Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
EASTER IS THE MAIN holiday weekend of the year in Europe and 1965 was no exception in providing sport fans with a complete program, the main features being road racing and moto-cross. The prospect of seeing Derek Minter on a Norton up against Mike Hailwood on the MV at Brands Hatch on Good Friday brought many thousands of spectators to the circuit but they were in for a big disappointment. The MVs stayed in Italy for racing on the Monday at Imola. Nevertheless, Hailwood borrowed a Syd Mullarney Norton 500cc and finished twelfth on it at Brands; then, after sorting out suspension problems and changing pistons, he went to Snetterton and had a grand scrap with Minter and Dan Shorey which he won after Minter dropped back.
For the 350 race at Brands, Hailwood had a "middleweight" Kirby AJS. This was the new lightweight being developed by Tom Kirby which had the short stroke 81 x 68mm cylinder, pistons and flywheels but not the special head, cams and valves. It was a question of some of the special pieces being fully tested under race conditions, but third and fourth gears went out in the Swedish five-speed gearbox and Mike finished eleventh. So to a standard 7R at Snetterton and exactly the same trouble, though he finished sixth there. Then he flew in a specially chartered plane to Italy and won the 500cc race at Imola the following day.
Winner of the 350 race at Snetterton was Phil Read on a 254cc Yamaha, who streaked away to win with a record lap at 92.73 mph. As he crossed the finish line, gearbox trouble made it obvious that one more lap and Dan Shorey might have gone one better than second. Bill Ivy continued his good form in winning the 125 race on a Honda, setting a record lap at 83.66 mph. (Another lap record was set in the
500cc sidecar class by Pip Harris' BMW at 85.88 mph.) Ivy had already booked a record lap at Brands when he finished second in the 125 class to Hugh Anderson (Suzuki) and proved his all-class ability by winning the 50cc race and coming second in the 250 on a Cotton, then taking another second in the 500 on a Monard. Easter was a milestone for him as he had his last rides on the Geoff Monty machinery and will now ride under the Kirby banner. Under his new sponsor Bill will ride in the T.T., and with the prospect of machinery in all four classes could equal the Hailwood record first time out.
Hugh Anderson had a works 125cc Suzuki for the Brands and Oulton meetings and won both his races. Mike Duff won the 250 race at Brands on a Yamaha but then both he and Read failed at Oulton. Read fell off and Duff broke the gear shifter. This left the way open for Minter to win on the Cotton, beating similarly mounted Ivy. At one stage though, Gordon Keith on the Royal Enfield had been in the running and proved far quicker on the straights than the Cotton, but a broken exhaust finally put him out. However, it should not be long before the Enfield takes its first win.
John Cooper gained his only success of the weekend in the 500 race at Oulton. Chris Vincent won the sidecar class at Brands whilst at Oulton Fritz Scheidegger won both legs of the sidecar event.
Vincent and Scheidegger had previously fought out the "Sidecar Race of the Year" meeting at Mallory Park with Vincent's 650 BSA beating the 500 BMW, but it is obvious that the form Scheidegger is showing at the moment must make him favorite for the world championship. His engine has been tuned by Helmut Fath, who rode so convincingly in 1960 when he won the title. Like Florian Camathias, Scheidegger is Swiss and has long been a top contender without ever winning a title. Now, with a morale boosting win at the West German Grand Prix, this could be his year.
If the West German event gave Fritz a boost it must equally have shaken Honda whose only success was the first two places in the 50cc race and not another finisher in any class. With Redman crashing when trying to get the better of Agostini in the 350 race, the weakness of a three-man team to compete in four classes was again underlined. But still there is no news of an additional member to the team. Fortunately, Redman broke no bones though early reports were of a broken arm. He was in fact only badly bruised and will be fit for the next round.
Surprise of the meeting was the riding of Ramon Torras of Spain who took third place in both the 125 and 250 events. A good ride too was that of Walter Scheimann (Norton); he took third place in the 500 race when Tony Woodman, with whom he had been dicing, retired with clutch trouble on his Matchless. Scheimann was a visitor to England for the Easter races, finishing second at Snetterton and fifth at Oulton on his 125 Honda.
Class winners at the Austrian Grand Prix (which does not count to the world title) were: 125cc, Hugh Anderson (Suzuki); 250cc, Dieter Krumpholz (MZ); 350cc, Frantisek Bocek (Jawa); 500cc, Dan Shorey (Norton) and sidecar, Max Deubel ( BMW). But two near misses made the news there as well. The Russian, Endel Kiisa on a Vostok 4, had to retire in the 350 race when in sight of the finish on the last lap, and in the 500 race Yankee Tony Woodman slid off his Matchless when leading. Both men put up the fastest lap in their respective classes.
The other Woodman, Derek, has not been having a happy time so far with the works MZ machines, which must take a bit of getting used to. Out of contention at Brands, a circuit where he had never previously raced, he was fourth on the 125 at Oulton and fifth at the West German Grand Prix.
BSA do not figure much in road race results except in the 1000cc sidecar class where Chris Vincent has done so much to make the marque virtually unbeatable. Others too are using BSA engines for this class of racing, the latest being Terry Vinnicombe, sponsored by Tom Kirby. And if Kirby is using the Beesa you can bet that factory is showing real interest in the subject. This is confirmed by reports in the British press that the BSA group intend to cash in on the road racing boom by producing machines that will lend themselves to tuning for grand prix racing. There is little doubt that we shall be seeing exciting new machines.
If Don Brown of Johnson Motors was smiling when asked about a 250 Triumph single what would be the expression if asked about a thumping great 750cc threecylinder device? Yes, three cylinders (how's that for a break with tradition?) but I doubt if we will see it before the fall because it will be put through gruelling tests before the public can buy it. But the breath of fresh air which Harry Sturgeon, managing director of the BSA group, has brought with his far-sighted views is obviously what the industry in England needs. It may well have been sparked off by the success of Jeff Smith's win in the world moto-cross title last year on the Victor. That success is continuing, though at Easter he lost his run of five wins in a row at the Hants Grand National meet when a defective clutch put him out in the first leg. This meant an overall victory for his teammate Arthur Lampkin while Bickers won the 250 class.
Smith, however, leads the 500cc motocross table after three rounds with a total of 16 points to the 14 of Sten Ludin (Matchless Metisse). This lead is at the expense of the luckless Lundin, who seemed all set for victory in France when he burst the gearbox on the last lap. Consequently, Smith won both races, and pursuing him on each occasion was Jerry Scott riding a Gold Star tuned by ex-international moto-cross ace Eric Cheney. Scott's good ride puts him in a commanding third position in the championship table.
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While Smith was hitting the top in France, Bickers was doing the same thing in Belgium, though without opposition from the Russians who had stayed in Moscow for their own championships. This attitude is difficult to understand, the more so as Arbekov was at that time leading the championship. However, in the Belgian round local hero Joel Robert was in big trouble with engine seizures, finally giving up in the first race after a real gutzer on the fast finish straight. Then the crowd took up the chant for another Belgian rider, Walter Baeten, who has joined the CZ team to contest the whole championship with Robert. But he, too, was out of luck and in the end Bickers had no trouble winning the first race from his teammate Alan Clough. Czechoslovakian Vlastimil Valek on a Jawa was third. In the second leg Robert again retired, this time after only one lap. Torsten Hallman (Husqvarna) and Bickers had a race-long scrap. with Dave always in charge of the situation and riding well within his limit. The young Swede Aje Jonsson (Husqvarna) was third and the overall result of the meeting — Bickers, Hallman. Jonsson. So Bickers now leads the table with 20, Arbekov is second with 19, and Robert and Hallman both have 10.
It must have been a bitter pill for Robert to swallow. At the two big Easter meetings in Belgium he had won both 250 races on his CZ and the 500s on the 360 model. Even stopping at his pit for a drink on one occasion, he still beat Jeff Smith(BSA) by four minutes. By the way, the printer's devil seems to have got at last month's copv, for the moto-cross meeting that Smith won was in Austria, not Australia as printed. The lads have to travel great distances for world title meetings but that would be beyond a joke — worse than Daytona for a road race! •
