International Hutchinson Hundred

INTERNATIONAL HUTCHINSON HUNDRED

B. R. NICHOLLS

ONCE AGAIN the weather was the focal point of a race meeting and conditions for practice were dry but bitterly cold with a strong wind blowing that severely affected the handling of bikes, especially the little fifties. John Hartle was sidelined during the practice session and this was a bitter disappointment to both John and the fans for it was to be his first outing on a Steve Lancefield-tuned machine. John will ride Lancefield Nortons for all the British meetings and use his own Lancey-tuned machines for the continental meetings. It should be a fruitful partnership for Lancefield is one of our top tuners.

Race day started off even worse than practice for the wind had not dropped, the track was soaking wet and there was a lot of sleet and rain about. These were the conditions when the fifties buzzed away to start the day's racing. Anscheidt was a very bad last away on the works Kreidler but using eleven out of the. twelve gears at his command, caught Dave Simmonds (Tohatsu) on the fourth of five laps and went on to win easily.

Then came the three-fifty race and Jim Redman rushed off from the start obviously determined to make a bold attempt to retain the Mellano Trophy which has been his for the past two years. This is awarded to the race winner whose race speed is nearest to or furthest in excess of the class lap record. But his attempt was fruitless for the poor conditions resulted in his race speed being some twelve miles an hour down on the lap record. Nevertheless he finished well over a minute ahead of a terrific scrap for second place between Tom Phillips (Aermacchi) and Phil Read (AJS), with the verdict going to the pushrod machine. For the first sidecar race, a scratch event, Colin Seeley (Matchless) got ahead of Max Deubel (BMW) to lead the race but ran out of gas on the last lap to let Fritz Scheidegger (BMW) into first.

After a break for lunch, racing resumed with the 125's taking the field to give a first lap sensation with Alan Shepherd (MZ) falling on Stowe corner when in the lead. Tommy Robb laid down his Honda to avoid Shepherd so the two top works men were out before the completion of one lap. New Zealand works • Bultaco rider Ginger Molloy then took the lead only to be passed by Hans Georg Anscheidt, also on a Bultaco. Anscheidt held the lead for four laps until the new Honda teamster Ralph Bryans took over and went on to win, with Anscheidt second and Walter Schiemann (Honda) third.

Chris Vincent had missed the first sidecar event and the 125 race to attend to his sick BMW and only got it ready with minutes to spare for the sidecar championship race which was next. So we had the spectacle of him versus Florian Camathias, who created a sensation when he arrived with his Gilera outfit and added to the consternation of the crowd by spinning it on a fast left hander in the first race and throwing out his passenger who suffered a cracked bone in the ankle. Swiss solo ace Roland Foil took over as passenger for the second race but the Gilera had to start from the rear of the grid because it missed official practice and therefore

never really got to grips with Vincent, who disappeared into the distance winning the race and the Mellano award. But the fastest lap went to Camathias who finished second and Fritz Scheidegger who came fourth; third man home was Deubel.

Fallers first for the 250 race meant that Shepherd took his MZ into the lead on the third lap and was chased all the way home by Tommy Robb's Honda. Southern Rhodesian Bruce Beale, who is being sponsored by Redman on Honda machines, proved his worth by taking third place, his style being very reminiscent of the world champion himself and looks set for a very successful season. The weather was still bitterly cold and because of this the main race of the day for the bigger bangers was cut from 25 to 15 laps, for the first three of which Hailwood on the MV hung around with Read (Matchless) but then cleared off, and Phillips (Norton) was unable to catch Read so settled for third place. But what caught the eye of the crowd was the 1954 E95 AJS better known as the Porcupine which finished in seventh spot ridden by Mike Duff. It is ten years since this was last raced and its performance at Silverstone had a lot of people wondering what might have been achieved with it if development had not been cast aside. There is no doubt the engine has the steam; the main problem at the moment is to sort out the handling, as fairings were not in use back in '54.

Now for a couple of quick news flashes. Camathias will be making attacks on world speed records within the next few weeks after competing in the Sidecar Race of the Year Meeting at which the first prize is over fourteen hundred dollars. Moto Cross: Torsten Hallman (Husqvarna) won the first round of the 1964 championship in Spain with Don Rickman (Bultaco) second and John Griffiths (Greeves) third. Dave Bickers could only manage fourth but if he is superstitious it should not worry him, for he won it last year and that was the end of his success.