66 ClassicR acer
CLASSICRACERTHE STARTOFTHE 1975500CC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
AftertwoGrandsPrix HideoKanayawasleadingthe
50 0ccworldchampionship.InSalzburghehadtheday
ofhislifewinningboththe 350 and 50 0cc.HappiestmanofthedayinAustriawasprivateer To mHerron. Aftersomedifficultyearsinthe
continentalcircusheobtainedafineandwell deservedeighthplaceinthe 50 0ccraceonthe
smallYa maha.ItalianMVriderArmandoToraccawhoreplaced
theinjuredFrancoBonera.BarrySheeneexplainedtothepresswhyhe
wasnotallowedtoraceatSalzburg.NEXTMONTH
Don’t missthenextGrandPrix on
veryfastGermanHockenheimring
thenextissueofthis magazine.Th
fightbetweenAgoandRead!In Austria Sheene’s assessmentof his
abilities wasprettymuchspot on –heended
up sixthfastestinpractice.Then camethe
shockerwhen the race organisers surprisingly
preventedhim fromriding,citing medical
grounds, eventhoughhe had undergonea
medical check-uponthe morning of the race!
As usualthe weather waswet and cold.
Notidealfor theact of GP racing on tyresthat
tooksomeheattoget going.How cold? Cold
enoughthat, as the race happened,there
wasstillpatches of melting snowaroundthe
Armco lined,fast track.
Read wasnot happywith the newmono-
shocksystem of hisMVnor withhis new
team-mateToracca. In practice the two
Yamahasof Agoand Kanaya were overtwo
secondsfasterthan the MV of Read and the
Suzuki of Länsivuori.The impressivefirst row
on thegridcounted24 cylinders.
Come the startofthe race and proceedings
were delayedbecause Sheene had still lined
up to race and thenhad to be removedfrom
the grid because of the missing medical
permission.
But that wasn’t all forthe start of race fun-
and-games. Agostini wasthe onlyriderwho
lined up on slicks, blatantlyignoringthe ban
on the smoothrubber.After protestsfrom the
otherriders the organisersdecided to let him
start anyway.Imagine theuproar...
Agoled the racefor 16 laps before the
Yamahaseized and he wasforcedto retire.
Karmamay have morethan apassing effect
on racing at times.
Kanaya won, Länsivuori wassecondand
Read finished thirdagain in frontofteam-
mateToracca. Germanrider HorstLahfeld on
aKönig,surprisingly,was fifth. PrivateersTom
Herron and AlexGeorgeboth scoredvaluable
points in eighthand ninth.
John Williams wasinvolvedinafour-rider
crash in the 350race,breakingacollarbone.
It wasHideoKanaya’s Grand Prix though,
withthe tough rider winningboththe 350and
500race.the
gin
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