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/674407
VOL. 53 Issue 17 may 3, 2014 P77 just 230 seconds out of a pos- sible maximum of 7800. Second-placed Gavin Walton (1936 AJS Model 9) had 25 more, with Tony Lyons-Lewis (1928 Norton CS1 OHC) on 270. The oldest motorcycle to finish was Hans Coertse's 1913 Match- less. Cal Crutchlow's father Dek was one of a handful of foreign entries. There were gutsy stories aplenty. Many of the hard-luck variety. Veteran favorite Kevin Rob- ertson (79)—seven-time winner— was out of contention on day one when his 1936 Velocette MSS had a rare roadside stop, "of course in a timed section." He pressed on, with more trou- ble on day two, to finish 48th. Graham Bowles (1930 Zenith Special) won the True Grit award after riding more than 25 miles on a flat back tire to finish the first day. He still finished 38th. Martin Kaiser (1935 Sunbeam M9) lost his rear sub-frame on a rough patch, cable-tied it back on, then stripped it off at the next control to finish with half a bike, a sort of vintage "bobber." Foul weather afflicted many bikes before the start. Some were trailered to Durban from Jo'burg in a flooding downpour after ingesting water into vital parts. Magneto rebuilds were a major feature of setup day, but for Michael Shield, who had come from Australia to ride a 1935 Velocette in memory of his racer father, water got into the oil and when he started the engine it stripped the oil-pump gears. With the start time drawing near, a concerted effort managed to trace replacement gears some 25 miles away. Shield made the start, and the finish. The hard luck award went to Samantha Anderson after her fiery exit. The venerable Humber will be rebuilt, probably in time for next year's event. But this is my story, for I have ridden the event for the past two years, thanks to the generosity of the South African biking com- munity. And it is a blast. Espe- cially since I finished both times. Largely thanks to two great bikes that kept going all the way. My first steed was a 1935 BMW R12—a side-valve 750 flat twin, and it was all thanks to Simon Fourie, a philosopher, philanthropist, flat-out merchant and old friend. Fourie is a major figure in South African motorcy- cling, still racing himself at 70, and editor/publisher of the seri- ously unique Bike SA magazine. Ebullient personality aside, Fourie is famous for all sorts of reasons. One was the time he used his K0 Honda 750's sneaky electric starter to beat the visiting Giacomo Agostini's factory MV Agusta into the first corner at Roy Hesketh circuit, "As A rAlly virgin, i wAs glAd of Any tips, like counting the white lines pAssed in A meAsured time intervAl, sAy 30 seconds"