1978 British motorcycle Grand Prix

1978 British Grand Prix
Race details
Race 10 of 13 races in the; 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	6 August 1978
Official name	John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility; 4.711 km (2.927 mi);
500 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Michel Rougerie
Time	1:30.980
Fastest lap
Rider	Kenny Roberts
Time	1:31.38
Podium
First	Kenny Roberts
Second	Steve Manship
Third	Barry Sheene
350 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington
Time	1:34.600
Fastest lap
Rider	Tom Herron
Time	1:33.830
Podium
First	Kork Ballington
Second	Tom Herron
Third	Mick Grant
250 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington
Time	1:37.140
Fastest lap
Rider	Anton Mang
Time	1:37.400
Podium
First	Anton Mang
Second	Tom Herron
Third	Raymond Roche
125 cc
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Eugenio Lazzarini
Time	1:42.690
Fastest lap
Rider	Eugenio Lazzarini
Time	1:42.220
Podium
First	Ángel Nieto
Second	Clive Horton
Third	Eugenio Lazzarini
Sidecar (B2A)
Rider
Pole position
Rider	Rolf Biland
Time	1:38.190
Fastest lap
Rider	Rolf Biland
Time	1:46.920
Podium
First	Alain Michel
Second	Rolf Biland
Third	Jock Taylor

The 1978 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 5–6 August 1978 at Silverstone Circuit.

500cc race report

Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene, the two championship contenders arrived in England for the British Grand Prix with only three points separating them.^[4] The race ended in controversy when torrential rains during the race, along with pit stops for tire changes by both Roberts and Sheene, created confusion among official scorers.^[5] Eventually, Roberts was declared the winner with Sheene being awarded third place behind privateer Steve Manship, who did not stop for a tire change.^[6]^[7]^[8]

500cc classification

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	1	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	55'56.930	15
2	43	Steve Manship		Suzuki	+8.050	12
3	7	Barry Sheene	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	+1'06.760	10
4	11	Marco Lucchinelli	Cagiva Corse	Suzuki	+1'29.350	8
5	2	Tepi Länsivuori		Suzuki	+1'56.980	6
6	22	Gianni Rolando	Team Librenti	Suzuki	+1 lap	5
7	4	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+1 lap	4
8	5	John Newbold	Ray Hamblin Motorcycles	Suzuki	+1 lap	3
9	8	Takazumi Katayama	Sarome & Motul Team	Yamaha	+1 lap	2
10	12	Virginio Ferrari	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	+1 lap	1
11	13	Michel Rougerie		Suzuki	+1 lap
12	16	John Williams	Team Appleby Glade	Suzuki	+1 lap
13	9	Alex George		Suzuki	+1 lap
14	42	Jack Middelburg		Suzuki	+1 lap
15	6	Steve Parrish		Suzuki	+2 laps
16	3	Philippe Coulon	Marlboro Nava Total	Suzuki	+2 laps
17	28	Gerhard Vogt	Bill Smith Racing	Suzuki	+2 laps
18	38	Peter Sjoström		Suzuki	+3 laps
19	17	John Woodley	Sid Griffiths Racing	Suzuki	+3 laps
20	37	Dick Alblas		Suzuki	+3 laps
Ret	??	Wil Hartog	Riemersma Racing	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Graziano Rossi	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	Accident
Ret	??	Franco Bonera	Team Kiwi Yamoto	Cagiva	Accident
Ret	??	Bruno Kneubühler	RSS Racing Team	Suzuki	Tyre problems
Ret	??	Dennis Ireland		Suzuki	Tyre problems
Ret	??	Roger Marshall	George Beale	Yamaha	Tyre problems
Ret	??	Jack Findlay		Suzuki	Tyre problems
Ret	??	Leslie van Breda		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Max Wiener		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Boet van Dulmen		Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Kevin Stowe	Harold Coppock	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Werner Nenning	Mobel Nenning Racing Team	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Steve Baker	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Franz Rau	Kazenmaier Autovermietung	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Graham Wood	Barton Spondon	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Dave Potter	Ted Broad	Suzuki	Retired
Ret	??	Ron Haslam	Mal Carter	Yamaha	Retired
Ret	??	Marc Fontan		Suzuki	Retired
Sources:^[8]^[9]^[10]

350 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	5	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	28	44:43.57	1	15
2	2	Tom Herron	Yamaha	28	+10.23	6	12
3	10	Mick Grant	Kawasaki	28	+23.01	10	10
4	4	Michel Rougerie	Yamaha	28	+52.43	5	8
5	23	Franco Bonera	Yamaha	28	+59.09		6
6	25	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	28	+59.76		5
7	7	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	28	+59.85	8	4
8	6	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	28	+1:00.24	3	3
9	28	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	28	+1:00.74		2
10	19	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	28	+1:30.23		1
11	51	Roland Freymond	Yamaha	28	+1:31.27
12	29	Paolo Pileri	Morbidelli	28	+1:31.48
13	50	Clive Padgett	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
14	44	Ian Richards	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
15	31	Sadao Asami	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
16	47	Jack Middelburg	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
17	40	Reino Eskelinen	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
18	41	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson	27	+1 lap
		Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha			2
		Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki			4
		Ray Quincey	Yamaha			7
		Raymond Roche	Yamaha			9
41 starters in total
^[9]^[11]

250 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	15	Anton Mang	Kawasaki	26	43:03.32		15
2	5	Tom Herron	Yamaha	26	+0.19	4	12
3	29	Raymond Roche	Yamaha	26	+23.45	9	10
4	10	Mick Grant	Kawasaki	26	+30.82	8	8
5	13	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	26	+30.97	7	6
6	26	Hans Müller	Yamaha	26	+31.48	5	5
7	18	Jean-François Baldé	Kawasaki	26	+31.64	10	4
8	9	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	26	+31.78		3
9	51	Roland Freymond	Yamaha	26	+59.31		2
10	43	Marc Fontan	Yamaha	26	+59.63		1
11	22	Clive Padgett	Yamaha	26	+1:10.30
12	21	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	26	+1:11.84
13	53	Hervé Moineau	Yamaha	26	+1:13.67
14	54	Greg Johnson	Yamaha	26	+1:21.87
15	33	Dudley Cramond	Yamaha	26	+1:31.36
16	32	Reino Eskelinen	Yamaha	26	+1:34.76
17	28	Sadao Asami	Yamaha	26	+1:35.41
18	30	Ken Nemoto	Yamaha	25	+1 lap
19	25	Harald Bartol	HBI	25	+1 lap
20	17	Bernard Murray	Yamaha	25	+1 lap
		Kork Ballington	Kawasaki			1
		Kenny Roberts	Yamaha			2
		Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki			3
		John Dodds	Yamaha			6
38 starters in total, 21 finishers
^[9]^[12]

125 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli	24	44:51.08	4	15
2	10	Clive Horton	Morbidelli	24	+17.02	8	12
3	2	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA	24	+21.20	1	10
4	38	Thierry Espié	Motobécane	24	+29.90	2	8
5	8	Hans Müller	Morbidelli	24	+40.67	5	6
6	7	Stefan Dörflinger	Morbidelli	24	+40.94	7	5
7	17	Per-Edward Carlson	Morbidelli	24	+45.37		4
8	39	Yves Dupont	Morbidelli	24	+1:01.91		3
9	4	Jean-Louis Guignabodet	Morbidelli	24	+1:10.39		2
10	20	Felice Agostini	Morbidelli	24	+1:10.65		1
11	43	Karl Fuchs	Morbidelli	24	+1:44.40
12	30	Cees van Dongen	Morbidelli	23	+1 lap
13	34	Daniel Meyer	Morbidelli	23	+1 lap
14	47	Ernst Fagerer	Morbidelli	23	+1 lap
15	24	Patrick Herouard	Morbidelli	23	+1 lap
16	29	Jan Ubels	Buton	22	+2 laps
17	36	Alain Pellet	Morbidelli	22	+2 laps
		Pierluigi Conforti	Morbidelli			3
		Harald Bartol	Morbidelli			6
		Bengt Johansson	Morbidelli			9
		Thierry Noblesse	Morbidelli			10
34 starters in total
^[9]

Sidecar classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	5	Alain Michel	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha	25	45:27.56	2	15
2	2	Rolf Biland	Kenny Williams	Beo-Yamaha	25	+11.36	1	12
3	17	Jock Taylor	James Neil	Windle-Yamaha	25	+1:02.13	5	10
4	14	Bill Hodgkins	John Parkins	Windle-Yamaha	25	+1:10.44		8
5	1	George O'Dell	Cliff Holland	Seymaz-Yamaha	25	+1:23.39	4	6
6	22	Mick Boddice	Chas Burns	Woodhouse-Yamaha	25	+1:27.92		5
7	18	Jean-François Monnin	Paul Gerard	Seymaz-Yamaha	25	+1:41.19		4
8	7	Dick Greasley	Gordon Russell	Busch-Yamaha	24	+1 lap	6	3
9	11	Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	Busch-Yamaha	24	+1 lap		2
10	6	Göte Brodin	Per-Erik Wickström	Yamaha	24	+1 lap	8	1
11	23	Cees Smit	Jan Smit	Seymaz-Yamaha	24	+1 lap
12	15	Hermann Huber	Bernd Schappacher	König	24	+1 lap
13	32	Gérard Corbaz	Roland Gabriel	Schmid-Yamaha	24	+1 lap
14	27	Derek Jones	Brian Ayres	Daytona-Yamaha	24	+1 lap
15	29	John Barker	Nick Cutmore	Yamaha	24	+1 lap
		Rolf Steinhausen	Wolfgang Kalauch	Seymaz-Yamaha			3
		Wolfgang Stropek	Karl Altrichter	Schmid-Yamaha			7
		Bruno Holzer	Karl Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha			9
		Hermann Schmid	Kenny Arthur	Schmid-Yamaha			10
31 starters in total, 21 finishers
^[9]^[13]

References

Previous race: 1978 Finnish Grand Prix	FIM Grand Prix World Championship 1978 season	Next race: 1978 German Grand Prix
Previous race: 1977 British Grand Prix	British Grand Prix	Next race: 1979 British Grand Prix

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