The Canadian Scene

THE CANADIAN SCENE

EVE WHITE

ONE OF THE MOST interesting things about the Ontario scramble scene this year has been the revival of the 500cc class. When scrambling was first popular, the 500 class held sway, with the light-weights more of a fill-in to the programme. Then recently the lightweight riders increased greatly in numbers and the heavier clases were sometimes hard pressed to make up their allocated number of races.

During this year so far, the 500 Matchless, and BSA have come back again, mainly in the hands of riders who have scrambled for some time. Jack Hunt of Toronto and Fernando Pistone of Hamilton have been leading the rush, while two newer men, Jim Sehl and John Braden of the Hamilton district have found excellent racing form. These four were chosen for the 500 class of the Challenge scramble as we reported previously, but at last word Jim Sehl had fallen in a local scramble and suffered a broken collar bone which argues him out of the team. His place will be taken by Jim Gilzean of Ottawa, who has scrambled lightweights for some time and is now favouring a 500 BSA.

It is always difficult to explain the trends in motorcycling, which by the way is having a very good year in Canada, with dealers smiling and unable to get enough machines to fill the demand. I would feel, however, that the lightweight riders who become skillful in that branch would be looking for more speed, and the answer is a larger machine. Whatever the reason, the re-emergence of the 500’s can only lead to more exciting events and as a crowd pleaser, the larger bikes are supreme.

NOTES ABOUT BOASMAN

Ray Boasman of Ancaster, Ontario, whose age is uncertain, but whose riding ability is unquestioned, has been a feature of the Canadian motorcycling scene for some time. While in the Montreal area his name was a frequent leader in reliability trials where he could top the regular riders even though he might have had a long lay-off due to business.

Ray is now one of the top scramblers in Ontario as well as being still a good trials man, winning the National Championship Trial in 1962. His club, the Steel City Riders of Hamilton are a very keen competition group and when there is no open event in the area they organize club events which keep the riders very much in trim. This is reflected in Ray’s riding, as he can compete in the most gruelling scramble and still finish looking fresh.

His mount at the moment is a Dot which he maintains himself, having a very good mechanical knowledge. He and one or two other riders organized a school during the winter where riders were trained in the maintenance of their machines. Ray is married and has a family, which makes it all the more remarkable that with all his riding he still finds time to be registrar of competition licenses for the Canadian Motorcycle Association. He is currently very high in the running for the White Trophy, the Canadian high point award, and if his present form continues, he’ll be a hard man to beat. •