The 1977 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 29th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
Suzuki saw off a strong challenge from Yamaha to take their second consecutive 500cc crown. Angel Nieto made it three 50cc titles in a row on a Bultaco while Morbidelli would win an impressive double world championship in the 125cc and 250cc divisions. Pier Paolo Bianchi successfully defended his 125cc title while fellow countryman Mario Lega captured the 250cc championship for the tiny Italian concern. The 350cc crown went to Takazumi Katayama on a special three cylinder Yamaha built in Holland, making him the first-ever Japanese world champion. Barry Sheene made it two premier titles in a row, winning from two Americans, Steve Baker and Pat Hennen. [1]
The season was marred by numerous fatal accidents, including a terrible crash at the 350cc Austrian Grand Prix that claimed the life of Swiss rider, Hans Stadelmann and seriously injuring Johnny Cecotto, Patrick Fernandez, Dieter Braun and Franco Uncini. [1] [2] The accident led to a rider's strike in the 500 class, although organizers pressed on with Jack Findlay winning from a reduced field of competitors. [3] Braun decided to end his riding career after recovering from his injuries. [4]
In addition to this incident, the Yugoslavian Grand Prix at the notorious Opatija Circuit was also stricken by tragedy. After having been issued an ultimatum by the FIM, the Yugoslavian race organizers failed to take action to improve the safety of the circuit – which was notorious for its numerous road-side hazards including solid rock walls and steep, barely protected drop offs. [5] The event was a disaster with Italian rider, Giovanni Ziggiotto, crashing during practice for the 250cc race when his motorcycle's engine seized and he was hit from behind by Per-Edward Carlson. [6] He died four days later in a hospital. [7] During the 50 cc race, Ulrich Graf crashed when his bike developed a rear tire puncture and he was thrown into a stone wall. [6] He suffered serious head injuries and died later in a hospital. [5] The Opatija Circuit was never used again for any kind of racing and, the Yugoslavian Grand Prix was moved to the nearby Rijeka permanent circuit. [6]
Despite finishing second in the 500cc championship and winning the Formula 750 title, Baker would be released by Yamaha at the end of the year. [1] Giacomo Agostini would retire after the season, ending his seventeen-year career with a record 122 Grand Prix victories and 15 World Championships. [1]
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Place | Rider | Number | Country | Machine | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Barry Sheene | 7 | United Kingdom | Suzuki | 107 | 6 |
2 | Steve Baker | 32 | United States | Yamaha | 80 | 0 |
3 | Pat Hennen | 40 | United States | Suzuki | 67 | 1 |
4 | Johnny Cecotto | Venezuela | Yamaha | 50 | 2 | |
5 | Steve Parrish | United Kingdom | Suzuki | 39 | 0 | |
6 | Giacomo Agostini | 1 | Italy | Yamaha | 37 | 0 |
7 | Franco Bonera | Italy | Suzuki | 37 | 0 | |
8 | Philippe Coulon | 6 | Switzerland | Suzuki | 36 | 0 |
9 | Teuvo Lansivuori | 2 | Finland | Suzuki | 35 | 0 |
10 | Wil Hartog | Netherlands | Suzuki | 30 | 1 | |
11 | Marco Lucchinelli | Italy | 25 | |||
12 | Virginio Ferrari | Italy | 21 | |||
13 | Michel Rougerie | France | 21 | |||
14 | Armando Toracca | Italy | 21 | |||
15 | Max Wiener | Austria | 20 | |||
16 | Jack Findlay | Australia | 17 | 1 | ||
17 | Alex George | 15 | ||||
18 | Helmut Kassner | 9 | ||||
19 | Steve Wright | 6 | ||||
20 | Franz Heller | 6 | ||||
21 | Christian Estrosi | France | 6 | |||
22 | Michael Schmid | Austria | 5 | |||
23 | John Newbold | 4 | ||||
24 | Derek Chatterton | 4 | ||||
25 | Anton Mang | 4 | ||||
26 | Charlie Williams | 4 | ||||
27 | Boet Van Dulmen | Netherlands | 3 | |||
28 | Jean Philippe Orban | Belgium | 2 | |||
29 | Franz Rau | 2 | ||||
30 | Kevin Wrettom | 1 | ||||
31 | Alan North | 1 | ||||
32 | Karl Auer | 1 | ||||
Place | Rider | Number | Country | Machine | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Takazumi Katayama | 7 | Japan | Yamaha | 95 | 5 |
2 | Tom Herron | 4 | United Kingdom | Yamaha | 56 | 0 |
3 | Jon Ekerold | South Africa | Yamaha | 54 | 0 | |
4 | Michel Rougerie | France | Yamaha | 50 | 1 | |
5 | Kork Ballington | South Africa | Yamaha | 46 | 2 | |
6 | Olivier Chevallier | 9 | France | Yamaha | 39 | 0 |
7 | Christian Sarron | France | Yamaha | 38 | 0 | |
8 | Patrick Fernandez | France | Yamaha | 34 | 0 | |
9 | Johnny Cecotto | 2 | Venezuela | Yamaha | 30 | 2 |
10 | Alan North | South Africa | Yamaha | 30 | 1 | |
11 | Bruno Kneubühler | 24 | ||||
12 | Victor Soussan | 21 | ||||
13 | Penti Korhonen | 20 | ||||
14 | Pekka Nurmi | 18 | ||||
15 | Victor Palomo | 18 | ||||
16 | Giacomo Agostini | 16 | ||||
17 | Patrick Pons | 15 | ||||
18 | Walter Villa | 14 | ||||
19 | Mario Lega | 12 | ||||
20 | Franco Uncini | 11 | ||||
21 | John Dodds | 11 | ||||
22 | John Williams | 10 | ||||
23 | Eero Hyvärinen | 10 | ||||
24 | Eddie Roberts | 8 | ||||
25 | Philip Bouzanne | 6 | ||||
26 | Alan Stewart | 6 | ||||
27 | P.Mezerhane | 4 | ||||
28 | Seppo Rossi | 4 | ||||
29 | Helmut Kassner | 4 | ||||
30 | Michel Frutschi | 4 | ||||
31 | Jean Claude Hogrel | 3 | ||||
32 | C.Bellon | 3 | ||||
33 | Tapio Virtanen | 3 | ||||
34 | Eduardo Aleman | 2 | ||||
35 | D.Boulom | 2 | ||||
36 | A.Hockley | 1 | ||||
37 | R.Tausani | 1 | ||||
38 | John Newbold | 1 | ||||
39 | Karl Auer | 1 | ||||
40 | Chas Mortimer | 1 | ||||
Place | Rider | Number | Country | Machine | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mario Lega | Italy | Morbidelli | 85 | 1 | |
2 | Franco Uncini | Italy | Harley-Davidson | 72 | 2 | |
3 | Walter Villa | 1 | Italy | Harley-Davidson | 67 | 3 |
4 | Takazumi Katayama | Japan | Yamaha | 58 | 1 | |
5 | Tom Herron | 4 | United Kingdom | Yamaha | 54 | 0 |
6 | Kork Ballington | South Africa | Yamaha | 49 | 1 | |
7 | Alan North | 6 | South Africa | Yamaha | 43 | 0 |
8 | Mick Grant | United Kingdom | Kawasaki | 42 | 2 | |
9 | Jon Ekerold | South Africa | Yamaha | 42 | 1 | |
10 | Patrick Fernandez | France | Yamaha | 28 | 0 | |
11 | Barry Ditchburn | 27 | ||||
12 | Victor Soussan | 25 | ||||
13 | Olivier Chevallier | 25 | ||||
14 | Christian Sarron | 23 | ||||
15 | Aldo Nannini | 19 | ||||
16 | Penti Korhonen | 15 | ||||
17 | Akihiko Kiyohara | 14 | ||||
18 | Guy Bertin | 11 | ||||
19 | Pekka Nurmi | 11 | ||||
20 | Victor Palomo | 10 | ||||
21 | Eric Saul | 10 | ||||
22 | John Dodds | 9 | ||||
23 | Vinicio Salmi | 8 | ||||
24 | Masahiro Wada | 8 | ||||
25 | Pierluigi Conforti | 6 | ||||
26 | Bruno Kneubühler | 6 | ||||
27 | Michel Rougerie | 6 | ||||
28 | Chas Mortimer | 5 | ||||
29 | Jean-François Baldé | 4 | ||||
30 | Eero Hyvärinen | 3 | ||||
31 | Philip Bouzanne | 2 | ||||
32 | Paolo Pileri | 2 | ||||
33 | Patrick Pons | 2 | ||||
34 | M.Corradini | 1 | ||||
35 | Vanes Francini | 1 | ||||
Place | Rider | Number | Country | Machine | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pier Paolo Bianchi | 1 | Italy | Morbidelli | 131 | 7 |
2 | Eugenio Lazzarini | 7 | Italy | Morbidelli | 105 | 1 |
3 | Angel Nieto | 2 | Spain | Bultaco | 80 | 3 |
4 | Jean-Louis Guignabodet | 6 | France | Morbidelli | 62 | 0 |
5 | Anton Mang | 5 | West Germany | Morbidelli | 55 | 0 |
6 | Gert Bender | West Germany | Bender | 38 | 0 | |
7 | Harald Bartol | Austria | Morbidelli | 32 | 0 | |
8 | Hans Müller | Switzerland | Morbidelli | 32 | 0 | |
9 | Stefan Dörflinger | Switzerland | Morbidelli | 32 | 0 | |
10 | Pierluigi Conforti | Italy | Morbidelli | 30 | 1 | |
11 | Maurizio Massimiani | 22 | ||||
12 | Giuseppe Zigiotto | 21 | ||||
13 | Julien Van Zeebroeck | 20 | ||||
14 | Ivan Carlsson | 14 | ||||
15 | Ermanno Giuliano | 11 | ||||
16 | Ivan Palazzase | 10 | ||||
17 | Sauro Pazzaglia | 9 | ||||
18 | Rino Pretelli | 8 | ||||
19 | Claudio Lusuardi | 8 | ||||
20 | Matti Kinnunen | 7 | ||||
21 | Thierry Noblesse | 6 | ||||
22 | Willy Perez | 5 | ||||
23 | Johann Parzer | 5 | ||||
24 | Rolf Blatter | 5 | ||||
25 | B.Johansson | 5 | ||||
26 | Cees Van Dongen | 5 | ||||
27 | Horst Seel | 4 | ||||
28 | Rafael Olavarria | 4 | ||||
29 | Janos Drapal | 4 | ||||
30 | Thierry Espié | 4 | ||||
31 | Werner Schmied | 3 | ||||
32 | G.Willi | 2 | ||||
33 | Jan Huberts | 2 | ||||
34 | Patrick Plisson | 2 | ||||
35 | Enrico Cereda | 1 | ||||
36 | Paolo Cipriani | 1 | ||||
37 | J.Novarrete | 1 | ||||
Place | Rider | Number | Country | Machine | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Angel Nieto | 1 | Spain | Bultaco | 87 | 3 |
2 | Eugenio Lazzarini | 4 | Italy | Kreidler | 72 | 2 |
3 | Ricardo Tormo | Spain | Bultaco | 69 | 1 | |
4 | Herbert Rittberger | 2 | West Germany | Kreidler | 53 | 1 |
5 | Patrick Plisson | France | ABF | 26 | 0 | |
6 | Stefan Dörflinger | 7 | Switzerland | Kreidler | 26 | 0 |
7 | Jean-Louis Guignabodet | France | Morbidelli | 14 | 0 | |
8 | Hans Hummel | 9 | Austria | Kreidler | 11 | 0 |
9 | Julien van Zeebroeck | 6 | Belgium | Kreidler | 10 | 0 |
10 | Ramon Gali | Spain | Derbi | 10 | 0 | |
11 | Ulrich Graf | 9 | ||||
12 | Hagen Klein | 9 | ||||
13 | Cees Van Dongen | 8 | ||||
14 | Theo Timmer | 8 | ||||
15 | Aldo Pero | 7 | ||||
16 | Günter Schirnhofer | 7 | ||||
17 | Rolf Blatter | 6 | ||||
18 | Rudolf Kunz | 5 | ||||
19 | Claudio Lusuardi | 5 | ||||
20 | Wolfgang Müller | 4 | ||||
21 | Engelbert Kip | 3 | ||||
22 | Adrijan Bernetic | 3 | ||||
23 | Lennart Lundgren | 2 | ||||
24 | Ingo Emmerich | 2 | ||||
25 | C.Dumont | 2 | ||||
26 | E.Mischiatti | 2 | ||||
27 | Juup Bosman | 1 | ||||
28 | J.Novarrete | 1 | ||||
29 | Peter Looijensteijn | 1 | ||||
30 | Jacques Hutteau | 1 | ||||
Randy Mamola is an American former professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between 1979 and 1992. A 13-time Premier Class race winner, Mamola was one of the most charismatic Grand Prix road racers of his generation, becoming a favourite because of his interaction with race fans both on and off the track as well as his aggressive and spirited riding style.
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The 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 30th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
The 1975 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 27th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
The 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 31st F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
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The 1976 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 28th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
The 1974 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 26th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
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The 1981 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 33rd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
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