Guy Martin and Motocross .

[Agriimark]

Not doubting you at all. Just front looks a foot higher than you meant to be

ok thanks, was a bombhole i was coming out of with a flat landing. best seated untill you leave the jump then bring your body up to level up a bit but always prefer back wheel to touch the ground slightly before the front as opposed to a flat landing which will be harder on me, the bike and power delivery

 

[Lazy Sod]

All right then, here's a classic pic: me in 1963 or 64 on my 250 Greeves, at Leighton near Frome, Somerset. Frome club, Wessex Centre of the ACU. I was 19 or 20.

 

[steveR]

and Being in the air loses time remember .

after School boys and into 'Juniors ' i had a couple of Maicos because everyone did ! this a later 400.
At a Devonport club Acu scramble i think

View attachment 1103218

Previous to that one the first Maico i had was an earlier 400 with the non painted bare metal 'coffin shaped' tank and down under exhaust , used to kick back like a begger if you got your timing /decompressor use wrong when kick starting

Maico Breako, with the added broken ankle extra value...

 

[Bury the Trash]

Maico Breako, with the added broken ankle extra value...

got on fine with them really, made at least some more competition for the Japs along with a few Huskies and KTM;s that were about.

No the Bikes were fine , cant say so much for quite a few of the bike selling garages and geezers that used to claim to be MX bike repairers etc. that were around back then mind you ,bunch of fudging crooks taking advantage of young lads hard earned money .

 

[T Hectares]

Retro or Vintage

Found some Some rare pics of mine from the 70's Black and white because it was cheaper ? or something........
Local general photographer used to go to the Schoolboy meetings and take photos of all riders.
ACU Schoolboys.
View attachment 1103214

That's an RM 125A Suzuki my 2nd Motocross bike i had a TM 125 previous to that one.

Toughing it out with no face mask too !!

 

[T Hectares]

back break tap. easier to bring the front down than the back by panic reving

We’re you not stylin out like Ronnie Mac there ??

 

[Bury the Trash]

Toughing it out with no face mask too !!

yeah but so was no.57, ? just been thinking about who those 2 were i think he was a lad from Somerset i think, was a Honda , fairly early cr 125 Elsinore.......
.... wracking my brains to think of his name, Farmers i think they were..

 

[steveR]

got on fine with them really, made at least some more competition for the Japs along with a few Huskies and KTM;s that were about.

No the Bikes were fine , cant say so much for quite a few of the bike selling garages and geezers that used to claim to be MX bike repairers etc. that were around back then mind you ,bunch of fudging crooks taking advantage of young lads hard earned money .

Now that one I CAN relate to!

Was running a Yam IT175 enduro that needed a new top end as harvest arrived, and I dropped the motor into the local shop. 2 months later, I finally got the motor back, top end in bits, and did it myself!! I got a bill for the strip down... it wasn't paid!!

 

[SRRC]

passed on now , but you would remember Badger Goss,i remember him dominating events, down this way, even as he was getting older..

Graham Noyce was another of our hero's when younger.

I loved the Grand Prix's totally different Class not that i saw many. Those Belgium riders , like George Jobe such a hard rider ) and Andre Malherbe so stylish and smooth.,professional, was a country that seems to have turned out so many top riders.
I even remember seeing Roger De Coster ride towards the end of his career

Did you ever ride at Haddon Hill?
Badger Goss passed me by doing a wall of death around the perimeter of the bombhole at the start of the main straight as I struggled through the mud in the bottom.
I knew then I wasn't going to be any good!
Noyce and Hudson were there that day too, fresh out of schoolboys, Hudson appeared to float over the bumps down the straight.
There are 3 or 4 of us from then still competing on the dirt, but on bicycles now, MTB and CX. A bit slower!

 

[SRRC]

I've just remembered the name of a rider who mostly stayed over in France a lot of the time - Arthur Harris. His special included a BSA frame, suitably tuned Manx Norton motor, Norton conical magnesium hubs and front forks. A hell of a machine.

Vic Vaughan rode in France most weekends, he was the barber at Taunton market, took the ferry over after work on Saturday and race on Sunday, always said the start/prize money was very good.

 

[Lazy Sod]

I remember him. One thing that amazed me, considering that there were no relevent motorways then, was the distance that some riders travelled to attend events. I've riden with, and been lapped by, more of the top riders that I can remember.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Did you ever ride at Haddon Hill?
Badger Goss passed me by doing a wall of death around the perimeter of the bombhole at the start of the main straight as I struggled through the mud in the bottom.
I knew then I wasn't going to be any good!
Noyce and Hudson were there that day too, fresh out of schoolboys, Hudson appeared to float over the bumps down the straight.
There are 3 or 4 of us from then still competing on the dirt, but on bicycles now, MTB and CX. A bit slower!

I've Been same race as Neil not Graham, they would've lapped me of course but No never rode there furthest away was Wingate hill near Honiton didn't ride much after those times mind you to much work and it got to be pretty expensive as well, couldn't really just bumble along / use older bikes etc
and since have only had a Honda Fourtrax s for work
Still did a bit of spectating after and Went to a few GP's in the 80's / Des nations /top meetings etc
Locally used to love the Patchquick in March.
That Schoolboy photo was at Doddiscombsleigh ,was a lad back then who used to ride on a old Suzuki trail bike even, he had as good a time as anyone.

 

[Lazy Sod]

What years were you riding @Bury the Trash?
I normally didn't go further west than Somerset or Dorset, although I did venture as far as Torrington and South Molton, once to each venue.

 

[SRRC]

Both good tracks, Torrington was usually wet, Sutton Farm New Buildings, South Molton had that scary downhill with a sharp left at the bottom.

 

[yoki]

Used to race regularly against a former Maico GP factory rider who had had his time globe trotting and had returned home to settle down in Northern Ireland, but done all the local races to keep his hand in.

Got the holeshot on him one evening at a grasstrack and was still in front about half distance when I heard the inevitable rattly drone of a Maico engine behind. Stalked me for what seemed like ages, in reality it was probably about half a lap, then cruised by at the end of a fast straight and motored off in to the distance.

I did manage to beat both Joey and Robert Dunlop at various times though, but I guess as it was on dirt it doesn't really count.

 

[steveR]

Did you ever ride at Haddon Hill?
Badger Goss passed me by doing a wall of death around the perimeter of the bombhole at the start of the main straight as I struggled through the mud in the bottom.
I knew then I wasn't going to be any good!
Noyce and Hudson were there that day too, fresh out of schoolboys, Hudson appeared to float over the bumps down the straight.
There are 3 or 4 of us from then still competing on the dirt, but on bicycles now, MTB and CX. A bit slower!

I can remember when Noyce was riding at the same time as my neighbour and his mates in the same Class and I used to spectate and help out a bit. He was astonishingly good, even allowing for factory bikes, and watching him carve through the field after an off.... Magic.

Thers was talk a few years ago of a "Veterans Race" at the local club by some of the lads, but happily commonsense prevailed.... As my neighbour can confirm, scrambling is/was bad for the body, long term....

 

[SRRC]

The retro twin shock scene seems to be strong, my neighbour does it, he's riding a couple of weekends a month.

 

[Bury the Trash]

What years were you riding @Bury the Trash?
I normally didn't go further west than Somerset or Dorset, although I did venture as far as Torrington and South Molton, once to each venue.

from about '76 to 1980 when i stopped it.