The Read - Ago battle
Over 150,000 spectators gathered on the grass banks and grandstands of the Hockenheimring Motodrom in Baden-württemberg, south Germany to watch their heroes in action.
The 1932-built circuit was very much a unique outing amidst its rival venues. Hockenheim had two long straits and only five turns, four right-handers and just one left turn in the Motodrom. In simple terms it has become a real Mecca for race fans from all over the world. At this round of the 1975 500cc World Championship MV Agusta rider Phil Read once again turned up to the meeting on full song. A new modified cylinder head plus some new front forks on the MV-4 gave the bike just enough speed to follow the works Yamaha of Giacomo Agostini – an essential upgrade to Read’s chances. What added as extra drive for both Ago and team-mate Kanaya was that neither of their 350cc works Yamahas managed to get to the end of an earlier race – so both riders were keen to score a good result in the 500cc class. The potential for a scrap was high. In practice it was Finn Tepi Länsivuori on the works Suzuki who was only 0.3sec faster than Agostini. The first row of the grid was completed by Kanaya and the two MV Agusta riders Armando Toracca and Read. Stan Woods, on the Suzuki-4, was the best of the second row, with Barry Sheene and Alex George joining him on the grid in seventh and eighth places respectively. Come the start and it was Read who made a lightning-quick getaway, diving into the lead of the 20-lap race. His team-mate Toracca was second and Agostini third. Ago was pushing Toracca hard and passed him after two laps before settling down and hunting for Read. After four laps Toracca retired, as did Sheene on the works Suzuki (the machine had been having unsolvable carburettor
problems across the whole weekend that kept piling the plugs). Meanwhile, a terrific 16lap long war for the lead was fought between Read, defending, and the attacking Agostini. Read was playing catch-up with Ago leading but the tension on track was palpable, just like it was two years earlier between Read and Jarno Saarinen at the same circuit. Read got his head down and passed Ago again before finding his rhythm and leading during several laps. Everything was looking good until a horrendous 130mph slide at the fast east curve unsettled Read’s charge, he didn’t fall after the slide, but it was enough to persuade the Brit to settle for second. Agostini went on to set the fastest lap at 111.12mph and won the race by a very comfortable four seconds. Länsivuori, despite having that great qualifying and practice, had a bad start and his Suzuki decided to add to his woes in the race by misfiring and dropping off four cylinders. Nevertheless, he still managed
a brilliant third place finish and crossed the line 25sec ahead of Kanaya, who was also struggling with an unwilling bike. A fine fifth place for Stan Woods on the GB Suzuki-4 was a highlight, while John Newbold on another GB Suzuki, couldn’t manage a finish on his bike. Frenchman Christian Leon was the only König rider to finish in the points. He eventually came home in seventh. Privateer Alex George did a great job, once again finishing ahead of Brazilian Adu Celso-santos in ninth, which was Alex’s third ninth-place finish in three GPS. After three rounds Japanese Yamaha rider Kanaya was still leading the race for the championship with a three-point advantage over Read who, was just two points ahead of Agostini. It was tight at the top.