A memorable day at Hawkstone Park
Thank you for the excellent photo of JV Smith on Keenan’s Clanger in the St David’s Trial on a BSA 500.
(Former BSA works rider Bill
Nicholson used the registration
BSA 500 on his machine.)
Moving on to 1957, I attended the 500cc British Motocross Grand Prix at Hawkstone Park, a round trip of 240 miles. I set off at 6.30am on my BSA 250 C11G with my brother Mike on the pillion. Our tool kit was just a plug spanner and some spare plugs – no mobile phones in those days, nor motorways. Telford hadn’t yet been built and towns did not have bypasses. It was straight through each town on traffic-free roads as it was early in the morning.
We arrived at Hawkstone Park in time for practice and to get a spot at the Sandpit. It was a great day of racing, with Jeff Smith winning the Grand Prix. The late Brian Stonebridge won two of the supporting races on the 197cc Greeves. Brian set the fastest lap of the day, only being equalled by Bill Nilsson on the bored-out AJS 7R special. Bill was left on the line in the second GP race but he charged his way through the field to equal Brian’s fastest lap! We got home at 10.30pm and it was a great day in those far-off times – and the little BSA never missed a beat.
In 1965, in a shop in Swanage, I came across two postcards. One was of Jeff winning the Grand Prix on that memorable day. The other was of Jeff’s brother-in-law, John Draper, in the 1959 Motocross
Des Nations at Namur in Belgium. John, along with Don Rickman and Jeff, was in the winning team that day, triumphing over Sweden and Belgium. What a find!
Brian Newbury, Chippenham