Italian Grand Prix

ITALIAN GRAND PRIX

...Phil Read Beats Benelli and Jawa With Grit, Moxie and a Pair of Yamahas.

CARLO PERELLI

IN SPITE OF the absence of such super-pizazz racers as Agostini, Pasolini, Bergamonti, Vinsenzi, Gould and Nelson, the Italian Grand Prix proved an epochal event.

World Champion of the 500 and 350 classes, Giacomo Agostini, didn’t compete because his boss and mentor, Count Agusta, was miffed at the race’s change of venue from Monza (virtually his own back yard) to Imola. Benelli headliner Renzo Pasolini didn’t race as he was still recovering from his Finnish GP prang. Bergamonti, Visenzi, Gould and Nelson were all recovering from injuries they’d sustained here and there, none woefully serious. But fortunately it turned out to be an excellent meeting with several surprises, and the 30,000 spectators were well rewarded.

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At the outset, the tiddler contest appeared to be an exclusively Derbi affair. Teammates Angelo Nieto and Barry Smith were buzzing around well ahead of their most dangerous rivals, shaggy Paul Lodewijkx (Jamathi) and current points leader Aalt Toersen (Kriedler). Yes, things looked quite good for the Derbis until three laps from the end when (Drat!) Nieto was sidelined by engine trouble. This left Smith in the lead, a tenuous position at best because Lodewijkx was now mounting a hard charge for first. Climactically, the fast Dutch Jamathi finally passed the Derbi in the last turn of the last lap; true brinkmanship. And Smith just could not catch him. Farther back, Toersen had secured third place after a furious dice with German champion Rudy Kunz, also Kriedler mounted. But Kunz’s bike broke shortly after that tiff anyway, so fourth place fell finally to Jan De Vries (Kriedler).

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Even though he’s got this class championship sewed up Dave Simmonds entered his rapid and reliable Kawasaki, apparently racing for the joy of it rather than competing to a point and racing no more than necessary. Of such stuff are true champions. Simmonds won the race decisively, leading since the fourth lap.

Lazio Szabo (MZ), Heinz Kriwanek (Rotax), and the Villa brothers carried on a four-way hassle for second place in the race’s mid-stages. The matter was finally resolved when a broken clutch rod slowed Walter Villa and a large butterfly (!) got into Francesco Villa’s goggles. Also, Kriwanek’s Rotax began to seize so he cooled the pace a bit and dropped back to 10th place. The checkered flag saw Szabo in 2nd, Francesco Villa (along with battered butterfly) 3rd, and Walter Villa 4th.

Another conflict took place between Mankiewicz (MZ), Bertarelli (Aermacchi), Molloy (Bultaco) and Smith (Derbi). Only toward the end did things seem to settle in Smith’s favor. But with two laps to go Smith ran out of gas. Well Barry, that’s the racing biz. So in the final dash, Mankiewicz made full use of his machine’s superior power, just barely edging out Bertarelli’s ten-speed works bike. Molloy’s Bultaco was left well behind.

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Phil Read (remember him?) certainly dealt Benelli its comeuppance. The two-time world champion has in vain asked the Pesaro firm for a four-cylinder machine for this race. But no dice. So Phil started on his own Yamaha, well determined to put down Benelli fastman Kel Carruthers. Although the production Yamahas are extremely quick and maneuver like beetles in a bawdy house, chances of beating the works Fours seem more than a little remote. Indeed, at the end of the first lap the remote became “remoter” as Read was well down the field. On the second lap, Carruthers took the lead while Phil wallowed in the midst of the commoners at 9th place. Within three laps however, he’d worked his way up to 2nd, gaining rapidly on Carruthers. Securely ensconced in the leader’s slipstream, Read discreetly bided his time until the third lap from the end. The Yamaha’s acceleration out of the corners was visibly stronger than that of the exotic Four and Read used this to his advantage. He made his move, precariously squeezing past the Australian, and led his followers home to the checkered flag. In the course of this 11th hour battle both Read and Carruthers broke Hailwood’s lap record set in 1967 on the Honda Six! Kent Andersson on another production Yamaha battled with Gilberto Parlotti’s Benelli Four until the Italian bike began to wheeze on the 14th lap; Andersson went on to place 3rd. Borje Jansson finished 4th by virtue of Gunter Bartusche’s (MZ) withdrawal because of mechanical problems. Jansson rode a Kawasaki-framed Yamaha. Santiago Herrero came in 5th, greatly hindered by hand injuries suffered in his Ulster GP crash. It was a valiant showing for the dashing Ossa pilot as his handicap required a reversal of clutch and brake lever mountings to ease movement of his plaster casted limb during the race. Walter Villa finished 9th on a new rotary valve two-stroke which is said to go into regular production next year. A promising debut for such a new bike. The Villas are also working on a beautiful V-Four eight-speed machine which may be racing soon.

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Surely it was Phil Read’s day at Imola. The Englishman on a 350-cc Yamaha racer won this race in spite of a pit stop to wire up a loose exhaust system and tough opposition from Silvio Grassetti on the Jawa Four.

From the start Read pulled quickly away from Silvano Bertarelli (Aermacchi) and Walter Schiemann (Yamaha), leaving them to battle for 2nd. Several laps later Grassetti began to feel his oats, knifing through the pack to assault the leader. On lap 13 Read was forced to pit and the Jawa jumped into the lead. By the time Read’s plumbing problems were cured there were three riders between him and Grassetti.Nonetheless, Phil prevailed and the other guys stepped aside one-by-one to give him a shot at Silvio. This did little to endear the Englishman to the fiercely pro-Grassetti crowd. But Golly Ned! What’s a fella’ ’sposed to do? Grassetti finally slipped up when he got into a dramatic slide on the sandy shoulder of a sweeper. The big Jawa lost a lot of revs just when Phil was gaining them; and that was all she wrote. The intrepid Yamaha rider again crossed the finish line first.

There were two other Jawa Fours in the race but they could do little. Jack Findlay’s bike seized on a downhill section of the track, dumping him unceremoniously on the pavement. Fortunately, injury was confined to a slight concussion but it did prevent Jack from racing in the 500 event where his Linto made the fastest practice lap. Veteran Franta Stastny was eliminated by ignition problems.

In 3rd place, behind Grassetti was Walter Schiemann (Yamaha), followed by Silvano Bertarelli and Martti Pesonen (Yamaha). Incidentally, this is excellent performance for Pesonen, as this is the first year of GP racing for the young Finn.

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It was a portentous day for Linto, and doubly so for the Pagani family. Exactly 20 years after his famous father, Nello Pagani, won the Italian GP at Monza on a Güera Four, Alberto Pagani had a runaway victory in the same event. Another Linto pilot, John Dodds held an easy 2nd spot until shortly before the end when a misfire forced him to slow down. Gilberto Milani (382 Aermacchi) then slipped in to finish 2nd.

With prime Paton püots Angelo Bergamonti and Billy Nelson out of action, the two avaüable machines were assigned to Franco Trabalzini and Vittorio Brambüla, younger brother of the Ferrari works driver. Trabalzini fought a good battle with Müani for much of the race but bit the dust when he missed a gear whüe approaching a bend. He wasn’t injured but he couldn’t restart the bike since the mishap occurred in a hüly section of the circuit. Brambüla finished 12th, his first time on the Milanese Twin. Terry Dennehy brought the Drixton-Honda in 4th behind Dodds and Steenson was 5th on a SeelyMatchless.