HORTON TAKES THE TOP PRIZE

Charlie Williams was installed as the championship favourite but his year got off to an ignominious start when he stalled on the line at the opening round at Oulton Park. That allowed Clive Horton and Derek Huxley to fight tooth and nail for what they thought was the win but Williams was flying from the back of the field and pipped them both on the last lap to take the first ever Honda 125cc Championship win. Williams had used different sprockets to the other riders which caused considerable debate and it was agreed that from round two onwards, the series must be fair and won by the best man, and that man would have to choose the right gearing. Gearing wasn’t the problem at the second round – the weather was. It was wet and windy at Brands Hatch and no less than 18 riders fell off, nine of them at Paddock Hill. The little bikes were proving difficult to ride but, in all the chaos, it was Richard Stevens who took the victory. Huxley was victorious third time out at Mallory with Williams away with Honda in Germany on Endurance duty and Horton suffering a broken gear lever. Another fancied runner, Bernard Murray, led in the early stages only to fall back. Next time out at Snetterton, it was another game of cat and mouse between Horton and Huxley, the latter gearing his bike for the bends, the former for the long Revetts Straight. Again they were inseparable throughout but Horton was in front when it mattered and he got the verdict. He won again at Oulton, just edging out Williams, and that allowed him to overhaul Huxley, albeit by two points, in the overall standings. It counted for nothing though as he failed to finish the next round at Mallory due to a duff spark plug and Williams got his second win of the year. Huxley’s fourth place allowed him to retake the lead with two rounds remaining, both of which were at October’s Powerbike meeting at Brands. Horton took the first race win from Murray but only after Barry Woodland crashed out, with Huxley down in seventh, his hold on the title was strengthened. The final race of the season was, fittingly, the closest of the year as Murray, Horton, Williams, Woodland and Stan Woods circulated together. Murray got the verdict by half a bike’s length but Horton took second and with it the championship and around £2500 in prize money, which he invested into his fledgling Grand Prix career. Williams took second overall from Huxley and Murray. The series was declared a major hit with the racing excellent, cheap and safe. Subsequently, Honda announced they would be retaining the series for 1978 albeit with faster, upgraded machines. The R2s went up for sale and began to filter their way down to the clubmen so everyone was happy.

Final championship points – 1977 1 Clive Horton 69pts 2 Charlie Williams 52 3 Derek Huxley 52 4 Bernard Murray 51 5 Bill Lawrence 40 6 Pete Casey 34