Stavros chucks it away
1977 British Grand Prix, Silverstone, August 14
Barry Sheene had already wrapped up his second consecutive 500cc world championship title by the time the British Grand Prix came around in 1977 and he was odds-on favourite to win the race in front of 60,000 home fans. But after he retired with a broken head gasket midway through, it fell to his Texaco Heron Suzuki team-mate, and best mate, Steve Parrish, to go for glory. Parrish takes up the story:
"It was handy when Sheene went out of the race at about half distance. I was actually in front of him at the time but he probably would have passed me anyway. So I was having a great race battling it out with Wil Hartog, Pat Hennen, and John Williams. We were all dicking around and tripping over each other but then I made a bit of a break and got away and was just counting the laps down to the finish, supremely confident that the win was mine.
"When I came across the line to start the last lap, there was Mr Sheene with his leathers tied around his waist and with his Gary Nixon T-shirt on holding my pit board out. He had chalked 'Gas it w*nker!' on it. I found out later that I had a lead of about 2.8 seconds - the race was a done deal - but I gassed it thinking someone was catching me and I promptly fell off at the very next corner.
"In my defence, it had actually starting raining slightly. Just a slight drizzle but I think it was enough to make me crash. John Williams inherited the lead after I crashed and he in turn had a two second lead over Pat Hennen but John crashed out at the next corner after me so I think there was definitely a bit of rain about. To Barry, hanging out that pit board was just a bit of fun. He thought 'Christ, Stavros can't lose this now. He could push the thing round now and still win' but I wasn't laughing as I was lying on my arse. I thought 'What have I done?' and was hoping I'd wake up any minute and find it was all just a bad dream.
"Barry was really pissed off because Hennen won the race and he didn't like him. Suzuki was pissed off too because I had thrown away a certain win so they sacked me and kept Pat in the team which didn't please Barry either. It also cost me third place in the world championship so it was a bad day all round. But I didn't blame Barry for making me crash, it was my own fault."
What happened next? Parrish switched to racing trucks in the 1980s, becoming a multiple British and European champion. He also managed Yamaha’s British Superbike team before becoming better known as a TV commentator and one of the country’s most entertaining after dinner speakers and hosts.
Sheene vs Roberts
1979 British Grand Prix, Silverstone, August 12
Kenny Roberts had already taken the 500cc world title away from his arch rival Barry Sheene in 1978 and Sheene was desperate for revenge – and equally desperate to finally win his home GP. The pair were so evenly matched at Silverstone that their duel became one of the all-time GP classics and is still considered to be the best British bike GP of all time. Sheene never did win his home race but, as he himself said after his epic duel with Roberts, 'It couldn't have come much closer I suppose.'
Speaking in 2002, Kenny Roberts said that "Sheene and me were the two fastest guys on the racetrack. I couldn’t pull away from him and he couldn’t pull away from me. I had advantages in faster corners. I could get through Abbey flat in fourth and I’d never seen anyone else do it at that time. And if I could do it one time I would get ten bike lengths on anyone I was racing. That was the only sort of plan I had."
Sheene had his own plan, of sorts, as he also recalled in a 2002 interview. "It was always going to be a last lap job. My plan was always to get him into Woodcote on the last lap. I was going to pass him on the brakes and I knew I was quicker going around Woodcote."
Dutch rider Wil Hartog had been the early race leader, with Sheene and Roberts in close attendance (top picture), but dropped off after a few laps. As Sheene and Roberts passed and re-passed the other without actually breaking away, it became a high speed game of cat and mouse with the only visible advantage being the superior speed of Roberts’ Yamaha down the super-fast Hangar straight. At one point, as Sheene passed Roberts, he stuck two fingers up at him behind his back, famously inciting commentator Murray Walker to shout ‘Sheene’s waving at Kenny Roberts.’
It wasn’t exactly waving but the gesture did show the friendly rivalry between the two supposedly sworn enemies and it was a real indication of how much the pair were enjoying the race.
By the start of the last lap, Sheene appeared to have lost any hope of an elusive home win thanks to backmarker George Fogarty (father of Carl). Fogarty unwittingly got in the way of Sheene and a 10-yard deficit suddenly became a 200-yard disadvantage. It looked like the race was over. But showing an uncanny speed and determination, Sheene made up all but 0.03 seconds of the time he’d lost on Roberts and so very nearly slipped past him on the line, as he’d planned all along. Had the finish line been a few yards farther along the track, it could have been a victory for Sheene but as it was no-one felt cheated. They had witnessed one of the greatest races ever and surely Sheene’s finest, even though he didn’t win.
Both riders were visibly jubilant as they took their helmets off, with Sheene declaring on the podium that ‘It’s good to race with Kenny. He always gives me lots of room and I always give him lots of room. That’s the way to race.’
What happened next? Sheene’s career went on the decline after the 1979 season, due to a combination of horrific injuries and substandard machinery. After a brief foray into car racing and a stint as a primetime TV host on ITV’s Just Amazing! he emigrated to Australia and built up a successful career as a property developer and a no-nonsense commentator for Australian TV. Sadly died of cancer, aged 52, in 2003.
