History of the 6 Hour - 1976 October 17

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Race Report

The 6 HourThe year that seemed Sure to end the Kawasaki domination ot the Six-Hour.

When the dust had settled at the end of practice, the three fastest qualifiers were non-Kawasakis. The Ducatis of John Warrian/Greg Johnson and Ross Pink/Dan Oakhill took pole and next to pole, that-man-Eastmure was third fastest on a BMW R9OS. BMWs and Ducatis were abundant with four Bee-Ems and seven Dukes amongst the entries.

Yamaha’s RD400C had its first Six-Hour outing in this race. Suzuki’s GS750 was to have had its first race outing but the machine was withdrawn after practice. Several entries were received on the new Kawasaki Z650, amongst them the formidable teams of Hansford/Sayle and Madden/Hales.

The Johnson/Warrian Ducati crashed at the two hour mark only a few bike lengths behind the leading Kawasaki of Roger Heyes. Pit stops saw the lead swap between Budd/Heyes and Pink/Oakhill before the Kawasaki finally made the break and kept the lead.

Eastmure’s bike bent a pushrod, Hanstord’s 650 destroyed a rear wheel (losing six laps) and Graeme Crosby on a 900 Ducati also crashed out of the proceedings. The other Bee-Ems kept on keeping on and finished second and fourth.

Alan Hales seratched his way to fifth place despite giving away lots of ccs on his Z650.

Two Laverda l000s in the event performed well. Paul Graydon crashed the 1000 he was sharing with Bob Rosenthal, but the other machine of John Hughes/Lindsay Mckay rode into eleventh place.

The father and son Chivas team rode a Zi B into sixth place, only seconds ahead of the first Z900 of Greg Pretty and Mick Cole.

Victory went to the Jim Budd/ Roger Heyes Team Avon Kawasaki.

The first 500 class machine to finish was the RD400 of Murray 1-lill/Shane Laurent on 336 laps, eclipsing the second 500, a GT500 Suzuki, by seven laps. A string of 400/4 Hondas placed fifth to seventh.

The only international to compete was Helmut Dahne who rode into fourth place with Bryan Hindle. It was to be Hindle’s last Six-Hour ride.

Results


Unlimited

1

J. Budd, R. Hayes

Kawasaki Z1B 900

350 laps

2

K. Blake, T. Hatton

BMW R90S

349 laps

3

D. Oakhill, R. Pink

Ducati 900SS

348 laps

4

B. Hindle, H. Dahne

BMW

347 laps

5

Alan Hales, Rob Madden

Kawasaki Z650

346 laps

6

N. Chivas, D. Chivas

Kawasaki Z1B

 

7

G. Pretty, M. Cole

Kawasaki 900

 

500cc

1

M. Hills, S. Laurent

Yamaha RD400C

336 laps

2

I. Sutherland, G. Warrell

Suzuki GT550

329 laps

3

T. Gentle, D. Laraghy

Kawasaki H1-500

327 laps

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