Pan Pacific Series 1972
Flamboyant London-born American Ron Grant tamed the beastly TR750 Suzuki to claim Australia’s first international road race series.
The success of the ‘Down Under’ tour by Giacomo Agostini in 1971, where he won all but one start, rekindled interest in establishing an Australian, or even Australasian race meeting series to occupy the summer months in the Southern Hemisphere.
There had been other off-season ‘tours’ before, as far back as 1936 when TT star Stanley Woods arrived with a brace of works Velocettes, followed the next year by the German DKW factory, which sent their top rider Ewald Kluge out for three meetings – a tour that became mired in controversy when it was revealed the team manager had strong connections to the
Nazi Party. Then in 1948, future World Champion Fergus Anderson arrived with two works Moto Guzzis (a 250 single and a wide-angle 500cc v-twin) plus one of the new and then-unseen AJS 7R 350cc production racers. The concept was starting to catch on.
Six years later, a genuine superstar arrived – none other than Geoff Duke, the dashing World Champion and TT hero, accompanied by two four-cylinder 500cc Gileras, for a sojourn that began in Perth, Western Australia and traversed the continent, ending with a series of meetings on the east coast. Duke vowed to
return the next summer, but mainly thanks to injuries sustained in Europe, failed to make it. The cudgels were taken up however, by the works Moto Guzzi squad of Bill Lomas and Dickie Dale, bringing with them 350cc and 500cc versions of the amazing flat-single that had taken four successive 350cc World titles. More of the same was planned, but the bottom fell out of international racing (and offseason junkets) when Moto Guzzi, Gilera and Mondial all withdrew from racing late in 1957. So nearly 15 years had passed with no visiting stars until Agostini hit town, the tour sponsored by Melbourne auto magnate Bob Jane, who had just taken on the MV Agusta distributorship for Australia. Apart from one defeat – to Bryan Hindle at Oran Park – Ago ran riot, to the delight of grandstands packed with screaming Italian fans.
The fervour was not lost on Oran Park’s promoter, Les Johnson, who set about luring Agostini back for what was termed the inaugural Pan Pacific Cup – a four-round series beginning at Oran Park on November 26, 1972, then on subsequent weekends Calder Park, Adelaide Raceway and, for the survivors, ►
Wanneroo Park in Perth on December 17. “It (the series) won’t be a gigantic affair,” said Johnson,
“but we have to start somewhere and this is the first step. As the Pan Pacific Cup becomes established, we are confident that it will receive support from the overseas factories.”
As well as Agostini, entries had been received from 1972 Daytona 200 winner Don Emde, who would bring one of the new Harley KR750 racers, ex-pat Brit Cliff Carr who had lived in USA for several years brought his privately-run H2R 750cc Kawasaki that had proven to be a match for the US works machines in the 1972 US season, and Ron Grant with a works TR750 Suzuki. Grant was also one of the very few not to be intimidated by the ferocious power and evil handling of the big triple; he simply refused to let it get the better of him. He was fast, no doubt about it, but off the track, his reputation as a hell-raiser preceded him.
Other ‘imports’ included Malaysian Sonny Soh (TR500 Suzuki), young New Zealander Geoff Perry and countryman Ginger Molloy (H2R Kawasaki). Perry had been sensational in his few US appearances that year, culminating in second place at Ontario, California – a ride that earned him a place in the US Suzuki team for 1973, alongside Grant. In an interview in October, Perry described Grant as, “one of the most colourful persons I have ever met, with a neverending thirst for Scotch and playing cards”.
Then, for no apparent reason, Agostini, who was to have raced a 750cc MV Agusta as he had done at that year’s Imola 200 withdrew, as did Geoff Perry, who broke an ankle while racing in Malaysia. The proposed Adelaide round was also scrapped. For the strong local contingent, the opening meeting marked a departure to tradition – a clutch start for the main race instead of the time-honoured ‘run and bump’. Grant’s TR750 was in the ‘detuned’ trim in which it ran at Talladega, where the ‘illegal’ cylinder heads were ditched, dropping power (at the crank) from 107hp to 99, but still good enough for 173 mph. Carr’s air-cooled Kawasaki was owned by Arlington Motor Sports USA and built by ace tuner Kevin Cameron, clocking 167 mph at Daytona – just 2 mph short of the works machines. It featured lots of trick parts, like English magnesium wheels and US-made Monotrack discs. Factory support came in the form of the loan of a spare works engine, plus the services of mechanic Steve Whitlock. Emde’s Harley was reputedly the first off the production line of the new customer model, selling at the time for US$3,500 to selected buyers. The all-alloy KR750 engine, with 38mm Mikuni carbs, was good for 89hp at the crank and still used a 4-speed gearbox. Emde himself, who was accompanied by his famous father Floyd, winner of the 1948 Daytona 200, was far from fit after several falls since his own Daytona win.
The format for the opening round at the 2.1km Oran Park circuit was for two 12-lap races with the international riders included, plus the 20-lap Pan Pacific Cup round for series points.
After the warm up races where the visitors played themselves in, the 20 lap Pan Pacific opener got under way, not with the advertised clutch start, but with a novel rolling start behind a pace car. Emde thundered away on the Harley but was soon picked off by Grant, who held sway for half the race, the acceleration of the big Suzuki triple down the main straight putting precious lengths between him and the howling pack lap after lap.
Then, just as he had done to Agostini the year before, that man Hindle slipped through on his TR3 Yamaha and squirted away, establishing a new outright lap record of 48.4 seconds, to win by 8 seconds from Grant, with locals Les Kenny, Ron Toombs and Tony Hatton making up the top five. ►
Emde found the heavy Harley stricken with vibration and outgunned while Carr threw the Kawasaki away on the very last corner while disputing third place with Toombs. “This guy is bad news,” said Grant of Hindle at the trophy presentation after the meeting.
The next morning, trucks carrying the visitors’ bikes headed south for the 1,000 kilometre trip to Melbourne and the quirky 2.1km Calder Park circuit on the western side of town. Emde had complained that the Harley was vibrating badly at Oran Park, and father Floyd quickly had the engine stripped to reveal a destroyed drive side main bearing and shaft – not a quick fix. An urgent request for parts went off to Milwaukee, while veteran Australian champion Ron Toombs stepped in with the loan of his spare 350 Yamaha, but Emde could only manage mid-field running throughout the weekend. Once again, two support events preceded the Pan Pacific Cup round.
In the first of these, Grant simply opened the taps on the Suzuki and controlled the pace from the front, leaving Molloy to head home Hindle. Carr lasted just one lap before crashing on an oil patch. Fortunately the Kawasaki suffered only superficial damage and was readied for the main race. With points up for grabs in the main 30-lapper, Grant and Molloy went at it hammer and tongs, swapping paint and repeatedly smashing Agostini’s year-old lap record, Grant leaving it at 48.8 seconds. Molloy led into the last lap but was rounded up by Grant on the final corner to take the narrowest of wins. Local John Maher took a surprise third, just ahead of Carr, Hindle and Toombs.
With the cancellation of the Adelaide event, the West Australian round was brought forward to the vacant date, leaving the Pan Pacific circus, or most of it, one week to make the 3,500km trek across the country. In contrast to the flat, four-corner Calder track, Perth’s Wanneroo Raceway packed plenty of
elevation into the 2.4km lap, with the track usually strewn with sand from the dunes that surrounded the site. The format was again two 10 lap ‘Preliminary’ races followed by a 15 lap Final. The first 10-lap encounter saw Grant come out on top after another fairing bashing session with Molloy, with Toombs a distant third. In the second preliminary, Grant won as he pleased from the improving Carr with Hindle third. That left just the 15 lap Final, and from the clutch start Grant and Molloy were at it again, this time barging each other off the track and up an escape road on the final lap. Carr grabbed the opportunity and shot through for the win, setting a new outright lap record on the way, while Grant recovered to third behind the consistent Hindle on his TR3 Yamaha. And so Grant bagged the series, a handsome trophy and a bag of Aussie dollars, finishing with 27 points from Hindle (25) and Molloy (21). Plans were immediately announced for a bigger, better Pan Pacific Series in late 1973, but while the Marlboro International Series managed to establish itself as an annual attraction in New Zealand, the Australian series stalled. After lengthy negotiations, it was finally reinstated for late 1974. Star attractions were Barry Sheene, Paul Smart and Pat Hennen, but when both the Brits were injured late in the European season only Hennen fronted, riding a Kawasaki H2R 750 borrowed from Hurley Wilvert. After three rounds, the American won the series on the final corner of the final race in Adelaide, pipping 41-yearold Ron Toombs on the Team Kawasaki Australia H2R by a single point. This time, however, there would be no return for the Pan Pacific. ■