From the archive
…that Badger Goss was British MX champion
In 1970 Bryan Goss raced his Husqvarna to success in the 500cc British MX Championship. We had a look at what the press said about that momentous year.
The dawn of a new decade is always full of promise and 1970 was little different in that respect. There were those riding high, the UK still had a motorcycle industry… of sorts… our competitors were still the top of the competition tree.
Things were to change fairly rapidly as the Middle Eastern oil crisis would impact on every aspect of the UK not just our world, and petrol prices were to rocket to the dizzying heights of more than 50p a gallon. The world would never stand for it! No one would pay that much for a gallon of petrol… would they? Well yes, they would, and while it might be grumbled at, the prices were paid, life went on, the British industry vanished and other countries’ products were filling the dealers’ showrooms.
But this was all in the future as Bryan Winston Goss, popularly known as ‘Badger’, lifted his only MX championship. It was to the surprise of the MX world as Badger – a nickname which may have derived from his habit of badgering his friends for a go on their bikes – was reckoned to be a 250 specialist, but his championship win was in the 500cc class. It is the nature of the press to label riders as specialising in this or that when often the rider doesn’t realise they’re supposed to conform to type.
While it was true Bryan had been successful in the 250 scene for a number of seasons – ironically tying with Dave Bickers in the 1966 250cc championship for the same number of wins, yet neither won the title (that went to Fred Mayes who was more consistent than either Bickers or Goss) he was far from just a 250 specialist. Like most of his contemporaries Goss competed in both of the contests in order to maximise his racing and income, though by 1970 Goss was a long established dealer too.
Also by 1970 he was known as a Husqvarna rider, having been at Cotton, then Greeves before taking up with the Swedish marque which he stuck with until the end of 1970 – okay there was a brief return to Greeves in that period but mainly Husky by the end of the Sixties. He would wind up his championship season on Husqvarna then dramatically turn to German machines with Maico, which he also imported to the UK.
But it was now the dawn of the new decade and in those days the televised MX series on the BBC and ITV were popular with riders – a bit of income during the down time – and popular with audiences who could point, gasp and go ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ as blobs of mud slithered around their telly screens. Success
in these televised events, always starting after the championships were over and finishing before the championships started the following season, could provide a welcome boost to the confidence of a rider setting out on the new season at either national or international level.
So it was with Badger Goss. He had an inauspicious start to the 1969/70 Grandstand series and it didn’t seem as though it would be his year as other riders achieved the results. Then as the series drew to a close he rallied and posted fine results including
“He had an inauspicious start to the 1969/70 Grandstand series though, and it didn’t seem as though it would be his year...”
a clean sweep of all three – 250, 750 and invitation support – races at the fourth round. He then went on to win the 250cc Grandstand Trophy and come fourth in the 750cc contest.
Fate was to take a hand when John Banks seriously injured his leg – tearing ligaments – which eventually ruled him out of the season, and while not throwing the 500cc class wide open, Banks’ injury certainly reduced the competition for the others.
Kicking off the season there was little indication it was to be Badger’s year. Heading up to Cambridge for the first round, a veritable mudbath of an event, Goss didn’t do very well. He crashed multiple times as he battled his way around the track in the first race – an incident involving his front wheel and Vic Eastwood’s back wheel had him in the DNF category and he loaded up his privateer Huskies and headed home with no championship points. The only rider
who had a worse opening round was John Banks, catching his foot in a rut at racing speeds meant his foot stayed where it was and the bike headed off. Something had to give… Banks’ knee! That injury would plague the East Anglian all season and eventually mean surgery.
Things went better for Goss at the second round at Wakes Colne in Essex when he dominated the 500cc class with two superb wins in the dusty conditions
obviously more to the liking of the South Western star. His points from this meeting brought an interesting situation up as three riders were tied at the top of the championship, but it was not to last.
By July Goss was showing his total mastery of the 1970 championship series and at the Cotswold Scramble he finished way ahead of his rivals to gain an almost unassailable – at least barring incidents – lead in the title chase. The closest rider to him was BSA’S Keith Hickman at 10 points adrift.
Not that Badger had it easy. AJS star Andy Roberton was pushing his 370 two-stroke hard and managed a second place in each leg behind Goss. In those days the championship races were 30 minutes plus two laps, and in each leg at the Cotswold Badger led from start to finish, with the contest for second place being furiously fought. Roberton kept the field behind him in race one but veteran Vic Eastwood was a cert for second in the second leg until he slid off and lost 10 places. With a £50 incentive for the unlimited race Goss, Roberton and Greeves man Vic Allan were on form. Allan grabbed the start but Goss overhauled him, then Roberton inched him away... it would be Vic Allan’s ‘year’ later in the Seventies. At the end of July, and reported in The Motorcycle of September 2, 1970, the 500cc British Championship
contest was over at the finish of the Tirley Grand National, and there was still a round to go, such was Goss’s lead. His 48 points compared to Hickman’s 25 made it a done deal.
True to the season’s form Goss won both his races and also true to form it was behind him where the drama unfolded. As Goss led the field, Ivan Miller and Malcolm Davis collided, allowing first Andy Roberton past then Bryan Wade, though it would be Wade who would take the second place eventually.
For the second leg Alan Clough shot away in the lead and as the leading pack circulated at ferocious pace it looked as though it would be Clough all the way until, almost inevitably, Goss inched ahead, followed by Malcolm Davis. Davis would push Goss all the way to the chequered flag but Goss not only won the day but the series too. For good measure he took first place in the Grand National event too.
It would be nice to round off the season by saying Bryan Goss dominated the final round at Kidson Scramble, but a shoulder injury slowed him a little. He still picked up four points though. Initially it looked to be a repeat of the season as Goss rocketed away from the start but slowed at the halfway point. His shoulder, dislocated a week earlier, had popped out again and he did incredibly well to finish third against such odds.
To the surprise and delight of the crowd, as the second race lined up there was Badger, shoulder well strapped up and ready for action. He even led first race winner Bryan Wade for the first lap but it was not to be and a championship scramble on a 500cc Mxer is not the best place to be if your shoulder is giving you grief. Badger dropped back leaving Wade out on his own and dropped further back to leave Vic Allan circulating by himself in second place.
Still Goss could contemplate the ironies of being the 250 specialist from the secure position of the 1970 500cc championship.
“By July Goss was showing his total mastery of the 1970 championship series and at the Cotswold Scramble he finished way ahead of his rivals...”