This picture was taken by Swiss photographer Maurice Büla at the 1967 Tourist Trophy event just before the Senior TT race in which both Giacomo Agostini (left) on the MV Agusta 3 and Mike Hailwood (right) on the Honda RC181 would go for a world-known fight which entered the history and legend of Road Racing forever – Hailwood won the race, Agostini had a secondary chain broken and desisted. At that date (june 1967), Hailwood had gathered seven World titles, Agostini only one. The third person on the picture, quite older than his two fellows, is also a big name in the motorcycle history: Irish Champion Stanley Woods, who was racing before Second World War (from 1923 to 1939), gathered no less than ten wins at the Tourist Trophy, and 29 wins in Grand Prix events on the continent. Born in 1904, he stopped racing because of the Second World War and when activities resumed in 1947, he was 43 years old and retired. He passed away in 1993, and still is recognized as a legend of motorcycle racing, maybe the first one in road racing.
Text Marc Pétrier – Photo FIM/Maurice Büla Collection
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