CLASSICRACERTHE STARTOFTHE 1975500CCWORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
62 ClassicRacer
Wordsandphotography:JanBurgersIn the 1974 500cc championship,the
MV Agustas finishedin the perfect
teamorder,under the steadyinghands
of Phil Read and GianfrancoBonera.
However, race fans knewthat it could
be the last time forsome considerable
periodthat afour-strokewould find its
way to the crown.T
oput somecontext to the following
year,Teuvo (Tepi) Länsivuori left
Yamahaand joinedBarry Sheene in the
Suzuki works team.Theexperienced
Yamaha testrider Hideo Kanaya camebackto
Europe to supportGiacomoAgostini in the500
and 750class. FrenchmanMichel Rougeriewas
competing with aspecial four-carburettor twin
Harley-Davidson.Thealreadypretty-fullgridwas
completed with ahoard of twin and four-cylinder
privateYamahas and someremaining Königfour-
cylinderbikes.
Sheene’s 1975 season startedin possibly the
worst possible way.Actually,itbeganin possibly
the world’smost famous‘bad day’ way when
Bazza’smightyworks 750ccSuzuki-3lockedup
and pitched everyone’s favourite racerinto the
world’smost famousuncontrollable slide along
the Daytona banking duringpracticeforthe
Daytona 200.
Sheene waslucky to escape with his lifeand
might have sustained moreseriousinjurieshad
he notbeenwearing abackprotector (an unusual
attribute forarider’s kit at thetime).In terms of
the greaterracingworld’sexpectationsabout the
year to come,the injurylistwas about to getabit
morecrowded whenMV AgustariderGianfranco
Bonera hit aknee on astrawbale andbroke his
thigh bone at high speedduring the early spring
meeting at ModenainItaly.
He wasout foralongtime whilethe mangled
leg healed slowly.Bonera wasreplacedby the
talented Italian ArmandoToracca.Toracca’steam-
mate, reigning world champion Phil Read, had
an unlucky season start also whenhe suffered
an almighty 120mph fall during practiceforthe
first500cc race of the year.That tumble–which
could have beenso muchmoreseriousthan it
ended up being –happenedatthe endofthe
Mistral Straight at Paul Ricard.Thequick tumble
mangled the little finger of Read’sright handin
abad way and hampered the Britfor the rest of
the meeting.
Fastest in that practice wasFlying Finn
Länsivuoriracingthe Suzuki-4 forthe first time
in aGP, while theYamaha pair of Agostiniand
Kanaya were second andthird.
From the start of the race Länsivuoriledthe
action but camein afterfour lapswith gearbox
problems.Agostini wonthe race justhalf a
secondaheadofhis team-mateKanaya.PhilRead
whowasn’tgiven theNo.1plate being the world
championpig-headedly racedwith No.0... yetstill
managed to trouble the podiumeventhoughhe
wascarrying his handinjury, eventuallyendingup
third aheadofToracca.
Overall,the newbikes and eagerstarters to
the year got things movingatabriskpaceright
fromthe offwith Kanaya setting the race record
lap mid-way throughthe race, his bestwas afull
secondfasterthan JaarnoSaarinen’s best set
sometwoyears earlier.062 1975ClassicGP_SEP.indd 62 27/07/201715:57:36