[1] Ray Pickrell and Paul Smart won three races each and were the top scorers.

[4][5][6] British journalists, Gavin Trippe and Bruce Cox, ran California based Motor Cycle Weekly and promoted motorcycle races in the US.

They met with Chris Lowe of Motor Circuit Developments (MCD), who ran Brands Hatch, Oulton Park and Mallory Park circuits, and Jim Swift of the British Motorcycle Racing Club at the 1970 Daytona 200 and the plan for the Transatlantic Trophy was formulated.

Grand National Champion[11] and runner-up at the 1971 Daytona 200 was to have led the US team but withdrew.

Acting on his suggestion, BSA-Triumph announced it would develop its 750cc Rocket III and Trident triples for this series.

Shorter forks were fitted, the engine moved forwards and upwards by 40 mm to put more load on the front wheel and increase ground clearance.

Only four of the new machines were available which were allocated to Gene Romero, Paul Smart, Dick Mann and Mike Hailwood.

[1][19][20] The machines were airfreighted in from Daytona[2] and Smart and Hailwood's bikes converted to short-circuit specification.

[1][19] Don Emde is quoted as saying “We got beaten so badly that it was close to an ambush situation, but we gave it a good shot, and if we had all been on the same bikes as Pickrell, Smart and Cooper, it would have been closer.

Smart had a slow start as he was still adjusting his helmet when the flag dropped, but recovered to take second place.

[23] Pickrell soon took the lead and maintained it to the finish, equalling Phil Read's lap record in the process.

Cooper finished third and equalled the Hailwood's lap record that had been set on a works Honda RC166 six.

[24] Emde and Castro got good starts and led the pack away only to be passed by Smart by the end of the first lap.

Ray Pickrell and Paul Smart won three races each and were joint top individual scorers with American Dick Mann third.