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/127142
Mud and rain played a major factor at the Vintage Bonanza W eekend in Eng land. Eng land won with th~ U.S. taking fourth . . J England wins Vintage Bonanza Weekend By Peter Watson COTSWO L D, ENG LA N D. J ULY 3 ") r Wet, wet; wet described the weather there over the July 2-3 Castrol Bon anza Weekend to perfection, and the deepest depression to dampen an English summer since 1956 turned th e pre-'55 trials and motocro ss festival scen e of the . , Iirs t World Pre- 55 Team Scramble - into a mud bath. . Dick " Bugsy " Maim sloshes through t he mud on hi s BSA. Mann t eam ed w ith Jim Keeton. Jeff Hammond and John Sawazhki to make up t he U.S . team. Cheney/Triumph-mounted John Ford (f ro nt ) ยท and BSA Gold Starmounted Peter Ford battle during the Team Scrambles. 34 As fresh sq ua lls tra cked acro ss lush Co tswo ld . co u ntrys ide , th e U.S. team ate mud [or Sunday lunch. Di ck Maim 's l in eup of John Saw azhki, Jim Keeton and Jeff H ammond deserved better-than fourth pl ace behind En gl and, Wale s a nd Belgium. France, a Rest of th e World team and Scotl and tra iled behin d them . " We were read y for th e dust," q uipped an unfazed Sawazhki. . .. Unli ke Californ ians !"'iann and H am mond - su ppo rted 10 depth by reser ves J oh',! a nd Peter Ford from 38-year-o ld San Fr:In ClSCO Sawaz~ kl [rom D~',!ver was on b. ro ro wed ,Iron . Practising aboard Bnan Carter s super-heav yweight 500cc BSA pr e-unit twm : eve?led enough of the Col orado nder s mettle. to rewa rd him with the loan of JulIan Wigg's .quick 650 Triumph Metiss: . . T he Idea of a team .event co rnpn s109 n ders of a certain age on pr e'65 motocro ssers spra ng from th e [ertil.e m i~ d. of veteran Mann. A pr eviou s ViSit to th e Golden Valley Classic Cl ub 's even t sparked h is ern h us 'iasm for a n international compen uon . In fact th e English club has strong links with France, always sending a strong co nt ingent to th e N~rman Scramble at Beauval, SUC? IS the gr owmg popularity of pre- 65 sport in Britain that the Bonanza drew en tries [or both th e Saturday trial and Sunday motos from more than 200 riders. Not all the Americans were racing. Team Obsolete's Robert lanucci ~as a.t Sally,,;ood Farm to s~e Enghsh nder Adrian Moss campaign the T O M ~,tchl es s G50 scrambler, Moss rec.kons It ha.n~!es as :-veIl as th e Metiss e chaSSIS, con fided lanucci, " and of course it 's go t more toot from that engine.... . A ':'ld. too m~ch, as It transpired, On hjs first o uu ng Moss dropped the overhead cam ma chine once on la p on e and again the next time aro u nd a treacherous circuit. With its fork yokes fractured in that second fall, the G50 was sidelined. U.S teamster Keeton (C-Z) soon got to grips with th e mud. . "Hey, you did pretty good th ere," Sawazhki told him enco ur agingly after hi s first individual race. "No, I just kept going while all the other guys fell off," responded Keeton. . That was uncomfortably close to th e truth. Alread y, anenormous hill - with m idw ay whoop-de-doos _ had been elimina ted from th e co urse as its surface deteriorated drastically in .the driving rain. " Mann agreed with the organizers' decision.