Gold Cup Races 1978

The Scarborough Gold Cup meeting is acclaimed by both riders and spectators to be one of the best combined racing and social events in the calendar. The Motor Cycle News publication also declared Oliver’s Mount to be the most spectacular and hair-raising circuit in Britain, with it being nothing more than a mountainside track, so narrow and twisty that it provides the most dramatic kind of bike racing possible.

The meeting comprised a round of Britain’s most important bike racing series, the Motor Cycle News Superbike Championship, featuring many of the racing’s leading names, including Barry Sheene, competing on his Works 653 Suzuki. The former double World Champion saying: “With my grand prix pressures over, the MCN Superbike Championship is my main aim now.”

Sheene could expect a strong challenge from championship leader, Dave Potter, riding one of the best prepared and officially backed Yamaha 750s in Britain and Mick Grant, a favourite with the huge Scarborough crowds. Grant always excels on the natural road circuits, having earlier in the season hoisted the absolute, Isle of Man, TT lap record to 114.33 mph on his way to winning the 750cc Classic race, aboard his Works Kawasaki, netting him a bountiful £6000 in prize money.

The Sidecar Championship entry was so large that it had three heats in the programme to narrow down the field to twelve outfits for the final. Heading the impressive three-wheeler list was West German, Werner Schwarzel, considered by many people to be the best sidecar driver never to have won a world title. Schwarzel was championship runner-up in 1973, 74, 75 and 76 and finished in third place in 1977. To make matters more exciting all of the main challengers for the British Championship were present, including London pairing Derek Jones/Brian Ayres and Brian Webb/Colin Booker.

Practice Pictures

Making his circuit debut was Sweden’s Bengt-Goran Johansson, better known as Benga for short, he missed Friday’s practice session because his boat from Scandinavia was late, which left the 21-year-old with just 12 laps of practice to get up to speed on Saturday morning.

Conditions were fine for the start of Saturday’s International 125cc event and Stapleford-rider, Leigh Notman, shot off into the lead on his Morbidelli twin. At the half-way stage Notman had built up a six second lead and was looking good for the win, but then Johannsson started closing the gap. Two laps from home Notman’s Honda seized with a crankshaft failure and Johansson scored a dream debut Oliver’s Mount victory, leading home Tony Head (125 Pinfold Honda) and Dave Hunter (125 Granby Motors Honda).

The 125cc Honda Championship was a one-make championship for 125 Honda MT machines. The series was the idea of then Honda UK Chief Gerald Davidson, himself a former racer, with identical specification for every motorcycle, each of which was to be sponsored by one of Honda’s dealerships. So that entrants were able to make the fullest and best use of their MT125s, Honda UK provided a spares van at each meeting in the series, giving a comprehensive parts service.

The Honda MT 125 machines had two-stroke, air-cooled, single-cylinder, six-speed engines, based on a more highly-tuned version of the already successful Honda CR125 motocross power unit, generating a maximum power of 25bhp, revving to 10,500rpm with a top speed of 115mph.

The series was fast gaining public recognition, with each machine precisely the same as the next, racing was intensely close with only rider skill separating winners from losers. There was also an attractive prize fund with £200 going to the victor of each round, £150 for second, £100 for third etc down to ninth place and then a guaranteed £15 for every other finisher, as well as the whopping sum of £1000 going to the overall championship winner.

Talented London-rider, John Cowie, suffered a broken collarbone after his John Banks 125 Honda seized during practice, ruling him out of the rest of the meeting.

Steve Tonkin looked to be heading for a certain win with a good lead as they started the final lap, but he fell at Mountside Hairpin and the out of retirement Rod Scivyer (Hartford Motorcycles), from Oxford, pounced to take full points.

Tonkin remounted and crossed the line second, ahead of Dave Hunter (Granby Motors), Bill Lawrence (Grimstead Honda) third, Dave Hickman fourth and Tony Smith completing the top five.

Scivyer went on to win the 1978 Honda 125 Championship, making himself £2000 richer, half for the outright title and the other half for winning five of the nine rounds.

Such was the pace of the 125 MT Honda that Bernard Murray (Johnson Honda), who finished fourth in the Honda Championship, also took the 1978 British 125cc Championship with the same single-cylinder machine.

Mick Grant lined up as favourite for the International Lightweight 250cc race on his World Championship disc-valve, water-cooled, tandem-twin KR Kawasaki, but got away to a sluggish start, with Steve Tonkin (247 Pratt Yamaha) getting the hole-shot ahead of South African, Dudley Crammond (247 Hyspec Engineering Yamaha).

Grant charged through the field and by the half-distance lap was closing on second-placed-man, Derek Chatterton (248 Chat Yamaha), but as they rounded Mere Hairpin the duo clashed fairings and both hit the deck. Grant remounted to finish fifth just ahead of experienced campaigner Chas Mortimer (248 Yamaha), while Chatterton pulled out of the race.

Tonkin was never headed throughout the race and came home a mammoth twenty seconds ahead of Crammond, third place went to Swedish visitor Lenny Backstrom (247 Yamaha), with Phil Mellor (247 Rae Maxton Yamaha) fresh from winning the Lightweight Newcomers race at the the Manx Grand Prix, completing the top four.

Kevin Stowe (347 Coppock Yamaha) and Steve Tonkin (347 Pratt Yamaha) looked set for a thrilling battle in the 350cc final after winning their respective heats. But it was Mick Grant who headed the field around the opening laps in the pouring rain aboard his KR350 Kawasaki.

Long Eaton–rider, Austin Hockley, was caught out by the treacherous conditions coming off his Granby Yamaha and suffered a broken leg.

Grant’s lead first came under attack from Steve Tonkin (347 Pratt Yamaha), until the Lancashire rider overshot Mountside Hairpin and dropped back.

Grimsby youngster Kevin Stowe (347 Coppock Yamaha) having the race of his life, caught and then snatched the lead off the vastly experienced Works Kawasaki rider on the penultimate lap, staying ahead to take the chequered flag. Tuxworth settled for a comfortable third ahead of Phil Mellor (347 Rae Maxton Yamaha) and Neil Tuxworth (348 Granby Yamaha).

The weather having turned for the worst made racing conditions treacherous and after consultation with the riders the track was washed down to clear the slippery surface of mud and leaves, while straw bales were placed around the Esses. The prestigious 500cc Gold Cup race was then brought forward to give the stars a chance to try out the improved conditions before the all important MCN Superbike British Championship race.

Barry Sheene was an early leader on his World Championship RG500 Suzuki, but slid off, at low speed, at Mount Hairpin. Sheene was unhurt but the tumble dislodged one of his carburettors and although he was able to remount and rejoin the race at the tail of the field for a couple of laps, he finally had to stop when the carb fell off again.

This left circuit first-timer, Wil Hartog (496 Texaco Heron Suzuki) being chased by Dave Potter, who was also forced to retire the Ted Broad, 500 Suzuki.

Hartog went on to comfortably win the Gold Trophy, valued at £5,000, from Finn Tepi Lansivuori (496 Suzuki) with Yorkshireman Phil Mellor (500 Rae Suzuki) third, rapidly making a name for himself at the Scarborough hillside circuit.

Barry Sheene and most of the top Superbike contenders wanted the chance to ride without championship pressure in the MCN/Brut British Superbike race, so they asked for the points to be taken away from the round. But after a meeting between Motor Cycle News and the meeting’s organisers the points stood and the riders lined-up for the ten lap race, reduced from 15-laps because of the appalling weather conditions.

Mick Grant’s preference for the open road type circuit meant he once again started as favourite for pulling off a win against the daunting opposition of Barry Sheene and championship leader Dave Potter. Grant carefully tip-toed his 750 Team Life Kawasaki around Mere Hairpin on the opening lap to lead Sheene and circuit newcomer Wil Hartog, on the Works Texaco Heron 653cc Suzuki’s up Quarry Hill.

On the following laps, Hartog got himself between leader Grant and Sheene, with the leading trio were being trailed by Steve Parrish (750 Castrol Yamaha), Roger Marshall (747 Beale Yamaha), Dave Potter (750 Ted Broad Yamaha), Kevin Stowe (747 Coppock Yamaha), Barry Ditchburn (747 Yamaha), Bob Smith (750 Yamaha), Tony Rutter (747 Yamaha) and George Fogarty (746 Yamaha).

Former World Champion, Sheene, going for his fifth Superbike title, charged through to second place, then took over the lead on the fourth lap and by the sixth lap had pulled out a ten second advantage over Grant, with a further eleven seconds between Grant and Hartog.

Sheene continued to put on his best home performance of the year and took the flag a magnificent 15 seconds ahead of Grant’s three-cylinder Kawasaki. Sheene also recorded the fastest lap of the race which bagged him an additional two points. Both Parrish and Marshall were catching the likeable Dutchman and on the last lap they were about to pounce at Mountside Hairpin, when Hartog’s machine slid from under him, he hastily remounted but had to be content with fifth place.

Potter, born in Yorkshire but now living in Orpington, Kent, suffered a mysterious misfire on his privately entered Yamaha which dropped him down to sixth place losing him ground in the championship table, as he now trailed Sheene by 13 points.

Sheene’s masterful performance over the tricky, narrow mountainside track in horrendous conditions had the rain-soaked crowd cheering wildly and also won him the admiration of his fellow competitors, with strong praise coming from Grant saying: “He rode absolutely fantastically today, there was no catching him.”

For Parrish’s excellent third place, he became the first holder of the Geoff Barry Trophy for the best non-Works finisher. The trophy was presented by Mrs Alice Barry in memory of her husband Geoff, who tragically lost his life at the 1977 Ulster GP, whose favourite English track was Scarborough, the award is now held annually.

At the end of the season, Sheene collected his third consecutive MCN/Brut 33 Superbike title, a safe 33 points ahead of nearest rival Potter.

The Forward Trust 1000cc race started without any rain but three laps from the end it poured down once more. Barry Sheene might have lost his 500cc World title, but he was far from being over the hill, as the opposition discovered to their cost when he fired his 653 Texaco Heron Suzuki to the head of the field.

Sheene was never headed and crossed the line a massive 26 seconds ahead of Grant on the factory 744-3 Kawasaki. Having an incredible ride into third place was Grimsby-rider, Roger Marshall (750 Beale Yamaha), competing in his first season as a professional racer. He’d only just qualified on the back row of the grid and carved his way through both the field and the flying spray into a rostrum position.

Wil Hartog (653 Texaco Heron Suzuki) held off Dave Potter (Broad Yamaha) for fourth and Barry Ditchburn (747 Griffiths Yamaha) took a fine sixth after being down in eleventh position at the end of the first lap.

Steve Parrish (750 Castrol Yamaha) withdrew from a front-running position suffering with a painful hand injury, he explained: “I was following Dave Potter and a stone flew up from his rear wheel and hit me right on my little finger on my clutch hand.”

The ACU TT Formula One event lost one its front runners before the race had even started, due to John Cowie’s earlier 125cc practice crash, but this did not detract from the cracking three-way battle that developed for the lead. Eight-times World Champion Phil Read, making his debut on the Mocheck Honda, Steve Tonkin and George Fogarty both aboard Sports Motorcycles Ducati’s pulled away from the rest of the field and were in close company throughout.

Read led until the fifth lap when Fogarty took over the running and then the rain started to fall heavily again. Fogarty looked all set for victory on the final lap, but slipped off in the tricky conditions at Mountside Hairpin, allowing Tonkin to nip through to take his second victory of the day ahead of Read.

Fogarty quickly remounted to finish third ahead of a very brave and determined Steve Manship, who raced at Scarborough despite a painful right arm, on which he’d had a two hour operation following a training spill at Mallory Park.

Manship, a partner in a highly successful central heating contractor business in Leicester, had tested the factory Honda, at Brands Hatch, three days before the Gold Cup meeting and decided that he was fit enough to race the Peckett and McNab-framed, Formula One machine, at Oliver’s Mount. But the twisty, hilly, bumpy circuit gave him quite a pounding and after practice the 29-year-old admitted that his broken ribs had spread apart once more, but anxious not to let down his new sponsors he kept on racing. His fourth place delighted Barry Symmons, the Honda Racing Manager.

With John Cowie out of the race, Read’s second spot was enough to lift him into the championship lead.

Cowie soon recovered from his broken collarbone to clinch the 1978 Formula One Championship for Peckett and McNab, but then seriously damaged his elbow at the Brands Hatch season ending meeting which forced him into retirement, later emigrating to Australia.

Motor Cycle/Life International Sidecar Championship - 10 Laps

There was drama in the heats for the British Championship sidecar race as current British Sidecar Championship leaders, Derek Jones/Brian Ayres and Brian Webb/Colin Booker both failed to qualify.

In his heat, Jones, a 35-year-old toolmaker from Greenford, Middlesex, started the race in neutral, leaving the grid at the back of the pack and was unable to force his 750 Daytona Yamaha through the field quickly enough on the narrow track. A dejected Jones said: “I was held up for a lap or two and then when I did get past it was too late, it’s a mistake I won’t be making again.”

Webb had trouble with his 750 Yamaha engine, which was going on only three-cylinders and super Scots, Jock Taylor/James Neal, fresh from a magnificent fourth place at the Czech GP, also failed to qualify their 750 Fowler Yamaha after spinning off at Mere Hairpin.

The three sidecar heats were won by Alan May/Mick Gray (750 Yamaha), Mick Boddice/Chas Birks (750 Woodhouse Yamaha) and husband & wife team, Dennis/Julia Bingham (750 Yamaha).

With the top championship contenders absent from the grid it gave an opportunity for other pairings to capitalise on the valuable points at stake in the rain-sodden race. The pouring rain pleased pole-position starters, Boddice/Birks as they made sure they weren’t going to squander a certain 15 points by leading from start to finish.

Second place went to May/Gray ahead of West German, Werner Schwarzel and passenger Andreas Huber, having started well down the grid after hitting trouble in practice on Helmet Fath’s four-cylinder 500cc ARO. Dennis and Julia Bingham had been holding third place for most of the race before being passed by Schwarzel.

Lying third in the championship before the start of the race, Boddice/Birks win brought them within striking distance of the leaders in the British championship, as they were now only one point behind Jones/Ayres in the ACU rankings. Overjoyed with their success, Boddice said: “It should make the last two rounds of the championship at Mallory Park and Brands Hatch interesting to say the least.”

The 1978 Life-sponsored ACU Britiish Sidecar Championship went down to a thrilling last-leg decider at Brands Hatch in October, with the title going to Jones/Ayres after they finished third ahead of main opponents Webb/Booker and Boddice/Birks. The race was won by Taylor/Neal after a race long battle with World ranked No.2 Alain Michel/Stu Collins.

Graham Waring

St Helen’s rider, Graham Waring, tragically lost his life at the Gold Cup meeting, in a racing accident during the first heat of the International Junior for 350cc machines.

Graham was a motor mechanic and had been riding competitively since 1971. He first raced at Darley Moor in 1971 and soon began winning at Croft & Oulton Park. In 1974 he won his first Manx Grand Prix replica, with an ex-Phil Carpenter Yamaha. Sponsorship soon followed from MJK Civil Engineering Ltd for 1975-76. Graham became Darley Moor 250cc Champion with six wins in 1975 and was well placed in the Isle of Man Production TT. In 1976, he became the ACU 250cc Star Champion with 49 points from 8 meetings, as well as home International wins and places.

Graham was just starting to get his name noticed with some good results and was on the verge of becoming a potential works rider, with fine rides at both of Ireland’s premier road races, the North West 200 and Ulster GP, when his life was tragically cut short by the sport he loved.