Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126801
ents to put a note on his pillow telling him to Look out of his window in the morning to see his first snow. Strangely enough they were personal" friends of the Triumph importer in Singapore who I knew well. I shall always associate the village of Sticklepath with snow and Singapore.) There was but a brief lamplit section of the ri ng road around Exeter before I was back on the dark Fosse Way heading for the small town of Honiton, 30 miles away at the foot of the range of hills which divide the counties of Devon and Somerset. My wheel tracks were the only ones along the snow-covered, iong main street of Honiton and I hoped that the weather would be better on the other side of the hills. The clock in the church tower pointed LO eight and there were 150 miles still to go as the Tiger bega!l the twisty climb. Rounding the last bend before the summit I saw a stationary car by the side of the road and the bl urred outline of someone signalling me LO 'slow down. As I stopped I saw that he was a Royal Navy officer. He was a Lieutenant Commander and was on his way home from the Devon port naval base at Plymouth. The car had run out of petrol and his home was at Ilminster two miles away on the other side of the hill. Would I call at his home and ask his wife LO get a friend to fetch him? She and his two children would by now be gelling anxious as he had phoned when leaving Plymouth. I thought that I should do rather more than take a message. The Royal Navy had got me out of France in 1940 and taken me to Africa two years later. Less than a pint of petrol would be enough to get the car over the hill and it could coast home but how LO make the,transfer from the Tiger tank? The answer was in the luggage bootof the car. After a year away from port in a destroyer, a naval officer is entitled to a few bottles of duty-free liquor to take home for Christmas. We decided on the bottle of rum and. wished each other a happy Yuletide with a couple of drinks before emptying. the rest in the snow and replacing it with Tiger fuel. I followed the car over the hill and down the bends LO the main street of Ilminster where opposite the old church it turned into the driveway of a hOUSe gaily decorated to welcome home the long:absent sailor. The door was flung open by the excited children and I felt privileged to witness thejoy of their greetings. I stayed a while in that happy house before going back into the night a'nd starting the remaining 125 miles. The time was 10:00 and Xmas Eve would be over before I reached my destination. Twenty miles f.rom Ilchester is the equally old town of Ilminster, the site of a Roman camp at the junction of the Fosse Way to the north and the ancient road to London in the east. My ride was to the north across the Somerset plain then over the Mendip Hills down to the town of Bath and the steep climb to the top of the Cotswold range. Little has changed along the Fosse Way since those days and much of it is designated a tourist route. I have ridden the Fosse countless times since my Christmas Eve experience of 1947 but that will always be the most memorable. There was very little fuel left in the Tiger tank when I checked the next morning. The machine had averaged 80 mpg which was almost as good as my later Thunderbirds with SU carburetors. I met the Lieutenant Commander some months later when I took him up on his invitation to visit his destroyer at Devonport on my way LO Cornwall. The pint of petrol was well repaid with a bottle of scotch. • THE NATIONAL , PAPERS By Roxy Rockwood Time to wrap up another year with the last of these columns for 1984 and all the other ·stuff that goes with the passing of another season. Here.are some end-of-the-year thoughts. Will we have LO wait for years again to get another one-point decider for the Grand National title? How many races will Bubba Shohert.and Ricky Graham win between them in '85? They won a dozen this past season and actually it was 13 but the AMA took one away. No less than seven of the National _miles will he televised in '85. If you know a Honda dealer get him to order the new video cassette from Honda headquarters that shows the May 1984 San Jose Mile and the annual Anglo-American Match Road Race Series in England. If you have to bet, go with the idea that Kenny Roberts and Wayne Rainey will race in mostof the AMA National road races in '85. But as to racing in DayLOna, based upon last season's . statements by Kenny and recent words from the Mamola camp, don't look , for either rider to be on the banks early in March. Fred Merkel is all set for another Superbike season with Honda .and one more win will place him on top for LOtal Superbike victories over Eddie Lawson, As we read it Stroh's is going to have a separate point fund for all of the mile events and will televise six of the 10 or II events of that type. The fund money is $50,000. Graham has been either first or second in the mile standings the last three years running and holds more mile records than all others on the circuit' - combined! . Sacramento under the lights has the honor of being the first and later the last mile for next season. The Sacramento fall event will also be the season .finale and again probably decide who will be the champ. The Springfield Mile group gets the hard luck award as it took six race dates to get two events completed this past year. They have become more 'track-wise now and have moved the early date later and the la.te date to earlier. Both will run on holiday weekends, giving them built in rain dates. It can't rain two years in a row at Springfield, can it? Closing year wishes: Clear skies for Springfield more seats and lights for Lima no broken bones for Graham or Goss ... a cast iron stomach for Springsteen ... a rookie who can at least run in the top three once in awhile on the miles ... a photo-finish in the Daytona Formula One final hetween Spencer, Roberts, Mamola and Lawson ... some rider, any rider, who can run all the way to the finish in the Bell Superbike final in Florida .... a healthy Spencer for the entire season in Europe ... traditional by, inches finishes at.all the televised miles ... new white pants for all the mechanics in the pits under the old rule with new meaning for '85 ... and Happy New Year to all who have been reading this col umn over the years ... thanks. • THE RAZOR'S EDGE ~ ~ _ _::;. .. .... FRAMES FORKS STEMS & CROWNS MAG WHEELS REINFORCING ATC's ODYSSEY's PICK.UP & DELIVERY ~-' '***NO CHARGE IF UNREPAIRABLE*** ***FREE INSPECTlON*** JIM POET 8ides with the Racer's Edge Doctor John's 1524·A lodustrial Park St. Covina, CA 91722 , (818) 332·1598 Thanks To Alr'B4 Customers Special Thanks To: Thomas Mackie. Bert's Salvage. Steve Bimson • Dan Crocchi • Stanton McDowell • Tom Ralston. Cycle News Congratulations To: Tim and Unda Hayden Congratulations From RSC Performance / Sports Afield II WERA Grand Nat'l F.inal Tell them you saw it STEVE NARDIELLO # 1 B Superbike Exp, (750cc) #1 C Superbike Exp. (600cc) On HSC/Sports Afield RZ 500 in Cycle KEVIN SCHWANTZ News. 2nd D Superbike Exp. M.*STAR '85 Box Stock RZ 350 With RSC Competition Chambers Kevin finished one second behind a highly modified RZ 350 that used TZ Chambers. 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