1979 British motorcycle Grand Prix

  1979 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 13 races in the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	12 August 1979
Location	Silverstone Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.718 km (2.932 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kenny Roberts Yamaha Fastest lap Rider Barry Sheene Suzuki Podium First Kenny Roberts Yamaha Second Barry Sheene Suzuki Third Wil Hartog Suzuki
350 cc
Pole position Rider Eric Saul Adriatica Fastest lap Rider Kork Ballington Kawasaki Podium First Kork Ballington Kawasaki Second Gregg Hansford Kawasaki Third Jeff Sayle Yamaha
250 cc
Pole position Rider Kork Ballington Kawasaki Fastest lap Rider Kork Ballington Kawasaki Podium First Kork Ballington Kawasaki Second Randy Mamola Yamaha Third Anton Mang Kawasaki
125 cc
Pole position Rider Hans Müller MBA Fastest lap Rider Pier Paolo Bianchi Minarelli Podium First Ángel Nieto Minarelli Second Gert Bender Bender Third Guy Bertin Motobécane
Sidecar (B2A)
Pole position Rider Derek Jones Daytona-Yamaha Fastest lap Rider Jock Taylor Windle-Yamaha Podium First Rolf Biland Schmid-Yamaha Second Jock Taylor Windle-Yamaha Third Dick Greasley Yamaha
Sidecars (B2B)
Pole position Rider Rolf Biland LCR-Yamaha Fastest lap Rider Alain Michel Seymaz-Yamaha Podium First Alain Michel Seymaz-Yamaha Second Bruno Holzer LCR-Yamaha Third Masato Kumano Yamaha

The 1979 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh event of the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It was held at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire in the United Kingdom.

The 500cc British Grand Prix would be one of the closest races in Grand Prix history.^[1] The race began with Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts and Wil Hartog breaking away from the rest of the field. At the midpoint of the race, Hartog fell off the pace as Sheene and Roberts continued to battle for the lead.^[2] They continued to swap the lead throughout the 28 lap event with Roberts winning ahead of Sheene by a narrow margin of just three-hundreds of a second.^[1]

Minutes before the start of the race, Roberts' Yamaha blew a seal and sprayed the bike with oil.^[2] His crew managed to replace the seal in time but, Roberts went to the starting line with his gloves coated with oil, causing his hand to slip on the throttle during the race.^[2]

After an eleven-year absence from world championship racing, Honda returned to competition with the exotic, four-stroke NR500 ridden by riders Mick Grant and Takazumi Katayama.^[3] The motorcycle featured an engine with oval-shaped cylinders as well as a monocoque chassis. Both bikes retired from the race, Grant crashing out on the first turn after the bike spilled oil onto his rear tire. Katayama retired on the seventh lap due to ignition problems.^[3]

1979 500cc British Grand Prix final standings^[4]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points
1	Kenny Roberts	1	United States	Yamaha	15
2	Barry Sheene	7	United Kingdom	Suzuki	12
3	Wil Hartog	3	Netherlands	Suzuki	10
4	Virginio Ferrari	11	Italy	Suzuki	8
5	Boet van Dulmen	20	Netherlands	Suzuki	6
6	Christian Sarron	19	France	Yamaha	5
7	Franco Uncini	12	Italy	Suzuki	4
8	Philippe Coulon	18	Switzerland	Suzuki	3
9	Marco Lucchinelli	9	Italy	Suzuki	2
10	John Newbold	43	United Kingdom	Suzuki	1
11	Carlo Perugini		Italy	Suzuki
12	Gianni Rolando	41	Italy	Suzuki
13	Peter Sjostrom	16	Sweden	Suzuki
14	Keith Huewen	49	United Kingdom	Yamaha

1979 350cc British Grand Prix final standings^[5]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Time/Retired	Points
1	Kork Ballington	1	South Africa	Kawasaki	38min 9.91sec	15
2	Gregg Hansford	15	Australia	Kawasaki		12
3	Jeff Sayle	25	Australia	Yamaha		10
4	Michel Frutschi	14	Switzerland	Yamaha		8
5	Roland Freymond	24	Switzerland	Yamaha		6
6	Michel Rougerie	55	France	Yamaha		5
7	Olivier Chevallier	10	France	Chevallier-Yamaha		4
8	Tony Head	47	United Kingdom	Yamaha		3
9	Alan North	43	South Africa	Yamaha		2
10	Jon Ekerold	4	South Africa	Yamaha		1

1979 250cc British Grand Prix final standings^[6]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points
1	Kork Ballington	1	South Africa	Kawasaki	15
2	Randy Mamola	17	United States	Yamaha	12
3	Anton Mang	5	West Germany	Kawasaki	10
4	Graeme McGregor	35	Australia	Yamaha	8
5	Roland Freymond	39	Switzerland	Yamaha	6
6	Olivier Chevallier	20	France	Chevallier-Yamaha	5
7	Edi Stoellinger	28	Austria	Yamaha	4
8	Patrick Fernandez	2	France	Yamaha	3
9	Christian Estrosi	12	France	Kawasaki	2
10	Tony Head	51	United Kingdom	Yamaha	1
11	Eero Hyvarinen	38	Finland	Yamaha
12	Eric Saul	21	France	Bimota Adriatica Yamaha
13	Rene Delaby	23	Belgium	Yamaha

1979 125cc British Grand Prix final standings^[7]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points
1	Angel Nieto	2	Spain	Minarelli	15
2	Gert Bender	11	West Germany	Bender	12
3	Guy Bertin	5	France	Motobécane	10
4	Stefan Dörflinger	12	Switzerland	Morbidelli	8
5	Pier Paolo Bianchi	3	Italy	Minarelli	6
6	Maurizio Massimiami	6	Italy	MBA	5
7	Hans Müller	7	Switzerland	MBA	4
8	August Auinger	16	Austria	Morbidelli	3
9	Bruno Kneubühler	17	Switzerland	MBA	2
10	Clive Horton	10	United Kingdom	Morbidelli	1

B2A Sidecars Standings ^[8]

Pos	Rider	Passenger	Number	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Rolf Biland	Kurt Waltisperg	1	Schmid-Yamaha	33min 39.47sec	15
2	Jock Taylor	Benga Johansson	7	Windle-Yamaha		12
3	Dick Greasley	John Parkins	5	Busch-Yamaha		10
4	Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	4	Yamaha		8
5	Rolf Steinhausen	Kenny Arthur	12	KSA-Yamaha		6
6	Walter Ohrmann	Erich Schmitz	27	Yamaha		5
7	Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	13	Busch-Yamaha		4
8	John Barker	Nick Cutmore	28	Reynoldson-Yamaha		3
9	Hermann Huber	Bernhard Schappacher	14	Krauser-Yamaha		2
10	Kalevi Rahko	Kari Laatikainen	16	Yamaha		1

B2B Sidecars Standings ^[9]

Pos	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Alain Michel	Michael Burkhard	Seymaz-Yamaha		15
2	Bruno Holzer	Karl Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha		12
3	Masato Kumano	Isao Arifuku	Yamaha		10
4	Heinz Luthringshauser	Karl Paul	Yamaha		8
5	Yvan Trolliet	Marc Petel	Seymaz-Yamaha		6
6	Bernard Chabert	Patrice Daire	CB-Yamaha		5
7	Cees Smit	Charles Vroegop	Seymaz-Yamaha		4
8	Klaus Sprengel	Derek John Booth	Suzuki		3
9	Steve Sinnott	John Horspole	?-Yamaha		2
10	Rudolf Reinhard	Karin Sterzenbach	GEP-Yamaha		1

References

External links

• A Thriller At Silverstone - Sports Illustrated, August 20, 1979
• 1979 British Grand Prix on YouTube Part 1
• 1979 British Grand Prix on YouTube Part 2
• 1979 British Grand Prix on YouTube Part 3
• 1979 British Grand Prix on YouTube Part 4