Here I am at the edge

 Supercross For a long time, I have had a passion for motorcycle racing , whether TT , Isle of Man , British Superbike , motocross , or World   Superbike . The only racing, if you can call it racing, I dislike is the US Supercross series. This is not a real race, as I see it, as the "races" are no more than a series of man-made jumps. I much prefer racing in Europe where the courses are natural, and riders get the opportunity to race, not just perform stunts. The leading rider here is the late Malcolm Davis riding a Bultaco , being chased by Mick Church riding an AJS , one of the top Bristol riders during a meeting in the Somerset area during the 70s. When he began Mal Davis like many riders rode a British bike.

  The recent news of my article being spotted by a friend at Sky.com has now developed a new thread. Bryan Wade (seen here leading Vic Eastood -AJS - and Andy Gill), the former British 250cc & 500cc moto-X champion; the only rider to hold both titles at the same time has asked for some of the scans I have done, my scans are now half-was across the globe in Borneo. Talk about a safari LOL

Motorcycle racing Speedway has been in the UK since the early 1930's and whilst F1 racing has gone forward with vast fortunes made by drivers and firms, sadly speedway's image is still the same. If you imagine the US images of great racers on nice tracks in the sun, think again. This is the story of UK meetings. One of my earliest recollections of the sport is the final appearance of the great Barry Briggs in the 1972 World singles final at Wembley. Barry took a corner and the front tyre slipped away, as he fell to the ground he was hit by fellow by fellow Kiwi rider Ronnie Moore, who was trying desperately to avoid the sliding machine. Barry's front wheel looked like a half-chewed cookie and I think he lost two fingers in the crash. This was not the first incident of its kind, nor will it be the last I am sad to say. Although safety fences have greatly improved over the years. Hitting a fence at 70mph and being trapped by your bike, not to mention the serious risk of burns...

  In a recent article, I told you of my good fortune in getting asked to copy some old programmes I had for scramble meetings from the 1970's, this was the article that caught my friends eye. When my interest in Motor-X or Scrambling as we Brits call it started. The big names on television races were the likes of Jeff Smith, Dave Bickers, Chris Horsefield, Arthur Browning, the Rickman brothers and the Lampkin family. Bikes were predominantly UK with BSA, Greeves and AJS at the head of the races. At this time there were no foreign bikes at all on our circuits. Bill Neilsen ( twice World 250cc champion) rode for AJS, Jeff Smith rode his 380cc BSA to two 500cc World championships, despite the more powerful engined 500 cc Maicos of the German riders. The reason for this was torque ( power to weight ratio), a smaller engine weighs less, so what it lack in power, it makes up for by carrying less weight. To give you an example. An 1100cc engine in a Mini will give more power than th...