Continental Report
CONTINENTAL REPORT
B.R. NICHOLLS
“MAN OF THE YEAR”
At the end of every season in Europe the British weekly paper Motor Cycle News holds its annual poll to decide who is the reader’s “Man of the Year.” The poll creates a great deal of interest. Run with it is a competition to see if anyone can correctly forecast the first six in the poll, and the amazing thing is that every year someone seems able to do just that.
The poll was first held back in 1958 when John Surtees won from a youngster by the name of Hailwood, with Bob McIntyre 3rd. The next year the result was the same. It has, however, been dominated by one man up to 1968 and that man was Mike Hailwood, who in the poll’s first 11 years was only once out of the top three and then he finished 4th, taking the title on three occasions—the only man to do so.
This time it was Ray Pickrell’s turn to come out top man, though he himself was the first to comment that it might be on a sympathy vote after his dreadful crash at Mallory Park during the Race of the Year, though two wins during the TT must have given him a lot of votes, not to mention those titanic scraps he had with Cal Rayborn during the Easter John Player Transatlantic Trophy races with Cal Rayborn.
Pickrell won the poll from Jarno Saarinen, the world 250 road race champion who had a tremendous record in England in 1972, being unbeaten in nine races. Third was Paul Smart, with last year’s winner John Cooper 4th.
BRITISH TRIALS CHAMP
The new British trials champion is Malcolm Rathmell, who, when he was signed by Bultaco, was given the brief instruction to win back the British title for Bultaco. He has done just that and for good measure carried along with him two other Yorkshiremen—the Lampkin brothers (Martin and Alan) so that the Bultaco concern can claim the first three places in the championship.
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With Sammy Miller out of the serious trials game any event is just the open challenge that we knew it would be when Super Sam retired. It has transpired that all the top aces now come from the north of England and it is all that the men from the south can do to get in the first six. Rathmell, with the British title under his belt, is the man to beat, for not only has he taken the season long title but for good measure also took the prestigious British Experts title when the trial was held in Wales under atrocious weather conditions, a course made difficult by almost 24 hours of rain before hand and a clerk of the course who was determined to make it as difficult as possible.
Trouble started at the very first section which the early number riders just kept looking at for over half an hour so that it was obvious that delay was going to build up and become a problem. They had obviously not learned the lesson of a couple of years ago when all but one were excluded for time wasting. Riders were brought back to reality when one marshall closed his group of sections at the time stated in the program and so enforced a 20-mark penalty on those who had not ridden the section by that time. One such rider was Dave Thorpe (Ossa), who after this unsettling experience went on to finish runner-up to Rathmell, with 96 marks lost to the 73 of the winner.
Third was a fine young newcomer, Richard Sunter, riding an Ossa, who lost 98. Fourth place went to versatile Steve Wilson, also Ossa mounted, who rides for the Birmingham speedway team.
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The sidecar class was a closely fough battle between the BSAs of Ray Round and Ginger Budd, who lost 106 and 108 marks respectively. Right up to the last group of sections it was a three-cornered fight with Steve Kenworthy (Triumph), but he really lost out at the last minute when his score mounted to 116.
KNUT TROPHY EVENT
A couple of weeks after the Experts’ trial came the final round of the championship that Rathmell was so keen on winning. It was the Knut trophy event held in the Bath area of the west of England. If Rathmell was to have been beaten for the title then Alan Lampkin had to win the trial. But such a thing was never on as Lampkin came to grief in the first group of sections and never recovered, losing a total of 36 marks tr drop to 11th place. His poor ride eve* lost him the runner-up spot in the title, which was taken by his younger brother Martin.
The trial was won by the brilliant 19-year-old Montesa rider Rob Shepherd, who last month won the tough Scott trial. But it was a close thing, as his loss of 23 was only two less than Rathmell, and Dave Thorpe (Ossa) the 2nd place going to Rathmell by virtue of his cleaning more sections than Thorpe.
Both Thorpe and Shepherd have much improved very much lately and Jack Galloway is also becoming a force to reckon with. Young Richard Sunter, with his 3rd place in the Experts, has shown that it will not be long before he threatens the aces for top honors. With all these riders coming from Yorkshire i is almost like an invasion now for thè"~ big trials when they all ride, as it is a foregone conclusion that Yorkshire will be tops once again. Farley, in fact, was the only southern rider to finish in the first seven of the title hunt this year.
Perhaps if Mick Andrews were to ride a little more often in this country then the stranglehold might be broken, but his gospel spreading efforts for Ossa in the States preclude him from doing that. Even so, when it comes to the Scottish Six Days trial he will still be the man to beat, with three wins in a row behind him. Perhaps that increases the odds against him on the basis that he must lose sometimes, but he has the temperament for the event that is lacking in so many other riders.
TRIALS MACHINERY
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the 1973 Scottish Six Days trial will be the machinery, as Don Smith has already said that there will be a three man team on the 450cc single-cylinder two-strokes that he has had such a big hand in developing. A past European trials champion, Don has never won a Scottish, and is hardly likely to now. Indeed he will only ride if it is necessary to make up the team, is There are rumors, too, that Yamaha are interested in this branch of the sport and that Mick Andrews is top of the list of their wanted men to develop a winning trials iron. With the money that the Japanese are prepared to put into such a venture will Andrews change his allegiance?
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With all the competition among manufacturers it can only mean a mini boom for the top flight trials ace and no doubt Montesa had this in mind when they got Rob Shepherd’s signature on the bottom of a 3-year contract. Along with Rob Shepherd and Jack Galloway it makes an impressive team, as does the Bultaco line-up of Rathmell and the Lampkin brothers. Bultaco must be the strongest team as they took first three places in the British championship. The loss of Andrews would be a severe blow to Ossa even though Dave Thorpe has been riding brilliantly recently, but they could make a team with young Richard Sunter and speedway ace Steve Wilson, who has been causing some surprises recently. It is a healthy situation that can only improve the sport all the way round.
EARLS COURT SHOW
In the immediate post war years Earls Court used to be the Aladdins cave that all motorcyclists visited each November to see what the manufacturers had to offer for the next year. The whole of the ground floor was given over to this, with the balcony used for accessory firms and offices.
It all seems very long ago and indeed is now a part of history, for 1972 saw the Earls Court show a very much diminished affair with the ground floor entirely taken up by mobile homes and trailers and a good part of the balcony, too, with the bikes tucked away in one corner. Something like 20 percent of the visitors were those who were probably just curious and went in from the caravan show just to see what it was all about.
With everything new already announced at the Tokyo or Cologne shows there was virtually nothing for the enthusiast to see that was not already in the dealers’ showrooms. More people will probably be going to the Racing and Sporting show. ra
