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A young Kork Ballington at Silverstone in the days when he was green – but his Kwacker wasn’t. The H2 Seeley he’s riding here in ’74 had only a crashed road bike motor – but his Superbike performances would lead ultimately to a works Kawasaki contract and four world titles.pic.twitter.com/p1RIPhlw0e

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A young Kork Ballington at Silverstone in the days when he was green – but his Kwacker wasn’t. The H2 Seeley he’s riding here in ’74 had only a crashed road bike motor – but his Superbike performances would lead ultimately to a works Kawasaki contract and four world titles.

Related posts:

  1. Kawasaki’s 1st world #1 Dave Simmonds. Despite being a double UK champion, the ’69 125 winner was only (grudgingly) given a works twin by the penny-pinching firm after first agreeing to wield his own spanners – then passing a works mechanic’s course to prove he was up to the job!pic.twitter.com/xDo9vSwL0T
  2. Yam’s in-line 4 2-stroke GL750 which first appeared at the Tokyo show in ’71. Closely based on the TZ700 (then under development) the road bike project, which featured cycle parts similar to the TX750, sadly never got beyond prototype stage. A crying shame…pic.twitter.com/GphVTuFHWI
  3. Ago making his Yamaha debut at Daytona in ’74 on the all-new TZ700. In a race cut to 170 miles by the oil crisis, the Italian would prove he was just as fast on a two-stroke as an MV by crossing the line first ahead of Kenny and Kawasaki’s Hurley Wilvert (Nope, me neither…).pic.twitter.com/En9m3EmEQ2
  4. YSK3 Sankito. A TZ350? Count the pipes. 15bhp up on the works twin, this Swiss-inspired, Dutch-built TZ-based triple helped Katayama to the ’77 title but had one pot too many for Yamaha in Japan – which first cold-shouldered then completely abandoned its unwanted Euro love child.pic.twitter.com/Ncvw742KoR
  5. What might’ve been eh? An in-demand Bazza tries a Trident for size while mulling over the offer of a Triumph works ride for ’72. In the end he said ‘no thanks’ (also turning down a Ducati V-twin, Derbi and Suzuki GB) in favour of a factory Yamaha. Made sense. Kinda shame tho’…pic.twitter.com/aohmHLqR83

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