WILLING AND ABLE
Thirteen laps remain in the 1976 Australian Unlimited Grand Prix and the chase is on. Warren Willing on his privately entered Yamaha TZ750 is hunting Ikujiro Takai’s factory Yamaha 0W31.
Top speeds on Conrod Straight are 290km/h plus and Willing’s 1975 lap record has been knocked sideways. In the final count it will be bettered 45 times. The previous day, he had broken the magic 100mph (160km/h) lap average speed barrier. On lap 25, the 23-year-old Sydneysider clocks 2m15.68s. If you take 6.172km as the lap distance (see sidebar), that’s an average speed of 163.76km/h. Willing’s push builds on the first two parts of his race strategy, having nursed his tyres early on and gained seven seconds with a slick refuelling stop when both riders pitted on lap 17 of the scheduled 30.
Into the last third of the race and the 1974-75 Bathurst winner is cutting the diminutive 29-year-old Japanese rider’s advantage by a whole second on some laps. But he also feels the frustration of losing rhythm and hence time. Does he have sufficient laps? The temperature is dropping and the atmosphere is tense and dark clouds are rolling in over the Mountain.
Suddenly the circuit is drenched and officials have no option but to flag the race after 28 laps. Takai wins, three seconds ahead of Willing, with Kawasaki factory rider Masahiro Wada third and New Zealand’s John Woodley fourth on his Suzuki RG500.
Kawasaki’s main hope, Gregg Hansford, finishes ninth – after a troubled weekend that saw him switch between the recently introduced water-cooled KR750 and air-cooled H2R.
An incredible race, to be sure.
The Red Rocket’s new lap record stood until Graeme Crosby dipped into
