History of the 6 Hour - 1975 October 19

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Race Report

The 6 HourDucati’s 900SS, BMW’s J R9OS, Suzuki’s GT750 and Laverda’s 1000/3 joined the fray in 1975, but once more Team Kawasaki won the race.

Although Kawasaki won the race, Ducati won the hearts of all those present. In an underdog versus front-runner situation similar to that of 1972, the last hour saw a furious dice for the lead between the Team Kawasaki Z900 of Gregg Hansford and Murray Sayle and the Ducati SS of John Waman. But just when it seemed that John was set for victory, the Ducati gave up — with just half an hour to go.

American Hurley Wilvert flew in for the race to partner Warren Willing in his third attempt on the Kawasaki 750. Willing lapped almost the entire field before he was forced to stop for fuel. A fiat tyre and Wilvert’s inexperience on a wet track cost the team any chance of a win. They eventually retired with ignition failure later in the day.

The rain which came at the one-and-a-half hour mark and lasted another 90 minutes, rearranged everyone’s tactics. With most bikes lapping at around 1.20, Ken Blake was running at 1.16 and he went from tenth to third place in that period. The CB750 of Tony Hatton/Gary Thomas went from eighteenth to fifth place. The Laverdas ran without problems and cruised to sixth and ninth places on a track which didn’t suit them.

Three Triumph Tridents were entered by the Peter Stevens organisation with the best result being twelfth place. All finished.

Ken Blake rode the only BMW into second place, while Rick Perry rode a second Ducati SS which eventually retired due to the after-effects of a crash. The sole GT750 Suzuki in the race was ridden by Alan Hales and Bill Horsman. It showed quite a turn of speed, ran trouble-free and finished eleventh.

Several celebrities-to-be had their first Six-Hour experience in the 1975 event. Graeme Crosby got a last minute ride when Bernie (Bummers) Summers was injured. After being well placed early he ran out of fuel. Michael Cole, and Ray Quincey paired to run fourth in the event on a Zi B Kawasaki. Neil Chivas rode with father Doug to place tenth overall. Jim Budd rode into fifth pface on another 900 Kawasaki. Greg Pretty looked set to finish his first Six-Hour and was handily placed at 3.00 pm. Five minutes later he was back in the pits with a blown gearbox.

Only two dasses were run in 1975, the 250 class being dropped in the interests of rider safety.

The 500 class was fought out between the RD35Os of Lee Roebuck/Jeff Parkin and Jeff Sayle/Vaughan Cobum. The former team took the flag first, but just!

Avon tyres began their run of Six-Hour wins on the T.K.A. winning machine.

Results


Unlimited

1

Greg Hansford, Murray Sayle

Kawasaki 900

335 laps

2

Ken Blake

BMW R90S

333 laps

3

Roger Heyes

Kawasaki 900

329 laps

4

Ray Quincy, Mick Cole

Kawasaki 900

328 laps

5

Jim Budd, Eric Soetens

Kawasaki 900

328 laps

6

John Hughes, Greg Brynes

Laverda 1000 

326 laps

7

Alan Decker, Phil Blaskie

Kawasaki 900

 

8

Tony Hatton, Gary Thomas

Honda 750

 

9

Bob Rosenthal, Ross Barelli

Laverda 1000

 

10

Neil Chivas, Doug Chivas

Kawasaki 750

 

500cc

1

L. Roebuck, J. Parkin

Yamaha RD350

323 laps

2

J. Dowsett, P. Perry

Yamaha RD350

317 laps

3

R. Baillie, P. Hitchcock

Kawasaki H1-500

311 laps

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