Mike Barnes ‘The Border Raider’
The off-road motorcycle bug has no known cure, Chris Montignani tells of a lad well and truly bitten.
There are many great motocross riders who have been absolute icons of the sport and deserve to have their names etched in stone, or any other form of permanent minerals. If I named these motorcycle idols and made up an inventory of who were the best riders in their day, there would not be much space left for further comment on any other subject as it would almost certainly be a very long list.
So, for the purposes of this particular feature, I would like to focus on a certain exworks rider who has, through more than 50 years of racing, given sterling service to the off-road world – Mike Barnes or ‘The Border Raider’ as he became known to many in the motocross world.
“My first real taste of a motorcycle,” said Mike, “was when I bought a New Imperial for about £10, it was basically an early type of machine from the 1930s, which I used to run around on after school in the local fields. When I was 19 I got my first proper dirt bike, a DOT, which I saved up for and bought from Eddie Crooks Motorcycles. In my early days I could never afford fancy things like proper race shirts and all the other flashy bits and pieces that you associate with off-road racing today. At that time I just used an old pair of fireman’s boots and a pair of scruffy jeans to get me started.
“I didn’t have the best of starts to my racing career with the DOT, due to a lot of mechanical problems and I soon traded it in for a TRIBSA from Pete Edmondson to finish the remainder of the 1965 season. I then bought a Matchless Metisse, ex-andy Lee, for the 1966 championship and it was a cracking machine as Andy had a reputation for building superb motocross bikes.”
Following a fruitful and quite successful 1966 Mike then decided he would like to build a brand-new Metisse for the 1967 season. He then went on to enjoy great success, winning the Northern Centre championship and a superb victory at Polmont in Scotland, also during that year.
In 1968, Mike decided on another Rickman frame so he could build a Victor Metisse to his very own specifications, although no sooner had he put in the order he unfortunately learned that BSA would not release any engines to fit into his frame, so he then switched to a twin-port CZ two-stroker.
Mike remained with CZ for the remainder of 1968, apart from a very brief supported ride on a German-made Maico. “The 250 Maico was okay,” said Mike “although I just couldn't get on with the bigger 400cc bike as it was too fiery and all the power was at the top end, besides it used to make my hands bleed when I rode it so I switched back to a 250 Twin-port CZ again.”
With his newly formed partnership with the CZ it wasn’t long before Mike was making his mark riding in Scotland and enjoying a lot of success north of the border. The Scots then decided to hang the nickname ‘The Border Raider’ on him, as Mike was now stealing valuable championship points off many of the Scottish riders.
Although Mike implies jumping from the British-made Metisse to the East European CZ did not come without its problems in those early days: “It was a baptism of fire really, trying to getting used to that left-hand gear change on the CZ.
“It was only my second time out on the track with this particular bike when I was going well but I got a bit muddled up with the gears and the brakes. Needless to say I crashed the bike straight into a wall and I landed in the next field with a broken ankle.
“The bike was a complete wreck and I had to rebuild it from the frame up as soon as I was able to get back on my feet.
“When I recovered I then traded the newly built bike into Eddie Graham’s motorcycle dealership in Dumfries, for a single-port 360cc model. The twin-port 250 bike was excellent in the wet but the single-port 360 had loads more power and it was very quick
and reliable on the racetrack. These little CZS were superb bikes, they were ultrareliable and you virtually never had to carry loads of spare parts with you to the races.”
In 1972 Mike had the honour of becoming one of the very first riders in the UK to own a CCM ‘Clews Stroka’, a bike which he would then race in the coming season’s motocross championship. “These machines were basically BSA works bikes; they were quite good to race in standard form although the Clews brothers then took the bikes to the next level and vastly improved them,” said Mike.
The ‘Stroka’ bike appeared to suit Mike perfectly and he enjoyed some huge successes riding it which took him to his second Northern Centre Championship that year. “It didn't come easy though,” he said “as it seemed I was forever being plagued by temperamental ignition troubles and other problems like the oil not returning to the tank. Other little niggles included the super light alloy bolts and wheel spindles that were fitted to the machine which broke on numerous occasions. These parts were fitted to save weight but once I got these things sorted out the bike was without doubt in a class of its own.”
Just to prove that particular point, Mike went on to lap the entire field at a big motocross event at Deerplay later that year.
His successes on the big Stroka did not end there as he won many race events in Scotland that year including the meeting at Crossmichael where he won every single heat on the day and the big final, the last race on the day.
Mike’s results and domination on the track during 1972 did not go unnoticed and he was soon approached by the CCM Clews brothers with an offer of a works bike. Mike took delivery of his brand-new CCM ride later that year which arrived just in time for him to win the coveted Yorkshire Grand National.
Mike’s winning ways continued into 1973, a year which saw him win the popular Castrol winter scramble series. Nevertheless, at the time, it was not all good news as he had to contend with a few nasty injuries including breaking his hand at the Strongbow round at Hawkstone Park when his prototype alloy handlebars broke off at high speed at the bottom of the infamous hill.
Although Mike soon recovered from this little setback and was eventually back on the bike, he then hit a rock in the long grass at another scrambles meeting, smashing both wheels, the spark plug then piercing the main artery in his leg!
Later that year, Mike competed in the first round of the British Championships and roared to fourth place overall, beating some of the top flight off-road racers of the day. But Lady Luck then threw another spanner in the works when Mike suffered a badly broken leg at a local event whilst battling hard with the legendary Norman Barrow.
Out of it for over six months, he decided trials was the way to keep fit and to help
Missing most of the 1974 season, CCM loaned a bike late in the year to see how fit he was and upped his bike to 1975 spec
prepare himself for the coming 1974 season. Sadly though it wasn't to be, Mike’s leg hadn't healed properly from his initial injury and it snapped again whilst competing in a trial, and he hadn’t even come off the bike.
Missing nearly all of the 1974 season, CCM loaned Mike a bike late in the year to get him mobile again, just to see how fit he was, then gave him all the works parts to upgrade his 1974 bike to a 1975 spec and he was away on winning. For 1976 he was given a bike that Vic Eastwood and Norman Barrow had previously used. “It just wasn't a good bike,” said Mike “and I didn't finish a single event on it that year.”
Halfway through the 1976 season Mike decided enough was enough and he retired from professional racing.
Mike is still heavily involved in club scrambles to this day and is still enjoying riding and occasionally finishing in top six positions. Although when I asked him what his favourite machine was during those many years of racing his reply was almost instantaneous: “Without question CCMS. I have had many other machines in the past including CZS and Maicos but CCMS will always be the bikes for me. It’s just that they seem to suit my style of riding somehow, and if, like me, you are a CCM rider then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Mike rounded off our conversation by reminiscing about his long-time friend and fellow racer John Bethell, who passed away in October 2014. They had been friends since meeting at a local Young Farmers’ gathering, way back. “He was my best friend and best man at my wedding, we raced all over the country together and I miss him dearly. He was no slouch on a bike either and a very accomplished racer, we used to talk to each other for hours about some of the great battles we got tangled up in as we thundered round the tracks with both of us on CCMS.”
Although Mike is now 71, he is still heavily involved in classic scrambles events at club level. “I have no plans to hang up my motocross boots as yet, but I will still continue to take part in any type of race meeting that I feel I can enjoy. You never get tired of our particular type of motorsport, it is in your blood from a very young age and never leaves you, so as long as my health holds up I will always be looking forward to the next event – wherever that may be.”