1979 Venezuelan motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1979 Venezuelan motorcycle Grand Prix, the first of 13 rounds of the F.I.M. 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, was held on 18 March at the San Carlos Circuit. British rider Barry Sheene, world champion in 1976 and 1977, won the 500cc GP by 18 seconds^[1] from Italian Virginio Ferrari to make it three successive Venezuelan GPs. Venezuelan racer Carlos Lavado won the 350cc class from Italian Walter Villa and Frenchman Patrick Fernandez.^[2]

  1979 Venezuelan Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 13 races in the 1979 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	18 March 1979
Official name	Gran Premio de Venezuela[citation needed]
Location	San Carlos Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.135 km (2.569 mi)
500cc
Pole position Rider Barry Sheene Time 1:34.140 Fastest lap Rider Barry Sheene Time 1:34.080 Podium First Barry Sheene Second Virginio Ferrari Third Tom Herron
350cc
Pole position Rider Carlos Lavado Time 1:35.400 Fastest lap Rider Carlos Lavado Time 1:34.490 Podium First Carlos Lavado Second Walter Villa Third Patrick Fernandez
250cc
Pole position Rider Carlos Lavado Time 1:38.190 Fastest lap Rider Walter Villa Time 1:37.550 Podium First Walter Villa Second Kork Ballington Third Victor Soussan
125cc
Pole position Rider Iván Palazzese Time 1:44.550 Fastest lap Rider Ángel Nieto Time 1:43.480 Podium First Ángel Nieto Second Thierry Espié Third Maurizio Massimiani
50cc
Pole position Rider No 50cc race was held Fastest lap Rider No 50cc race was held Podium First No 50cc race was held Second No 50cc race was held Third No 50cc race was held

Villa won the 250cc event, ahead of South African rider Kork Ballington by 20 seconds, marking the final Grand Prix victory of Villa's motorcycle racing career.^[3] Spanish rider Ángel Nieto won the 125cc class from Frenchman Thierry Espié and Italian Maurizio Massimiani.^[4] Nieto would later win the 125cc season championship.^[5] Yamaha won two races, and Suzuki and Minarelli one each.

Classifications

Barry Sheene, won the 500cc GP from Virginio Ferrari.

Spanish racer Ángel Nieto, 125cc winner.

500 cc

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Barry Sheene	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	30	47'52.900	1	15
2	Virginio Ferrari	Team Gallina Nava Olio Fiat	Suzuki	30	+18.600	4	12
3	Tom Herron	Texaco Heron Team Suzuki	Suzuki	30	+30.900	2	10
4	Franco Uncini	Team Zago International	Suzuki	30	+1'34.800	6	8
5	Michel Rougerie		Suzuki	29	+1 lap	10	6
6	Roberto Pietri		Suzuki	29	+1 lap	11	5
7	Christian Sarron	Team Sonauto Gauloises	Yamaha	29	+1 lap	12	4
8	Gerhard Vogt	Bill Smith Racing	Suzuki	28	+2 laps	13	3
9	Stefan Pellandini		Suzuki	27	+3 laps	15	2
10	Dennis Ireland	Derry's Racing	Suzuki	27	+3 laps	16	1
	Johnny Cecotto	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha			3
	Wil Hartog	Riemersma Racing	Suzuki			5
	Steve Parrish		Suzuki			7
	Mick Grant		Suzuki			8
	Gianni Pelletier		Suzuki			9
	Carlos Delgado de San Antonio		Suzuki			14
Sources: [6][7][8]

350 cc

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	29	46:48.4	1	15
2	Walter Villa	Yamaha	29	+15.3	2	12
3	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	29	+23.5	4	10
4	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	29	+28.1	6	8
5	Jon Ekerold	Yamaha	29	+33.8	3	6
6	Christian Estrosi	Kawasaki	29	+40.0	9	5
7	Eric Saul	Yamaha	29	+1:11.9	11	4
8	Victor Soussan	Yamaha	29	+1:22.4	8	3
9	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	29	+1:25.6	12	2
10	Patrick Pons	Yamaha	29	+1:35.7	7	1
11	Eduardo Alemán	Yamaha	28	+1 lap	14
12	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki	28	+1 lap	10
13	Randy Mamola	Yamaha	28	+1 lap
14	Barry Woodland	Yamaha	28	+1 lap
15	J. Gonzalez	Yamaha	27	+2 laps
	Iván Palazzese	Yamaha			5
	C. Giroto	Yamaha			13
	Franco Uncini	Yamaha			15
30 starters in total, 18 finishers
[6]

250 cc

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Walter Villa	Yamaha	28	46:13.5	2	15
2	Kork Ballington	Kawasaki	28	+20.6	3	12
3	Victor Soussan	Yamaha	28	+1:14.2	9	10
4	Olivier Chevallier	Yamaha	28	+1:17.6	7	8
5	Randy Mamola	Bimota	28	+1:21.5	13	6
6	Eric Saul	Yamaha	28	+1:27.1	8	5
7	Gregg Hansford	Kawasaki	28	+1:40.5	5	4
8	Maurizio Massimiani	MBA	27	+1 lap	12	3
9	Chas Mortimer	Yamaha	27	+1 lap	11	2
10	Fernando Gonzalez	Yamaha	27	+1 lap		1
11	A. Rubio	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
12	I. Troisi	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
13	B. Jull	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
14	G. Di Carlo	Yamaha	27	+1 lap
15	Carlos Morante	Yamaha	24	+4 laps
16	Eduardo Alemán	Yamaha	24	+4 laps	10
	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha			1
	Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha			4
	Christian Estrosi	Kawasaki			6
	Graziano Rossi	Morbidelli			14
26 starters in total, ? finishers
[6]

125 cc

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Ángel Nieto	Minarelli	26	45:39.3	3	15
2	Thierry Espié	Motobécane	26	+6.1	4	12
3	Maurizio Massimiani	MBA	26	+40.6	6	10
4	Patrick Herouard	MBA	26	+58.5	7	8
5	Jean Lecureux	Morbidelli	26	+1:12.9		6
6	Ivan Troisi	Yamaha	26	+1:18.4	8	5
7	Francois Granon	Morbidelli	26	+1:28.5	13	4
8	Hans Müller	Morbidelli	26	+1:44.2	10	3
9	Jean Paul Magnoni	Morbidelli	25	+1 lap	15	2
10	Patrick Plisson	Motoshop	25	+1 lap	11	1
11	Bernie Wilbers	MBA	25	+1 lap
12	H. Vigneti	Morbidelli	25	+1 lap
13	Eduardo Cereda	MBA	25	+1 lap	12
14	J. Huberts	MBA	25	+1 lap
15	D. Abreu	Honda	23	+3 laps
	Ivan Palazzese	MBA			1
	Eugenio Lazzarini	MBA			2
	Bam Carlson	Morbidelli			5
	Jean P. Marchetti	MBA			9
	Fernando Gonzalez	Morbidelli			14
25 starters in total, 17 finishers
[6]