Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
THE DOMINANT FEATURE of the month is the weather which has truly put a damper on the sporting side of life. It started off quite well although bitterly cold and in the national Kickham Trial won by Malcolm Davis (Greeves) we had snow as well as sunshine. The Greeves men followed up their team award in the Victory trial last month by taking the first five places in the Kickham trial but this event is not trade supported so the performance does not rate quite so highly as some aces were missing, most notable being Ray Sayer. Behind Davis came Peter Stirland, then the winner's brother Tony, with Don Smith and Bill Wilkinson to follow. Another Greeves rider, Derek Adsett, tied with Eric Adcock (D.O.T.) for sixth place. Sidecar winner was the one and only Ron Langston assisted in the chair as usual by Doug Cooper.
Remember the Henry Groutars Challenge Trophy run last year as a team event? Well, the Belgians won it in the end but their glory is short lived for this year it was changed to an individual trophy as the trials championship of Europe. The result can only be described as ignominious as no such award should be decided on less than six events but this had only four and no round in Britain. Basically the fault lies in the fact that the F.I.M. changed its mind over the award of the trophy and this gave countries little time to organize and compete in the event — next year should provide us with a better set-up but make no mistake about it, this year's winner Don Smith (Greeves) is a worthy one and will be difficult to beat next year.
Tony Godfrey (346c Royal Enfield) beats Phil Read 490cc Norton! No, it is not a race result, just a short description of what happened when these two famous road racers joined in the Pioneer Run from London to Brighton recently. This event is held annually being something of a pilgrimage for the proud owners of pre-1915 motorcycles. It all started way back in 1930 and now seems to get bigger each year with the number for 1964 being almost 250, all eager to prove that their machine was capable of completing the forty-four miles from London to Brighton. This time over 180 made it and to them must go every credit, for the day was bitterly cold to start with and it was raining; then it turned to sleet and the last ones to reach the destination had to contend with snow, not the best thing for belt drive.
It is amazing the care and attention that has been lavished on a lot of these old timers, with "better than new" obviously applying to some of them, and to read down the list of entrants is to read history itself. Names we no longer know like Anglian, Princeps, Ormonde, Etna and Frera, to name a few, but the one that really appealed to me was the AVi horsepower Slinger described as a three-in-line. Built in 1901, it boasted chain drive and I would hazard a guess at saying that it is unique, a remark almost certain to set the correspondence columns alight. Take a look at the photo though — ain't she a beauty and aren't you glad they don't make them like that anymore?
The weather then got progressively worse and so much snow fell in Derbyshire that the Bemrose trial was cancelled. As the first British road race meeting was to be held the day after that event it seemed it might be cancelled, but fortunately this was not so and Chris Vincent started 1964 exactly as he had finished 1963, by winning both the sidecar and 125cc races. However, the fact that he broke the 1200cc sidecar race record is of utmost importance as it was done with a 654cc unit construction BSA factory engine. There can be no better way of proving an engine than letting Chris force it 'round in his chair outfit and knowledge so gained will certainly be put to good use. Could it be that with nó more A.M.C. raceware to be bought there will be a Small Heath power unit?
Less than a week after the first meeting we had our Easter round of sport which started at Brands Hatch on Good Friday. Here Derek Minter showed that his win the previous week in the 500 class was no fluke, wininng both the 500 and 650 classes on the Norton tuned by Ray Petty which must be the fastest in the country at the moment. The peculiar thing, though, is that his 350 has lost all its steam, finishing second at Mallory, then ninth at Brands, finally seizing at Snetterton. It was in the 250 class at Brands that Derek really set the record crowd alight; riding his Cotton Telstar he was a very bad last away in an 8-lap event, yet caught the leader Tommy Robb (Honda) and took the lead only to be beaten across the line by Robb when the big end seized.
Whilst the road racers were hard at it so were the moto-cross men at the traditional Hants Grand National and it was the old firm of Smith and Bickers doing the winning. Jeff Smith (420 BSA) made it his fifth win in succession in the 50()cc class whilst Dave Bickers on the Greeves Challenger led five Greeves riders home in the lightweight class. Those who followed him were Alan Clough, Malcolm Davis (Kickham trial winner), Bryan Goss and John Griffiths. The following day we had the last of the winter series of television scrambles which featured a special relay event between Britain, Sweden and Belgium that turned out to be a complete flop. With one rider from each team setting out on the first leg, Belgium dropped right out of the running when Joel Robert (250 CZ) drowned his motor at the water splash whilst Bickers quickly drew ahead of Torsten Hallman (Husqvarna). Bickers handed over to Lampkin and Lampkin to Smith and nothing that Rolf Tibblin (Nils Hedlund) and Ove Lundell (360 Husqvarna) did could reduce the lead. This and the two supporting races only served to emphasize the superiority which had been shown at the first big international moto-cross meeting at St. Anthonis in Holland two weeks earlier. Then Smith was on his way to beating everyone until put out by an electrical fault and Bickers, riding a Gold Star which he borrowed for the meeting, finished second. So things augur well for the British boys but it is too early yet to write off the new Hedlund-engined machine that Tibblin will ride or, for that matter, the Czechoslovakian Eso-engined Metisse which Bill Nilsson will ride. Will Smith win his first title or will Tibblin, Nilsson or Lundin become the first rider ever to win it three times or are we due for a surprise? The 250 class is just as exciting with Bickers and Hallman set for battle, harried by Robert 'on the CZ and Vlastimil Valek changing from that marque to Jawa for 1964 and a very real threat from the Russian Grigoriev with works CZ support.
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But to return to the Easter road races, on the Sunday at Snetterton the 125 race was the most exciting of the day and did justice to the international license that covered the meeting. It was won by Jan Brening (Honda) of Sweden from Ginger Molloy (Bultaco), New Zealand, with the judges unable to separate them on time. Also concerned in the hectic dice in order of finishing were Tommy Robb (Honda), Ireland, Walter Schiemann (Honda), Germany, Bill Ivy (Honda), England, and Ulf Svensson (Honda), Sweden. To the two Swedish riders went the honor of putting the fastest lap. If the 125 race was exciting then the 350 final gave us the biggest surprise for a long time for in the second and third places behind John Hartle (Norton) come two of the new 350cc pushrod Aermacchi machines ridden by Othmar Drixl and Tom Phillips. Drixl is an Italian who has spent a great deal of the past winter at Monza carrying out tests on this new 350 and it is obvious that all the lappery of that famous Italian circuit has stood him in good stead for this coming season. Othmar is now living in England working for exNorton teamster Syd Lawton who imports the machines — Drixl is obviously going to be a man to watch in 1964. The 250 class went to Phillips (Aermacchi) and the sidecar race to Pip Harris with his immaculate white BMW outfit beating world champion Deubel and Vincent, both BMW mounted, for it was a 500cc event.
The following day Harris was again successful at Oulton Park so it looks as though the bad luck which has dogged him for the past few seasons, including ill health, are at last changing for the better and there could not have been a more popular winner. The solo classes at Oulton were dominated by Alan Shepherd, who won both the 125 and 250 classes on his East German MZ machines, whilst the 350 and 500 races went to Phil Read, riding Tom Kirby AJS and Matchless machines, who had race-long scraps with John Hartle (Nortons) in both events. Derek Minter had no 350 ride as the bike had seized the previous day, and went out of the 500 race when he fell on the first lap without injury. In both races Dennis Ainsworth on his Ray Petty-tuned Nortons finished third. At Thruxton Mike Duff won the big race of the day on his Arter Matchless whilst at Cadwell Park where snow and sleet fell, John Cooper (Norton) won the big race with Lewis Young (Kirby Matchless) second, an order that was reversed in the 350 race with Chris Conn (Nortons) finished third in both races.
A piece of news from the political front may have a far reaching effect on racing this season for it has just been announced that the restrictions concerning East German sportsmen and women is to be relaxed, enabling them to compete in N.A.T.O. countries. The big question is, does a mechanic for Alan Shepherd count as a sportsman? After all, if a swimming or athletic team can bring a manager and coach then why should not a motorcyclist have a mechanic? Although Alan has won all three races that he has entered so far this season there has been some panic to get the machine to the line, as the two-stroke is a temperamental device and the presence of a mechanic from the works would make life much easier and doubtless keep the machines in first class order. The outcome of this will be of the utmost interest to spectators and of even greater importance to those factory teams opposed to the MZ in open competition. If mechanics are allowed to accompany the works machines, then this year's 125 and 250 championships will truly be world titles.
The first big continental meeting held at Modena in Italy resulted in a win in the 500cc class for Remo Venturi on the new full size Bianchi twin. It was a runaway victory after Hailwood had fallen without injury when he tried to outbrake a group into a corner; he failed and rammed Jack Findlay (Matchless). Provini was again out of luck in the 250 class so the "old" single Morini had a victory in the hands of Giacomo Agostini. So the 1964 season is under way and it promises to be a cracker; have you booked for the T.T. yet?
