mountain circuit when a missed gear and an over-rev lunched the engine . The TT F1 game moved to the Ulster GP , with Suzuki on 12 points and Honda on 15 . They drafted in Joey Dunlop to ride Croz ’ s spare XR in the hope they could pinch a few more points off the flying Honda riders , Ron Haslam and Mick Grant . Dunlop shot through at first , leaving Croz to battle Haslam until the British rider fell off . Later in the race , Dunlop bowed to team orders , slowing down to let Croz through for the win , with Mick Grant third . Croz was TT F1 World Champion . Crosby returned to British circuits to rescue the British TT F1 series – or perhaps that should be wrestle it – from Honda , and from that point on , he was dominant . Next up was Silverstone , where he and Dunlop took a onetwo . At Cadwell Park , Croz won again , but Mick Grant ’ s second place gave him enough points to take the British TT F1 title with one meeting to spare . Croz was close enough for second overall : the missed events early in the season had cost him the title by just four points . The final race at Brands Hatch was won by the Kiwi – his fifth in a row – from Haslam and Grant . The following year , he would be king of the TT F1 series on the Mk2 XR69 , blitzing six out of the nine British rounds and winning both the TT F1 World Championship races . Despite his reputation for outrageous antics ,
Crosby treated the dangerous road circuits , like the Isle of Man , with the utmost respect : “ There is no doubt that if I put my life on the line , I could have gone quicker , but I treated it like a long distance high-speed ride , keeping the speed up but not necessarily having to push it . That worked in my favour . Plus , I didn ’ t know the circuit that well . Each time you go there , you learn more and more . I was happy to come away with three wins – one in each class – and say ‘ That ’ s it ; I don ’ t want to do that any more ’.” All eyes turned to Suzuka in Japan , which has always been an important and prestigious race for the Japanese motorcycle companies . Being Honda ’ s home turf , any win there was so much sweeter for Suzuki in front of the 100,000 + crowds the event attracted in those days . Crosby teamed with Wes Cooley on an XR69 , to win by just 40 seconds from Gregg Hansford and Eddie Lawson on a Kawasaki . Crosby showed just how tough and committed he could be when Cooley became ill and collapsed , leaving the Kiwi to ride most of the race alone .
“ We had to put Wes out on the bike for two laps so I didn ’ t go over my maximum allowance , but I ended up doing 65 per cent of the race ,” he says , even today shaking his head at the thought of that long , tough ride in Suzuka ’ s brutal conditions . On the other side of the globe , Daytona was another of the premier races considered “ must wins ” by the Japanese companies . Yoshimura-
60 KIWI RIDER