 Montesa.
