History of the 6 Hour - 1972 October 15
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Race Report
This race promised to be the daddy of them all due to the string of superbikes released in the previous 12 months; it was, but not for that reason.
Yamaha had released its super-trick TX750 and had signed a string of stars to ride the machines; Toombs, Hinton, Hindle, Knight, Hatton, Spooner, Rob and Keo Madden, Ahearn and Richardson were amongst them.
Kawasaki had upgraded the 500cc Mach Ill to 750cc and called it the Mach IV. It was the fastest bike ever released at that time. On board the Mach lVs were Gregg Hansford, Rob Hinton, Mike Steel, Dave Burgess and Owen Ellis.
Two brand new charismatic Ducati 750s, a big- tanked Interstate Norton, a Triumph Trident and an MV Agusta 750 also lined up against the proven Honda 750s and Yamaha 650s.
But the claimed winner came from the 500 class; Joe Eastmure on a Suzuki 315.
Due to a lap-scoring error the course announcers and TV commentators convinced themselves, the 12,000 spectators and one million TV viewers that Eastmure was on the same lap as Kawasaki Mach IV mounted Dave Burgess and Mike Steel.
For the last half hour Eastmure and Steel fought out the lead and when Steel crashed with three minutes to go, Eastmure took the victory.
Half an hour later the lap sheets were checked and it was found that Steel had in fact won with 334 laps, Eastmure was third on 333 and the Ducati 750 of Gates/Lawrence was second.
When post-race scrutineering was started, more interesting facts were discovered. Eastmure’s barrels were non-standard and the horn was missing from his machine. Subsecpiently he was disqualified.
The scrutineers had an even greater shock when they lifted the head from the second-placed Ducati. Larger pistons had been fitted with the capacity increased to a massive 890cc. That team was also disqualified.
Earlier in the race, the Yamaha TX75Os had made an embarrassing debut. By twelve o’clock Toombs/Hinton, Hindle/Knight and Hattonl Spooner had all retired with mechanical woes. The TX never recovered from the publicity and faded from the showroom within 12 months.
The MV Agusta went out of the running with a blown clutch at 12.07.
Len Atlee’s Norton Interstate ran out of brakes and crashed after one-and-a-half hours. The eight laps lost in the pits was the exact distance Len lost by at the finish.
Gregg Hansford’s Kawasaki front disc brake decided to weld itself to the caliper costing him a certain high placing. Before he went out he set a new lap record of 60.4 seconds.
In the 500 class, Kawasaki 500s showed the way from the usual 315 Suzukis, four-cylinder Honda 500s and the first RD350 Yamaha. The RD lost nearly 20 laps when rider Peter Stronach crashed due to a flat tyre.
In the 250 class the very competitive team of Murray and Jeff Sayle and Warren Willing pushed a Yamaha DS7 to the fore of the Suzuki hordes. But Suzukis filled second through to eighteenth place.
The winning machine wore Dunlop K81s. The winning 500, 250 and Eastmure all used Metzelers.
Results
|
Retirements |
||||
10.55am |
P. Cartright, I Dever |
Suzuki T250 |
crash |
23 laps |
11.07am |
R. Toombs, E. Hinton |
Yamaha TX750 |
engine |
62 laps |
11.52am |
B. Hindle, C. Knight |
Yamaha TX750 |
electrical |
82 laps |
11.55am |
R. Gault, C. Brown |
Honda CB750 |
chain |
103 laps |
12.01pm |
T. Hatton, P. Spooner |
Yamaha TX750 |
engine |
106 laps |
12.07pm |
B.Clarkson, G.Hitchings |
MV Agusta |
clutch |
106 laps |
12.10pm |
L. Coleman, K. Spicer |
Honda CB750 |
crash |
112 laps |
1.01pm |
K. Brown, C. Dillon |
Yamaha DS7 250 |
crash |
152 laps |
1.30pm |
R. Pressley, I. Francis |
Honda CB750 |
electrical |
184 laps |
1.44pm |
R. Radonovitch, G. Radonovitch |
Honda CB750 |
crash |
191 laps |
2.40pm |
J. Scaysbrook, B.Martin |
Honda CB500 |
crash |
237 laps |
2.50pm |
P. Giles, G. Davis |
Honda CB500 |
crash |
248 laps |
3.22pm |
G. Hansford, R. Hinton |
Kawasaki H2 750 |
brakes |
292 laps |
3.41pm |
J. Warrian, T. Wood |
Suzuki GT250 |
ignition |
300 laps |
3.45pm |
C. Maher, G. Maher, G. Tierney |
Honda CB750 |
crash |
314 laps |
3.47pm |
W. Burnett, R. Payne |
Honda CB750 |
crash |
315 laps |