Wil Hartog

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Wil Hartog 1977 after winning the Dutch TT in Assen
Wil Hartog 2005 on Suzuki
Hartog 2005 in action

Wil Hartog (born May 28, 1948 in Aartswoud ) is a former Dutch motorcycle racer and entrepreneur .

Hartog was Dutch champion twelve times and achieved five Grand Prix victories in the motorcycle world championship . Together with Jack Middelburg and Boet van Dulmen, he formed a trio that the Dutch press dubbed the Big Three , and was the most successful of the three pilots. His specialties included very quick starts.

Wil Hartog regularly wore white leather suits , a habit he had borrowed from the Swede Kent Andersson . For this reason and because of his height of more than 1.80 m, which is a hindrance for a motorcycle racer, he was also known by the nickname The White Giant . Kenny Roberts sr. gave him the nickname Hotdog because of the English pronunciation of his name .

Career

Wil Hartog was born in Aartswoud in 1948. In 1950 he moved with his family to Abbekerk in West Friesland . His first moped was a Berini. On May 7, 1967, the Dutchman contested his first motorcycle race on a Suzuki T20 in Zandvoort . He finished eighth with his 250 cc machine in the 500 cc class. Hartog achieved his first victory on a 125cc standard Honda CR93 Rockanje in 1968. In 1969 he won the first title in the Dutch road championship in the 250 cc class on a Yamaha . Up to and including 1972 this was followed by five further national titles, each for a Yamaha in the classes up to 125, up to 250 and up to 500 cm³.

His first exclamation mark in the motorcycle world championship continued Wil Hartog after several unsuccessful attempts in previous years, in 1973 in the Dutch TT at home in Assen . He was fourth in the half-liter class , the premier class of motorcycle racing , behind British Phil Read ( MV Agusta ), New Zealander Kim Newcombe ( King ) and French Christian Bourgeois (Yamaha). Until 1976, Hartog continued to concentrate on the Dutch championship and only started at the Dutch TT in the World Cup. In 1975 he was sixth in the 350cc race and in 1976 he celebrated his first podium in the world championship with third place behind Barry Sheene and Pat Hennen (both Suzuki ) in the half-liter class. In the Dutch championship, he won his twelfth and final championship title in the 500 category.

From the 1977 season , Wil Hartog competed in Suzuki for the first time and from now on concentrated on the World Championship races. The highlight of the season was the victory on his privately used Suzuki RG 500 in the 500 cc race of the Dutch TT in Assen at home in pouring rain - even though he had suffered from severe stomach problems during training. Only the French Christian Estrosi managed to make life difficult for the Dutchman for a while, but then fell out. Hartog became the first Dutch driver to win a Grand Prix in the premier class . He finished the season in tenth overall and was therefore recommended for a contract for the coming season.

For 1978 , Hartog was consequently signed by Suzuki as a works driver in the Heron-Suzuki team at the side of number 1 driver Barry Sheene. He won at the Grand Prix of Belgium in Spa-Francorchamps and Finland in Imatra and was the Grand Prix of Sweden in Karlskoga second behind Sheene. In the overall ranking, Hartog was behind the American Kenny Roberts sr. (Yamaha), Barry Sheene and the Venezuelan Johnny Cecotto (also Yamaha) took fourth place.

In 1979 Hartog drove a works Suzuki in the Riemersma Racing team and won the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim ahead of Kenny Roberts sr. (Yamaha) and the Italian Virginio Ferrari (Suzuki). There were also second and three third places, with which the Dutchman again achieved fourth place in the World Championship behind Roberts sr., Ferrari and Sheene. In the 1980 season , Wil Hartog achieved the fifth and last Grand Prix victory of his career in Finland and sixth in the final 500 classification. After the 1981 season , Wil Hartog unexpectedly announced his retirement from motorcycling for many because he was no longer satisfied with the results he had achieved.

After his racing career, Hartog worked in the family business that dealt with the artificial drying of forage . After his father's death in 1987, he runs it together with his mother and brother Peter. The company Grasdrogerij Hartog BV from Abbekerk is now operating internationally.

In addition, Wil Hartog is a frequent guest at classic events with the Suzuki, with which he won the Dutch TT in 1977 .

statistics

title

In the motorcycle world championship

season class motorcycle run Victories Podiums Poles Points Result
1973 500 cc Yamaha 1 - - - 8th 24.
1975 350 cc Yamaha 1 - - - 5 26th
1976 500 cc Suzuki 1 - 1 - 10 21st
1977 500 cc Suzuki 4th 1 1 - 30th 10.
1978 500 cc Suzuki 10 2 3 - 65 4th
1979 500 cc Suzuki 11 1 5 - 66 4th
1980 500 cc Suzuki 6th 1 2 - 31 6th
1981 500 cc Suzuki 2 - - - 2 23.
total 36 5 12 0 217

References

Web links

Commons : Wil Hartog  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Vincent Glon: Les Champions Néerlandais. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on May 25, 2015 (French).
personal data
SURNAME Hartog, Wil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch motorcycle racer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH May 28, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Abbekerk