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/1547449
on lap one would make for a fairly awkward conversation. But by the time we cross the start-finish line, my Brit single has carved through the pack and reached seventh. For several laps I enjoy that furious battle with Sykes and Bayliss before being called in to hand over to Stuart, who finishes the race in style, con- sistently lapping smoothly without overstressing the Matchless. We finish a highly credible sixth and celebrate like we'd won it. THEN THE PIT BOARD APPEARED: "SEND IT" Stuart started and ended lap one in second place. Unfortunately, he was surrounded by world- class riders and, inevitably, was gradually picked off by the pros despite being on the pace and setting personal bests, which is all you can ask from a man wrestling an elderly racing mo- torcycle around Goodwood at indecent speed. At half-distance, we were just inside the top 10, and now it was over to me. Leaving pit lane mid- way through the half-hour race, I could already see Scott Smart, son of Imola 200 winner Paul and a classy BSB rider in his day, and Howie Mainwaring-Smart up the road. I reeled them in quickly and worked out that we must have been running somewhere around fifth or sixth. Sixth would do nicely. We'd finished sixth on Saturday, so The instant the flag twitches, I'm sprinting across the track towards my Matchless. I nail it. Many riders aren't accustomed to a right-foot gear change, a race-pattern shift and the slightly grumpy low-down fuel- ing of a pre-1955 motorcycle. By turn one, I've already gained a stack of places. I spot my mate John McGuin- ness on the inside and commit to the outside. Somehow, I ride around the TT legend, which is not a sentence I get to write very often, but John immediately retaliates and gets me back into the right-hand kink. I'm cautious. There are no tire warmers and no sighting laps to generate heat. The narrow rubber is barely warm, the track isn't exactly tropical and binning Stuart's immaculate Matchless the circuit, surrounded by a huge crowd dressed like it's 1948. Then we line up on the right-hand side of the track, leave the bikes running with our teammates and walk across to the opposite side. There are no lights. This isn't MotoGP. Nobody is studying a dashboard or waiting for an electronic launch-control map to engage. We simply stand there and wait for the flag to drop. Then comes the undignified bit. It's a flat-out sprint across the track, leg over the bike, clutch in, right foot up for the race-pattern shift, clutch out and go. Thirty classic motorcycles launch towards turn one. No electronics. No baffles. Not much room. Just 30 priceless old bikes charging into the first corner, elbow to elbow, as though 1955 never ended. There's mega money in the Goodwood pits, both on two wheels and four. P106 RIDE REVIEW I GOODWOOD REVIVAL 2026