article by Nicola Pucci
Rodney Gould’s competitive parable on two wheels is undoubtedly curious. The Englishman from Banbury, born in 1943, truly represents an exception, if it is true that his debut in the world championship took place in the premier classstarting in 1967, and then in the following years “retreat” in smaller displacements, to finally find consecration in the quarter-litre.
1967, therefore, when the Briton, who had started racing in 1961, made his debut in the 500 class with a Norton at the Tourist Trophyhowever not completing the race, and then obtaining a fifth place at the Sachsenring which gave him his first world points.
The following year Gould did not go beyond a sixth place at the Nurburgring in the 500 class, however appearing as a protagonist in the 250 class driving a Bultaco-Yamaha which saw him climb to the third step of the podium three times, in Belgium, in Finland and Ulstercollecting a total of 21 points which guarantees him fourth place in the drivers’ standings behind Phil Read, Bill Ivy and Heinz Rosner.
The 250 class is undoubtedly the displacement that best suits Gould’s qualities on the track, who for 1969 also engages in the 350 class, again in the pay of Yamaha, and the results confirm his courage and his riding audacity, sixth and fifth respectively in the two end-of-year rankings, the result of six places of honor (3+3) which in effect also reinforces its reputation as a luxury place. THEn waiting to break the ice with victory, as promptly happens the following seasonwhich gives the Englishman the definitive election as a top-ranking motorcyclist.
In 1970, in fact, if Gould was sixth in the 350 class, taking yet another second place at the last race in Spain behindMV Augusta by Angelo Bergamonti, that’s it in the quarter liter the Yamaha rider finds himself dueling with his team colleague Kel Carruthers, the reigning world champion, finally managing to be the best of all on six occasions (against his rival’s four), which allow him to add 102 points which earned him the title of world champion at the end of the year at the end of a season dominated by Yamahaa, that after the withdrawal of the BONE (who had won in Yugoslavia with Santiago Herrero) places seven of its drivers in the first seven places in the final ranking.
The following year, 1971, Gould had the chance to confirm himself as world champion in the 250 class, but if he won in Sweden (ahead of Paul Smart) and in Finland (beating John Dodds), at the last grand prix in Jarama, when he led ranking and race, he is forced to retire due to mechanical problems, leaving the way to Phil Read who, with second place behind Jarno Saarinen, overtakes him in the standings73 points against 68, putting the fifth world title of his career on the board.
Just 30 years old, 1972 was ultimately Gould’s last year in the world championship, as he won the last two races of his career in the 250 class, in Assen, outpacing Renzo Pasolini and in Sweden, beating Jarno Saarinen, finishing third in the riders’ standings behind Saarinen and Pasolini themselves, and returns to his first love, the 500 class, so competitive that he competed in five grand prix in which he reached the podium four times (second at the Sachsenring and in Sweden, third in Belgium and Finland) which earned him a fourth place finish in the ranking with 52 points overall.
It’s time for Rodney Gould to hang up his helmet, but seeing as the man is also good as a communicator, here’s what Yamaha created a role for him as head of the racing department and public relationshimself giving shape to the “contract of the century” That involves Giacomo Agostini’s move from MV Agusta to Yamahaannounced December 4, 1973. And this too seems like a great success to me…
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