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	5–6 August 1978
Official name	John Player British Grand Prix
Location	Silverstone Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.711 km (2.927 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Michel Rougerie	Suzuki
Time	1:30.98
Fastest lap
Rider	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Time	1:31.38
Podium
First	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Second	Steve Manship	Suzuki
Third	Barry Sheene	Suzuki
350 cc
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
Time	1:34.60
Fastest lap
Rider	Tom Herron	Yamaha
Time	1:33.83
Podium
First	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
Second	Tom Herron	Yamaha
Third	Mick Grant	Kawasaki
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
Time	1:37.14
Fastest lap
Rider	Anton Mang	Kawasaki
Time	1:37.40
Podium
First	Anton Mang	Kawasaki
Second	Tom Herron	Yamaha
Third	Raymond Roche	Yamaha
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA
Time	1:42.69
Fastest lap
Rider	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA
Time	1:42.22
Podium
First	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli
Second	Clive Horton	Morbidelli
Third	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA
Sidecars
Pole position
Rider	Rolf Biland	Beo-Yamaha
Passenger	Kenny Williams
Time	1:38.19
Fastest lap
Rider	Rolf Biland	Beo-Yamaha
Passenger	Kenny Williams
Time	1:46.92
Podium
First	Alain Michel	Seymaz-Yamaha
	Stu Collins
Second	Rolf Biland	Beo-Yamaha
	Kenny Williams
Third	Jock Taylor	Windle-Yamaha
	James Neil

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.

Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene, the two championship contenders arrived in England for the British Grand Prix with only three points separating them. 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. Eventually, Roberts was declared the winner with Sheene being awarded third place behind privateer Steve Manship, who did not stop for a tire change.

500 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	1	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha	28	55:56.93	2	15
2	43	Steve Manship	Suzuki	28	+8.05		12
3	7	Barry Sheene	Suzuki	28	+1:06.76	5	10
4	11	Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki	28	+1:29.35	10	8
5	2	Tepi Länsivuori	Suzuki	28	+1:56.98	11	6
6	22	Gianni Rolando	Suzuki	27	+1 lap		5
7	4	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha	27	+1 lap	3	4
8	5	John Newbold	Suzuki	27	+1 lap	9	3
9	8	Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha	27	+1 lap		2
10	12	Virginio Ferrari	Suzuki	27	+1 lap	6	1
11	13	Michel Rougerie	Suzuki	27	+1 lap	1
12	16	John Williams	Suzuki	27	+1 lap
13	9	Alex George	Suzuki	27	+1 lap
14	42	Jack Middelburg	Suzuki	27	+1 lap
15	6	Steve Parrish	Suzuki	26	+2 laps
16	3	Philippe Coulon	Suzuki	26	+2 laps
17	28	Gerhard Vogt	Suzuki	26	+2 laps
18	38	Peter Sjoström	Suzuki	25	+3 laps
19	17	John Woodley	Suzuki	25	+3 laps
20	37	Dick Alblas	Suzuki	25	+3 laps
		Steve Baker	Suzuki			4
		Wil Hartog	Suzuki			7
		Graziano Rossi	Suzuki			8
		Franco Bonera	Suzuki			12
40 starters in total

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

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

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

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

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