1975 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season explained

The 1975 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 27th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

1975 represented a changing of the guard in Grand Prix motorcycle racing, both for riders as well as machines. Giacomo Agostini would claim his final 500cc World Championship aboard a Yamaha two-stroke machine. This would also mark the first time a two-stroke machine had won the premier division.

Angel Nieto claimed his fourth world title for Kreidler in the 50cc class. In the 125cc division, the Morbidellis of Pileri and Bianchi dominated, finishing first and second in six of the ten events. Despite Michel Rougerie scoring more points, his Harley-Davidson teammate Walter Villa would take the 250cc title because of the "best of six finishes" rule. Nineteen-year-old newcomer Johnny Cecotto made an impressive debut at the season opening French Grand Prix where, he won the 250cc and 350cc races.^[1] He went on to claim the 350cc title, becoming the youngest-ever FIM World Champion at the time.

In the premier division, MV Agusta with Phil Read aboard, refused to go down easily. The Championship was not resolved until the tenth and final round in Czechoslovakia, when Agostini emerged triumphant to claim his fifteenth world title and the first in the premier 500cc class for a two-stroke motorcycle. Barry Sheene would also serve notice that he was an up and comer with victories at Assen and Sweden. The writing was on the wall for four-stroke machinery as eight of the top ten riders in the points standings were aboard two-stroke machines.

1975 Grand Prix season calendar

Round	Date	Race	Location	50cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	March 30	French Grand Prix	Paul Ricard		nowrap	Kent Andersson	nowrap	Johnny Cecotto	nowrap	Johnny Cecotto	nowrap	Giacomo Agostini	Report
2	April 20	Spanish Grand Prix	Jarama	Angel Nieto	Paolo Pileri	Walter Villa	nowrap	Giacomo Agostini		Report
3	May 4	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring		Paolo Pileri		Hideo Kanaya	Hideo Kanaya	Report
4	May 11	German Grand Prix	Hockenheimring	Angel Nieto	Paolo Pileri	Walter Villa	Johnny Cecotto	Giacomo Agostini	Report
5	May 18	Nations Grand Prix	Imola	Angel Nieto	Paolo Pileri	Walter Villa	Johnny Cecotto	Giacomo Agostini	Report
6	June 6	Isle of Man TT	nowrap	Snaefell Mountain			Chas Mortimer	Charlie Williams	Mick Grant	Report
7	June 28	Dutch TT	Assen	Angel Nieto	Paolo Pileri	Walter Villa	Dieter Braun	Barry Sheene	Report
8	July 6	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa	nowrap	Julien van Zeebroeck	Paolo Pileri	Johnny Cecotto		Phil Read	Report
9	July 20	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp	Eugenio Lazzarini	Paolo Pileri	Walter Villa		Barry Sheene	Report
10	July 27	Finnish Grand Prix	Imatra	Angel Nieto		nowrap	Michel Rougerie	Johnny Cecotto	Giacomo Agostini	Report
11	August 24	nowrap	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno		Leif Gustafsson	Michel Rougerie	Otello Buscherini	Phil Read	Report
12	nowrap	September 21	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Opatija	Angel Nieto	Dieter Braun	Dieter Braun	Pentti Korhonen		Report

Participants

500cc participants

Team	Constructor	Motorcycle	No.	Rider	Rounds
MV Agusta	MV Agusta	???	0 1 2	Phil Read	1–4, 6–8, 10
			2 4	nowrap	Gianfranco Bonera	6, 8–9
			41 18 20	Armando Toracca	1-2
Suzuki	Suzuki		1 3 6 5 8	Teuvo Länsivuori	1–3, 6, 9–10
nowrap rowspan=2	Heron Suzuki GB	Suzuki	Suzuki RG 500	7 6 9 12	Barry Sheene	6–8
???	90 14 27	Suzuki	John Newbold	4, 6–7
	Yamaha	Yamaha	2 4 8	Giacomo Agostini	1–4, 6–10
	Yamaha		3 22 11	Hideo Kanaya	1–4
	Arwidson		5 22 7	Pentti Korhonen	8
	???		5 10 52	Jack Findlay	2–4, 6–9
			6	Charlie Williams	5
		Suzuki	9 75	Stan Woods	3–4
		Yamaha	10 12 7 26 9 10	Karl Auer	1–2, 6, 10
	Gerald Brown	Yamaha	10 28 8	John Williams	5–8
	Kawasaki/GB	Kawasaki	10 29 88 11	Mick Grant	5
	???	Suzuki	18	Armando Toracca	4
	???	Yamaha	19 24 11	Chas Mortimer	5, 9–10
	Hermetite Ltd	Yamaha	20 63 12 46 14 15	Alex George	1–4, 7, 10
	???	Harley-Davidson	21	Michel Rougerie	1
		Yamaha	23	Peter McKinley	1
		Yamaha	26	Christian Léon	3
		König	38 10 28 36	Horst Lahfeld	2, 9
		Yamaha	44 12 27	Steve Ellis	9
	Gauloises		46 38	Olivier Chevallier	10
	Gauloises		64 51 10	Patrick Pons	1
	???		48 14 6	Dieter Braun	2–3, 8
	König	König	69	Christian Léon	7
	???	Yamaha	93	Thierry Tchernine	2, 4, 7
			???		Billie Guthrie	5
			???		Steve Tonkin	5
Source:^[2]

Key
Regular Rider
Wildcard Rider
Replacement Rider

Final standings

Scoring system

Points were awarded to the top ten finishers in each race. Only the best of five races were counted on 50cc and Sidecars championships, while in the 125cc, 250cc, 350cc and 500cc championships, the best of six races were counted.

500cc standings

Pos	Rider	Bike<	--We reached consensus to use the flag displayed on motogp.com, Please don't remove this I'm still working on this please don't I worked hard on this so far please thanks-->	FRA	AUT	GER	NAC	MAN	HOL	BEL	SWE	FIN	CZE	Pts
1	Giacomo Agostini	Yamaha	1	Ret	1	1		2	Ret	Ret	1	2	84
2	Phil Read	nowrap	MV Agusta	3	3	2	2		3	1	2	Ret	1	76
3	Hideo Kanaya	Yamaha	2	1	4	3							45
4	Teuvo Länsivuori	Suzuki	Ret	2	3			5			2	Ret	40
5	John Williams	Yamaha	Ret	Ret			2	7	5	3	Ret	Ret	36
6	Barry Sheene	Suzuki			Ret	Ret		1	Ret	1	Ret	Ret	30
7	Alex George	Yamaha	9	9	8	6	Ret	Ret	4	11	Ret	3	30
8	John Newbold	Suzuki		Ret	12	7		4	2	Ret			24
9	Armando Toracca	MV Agusta	4	4	Ret	4							24
10	Jack Findlay	Suzuki	Ret	Ret	10	Ret		Ret	3	9	3	Ret	23
11	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha		Ret		DNS	3		Ret	Ret	4	6	23
12	Karl Auer	Yamaha	8	7	Ret			9		Ret		4	17
13	Dieter Braun	Yamaha	Ret	6	6				Ret	5			16
14	Mick Grant	Kawasaki					1						15
15	Gianfranco Bonera	MV Agusta						6	Ret	4	Ret		13
16	Stan Woods	Suzuki		Ret	5	5							12
17	Horst Lahfeld	König	Ret	5	Ret			Ret			6	Ret	11
18	Christian Leon	König			7	Ret		Ret	5				9
19	Billie Guthrie	Yamaha					4						8
20	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha							Ret	14		5	6
21	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	5	Ret	16				Ret	Ret			6
22	Steve Tonkin	Yamaha					5						6
23	Steve Ellis	Yamaha	14	Ret	Ret			16			5		6
24	Tierry Tchernine	Yamaha		10		8		Ret	9				6
25	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	Ret			Ret			Ret	6		Ret	5
26	Pete McKinley	Yamaha	6										5
27	Geoff Barry	Yamsel			Ret		6						5
28	nowrap	Thierry Van Der Veken	Yamaha									7		4
29	Charlie Williams	Yamaha		11	Ret		7	18		Ret	Ret		4
30	Michel Rougerie	nowrap	Harley Davidson	7		Ret	Ret							4
31	Gerard Choukroun	Yamaha								7			4
32	Marcel Ankone	Suzuki	11		11							7	4
33	Alan North	Harley Davidson					Ret	Ret	7				4
34	Edmar Ferreira	Yamaha								8	Ret		3
35	Tom Herron	Yamaha		8			21		Ret	14			3
36	Tony Rutter	Yamaha					8	14					3
37	Francis Holleberg	Yamaha							8				3
38	Hans Stadelmann	Yamaha		Ret				8					3
39	Johnny Bengtsson	Yamaha									8		3
40	Hans Braumandl	Yamaha		15								8	3
41	Bjorn Hasli	Yamaha								17	9		2
42	Helmut Kassner	Yamaha	13	13	13		9	11	Ret			Ret	2
43	Borge W.Nielsen	Yamaha								Ret		9	2
44	Bernard Fau	Yamaha			Ret	9			Ret				2
45	Adu Celso		12	Ret	9								2
46	Seppo Kangasniemi	Yamaha									10		1
47	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha			20					10			1
48	Kjell Solberg	Yamaha	10										1
49	Jean-François Baldé	Yamaha							10				1
50	Anssi Resko	Yamaha										10	1
51	Peter Van Der Wal	Yamaha						10					1
52	Rudolph Keller	Yamaha	DNS			10							1
53	Les Kenny	Yamaha	17		Ret		10						1
Pos	Rider	Bike<	--We reached consensus to use the flag displayed on motogp.com, Please don't remove this I'm still working on this please don't I worked hard on this so far please thanks-->	FRA	AUT	GER	NAC	MAN	HOL	BEL	SWE	FIN	CZE	Pts

350cc standings

Pos	Rider	Bike<	--We reached consensus to use the flag displayed on motogp.com, Please don't remove this I'm still working on this please don't I worked hard on this so far please thanks-->	FRA	SPA	AUT	GER	NAC	MAN	HOL	FIN	CZE	YUG	Pts
1	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha	1	2	Ret	1	1		5	1	Ret		78
2	Giacomo Agostini	Yamaha	2	1	Ret	Ret	2		4	2	Ret		59
3	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	7	6	9	3	Ret		2	Ret	10	1	48
4	Dieter Braun	Yamaha		5	Ret	2	4		1	5	Ret	Ret	47
5	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	Ret	Ret	5		3		Ret	3	5		32
6	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	Ret	Ret		7	8	2	9	Ret		3	31
7	Gerard Choukroun	Yamaha	3	7	7	Ret	5	Ret	Ret	Ret	7	Ret	28
8	Otello Buscherini	Yamaha									1	2	27
9	Tom Herron	Yamaha		11	Ret	Ret		3		Ret	4	4	26
10	Hideo Kanaya	Yamaha	Ret	3	1	Ret	Ret						25
11	Víctor Palomo	Yamaha		4	Ret	Ret	Ret		Ret	7	3	Ret	22
12	Alex George	Yamaha		Ret		8	Ret	Ret	3	9	6	Ret	20
13	Philippe Coulon	Yamaha	17		4	4	Ret			Ret	Ret	Ret	16
14	Charlie Williams	Yamaha		Ret				1		Ret			15
15	Hans Stadelmann	Yamaha	14		8	5	10		7				14
16	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha			2				10				13
17	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha			Ret		Ret			Ret	2	Ret	12
18	Adu Celso	Yamaha		9	3								12
19	Karl Auer	Yamaha	Ret			6			Ret	6	9	Ret	12
20	nowrap	Jean-Louis Guignabodet	Yamaha	4			17			Ret				8
21	Bruno Kneubühler	Yamaha			Ret					4		Ret	8
22	Steve Tonkin	Yamaha						4					8
23	Christian Huguet	Yamaha	5										6
24	Rudolf Kunz	Yamaha											6
25	Derek Chatterton	Yamaha						5					6
26	Billie Guthrie	Yamaha						6					5
27	Anton Mang	Schloegl Mang Zender			6								5
28	Jean-François Baldé	Yamaha	6			Ret			17	13			5
29	Wil Hartog	Yamaha							6				5
30	Bill Henderson	Yamaha						14				6	5
31	Giovanni Proni	Yamaha					6						5
32	Marco Lucchinelli	Yamaha					7						4
33	Mario Lega	Yamaha										7	4
34	Gerry Mateer	Yamaha						7					4
35	Max Wiener	Yamaha			10							8	4
36	Tony Rutter	Yamaha							8				3
37	Walter Villa	nowrap	Harley Davidson		8									3
38	Boet van Dulmen	Yamaha								8			3
39	Tapio Virtanen	Yamaha									8		3
40	Geoff Barry	Yamaha						8					3
41	Pete McKinley	Yamaha	9			10							3
42	Les Kenny	Yamaha				9							2
43	Noel Clegg	Yamaha						9					2
44	Guido Mandracci	Yamaha					9						2
45	Janos Reisz	Yamaha										9	2
46	Titer Balaz	Yamaha										10	1
47	John Dodds	Yamaha								10			1
48	Martin Sharpe	Yamaha						10					1
49	John Williams	Dugdale		10									1
50	Kjell Solberg	Yamaha	10										1

250cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Walter Villa	1	Italy	Aermacchi Harley-Davidson	85	5
2	Michel Rougerie	9	France	Harley-Davidson	76	2
3	Dieter Braun	2	West Germany	Yamaha	56	1
4	Johnny Cecotto	19	Venezuela	Yamaha	54	2
5	Patrick Pons	3	France	Yamaha	48	0
6	Chas Mortimer		United Kingdom	Yamaha	46	0
7	Otello Buscherini		Italy	Yamaha	40	0
8	Leif Gustafsson		Sweden	Yamaha	33	0
9	Bruno Kneubühler	5	Switzerland	Yamaha	22	0
10	Tapio Virtanen		Finland	Yamaha	20	0
11	Víctor Palomo				18
12	Harald Bartol				18
13	Tom Herron				16
14	John Williams				15
15	Derek Chatterton				12
16	Ikujiro Takai				12
17	Benjamin Grau				10
18	Alex George				9
19	John Dodds				9
20	Pentti Korhonen				9
21	Tony Rutter				8
22	Rolf Minhoff				8
23	Edmar Ferreira				8
24	Paolo Pileri				6
25	Yvon Duhamel				6
26	Mario Lega				5
27	Gerard Choukroun				5
28	Bill Henderson				5
29	Neil Tuxworth				4
30	Olivier Chevallier				3
31	Duilio Agostini				3
32	Helmut Kassner				3
33	Nico Van Der Zanden				3
34	Pete McKinley				3
35	Jean Louis Guignabodet				2
36	Eddie Roberts				2
37	Horst Lahfeld				2
38	Vincenzo Cascino				1
39	Philippe Bouzanne				1
40	Clive Horton				1
41	Jean-François Baldé				1

125cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Paolo Pileri		Italy	Morbidelli	90	7
2	Pier Paolo Bianchi		Italy	Morbidelli	72	0
3	Kent Andersson	1	Sweden	Yamaha	67	1
4	Leif Gustafsson	8	Sweden	Yamaha	57	1
5	Eugenio Lazzarini		Italy	Piovaticci	47	0
6	Bruno Kneubühler	2	Switzerland	Yamaha	43	0
7	Henk van Kessel		Netherlands	Condor	38	0
8	Harald Bartol	7	Austria	Suzuki	21	0
9	Johan Zemzauer		Austria	Rotax	21	0
10	Pierluigi Conforti		Italy	Morbidelli	18	0
11	Dieter Braun				15
12	Hans Müller				14
13	Cees van Dongen				9
14	Peter Frohnmeyer				8
15	Jos Schurgers				6
16	Horst Seel				6
17	Maurice Maingret				5
18	Otello Buscherini				5
19	Matti Kinnunen				5
20	Oriol Fernandez				4
21	Gert Bender				4
22	Hans Hallberg				4
23	Matti Salonen				4
24	V.Novella				2
25	R.Cornelis				2
26	Alberto Ieva				2
27	J.Lazo				2
28	J.Svensson				2
29	Tierry Tchernine				2
30	R.Thiele				2
31	Xaver Tschannen				1
32	P.Van Niel				1
33	Ulrich Graf				1
34	Ivan Carlsson				1
35	Zbynek Havrda				1
36	Hans Hummel				1
37	M.Arias				1

50cc standings

Pos	Rider	Bike<	--We reached consensus to use the flag displayed on motogp.com, Please don't remove this I'm still working on this please don't I worked hard on this so far please thanks-->	SPA	GER	NAC	HOL	BEL	SWE	FIN	YUG	Pts
1	Angel Nieto	Kreidler	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	75
2	Eugenio Lazzarini	Piovaticci	4	2	2	3	3	1	2	Ret	61
3	Julien van Zeebroeck	Kreidler	2	3	Ret	5	1	Ret			43
4	Rudolf Kunz	Kreidler	9	5		6		7	3	2	37
5	Herbert Rittberger	Kreidler	6	4	5	2			Ret		31
6	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler	3	6	3	Ret	11		Ret	5	31
7	Nico Polane	Kreidler									28
8	Gerhard Thurow	Kreidler									21
9	Hans Hummel	Kreidler									20
10	Claudio Lusuardi	Derbi									16
11	Theo Timmer	Jamathi									13
12	Henk van Kessel	Kreidler									12
13	Aldo Pero	Kreidler									10
14	Ulrich Graf	Kreidler									10
15	Gerrit Strikker	Kreidler									8
16	Cees Van Dongen	Kreidler									8
17	Jan Huberts	Kreidler									5
18	Rolf Blatter	Kreidler									4
19	Ramon Gali	Derbi									4
20	Walter Werner	Kreidler									4
21	Jaime Alguersuari Sr.	Derbi									4
22	Theo Van Geffen	D.R.M.									3
23	Karl Gotesson	Kreidler									3
24	Jan Bruins	Kreidler									3
25	Robert Laver	Kreidler									3
26	Cesare Guerrini	Ringhini									2
27	Ingo Emmerich	Kreidler									2
28	Joaquim Gali	Derbi									1
29	Pierre Audry	ABF									1
30	Germano Zanetti	Kreidler									1
31	Günter Schirnhofer	Kreidler									1
Pos	Rider	Bike<	--We reached consensus to use the flag displayed on motogp.com, Please don't remove this I'm still working on this please don't I worked hard on this so far please thanks-->	SPA	GER	NAC	HOL	BEL	SWE	FIN	YUG	Pts

References

Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A.

External links

Web site: The Official MotoGP website . 2010-07-06.

Notes and References

Web site: Rider Statistics - Johnny Cecotto . MotoGP.com . 2019-04-23 .
Web site: 500cc Grand Prix entry lists for 1972 to 1975. Motorcycle Racing Online.