The top Five Memorable Race Meet Moments – A column from Phil Hall
The other day, somebody posed the question of what was the best moment you can remember from a bike race meeting. Well, with a leading question like that, it didn’t take too long for the punters to come out of the woodwork and there were some great answers, too.
But it put me in mind of a list that I complied in my brain many years ago, that of the Top 5 motorcycle races that I ever saw. It wasn’t too difficult a list, actually and I have telegraphed the punch somewhat by detailing one of them in a column here already.
However, without going into the detail that I did when I wrote that article, here, for better or worse, is my Top 5 races of all time. Yes, they are all old ones. Don’t I think that any modern races rate? I am sure that they do, but, since I don’t get to the races anywhere near as much as I used to, the opportunity to add a more modern race to the list is distinctly limited. And, having said that, I can’t even think of a modern race that I have seen on TV that would be worthy of inclusion (though a couple of Marc Marquez’s signature Moto2 races could be pushing it).
First on my list is the standout. It was August (I believe) 1976 and the venue was Sydney’s Oran Park Raceway. It was Round 2 of the three-round Rothmans Pro Series. Sponsored by the cigarette company, the race meeting had at least the cachet of an Australian Championship event even though it wasn’t. It attracted the very best riders from all over Australia and the banner race was the 25 lap Unlimited race that featured the top riders on the very best racing bikes that the country had to offer.
Heading the bill for the big race was Warren Willing on the Adams and Sons TZ750 Yamaha. Willing, young, long haired and with the most promotable persona, was the darling of the NSW fans and local support for him was strong.
Willing’s TZ750 was a local bike (I believe that the ex-Agostini bike came along a little later in the game though I am prepared, as always, to be corrected). When you bought your TZ back in the day, you got the bike and a spares kit (barrels, pistons, gasket sets, etc) and a book that told you how they all fitted together. What you didn’t get was any information on how to fettle the thing and how to make it go faster and STAY faster; that you were expected to work out for yourself! Willing, though young, was an intuitive mechanic and between he and the Adams brothers, they had his bike not only going very fast but also doing so very reliably (something that was extra hard to achieve). Of course it will come as no surprise to you to hear about Willing’s engineering expertise as his later, post-racing career, clearly demonstrated.
Opposing him in a pre-State of Origin grudge match was the equally handsome and promotable Queenslander, Gregg Hansford on the Team Kawasaki Australia KR750 Kawasaki. However, Hansford’s bike was a different beast altogether. While Willing’s was a “customer” bike that anyone with the money could purchase from their local Yamaha dealer!!, Hansford’s was a genuine factory racer. Fresh from the factory in Japan it had only run a few race meetings by this stage having been debuted at Laverton in February.
While TKA’s fame had been built on the success of Sayle and Toombs on the air-cooled Kawasaki triples, Hansford got first choice as the team leader on the new, water-cooled KR750 triple. What the Kawasaki lacked in cylinders (Willing’s bike had 4), it gained in lighter weight and newer technology. It also benefited greatly from the engineering nous of TKA’s boss and guru, Neville Doyle. When the TKA bikes had first ventured overseas a couple of years previously, the Americans especially were astonished at how much faster the Aussie Kaws were than their local, factory-supported bikes. Indeed, once Hansford took on the world in the F750 World Championship as well as the Grands Prix, it became clear that the Aussie outfit WAS the best in the world at fettling the cantankerous two stroke engines of the day.
Of course, being team leader meant that Hansford got first option on the newer bike but this was somewhat of a two-edged sword. On the one hand it was expected that the bike would be much better than the now-aging H2R machines that the team was running at the time. So, if it hung together, he should be able to more than take the fight to Willing on the more powerful and proven TZ. On the other hand, however, bedding in a brand new bike in the hurly burly of racing was a dangerous exercise. Not only did it leave you very exposed if something went wrong but you were, as the saying went, on a hiding to nothing if the exercise didn’t go according to plan.
So, on many levels, the Rothmans Pro Series was a grudge match between the best we had.
As with almost every Unlimited race for the last couple of years, it was expected that these two would fight it out for top honours. However, there was a third contender and he was a real “dark horse”. Tall and affable, the friendly John Woodley from New Zealand, had shot to fame with a great ride at Laverton in the Senior TT just a few months before and fans “in the know” expected him to provide stern competition to the two local lads. Riding his own RG500 Suzuki, most who knew expected that he would more than make up for the 250cc deficit by aggressive riding and by being able to maximise the bike a little more than either Willing or Hansford would be able on the tight Oran Park layout.
Though the Suzuki team had had nearly a year of experience running the RG500 square four Grand Prix bike, Woodley’s machine was one of the first “customer” bikes to hit Australia and owners were still coming to grips with the intricacies of this very powerful but very finicky machine. This day and others like it would prove that, in the right hands, the RG was more than capable of embarrassing the bigger bikes.
It must be remembered that this race took place on the “short” layout of Oran Park, the Grand Prix extension with the bridge, etc, had still not been built. The short, or “South” circuit turned left about halfway down what became the main straight once the extension was built, then performed a “U” turn and then swept right through the dipper and then the run up to Suttons Corner. (see enclosed circuit map)
Some races can be dissected in intimate detail while some are over almost as soon as they start, so riveting are they in their impact upon you. For me, photographing at both the “flip flop” and BP Corner during the race duration, it was the latter. At the drop of the green flag, the three protagonists took off as one and remained glued together for what seemed like the whole race. Contemporary photos will show that the bikes were rarely separated by anything more than a few centimetres with Willing being the leader, Hansford snapping at his heels while, at the same time, trying to fend off the tenacious Woodley who was wowing the crowd with his David and Goliath performance.
At around three-quarter distance, the lapped traffic broke up the group a little with Willing doing slightly the better and Woodley inconvenienced more than the other two. But, once the traffic cleared, it was business as usual and the serious stuff became even more so. Hansford kept probing but Willing was equal to the task. Then suddenly, on the entry to BP Corner, Hansford spotted the smallest of gaps and dived for the inside line. With the rear tyre smoking, he forced Willing wide and went on to win by the most ridiculous of margins with Woodley closing right back in at the flag.
And so it was reported in all the reputable journals, except for the problem that they were wrong. It was only a fortnight later that a letter appeared in REVS magazine, penned by one of the lap scorers of the race (I believe), pointing out that the passing move actually took place one whole LAP before the chequered flag was displayed. A check of the stats proved that this was, in fact the case and the magazine reported the error with the explanation that, so exciting was the race, that the reporter lost track of what was happening in the excitement. Well, guess what? So did I and so, it seems, did hundreds of other people at the track that day. To this day, that race remains the most riveting and exciting motorcycle race I have ever seen and I am pretty sure that it will remain that way.
The slow-down lap saw the three riders acknowledging the plaudits of the crowd and I can still see the look of amazement on Hansford’s face particularly. You could almost see him thinking, “Did I really do that?” While many would regard this pair’s legendary duel at Bathurst in 1974 as their greatest match race ever, I will stick with the Oran Park one for two reasons. Firstly, I wasn’t at Bathurst to see the 1974 race and secondly, with Woodley thrown in and at least their equal on the day, the three-way battle was quite the most enthralling of my experience.
It took some time for the adrenaline to settle back down again and it s no surprise to me that there are many others who were there that day who will say, like me, that that was the greatest motorcycle race that they have ever seen.
In no special order, then, the remaining races that round out my Top 5 are, the Boulden/Crosby/Woodley (there’s that name again) battle in the Unlimited Grand Prix at Bathurst, 1979, Kenny Blake’s win over Ago at Laverton in 1976, the Steve Trinder/Gregg Hansford war at Hume Weir in October 1976 and Bob Rosenthal’s astonishing win in the wet at the King of the Weir in 1978.
Maybe you’d like to throw in your Top 5 and let us enjoy your reasons for selecting them?
