Harald Bartol: Rider engineer

Austrian engineer Harald Bartol started young, at the age of 19, building and tuning the 50cc Puch special he began racing with in 1966, finishing second in his first-ever race before carving a reputation for himself by using his inherent skills to tune the bikes he raced with some distinction.

For 1972 Harald acquired the ex-works Suzuki RZ64 twin on which Germany’s Dieter Braun had won the 1970 125cc world title, and Barry Sheene had finished a close runner-up in the 1971 world series to Angel Nieto’s Derbi. With Suzuki long retired from 125GP racing, Harald had to make all the spares needed to run the bike himself, and tune it too – to such good effect that he finished seventh in the 1972 125GP World Championship on the Japanese bike, including scoring his first GP rostrum finish with third place on the demanding Opatija circuit.

This heralded Harald’s rise to prominence in 125GP racing, tuning the bikes he rode to a succession of 13 rostrum finishes over the years, until he retired