This twisting rock strewn climb out on Moidart could change the outcome of the trial as riders balanced, crawled and wrestled their machines to the top. A magnet for spectators, archive pictures show just how many people made the trip out from Fort William to see the action at ‘The Staircase.’
As with all these things a casual comment took the idea of a run to The Staircase from a ‘nice idea’ to ‘reality’ the organising trio – Mssrs Pearson, McCrink and Johnson – launched the run a couple of years ago on the Thursday before the Pre 65 classic trial. Now very much part of the ‘Scottish’ classic experience 80 riders lined up in beautiful sunshine in a carpark at Kinlochleven on Thursday May 2, 2012, ready for the 9.30am start where twice SSDT winner Royal Enfield works rider Johnny Brittain would flag them away.
Roadworks on Moidart gave a 40 minute ‘window’ for all riders to be past the Devil’s Staircase around midday so there was little hanging around. With bikes of all ages leaving the carpark and heading for the Corran Ferry there was plenty for the public to see and, as the weather played fair all day there was plenty for the riders to see too.
The run was marred by one incident when Karen and Steve Clarke had a rear tyre blow-out on their 500 ES2 Norton. The pair made a rather close inspection of the Moidart scenery but thankfully escaped with bruises.
Look out for more words and pics in Old Bike Mart soon.
