The Canadian Scene

THE CANADIAN SCENE

EVE WHITE

NATIONAL Championships have held the scene for the past few months, starting with the National Championship Scramble held at Copetown, Ontario and run by the Steel City Riders of Hamilton. In this event, as in most Canadian races, riders from the U.S.A. scored considerable successes. In the lightweight class Bill Wetzel of Painesville, Ohio, took the 200cc crown, while the 250cc went to Dick Gariepy of Barre, Mass.

500cc class, divided into Junior, Senior and Expert saw some Canadian wins, as Norm Braden of Waterdown, Ont. was leading junior, and Mike Binkley of Hamilton the winning senior. The expert final once more showed the U.S.A. skill, as Timer Simonds of Cromwell, Conn, took that championship. The

scene now moves to Three Rivers, Quebec where the Three Rivers Motorclcle Club ran the National Championship half-mile. Here the titles stayed in Canada as Yvon du Hamel of Montreal, our number 1 rider took the lightweight class. The Junior 500 was a win for Jean-Guy Bernier of Quebec City, while the Senior title went to Roger O’Grady of Verdun, Que. Yvon du Hamel also won the Expert class Championship and put up the fastest lap at 29.76 seconds, riding BSA. The

British Empire Motor Club staged the Championship Corduroy Enduro, a two-day event through the Haliburton Highlands, covering some road sections, but many miles of bush riding, made very swampy by torrential rains earlier in the week. The

Overall Champion, riding a 500cc Triumph was Norm Smith of Brecksville, Ohio, and best other class went to Marv Cutler of Dearborn, Mich., with a Matchless 600cc. The class winners, a nice mixture of Canadian and U.S.A. talent came as follows: Lightweight, Bill Decker of Butler,

N.J., Triumph; Mediumweight, Sheldon Smith, Peterborough, Ont., AJS; Heavyweight, Albert Irwin, Cornwall, Ont., BSA and the winning team was the Wrecking Crew of Norm Smith, Sal Scirpo and John Semple. Only one sidecar finished, that of George Davidson and Bill Ryan of Toronto whose Matchless overcame almost imposible conditions to check in on the two-day run. The

National Championship Road Races organized by the Nortown Motorcycle Club took place at Mospprt in shocking weather conditions. During practice rain fell most of the time onto a paved course made slippery by the previous week’s big International car race. During the races, the course dried slowly, and then dampened down again towards the end of the senior/expert championship. The

lightweights fielded forty riders, and from the start Tony Woodman, of Far Hills, N.J., Chuck Andrews of Rochester, N.Y. and Jess Thomas of Boston, Mass, set a sizzling pace far ahead of the remaining thirty-seven riders. But the slippery course claimed Andrews and Thomas and a little later on the same lap, down went Woodman, and so into the limelight rode George Rockett, on his Parilia, and Hans van den Hurk of Toronto, Honda. They gave each other a wonderful race, with Rockett leading at the flag to take the 250cc Championship. At

the start of the senior/expert championship for 75 miles, the course was dry. Ivor Lloyd, Toronto, Manx, Roger Beaumont, Longueuil, Que., Manx and Fred Gailey, Toronto, G. 50 lead off, with Lloyd opening out a fair lead whenever threatened. Gailey moved up to secohd, but a moment’s lack of concentration, and he was off on the oily course. Then at the half-way point a “Scotch mist” wetted down the course, and brought down five riders on one lap. Beaumont seemed to realize that the Senior Championship was his if he could only keep going and he slowed way down to make sure of finishing. Despite

the adverse conditions, Lloyd’s fastest lap was 1 min. 46.3 secs., just 1/10 second slower than the lap record established by Lance Weil in August. Weil, riding very well, brought his Manx into second overall ahead of Beaumont who finished in third overall spot. Fourth went to Tony Woodman, G-50, and fifth to Ken King of Hamilton, Manx Norton. To

those who wish information about the C.M.A., we now have a new address: Box 100, Islington, Ontario, Canada. A free trial copy of the C.M.A. News will be sent to you upon request. • RS'