Christer Hammargren

Hammargren was drafted in to the Kawasaki team to replace Californian Brad Lackey for the 1974 season and did a sterling job keeping the Japanese machine in the forefront of 500cc competition. Hammargren was very much the senior man in the series and had raced for Yamaha and Husqvarna – where he achieved his best season in 1970 with a fifth in the 500cc world championship – and would carry on up until 1976. A regular member of the Swedish MX des Nations team he would help his countrymen win the prestigious competition twice – 1970 and 1971 – and in 1975 won the first leg of the Italian GP for Kawasaki.