In early December 1978, months of speculation came to a conclusion when Tom Herron signed for Heron Suzuki GB as a member of their 1979 500cc World Championship Grand Prix set-up.
It was just rewards for the popular Ulsterman, during the previous few seasons Tom had worked incredibly hard to establish himself as one of the world's best privateers in the 250/350cc World Championships. Indeed, those performances on the smaller capacity machines had brought him to the attention of Suzuki Germany and Kawasaki, but Tom felt his future lay in the Blue Riband 500cc series and signed the Suzuki GB contract.
German GP - Hockenheim 06/05/1979
Tom was signed by Heron Suzuki to ride in the 500cc World Championship, most of the British Championship meetings and importantly, to spearhead the Suzuki effort at the Isle of Man TT races.
His grand prix performances as a Suzuki 'works' rider in 1979 were nothing short of stunning. A brilliant third place on his debut in Venezuela, fourth in Austria and again third in Italy put Tom in third place in the championship as the series arrived in Spain where unfortunately a last lap practice crash, as he pushed for pole position, left him with a badly broken right thumb and third degree burns to his arms and elbows and as such, unable to race.
Tom, Kenny Roberts and Mike Baldwin were battling for the top spot with all three claiming the upperhand at some point in the final 10 minutes of the session when a typically determined Tom, aiming to reclaim the advantage he had held for most of the session, unfortunately crashed out.
Tom's signing for Suzuki that year of course placed him as team mate to Barry Sheene, and Sheene saw problems ahead.
Tom Herron and Barry Sheene: Austrian GP - Salzurgring 29/04/1979
He and Tom had been at odds in the past over certain issues such as road racing and as Sheene himself said, 'Prior to 1979, it was fair to say we didn't get on. When I heard that Tom had been chosen to partner me I was convinced there was not the remotest possiblity of our seeing eye to eye on anything. The atmosphere threatened to be unbearable."
Tom was tipped for big things at Suzuki and as the early season unfolded he quickly earned the respect and friendship of his illustrious team-mate and rival. In the five grand prix that Tom competed in that year he finished ahead of Barry in two of them and by May 1979 he was ahead of his team mate in the standings by five points. Tom's mischievous sense of humour had come to light a few times, on one occasion he roped Barry into a crazy tyre test at Imola. But Sheene warmed to Tom all the more because of pranks like this and it's not an exaggeration to say that Tom was one of the few team-mates that Barry actually got along with.
Barry Sheene:
"How wrong I was about Tom, his attitude impressed me right from the start. He was forthright and highly accurate about the way certain machines had been set up, a type of honesty which came as a refreshing change after having to listen to so much crap from others when they were asked for their assessments of machines. At last I had someone with me who would tell the technicians the way it really was. He never minced his words. Even if he thought I was a so-and-so, which sometimes he did, he would tell me straight to my face. His direct approach was to be admired and, as far as I was concerned, I got on with Tom perfectly."
Stephen McKeown
November 2009
It was just rewards for the popular Ulsterman, during the previous few seasons Tom had worked incredibly hard to establish himself as one of the world's best privateers in the 250/350cc World Championships. Indeed, those performances on the smaller capacity machines had brought him to the attention of Suzuki Germany and Kawasaki, but Tom felt his future lay in the Blue Riband 500cc series and signed the Suzuki GB contract.
German GP - Hockenheim 06/05/1979
Photo: Manfred Mothes www.highsider.com
Tom was signed by Heron Suzuki to ride in the 500cc World Championship, most of the British Championship meetings and importantly, to spearhead the Suzuki effort at the Isle of Man TT races.
His grand prix performances as a Suzuki 'works' rider in 1979 were nothing short of stunning. A brilliant third place on his debut in Venezuela, fourth in Austria and again third in Italy put Tom in third place in the championship as the series arrived in Spain where unfortunately a last lap practice crash, as he pushed for pole position, left him with a badly broken right thumb and third degree burns to his arms and elbows and as such, unable to race.
Tom, Kenny Roberts and Mike Baldwin were battling for the top spot with all three claiming the upperhand at some point in the final 10 minutes of the session when a typically determined Tom, aiming to reclaim the advantage he had held for most of the session, unfortunately crashed out.
Tom's signing for Suzuki that year of course placed him as team mate to Barry Sheene, and Sheene saw problems ahead.
Tom Herron and Barry Sheene: Austrian GP - Salzurgring 29/04/1979
Photo: Frank Wick
He and Tom had been at odds in the past over certain issues such as road racing and as Sheene himself said, 'Prior to 1979, it was fair to say we didn't get on. When I heard that Tom had been chosen to partner me I was convinced there was not the remotest possiblity of our seeing eye to eye on anything. The atmosphere threatened to be unbearable."
Tom was tipped for big things at Suzuki and as the early season unfolded he quickly earned the respect and friendship of his illustrious team-mate and rival. In the five grand prix that Tom competed in that year he finished ahead of Barry in two of them and by May 1979 he was ahead of his team mate in the standings by five points. Tom's mischievous sense of humour had come to light a few times, on one occasion he roped Barry into a crazy tyre test at Imola. But Sheene warmed to Tom all the more because of pranks like this and it's not an exaggeration to say that Tom was one of the few team-mates that Barry actually got along with.
Barry Sheene:
"How wrong I was about Tom, his attitude impressed me right from the start. He was forthright and highly accurate about the way certain machines had been set up, a type of honesty which came as a refreshing change after having to listen to so much crap from others when they were asked for their assessments of machines. At last I had someone with me who would tell the technicians the way it really was. He never minced his words. Even if he thought I was a so-and-so, which sometimes he did, he would tell me straight to my face. His direct approach was to be admired and, as far as I was concerned, I got on with Tom perfectly."
Stephen McKeown
November 2009