Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B. R. NICHOLLS
PRIDE OF PLACE this month could not possibly be given to any news from Europe when at long last under F.I.M. supervision the motorcycle speed record has been broken and the speed of Herz on the N.S.U. superseded in the record book by Bill Johnson. Congratulations to Joe Dudek and Bill Johnson on their stupendous achievement - let us all hope that it will help to bring about a happier set-up between the A.M.A. and the F.I.M. Leave squabbling to the politicians and let's get on with the sport. We in Britain are proud that it was at least a British engine in the record breaker and look forward to seeing Bill and Joe having even greater success at a later date.
The most International event of the past month has been the World Speedway Final held at the Wembley stadium in London. This spot is well known to many Americans as it has been the venue for the U.S. Forces in Europe football final before now, not to mention the host of other events that take place there. Winner this year was Peter Craven who won the title way back in 1955. It was an exciting evening with the winner scoring fourteen out of a possible fifteen points. In the all important heat where he met ex-champion Ronnie Moore, Moore was the victim of machine trouble for his fuel tank fell off; this virtually gave the title to Craven. Runner-up Barry Briggs lost his chance in the very first heat when he finished third to Moore and Swedish Gote Nordin, whilst the reigning champion, Ove Fundin of Sweden, arrived at the stadium on crutches and had pain killing injections to an in jured knee before riding. He still scored ten points and this was good enough to get him a run-off for third place against fel low countryman Bjorn Knutsson which Fundon won.
Tenth out of the sixteen finalists was a Russian rider, Igor Plechanov, whom the friendly crowd took to their hearts espe cially when he won one of his heats. Vir tually all speedway riders use the J.A.P. motor for this sport but the Russian was riding an ESO engined machine which, although good, is not quite on a par with the J.A.P. But I think we will be seeing some more of this very forceful and pleasant rider. Countries represented by the finalists were England, Scotland, Po land, Sweden, Australia, Russia and New Zealand. As one old timer remarked, "oh for a Lamoreaux. or Milne to show this lot how it should be done."
Not a very big step from the dirt to the grass and over here grass track racing has a very keen band of followers both in solo and sidecar form. But mention of grass tracking means one name and one name only these days and that is Aif Hagon. This year he took both 350 and 500cc National titles to make his total nine championship titles since he started rac ing. Dubbed "Mr. Grasstrack" by one re porter, Alf is of slight build and looks more like a dedicated college guy, a simile that zzzzis accentuated by rather strong glasses, but on a grass racer he is almost invincible. He also rides speedway but with nothing like as much success.
There is news of two top line men re tiring. Gordon Jackson, the A.J.S. trials ace, has announced that he is finished with top line competition and his retire ment brought a groan from all trials en-. thusiasts.
Suzuki wins a 250 race! Startling news indeed but at last the Japanese two-stroke firm seems to be sorting out their troubles and at an International meeting held at Caidwell Park here, Frank Perris rode the 250 two-stroke twin to victory with a lap record for good measure. But we can still expect to see a water-cooled model next year which should be a far greater threat to the Hondas than they have proved this season.
The might of the Honda concern h~s taken a bit of a shaking over the past couple of months and the manager who took over at the beginning of August has had more than his share of troubles and frights. At the Ulster Grand Prix where everyone thought Jim Redman would gain his 250 world title with ease, his four turned twin on him and took a lot of nursing to get home and only a total lack of opposition made his title certain that day. Then at the East German Grand Prix there is little doubt that had a top flight rider been on Fischer's 125cc M.Z. the Hondas would have been beaten -remember he finished third only .03 mph behind winner Taveri. And in the 250 race things were even closer with Hailwood putting up the record lap and fin ishing .01 mph behind world champion Jim Redman. Then onto the Italian Grand Prix where the fabulous Tarquinio Provini rode the old, out-dated one-lunger Morini to such purpose that it took all the skill and craft Redman could muster to win the 250 race. Yes, experience helps a lot in the road racing game but the luck has got to be running your way to gain vic tories. But these near misses add spice to the sport and encourage others to keep on trying and have also proved that Jim Red man is worthy of his 250 and 350 cham pionship titles, though for some reason unknown he rarely gets the publicity he deserves over here.
(Continued on Page 58)
The Italian meeting at Monza brought forth a spate of rumours about M.V. re turning to the battle next season in the lightweight classes but we are always hear ing rumours about the Gallarate concern, the favourite being that a batch of 500cc M.V. will be manufactured for private runners. I think the only certain thing about next season is that we will not see a 350 M.V. And if you think that is a sad note to end on there is worse to come, for the Bracebridge Street home of the famous Norton marque is closing and be ing transferred to the home of the parent company at Blumstead Road, Woolwich, London, which enthusiasts will recognize as the address of A.J.S. and Matchless machinery. This again has brought about a spate of rumours, neither confirmed or denied, that make it look as if the Manx Norton is nearing the end of its days and also the G50 Matchless. If true, the 500cc class could die very quickly for lack of machinery. To many this will seem like natural evolution for current high speeds and high hysteresis tires are producing phenomenal speeds that are causing grave reflection in some quarters. It is part of a very complex pattern which will form the subject of next month's column.
The final international moto cross of the 1962 season for us was the 250cc Trophee des Nations team for which we were the hosts. With British riders still smarting from the treatment given them by the Swedes in the 500cc event when they finished the race four abreast in the lead it would obviously have to be some thing good to wipe out that memory. Run over two legs, the first made some doubt that we could win, let alone win spec tacularly, but our five riders made no mis take in the second race. Jeff Smith and Dave Bickers took the lead from the first lap and built it into a minute and a half advantage with the rest of the team taking third, fourth and fifth places. So at the end of the fifteen laps the leaders waited and all five crossed the line together.
We have been having a spate of end of season International road race meetings and the most consistent star at them all has been the Swiss sidecar ace Florian Camathias with his B.M.W. outfit passen gered by an Englishman, Harry Winter. They have won together at Cadwell Park, Scarborough, Aintree and Mallory Park. It was at the last mentionad meeting that Derek Minter (Norton) won the fabulous 1000 guineas (approx. $3000 U.S.) Race of the Year with Alan Shepherd, the Finnish G.P. winner, second, and third a steady but not unusually brilliant John Cooper (Norton). •
