Continental Report

CONTINENTAL REPORT

B. R. NICHOLLS

HUTCHINSON 100 MEETING

Following the Monza tragedy and the deaths of Pasolini and Saarinen, Finnish rider Teuvo Lansivuori nearly packed up racing but then decided to continue. He is an exciting racer, very capable and an obvious choice for race organizers to get in their program. So it was that he was signed for the famous Hutchinson 100 meeting at Brands Hatch.

Lansivuori went to Brands fresh from success as the winner of the Finnish round of the Formula 750 title, which he won on a 350 Yamaha. But he left all his luck back home. A practice crash left him with a broken right wrist and that puts him out of racing for at least a month.

The meeting was spoiled by the weather, as it rained all day. But that only served to underline the achievement of Mick Grant, who won all four races that he entered—250cc, 350cc, Formula 750 and the lOOOcc class. He almost seemed oblivious of the conditions and just powered on while others either fell or rode gingerly in his tracks.

Peter Williams (Commando) won the production machine race, while John Williams was the 500 class winner on a Yamaha. To Barry Sheene went the Mellano trophy for his only win of the day in the 40-lap 350-1 OOOcc race. With world champion Klaus Enders competing it was almost inevitable that he would win the sidecar class. Siegfried Schauzu was second.

Paul Smart’s commuting trip back to the UK resulted in a 3rd place in the lOOOcc race. He followed Grant and Percy Tait home.

The Hutchinson meeting had as its stars Lansivuori and Enders and was held a week before the British round of the Formula 750 championship. It was, therefore, run in the shadow of Silverstone, where Phil Read, our new world champion for the Blue Riband of road racing—the 500 class—will race the MV for the first time in England this year, and since winning his title with a fine race against Agostini in the Swedish grand prix.

It brought to an end the six consecutive titles that Agostini has won in the 500 class since he took it from Mike Hailwood back in 1966. Read and Ago will clash in the 500 race at Silverstone, but will not be competing in the Formula 750 event. Gary Fisher (Yamaha) was to have come over to ride but was injured, so Yvon duHamel will be the lone Yank doing battle against some of Europe’s best on his works Kawasaki.

The fact that the organizers were prepared to bring over American riders underlines their spectator pulling power. For Yvon, it will be a hard battle, but one that he has a good chance of winning. The Silverstone circuit is very fast, and has plenty of space around the track side. Tap speeds are in excess of 100 mph and if the conditions are right and the battle furious, a lap record around 110 mph is in the cards. EB

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