Heading for Scotland!
By TMX Archives on 16th Jan 08
THE big news on the Classic trials front this week is that entries for the Scottish Pre-65 Two Day, the prestigious annual event that will take place in and around Kinlochleven (prior to the Scottish Six Days) on Friday/ Saturday, May 2/3, this year have been released. And once more, there are 180 lucky riders who have made it through the draw leaving around 150 hopefuls to cry into their beer – or maybe still hope for a ride as a reserve as, inevitably, with such a large entry, there are always one or two forced to drop out for whatever reason.
And once again there is tremendous variety, both from the nationalities of competitors – we make it that 14 different countries represented this year and especially makes of machine– no fewer than 20 different marques. Quite acontrast to the five manufacturers currently producing trials bikes!
No surprise that England tops the rider list with 106 ready to march north of the border but you might be surprised to know that there are just 20 Scots in the mix – there goes one hardy annual argument from those that miss out on the draw, that too many Scots get a ride! The Spanish love their Classic trials bikes and they have 15 riders ready to give it a go, just ahead of the French with 13. Ireland, combined, can muster 10, six from the north and four from the south. There are also four Swedes, three Germans, two Poles and a single rider each from the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Austria and Andorra.
The Channel islander, incidentally, is Graham Du Feu, who came close to winning last year and is a very good rider on his Ariel. A good sport as well, as he was the first to congratulate last year's winner, Tony Calvert from Yorkshire, who claimed his first Scottish win on his John Holmes prepped Tiger Cub. And Tony will be back to defend his title.
Magical Mick – The Monarch of the Glen – Mick Andrews, is of course the huge crowd favourite, the former five times SSDT winner being a genuine living legend who can still show lads a third of his age how to ride a trials bike. It is always a pleasure to watch Mick ride – such control and he is back. If you haven't seen Mick ride you really should make the effort – even Magical can't keep going forever you know. And what about Derek Brooks from Bolton, over 70 and still takes some beating.
Southern centre ace Len Hutty will be looking for that elusive win on his beautiful 410 Matchless while multi-Pre-65 winner Dave Thorpe from Chesterfield can never, ever be discounted. He still has issues over a five at Pipeline from several years ago, that's how competitive Thorpey still is. Carlos Casas from Olot is still the foreign rider most likely to win, although Frenchman Joel Corroy, the man behind the JCM trials bike, can certainly ride his Ariel. And for real French flavour Jean Caillou always
raises a smile in his natty French waiter attire. Stir in the likes of Mick Grant, Peter Salt, Davy Morewood and you'd be hard-put to find a winner.
There's lots of family interest with two father and son duo's with sons who have actually won the event! Stand up Colin and Scott Dommett and Peter and Neil Gaunt. Then there's David and Victoria Glover, Mick and Jill Driffield and Scotland's own John and David Moffat.
On the bike front, BSA is top of the pops with 49, Triumph 38 and Ariel 25. There are a couple of German Zundapp two-strokes and also two Polish WSK strokers. There's even a lone Velocette, a 350 entered by Yorkshire's Paul Jackson.
This is a provisional list of course and we'll keep you posted with a final preview in just a couple of month's time!