GordonBlakewayprofile
Anything off-road, in a decade-and-a-half period starting from 1952, would often see the name ‘Blakeway’ up among the front runners.
Born in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, in 1935, Gordon Blakeway was one of that rare breed of true motorcycling all-rounders – a man who was equally at home keeping his feet firmly on the pegs while cleaning a tricky section in the Scottish Highlands, winning gold medals in the International Six Days Trial (ISDT) or riding to victory at a championship scramble. By nature a self-effacing and modest man, the former Ariel, Triumph and AMC works rider is not one to brag about his achievements, but just a glance at any results from the long-faded pages of the Blue 'Un or Green 'Un between 1952 and the end of 1966 will see the name ‘Blakeway’ sharing column space and accolades with his rivals and team-mates Sammy Miller, Ron Langston, Ken Heanes, John Giles and Roy Peplow.
In the history of off-road sport there can be few competitors who won their first trial and even less who managed to land a works scrambler before they had ridden in a race, but in the 1950s it all happened to the young Yorkshireman, born with motorcycling in his blood. Gordon takes up the story…
“My dad was a founder member of the Stockton-on-Tees club and competed in all of the local trials, so from an early age bikes were part of my life.
“On reaching 16 I bought a second-hand 125cc BSA Bantam which I rode to compete in the Stockton club’s Linfoot Cup Trial, for my first competitive event. I can remember that the Bantam was absolutely gutless, but my dad kept encouraging me to keep moving and when the results appeared, I was amazed to see I’d won the novice award.”
To show that his win was no fluke, a month later
Gordon competed in the Weardale Trial, which he won outright, and, still on the gallant little BSA, in March 1952 he sampled his first ‘national’ – The Travers – but was excluded for finishing outside the time allowance in this super-tough event.
With a change to a more competitive 197cc James, Blakeway started the 1953 season in fine style when he won the premier award in the Middlesbrough Winter
Trial and later that year he finished a creditable 18th in the arduous Scott Trial. Keen to expand his riding horizons, May 1954 saw the youngster make his debut in the Scottish Six Days Trial (SSDT), but after a promising start he was forced to retire his James with gearbox problems.
In major trials, the big four-strokes still ruled the roost and by the end of the 1954/55 season Gordon had abandoned the lightweight James in favour of a 500cc BSA Gold Star. It didn’t take him long to adapt his riding style to the heavy Goldie, and on this machine he notched his first major win when representing Yorkshire in the 1956 inter centre team trial, where he recorded best individual performance.
His impressive victory certainly caught the eye of one of the sporting motorcycle world’s great talent spotters, Ralph Venables, and for the 1957 season Gordon was signed to ride a works Ariel HT single alongside Ron Langston and the Ulsterman Sammy Miller. Gordon explains: “Ariel’s ‘old guard’ of Bob Ray and David Tye had decided to call it a day and thanks to a recommendation from Ralph Venables, he knew all of the important and influential people in the British industry, I was approached by Ernie Smith and invited to join their works trials team.”
Needless to say it didn’t take long for him to make up his mind and he was allocated the factory 500cc HT5 wearing number plate GOV 131. With Langston on 130 and Miller on the now legendary GOV 132, Ariel carried all before them and in 1958 were virtually invincible, winning no fewer than eight team prizes in the important, trade supported trials. Several of these featured the name of ‘G S Blakeway’ with the premier award and the same year he also finished fourth in the SSDT.
Although Gordon had been signed to ride in trials, it didn’t take him long to show his talent at speed events and in only his second season scrambling grabbed the local centre’s motocross championship. He also won the first of his four ISDT gold medals in the mud at Garmisch Partenkirchen. Wonderful days, remembered with great fondness.
“Sammy Miller was then working at Selly Oak and he was given pretty much free reign in developing his own bike, but those ridden by Ron and myself were standard models, as sold to the public. “When I signed on as a works rider they paid me a £50 retainer – this was good money in 1957 – and on top of that I received all of my travelling expenses plus bonuses from the plug and chain companies. And with Ariel sorting out all of the entries, all I had to do was turn up and ride.
“Before and after a major event, the bikes went back to the comp shop where they were fettled and tuned by Seff Ellis [father of trials rider Scott] although for the ISDT they were machines taken off the production line and, with the addition of a sportier cam from the scrambler, they were prepared for the tough trial.
“Before that first International I’d been riding in scrambles during the summer – I’d had a good season and won the Yorkshire Motocross championship on the HS – so I was feeling pretty fit but as the ISDT was such an important event we’d had strict instructions from Ernie Smith to ‘go careful and not to get injured.’ “As you can imagine when I arrived to pick up my team-mate Ron for the trip to Germany I was extremely surprised when he told me ‘I’ve got a little scramble to ride in first,’ he rode in two races – injury free – and we then drove off to the International where he won his gold medal; I don’t think Ernie ever got to know about him racing in the scramble.”
Tiger Cub
The power delivery of the HT Ariel was ideally suited to the slippery rocks found in the Wye Valley National Trial and it proved to be one of Gordon’s favourites, as he scooped the premier award three years on the trot. However, by the end of 1959, the ailing Ariel concern abandoned the manufacture of its competition machines in order to concentrate on the Leader.
The new decade saw the Yorkshire market-gardener mounted on a 199cc Triumph Tiger Cub. He took to the little Cub like a ‘duck to water’ and for the next three seasons there were scores of important trials where Blakeway and the little Triumph featured in the results. Not just in the UK, either, as by now he was spreading his wings to the continent and a typical weekend in November 1960 saw him finish runner-up to fellow Yorkshireman Bill Wilkinson in the British Experts on the Saturday, before loading up and heading off to France, where he won the tough International St Cucufa Trial near Paris on the Sunday.
The Cub was also ideally suited to the rocks in the SSDT and after finishing a close fourth in 1961 he looked to be going one place higher the following year. But after six hard days he was thwarted when 10 miles from the finish the distributor seized, leaving the helpless rider kicking his heels at the roadside.
At the start of his career as a works Triumph trials rider he was still scrambling his old Selly Oak single and although there had been no development to the big fourstroke, with Blakeway in the saddle it was still seriously competitive. After some stunning performances in his home area, he was appointed captain for the 1960 North versus South scramble and justified that honour by being top scorer on his Ariel. This in turn prompted Triumph’s Henry Vale to supply him with one of the works 500cc scramblers as raced so successfully by John Giles, Roy Peplow and Ken Heanes, which led to some successful, memorable trips to the continent.
“Living in the north of England meant that just getting to Dover to catch the ferry was a trip of around 300 miles – a long day’s drive in the pre-motorway days – before the onward journey through France, Holland or Belgium. I covered countless thousands of miles in my Morris Oxford pick-up – often in the company of my pal and fellow rider Peter Fletcher – but it was all worth it, as the crowds were very enthusiastic and the continental organisers paid us some decent start and prize money to cover the costs.
“During the three years I raced the Triumph, I registered a few wins at non international meetings in France, but my best result in a world championship round was when I finished fourth behind Bill Nillson and Sten Lundin in Germany, and I also clocked a highly satisfying fifth in the British round at Hawkstone Park in 1962.”
The combination of skills Gordon had honed competing in both trials and scrambles were ideally suited to the long-distance endurance speed events like the Welsh Three Days Trial – which he won two years on the trot – the three day Tatra in Poland and the ISDT.
The strength sapping ‘International’ became one of his all-time favourites and the event centred on
Llandrindod Wells in 1961 saw the works Triumph man at his scintillating best. As a member of the Silver Vase team, he powered the 500cc twin to a glorious gold medal winning ride through the Welsh mud and in doing so accumulated the highest amount of bonus points obtained by any British competitor. Triumph was quick to capitalise on his stunning ride, with several full page adverts in the motorcycling weeklies, but 12 months later, as a member of the British Trophy team, a poorly prepared, uncompetitive machine led to retirement in West Germany.
AMC team
“It was Triumph’s policy to allocate bikes of 350, 500 and 650cc to its works riders for the six days and for the 1963 trial in Garmisch I was allocated the smallest of the twins. As I’d discovered in the Welsh Three Day, the little 350 had to be ridden virtually flat out to keep to a gold medal time schedule but the engine in the bike for the International was absolutely gutless; the overall gearing was too high and after nursing it for five days I eventually had to retire on the last day when the clutch burnt out.
“Needless to say, I was less than pleased to be supplied with a sub-standard machine and after a harsh exchange of words with Henry Vale, it led to the end of my days as a works rider with Triumph.”
As one door closed, another quickly opened and for the 1962/63 winter season Gordon found himself as the new member of the AMC factory team.
“Gordon Jackson had decided to retire at the end of 1962, so I was approached by Hugh Viney and asked to take over the vacant place in the factory team on the AJS – 187 BLF – on which he [Jackson] had won the Scottish with his famous ‘one dab’ victory in 1961. “Jacko loved the power characteristics of the short-stroke motor but Mr Viney figured that the longer stroke one would probably suit me better, so before my first competitive ride, the bike was treated to an engine transplant.
“It was certainly very different to the lightweight Tiger Cub I’d been riding for the last three years but I eventually got to grips with it and registered my first win in a Yorkshire event. A couple of weeks later I competed in the National St David’s trial near Neath and when the provisional results were announced many of the top runners had been excluded for being out of the time allowance, and I was awarded the premier award. Because it was a championship event the exclusions promoted a lot of protests and some weeks later when the amended results appeared, I’d lost the premier and had to be content with a first class award.”
Due to the thick blanket of snow and ice which covered much of the UK, many trials were cancelled in the early months of 1963, but by May things were back to normal and it was time for the annual trip to Scotland. On the bike which had won the event two years earlier, Gordon ran in the top 10 all week but although he was never in a position to challenge winner Arthur Lampkin on the factory BSA, he finished a strong eighth, and, along with Mick Andrews and Gordon McLaughlin, he was part of the AJS trio which scooped the team award. After a season scrambling the works 500cc Matchless – remembered as not his most favourite machine – autumn saw the Yorkshire all-rounder off on his travels behind the Iron Curtain but both the Tatra in Poland and the International Six Days in Czechoslovakia ended in frustrating retirements on the factory Ajay.
“For those of us who had been brought up in the West, travelling into and through the Soviet controlled countries in Eastern Europe was a real eye-opener. As we quickly discovered, all of the media was controlled by the state, and the average person had little idea of what was going on in the world outside the Eastern bloc. Nearly all of the buildings were grey and although the people were keen to talk to us and find out a little about our lives, they told us that every move was monitored and police informers were everywhere.
“The Tatra trial itself was extremely well organised with soldiers at all of the road junctions making sure we didn’t deviate off the route, but it was also extremely hard going and on the second day my AJS developed engine problems. I managed to limp on to the next time check, but I was out of the event. At the control, I discovered that Cliff Clayton had bent the front forks of his Ajay in a spill, so I agreed to ride on ahead and when he came along, we would change his for mine. This all went to plan until a battalion of Russian soldiers came marching down the track, so to avoid them seeing me I hastily covered the bike up with bracken and lay down in a ditch and waited for them to pass by.
“After they’d gone, Cliff duly arrived and after a lot of pulling and tugging we managed to remove his bent fork stems and with mine in place he was eventually on his way again. At the end of three hard days Sammy Miller was announced as winner and along with a huge, three foot high glass trophy he was presented with a new Polish motorcycle which he kicked into life and with the aid of a huge ‘dab’ he rode off the stage.”
With the engine gremlins sorted, Gordon and the same AJS were chosen to represent the British Trophy team for the 1963 ISDT in Czechoslovakia, the long trip now well remembered for the infamous transport breakdown and the skill and improvisation shown in eventually getting to the start and back home again from the super tough event.
Blown big end
“It was decided that some of the Trophy and Vase team riders, along with their bikes, would be taken in a BSA lorry driven by John Harris and Jim Sandiford, while the rest of the riders would make it there under their own steam in cars. The truck – which was normally used for dropping off bikes to dealers around the Midlands –got as far as the autobahn in West Germany when it developed a horrible noise from the engine and we ground to a halt with a blown big end. We were still miles from the Czech border and as all the bikes were on the lorry, there was no other alternative than try to carry out some sort of repair.
“Johnny Giles and Scott Ellis got the sump off in a lay-by while Henry Vale went off to Frankfurt to source some new big end shells. We cleaned up the big end journal the best we could and reassembled the engine, but it only did another 20 miles or so before it went bang again. Gilo decided that the only course of action was to take the piston and conrod out and run the engine on five cylinders so we spent a whole day stripping and reassembling it with a piece of leather belt strapped around the big end journal.
“We started it up and it sounded terrible but at least it ran and we struggled along; after a long delay we managed to get through the Czech border control and covered in muck and oil eventually arrived at the trials headquarters late on the Saturday afternoon.”
With every checkpoint linked to the start by radio and scores of first aid teams dotted around the course, the Czech organisation was second to none, but due to heavy rain it was hard going for the 280 riders, and Sammy Miller was quoted at the time as saying ‘…that parts of the course would do justice to a national one day trial.’
Period reports paint a vivid picture of wet and exhausted riders trying to negotiate slippery rocks and of numerous retirements due the transmission and gearbox failures. After their heroic efforts the previous year, the British Trophy team were optimistic they would be able to challenge the East Germans on their quick and ultra-reliable MZs, but, alas, their hopes were dashed early on day one. Firstly they lost John Harris when his oil pump packed up and the BSA man was soon was joined by the unlucky Blakeway when the lower eye of his rear suspension was snapped off after being struck by a broken brake anchorage arm. At the end of six hard
days, the East Germans narrowly beat the Guzzi-mounted Italians to scoop the international Trophy.
That win meant another trip 12 months later behind the Iron Curtain. Based at Erfurt in the forested mountains of the Thuringa Wald, it was the first and only International run in East Germany and an event now famous for the first appearance of two American Vase teams – one including Hollywood legend Steve McQueen – mounted on 500 and 650cc Triumph twins. The trial itself is on record in the period press as being ‘too easy,’ ‘boring’ and ‘monotonous’ but it was events away from the motorcycling which left a lasting impression on the AJS man.
“The road trip from the UK was trouble free but our arrival at the border coincided with that of the American team and it took ages while the guards checked with their superiors in Berlin to see if it was okay to let them in and if McQueen had made any anti-communist films. Every car, van and pick-up was thoroughly examined inside and out by sombre and sour-faced guards, but, after several hours, we were eventually given permission to enter with strict instructions not to stop or to take any photos in the heavily fortified ‘no-man’s land.’
No traffic
“The difference after driving through West Germany was quite staggering as other than Army wagons, there was virtually no traffic and most of the roads had a green strip of grass growing down the middle. Many of the houses were brightly painted but we later learned that this had been a communist ploy to give the impression of affluence to the western visitors, while away from this façade we soon discovered that although everyone had a job, there was little in the shops and all lived in fear of the secret police.
“The organisers had brought in some fruit for the competitors but the standard of the food we were supplied with was pretty awful. When we complained and asked for some good old bacon and eggs, we were told that they had calculated the calories we would burn each day and the food was sufficient for our needs. Some of the fruit had previously never been seen in the East and when Olga Kevelos offered a child a banana, they had no idea how to peel it; needless to say, Olga was immediately pounced on by a policeman and given a stern lecture and told that offering fruit to children was forbidden.
“We had little contact with the ordinary people but spent many hours with the Americans drinking tea supplied by the Renolds’ chain rep Vic Doyle and his wife. These gatherings not only enabled us to relax and compare notes but to listen to many of the hilarious stories which Steve McQueen had to tell about his experiences on the film sets and racing his bikes in the California deserts.”
Racing in the mud was something new to most of the American riders, but they acquitted themselves well, and despite losing both McQueen and their captain Bud Ekins after heavy crashes, both Cliff Coleman and Dave Ekins won gold and the team’s reserve John Steen a silver on their big Triumph twins.
Blakeway's 350cc AJS was unable to match the speed of the two-stroke MZ’s but despite heavy rain and thick fog on Tuesday’s special test hill climb, the AMC single performed faultlessly and at the end of a hard week his total of just over 604 points gained was enough to secure yet another gold medal.
It was a glorious International for the British Trophy team as all five won gold and finished equal first with the host country but were beaten into second place by virtue of earning fewer bonus points than the East Germans. It was a performance which saw the following year’s ISDT in the Isle of Man but there would be no Gordon Blakeway in the line-up for 1965.
“On leaving school I’d joined my parents in their market garden business and they had always been hugely supportive of my competition career. There was never any problem in me taking time off work to compete in the longer and overseas events.
“I’d had some fantastic years on the bikes and decided it was time to concentrate more on the business, so
1964 was the last time I rode in Scotland and the ISDT. I continued to compete in national trials on 187 BLF and I also rode a 250cc James for a while, but it was obvious that AMC was in serious decline and it came as little surprise when I was told that the competition department was being closed.
“I was keen to buy my famous Scottish winning AJS so we agreed a price of £100 and as they owed me £65 in outstanding expenses it only actually cost me £35! During the following winter I had a few rides on one of the first production Bultacos and managed a decent third behind Sammy Miller and Don Smith in the St Cucafa European championship round, but an old scrambles injury necessitated the removal of a cartilage and I decided it was time to call it a day.”
It brought the curtain down on 14 glorious years. The name of Gordon Blakeway will be forever inscribed in the annals of motorcycle sport, not just as a brilliantly successful competitor, but also a true gentleman.