Back in 1972 the Pipeline and Hydro plant were still operational at Kinlochleven in Scotland - This was the first year I watched the Six Days while on Vacation in the UK - ( Yes amazingly, I had never been to Scotland before) - I went up with my elder brother, and we stayed at the Grand Hotel in Fort William, ( Mick’s Dad Tom Andrews was also staying there so we had some good chats, plus he gave us some directions to see the best sections - Pipeline was one of these!! - The pic shows the Ossa that Mick used to win his 3rd Scottish in a row ( before Yamaha came calling)
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Check out this report of a Marathon trip that the Ontario boys made to race down South - Jim Kelly excelled at all Motorcycle Sport, plus he was a huge supporter of the ISDT- which later became known s the ISDE.
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This one is of an epic trip taken by 7 club members to a 24 hour Road race in Nelsons Ledges, Ohio, 1971. The bike was an R5 Yamaha, and Jim prepped and rode it to the event in Ohio. It was stripped down to racing trim, and ridden in the 24 hour event, re-built, and Jim rode it back to Hamilton. Not sure who beside Jim took part in the race though.. Participants were Rick Gunby, Andy Bailey, Ted McNaughten, Brian Smith, Ed Prang, Cathy Metcalfe, and Jim Kelly.
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Some of the early Yamaha Trials advertising had a very American slant. ( That all changed after 1974)
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Thanks to Deryk Wylde for this post. - Check out the price to ride the Scottish in 2022 ( and I don’t think that includes everything)
In the 1963 Knut, Roy Peplow with the 500cc unit Triumph that he built for himself when Meriden refused - saying future trials policy was vested in the Cubs - Roy was not an enthusiastic Cub proponent, even though he won the Scottish on the Cub - a feat he had never achieved on the twins!
Riding in the SSDT this year is likely to be an expensive affair, I believe the Entry fees are £750, accommodation likely to be £1200-1500, then there’s the cost of traveling.
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Saturday afternoon I clicked onto the UTube channel and watched some Trials videos - It was interesting to see the Duke video of the 1995 World round from Hawkstone Park. - We have this VHS tape - plus our own video, which we took as we were at that event. - It is well worth clicking onto if you can - Steve Saunders set up the sections at the well known MX track in Shropshire ( only 30 miles from where I grew up)
Mart Lampkin kindly offered to loan me a bike to get around taking video and pics, but I felt it would be easier walking as the crowds were huge. -
Dougie didn’t have a great weekend, as something was not quite right with his Beta - think it played games with his head. - However if you watch the video, you will see a ton of Betas -( Although none were on the podium) - Tommi Ahvala, was on the new Fantic which looked good, they had a few bikes on display, but the Company was on a death spiral and reports said Tommi had not been paid for months .
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I remember I sold Barry one of those 1995 Beta Techno’s, and he did quite well on it. - However, I didn’t start riding the Beta on a regular basis until the 1996 model, which had a much improved Kick-start lever !! - I wonder how many sales were lost due to that? I loved the 86 Techno and kept it for two seasons.
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