1978 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix

  1978 Belgian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 13 races in the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	2 July 1978
Official name	Grand Prix de Belgique
Location	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
Course	Permanent racing facility 14.120 km (8.774 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha
Time	3:48.6
Fastest lap
Rider	Michel Rougerie	Suzuki
Time	3:51.7
Podium
First	Wil Hartog	Suzuki
Second	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha
Third	Barry Sheene	Suzuki
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki
Time	4:08.0
Fastest lap
Rider	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
Time	4:22.4
Podium
First	Paolo Pileri	Morbidelli
Second	Franco Uncini	Yamaha
Third	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli
Time	4:23.2
Fastest lap
Rider	Pierpaolo Bianchi Ángel Nieto	Minarelli Minarelli
Time	4:42.7
Podium
First	Pierpaolo Bianchi	Minarelli
Second	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli
Third	Maurizio Massimiani	Morbidelli
50 cc
Pole position
Rider	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco
Time	5:12.5
Fastest lap
Rider	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco
Time	5:16.1
Podium
First	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco
Second	Eugenio Lazzarini	Kreidler
Third	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler
Sidecars
Pole position
Rider	Rolf Steinhausen	Seymaz-Yamaha
Passenger	Wolfgang Kalauch
Time	4:15.4
Fastest lap
Rider	Alain Michel	Seymaz-Yamaha
Passenger	Stu Collins
Time	5:03.7
Podium
First	Bruno Holzer	LCR-Yamaha
	Karl Meierhans
Second	Alain Michel	Seymaz-Yamaha
	Stu Collins
Third	Rolf Biland	TTM-Yamaha
	Kenny Williams

The 1978 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1978 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 2 July 1978 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. These races, along with the Spa 24 Hours touring car race 3 weeks later were the last ever international major events held on the old 14 kilometer Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

500 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	15	Wil Hartog	Suzuki	10	39:50.4	3	15
2	2	Kenny Roberts	Yamaha	10	+15.8	5	12
3	7	Barry Sheene	Suzuki	10	+18.6	4	10
4	30	Michel Rougerie	Suzuki	10	+21.3	2	8
5	21	Tepi Länsivuori	Suzuki	10	+1:18.9	10	6
6	8	Takazumi Katayama	Yamaha	10			5
7	22	Marco Lucchinelli	Suzuki	10		8	4
8	9	Alex George	Suzuki	10		9	3
9	17	Tom Herron	Suzuki	10		12	2
10	46	Dennis Ireland	Suzuki	10			1
11	39	John Woodley	Suzuki	10
12	38	John Williams	Suzuki	10		14
13	41	Bo Granath	Suzuki	10
14	29	Graziano Rossi	Suzuki	10
15	14	Jack Findlay	Suzuki	10
16	48	Greg Johnson	Suzuki	10
17	45	Hervé Regout	Yamaha	10
18	37	Max Wiener	Suzuki	10
19	33	Les van Breda	Suzuki	9	+1 lap
20	36	Gerhard Vogt	Suzuki	9	+1 lap
		Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha			1
		Boet van Dulmen	Suzuki			6
		Steve Baker	Suzuki			7
		John Newbold	Suzuki			11
		Virginio Ferrari	Suzuki			13
		Philippe Coulon	Suzuki			15
36 starters in total, 22 finishers
[1]

250 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	31	Paolo Pileri	Morbidelli	9	40:35.0		15
2	56	Franco Uncini	Yamaha	9	+23.1	4	12
3	37	Walter Villa	Harley-Davidson	9	+37.6	2	10
4	9	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	9	+37.8	8	8
5	1	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	9	+1:07.0	1	6
6	21	Mario Lega	Morbidelli	9	+1:07.2	3	5
7	22	Anton Mang	Kawasaki	9			4
8	36	Vic Soussan	Yamaha	9			3
9	20	Pentti Korhonen	Yamaha	9		6	2
10	12	Leif Gustafsson	Yamaha	9		9	1
11	7	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	9		10
12	48	Etienne Geeraerd	Yamaha	9
13	43	Albert Debouny	Yamaha	9
14	14	Josef Hage	Japol	9
15	29	Pekka Nurmi	Yamaha	9		12
16	62	Reino Eskelinen	Yamaha	9
17	45	René Delaby	Yamaha	9
18	17	Eero Hyvärinen	Yamaha	9
19	63	Clive Padgett	Yamaha	9
20	3	Kenny Blake	Yamaha	9
		John Dodds	Yamaha			5
		Kenny Roberts	Yamaha			7
		Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki			11
38 starters in total, 24 finishers
[1]

125 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	3	Pierpaolo Bianchi	Minarelli	8	38:12.2	3	15
2	32	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli	8	+3.3	1	12
3	30	Maurizio Massimiani	Morbidelli	8	+11.1	10	10
4	1	August Auinger	Morbidelli	8	+1:29.3	9	8
5	37	Patrick Plisson	Morbidelli	8	+1:34.5	7	6
6	26	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA	8		6	5
7	31	Hans Müller	Morbidelli	8		5	4
8	4	Rolf Blatter	Morbidelli	8			3
9	45	Cees van Dongen	Morbidelli	8			2
10	21	Matti Kinnunen	Morbidelli	8			1
11	47	Bennie Wilbers	Morbidelli	8
12	41	Jean-Claude Selini	Morbidelli	8
13	24	Walter Koschine	Bender	8		12
14	17	Clive Horton	Morbidelli	8
15	6	Enrico Cereda	Morbidelli	8
16	22	Bengt Johansson	Morbidelli	8
17	10	Yves Dupont	Morbidelli	8
18	18	Jan Huberts	Morbidelli	7
19	40	Bernd Schneider	Bender	7
20	43	Jan Ubels	Buton	7
		Harald Bartol	Morbidelli			2
		Thierry Espié	Motobécane			4
		Stefan Dörflinger	Morbidelli			8
		Jean-Louis Guignabodet	Morbidelli			11
38 starters in total, 20 finishers
[1]

50 cc classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	36	Ricardo Tormo	Bultaco	6	31:52.3	1	15
2	19	Eugenio Lazzarini	Kreidler	6	+56.1	3	12
3	48	Stefan Dörflinger	Kreidler	6	+2:23.2	2	10
4	23	Claudio Lusuardi	Bultaco	6	+2:24.6		8
5	21	Peter Looyestein	Kreidler	6	+2:32.9	11	6
6	42	Pierre Dumont	Kreidler	6	+2:48.7	7	5
7	15	Hagen Klein	Kreidler	6		12	4
8	28	Patrick Plisson	ABF	6		8	3
9	38	Cees van Dongen	Kreidler	6			2
10	35	Theo Timmer	Bultaco	6		10	1
11	14	Jacques Hutteau	ABF	6
12	26	Wolfgang Müller	Kreidler	6		4
13	9	Joaquín Gali	Bultaco	6
14	10	Ramón Gali	Bultaco	6
15	32	Günter Schirnhofer	Kreidler	6
16	4	Daniel Corvi	Kreidler	6
17	40	Chris Baert	Kreidler	5
18	46	Marcel van der Steene	Kreidler	5
19	5	Michel de Poligny	Scrab	5
20	47	Dirk van der Donckt	Kreidler	5
		Otto Machinek	Kreidler			5
		Ingo Emmerich	Kreidler			6
		Aldo Pero	Kreidler			9
40 starters in total, 24 finishers
[1]

Sidecar classification

Pos	No.	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	12	Bruno Holzer	Karl Meierhans	LCR-Yamaha	9	47:50.0	7	15
2	18	Alain Michel	Stu Collins	Seymaz-Yamaha	9	+22.7	5	12
3	4	Rolf Biland	Kenny Williams	TTM-Yamaha	9	+28.3	3	10
4	32	Rolf Steinhausen	Wolfgang Kalauch	Seymaz-Yamaha	9	+2:22.2	1	8
5	11	Bill Hodgkins	John Parkins	Windle-Yamaha	9	+3:01.0		6
6	44	Jock Taylor	James Neil	Windle-Yamaha	9			5
7	30	Cees Smit	Jan Smit	Seymaz-Yamaha	9			4
8	8	Gérard Corbaz	Roland Gabriel	Schmid-Yamaha	9		9	3
9	10	Dick Greasley	Gordon Russell	Busch-Yamaha	9		6	2
10	26	Siegfried Schauzu	Lorenzo Puzo	Busch-Yamaha	9		8	1
11	16	Helmut Luneman	Micha Stockel	Gespann-Yamaha	9
12	35	Heinz Thevissen	Lothar Klein	HTS-Yamaha	8	+1 lap
13	37	Max Venus	Norbert Bitterman	CAT-Yamaha	8	+1 lap
14	7	Boy Brouwer	Jan Oostwouder	Coan-Yamaha	8	+1 lap
		Werner Schwärzel	Andreas Huber	Fath			2
		Göte Brodin	Per-Erik Wickström	Yamaha			4
		Hermann Schmid	Kenny Arthur	Schmid-Yamaha			10
30 starters in total, 14 finishers
[1]

References

1. Coleman, Barry (ed.). Motocourse 1978-1979. Hazleton Securities Ltd. p. 103. ISBN 0-905138-06-6.