With no major dramas after this stage, the now less-than-pristine entry moved on to the tarmac hill course.A practice timed run establishes each rider’s target time, after that, three runs need to be as close as possible to the target time.
This saw an entry that varied from Mark Leighton’s NSU Quickly to Jonathan Dudley’s Vincent Black Shadow outfit. John Cole persuaded his 99-year-old Douglas, the oldest bike entered, up the hill in around a minute and a half.
Paul Newman and Chris Pile had a battle with their Sunbeam Model 9s to top the older bikes, but the finest judge was Chris Brown, with less than a second and a quarter total error on his 1937 Rudge Ulster.
The team competition is always enthusiastically contested and this year, carrying the Plumstead flag, Team AMC was the best of eight three-rider teams and took a comfortable victory over the Lambretta mounted Odd Mod Squad.
RESULTS
Class 1. Veteran & Vintage pre-1931
1. Paul Newman, 1928 Sunbeam Model 9, 8 points
2. Chris Pile, 1926 Sunbeam Parallel 9, 8 points
Close 2. Post-vintage 1931-46
1. Chris Brown, 1937 Rudge Ulster, 1 point
2. Phil Hooker, 1943 Harley-Davidson WL,3 points
Class 3. Post-war 1946-65
1. Bob Piper, 1955 AJS, 2 points
2. Andrew Davis,1955 AJS 16MS, 5 points
Class 4. Pre-modern 1964-75 (without disc brakes)
1. Alan Venner, 1965 Triumph T120, 4 points
2. Chris Hall, 1971 Triumph TR5T, 5 points
Class 5. Sidecars and Three-wheelers
1. Mick Bunce, 1956 BSA Gold Flash, 5 points
2. Bob Mitchell, 1952 Norton Big 4, 69 points
Team Awards
1. Team AMC, Andrew Davis (AJS16MS); Peter Gibson (Matchless G80L); Bob Piper (AJS), 22 points
2. Odd Mod Squad, Max Aldous (1967 Lambretta SX), David Connolly (1974 Lambretta TV175), David Garrett (1965 Lambretta TV220), 49 points
