Omodei Shield 1939
Recently a damaged but very worthy trophy arrived at the National Motorcycle Museum, Nabiac. The engraved plate reads “Omodei Shield Trial November, 1939. Won By AJS & Velocette A. D. Dixon, N. Loader, M., Tarrant, T. Redway.” It was well before my time and seeing as it had the make Velocette on it I thought that there is only one place to go to find the answers; Dennis Quinlan – who else? Within no time he had emailed me the details of the event. It was the fourth Annual Omodei Shield Inter-Club Reliability Trial. Other clubs participating were the Ariel, Hornsby, Mascot, Parramatta, Waverley, Western Suburbs, Arncliffe-Bexley, Bankstown, Bondi, Central and Fairfield Motor Cycle Clubs. Those 12 clubs had 72 competitors, 51 came through on full points to the observed section and 65 finished the course. One member of the Central M.C.C., W. Miller rode a Royal Enfield and returned his card with a loss of only one point which gave him 99 points out of a possible 100. The event commenced at Auburn and after 13 miles the first control was at the Cross Road, Liverpool. Then to Appin, Douglas Park, Picton, Mowbray Park, The Oaks, Wallacia, and Penrith making it a total of 86.5 miles before lunch. After the lunch break it was on to Yarramundi where there was an observed section. Then to Richmond, Windsor, Wiseman’s Ferry road turn-off, Little Cattai Creek Bridge, and Glenorie before finishing at Omodei’s shop at Railway Square. The total distance travelled was 150 miles. The day was without major incident. There were a few riders who came adrift on the loose gravel roadways around The Oaks and Wallacia. Competitors were penalized for being late at controls and for footing or stalling engines in the observed section. In the event of a tie, fastest time would have been the deciding factor. At the start each competitor was allotted 100 points. The document went on to say “this annual rally is easily the most outstanding event on the calendar, and the sponsors of this annual – Messrs. Omodei, the well known accessory merchants of Sydney – are to be congratulated for their sportsmanship.” of quantities of magazines, memorabilia, posters and work shop manuals. His son Michael has a vast number of model motorcycles for sale. These are Minichamp brand and are die-cast material. The only method of contact available at this stage is by email mcmuseum@gil.com.au. Readers please bear in mind that Allen is still a long way off being fully organised after making a laborious move from the museum. See you next issue, Pete