Classic motor-cycles to do battle again

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 10

Classic motor-cycles to do battle again

By

PETER GREENSLADE

I After .30 years Southbridge will again: reverberate to. the harsh crackle of racing motor-cycles on Sunday when the Christchurch-based Classic Motor Cycle Racing Register and the Ellesmere Motor Racing Club will stage ~a meeting. Profits from the meeting will go to sports clubs in the Southbridge-Elles-mere district. The . Classic Register, which has a membership of around 600, aims to preserve and use pre-1963 European and American

. motor-cycles. It has put on a number of charitable fund-raising meetings, including two Cust revivals. Cusf was the venue for the New Zealand Motor-cycle Grand Prix for many years,, starting before the Second World War. Each Easter Monday, Cust was the motorcyclist’s mecca, riders swarming in from all parts of New Zealand to do battle on oiled, unsealed roads that were the ultimate test of man and machine. Those were the days of Selwyn Burt, Jim Swar-

brick (known as the “Flying Milkman*’), Mick Holland, Ted Tolhurst, Ron Taggart, Morrie Wear, “Jungle” McGregor, the McClearys, father and sons, Russell Top, Rick Self, George Begg and dozens of others. Some of them have ridden out of this world, but most of the survivors still relish the pleasure of riding a Manx Norton, an AJS 7R or a Gold Star BSA. In the register’s race meetings, contestants race for enjoyment. George Begg, one of the register’s foundation members, said

results were not recorded. A I.6km circuit has been selected for the Southbridge meeting. It comprises a mixture- of long and short straights and sharp and sweeping bends. The entire Circuit is sealed and Mr Begg 'and Mr Allan Batt, another leading light on the register, estimate that speeds up to 145 km/h will be achieved, by the riders. This will be a meeting with an international flavour. Brian Richards, a former Scottish Gassic motor-cycle champion, will be racing a Manx

Norton, as will Keh Lucas, of Victoria. The former 125 cu cm world champion, Hugh Anderson, of Hamilton, will do battle with his Manx Norton-framed BSA 650 twin. Matched against them will be among others, Mick Holland, a former local speedway and circuit racing star, on his 1939 Excelsior Manxman, Rick Seff on a Triumph Special, Ron Taggart on an AJS 7R, Neil Neilson on a Grand Prix Triumph and George Begg on his Gold Star BSA. For riders and specta-

tors alike, Southbridge will a nostalgic day. :it\ will rekindle memories of the days when pedigree .r motor-cycles were raced to their limits by men as gritty as the roads on which the wheels turned. Those, were the days - when “macho”, was an unknown word and those who engaged in racing did • so because they loved the competition rather than themselves. just to add a contemporary flavour to the Southbridge race programme, there will be kart and cycle races.