A RETURN TO A NON-STOP SCOTTISH SIX DAYS TRIAL
The Hamilton Yamaha Team was owned and run by trials enthusiast Peter Stewart. A massive SSDT fan, he witnessed the decline in entries at the event as the new style of ‘Trick’ riding entered the sport. In his opinion, this was killing traditional events like the ‘Scottish’, and so he approached the committee to try and orchestrate the return to ‘Non-Stop’ and, as they say, the rest is history.
Ifirst got involved with ‘Scottish’ sponsorship in 1987 with Dave Thorpe and Adrian Clarke. Merle Morewood organised the fuelling at that time for the Hillsborough, Sheffield and Hallamshire clubs. It led us to sponsor a team made up of lads from these clubs. We won the appropriate cup for quite a few years. During this time, they became more and more involved with Yamaha; this was in the last year of their sponsorship for Tony Scarlett. In our first full year with the team, we had Gerald Richardson, Phil Alderson and Harold Crawford as our main riders. At this time, Roger Harvey was the team manager, with me just a contributor. The Scottish really became a ‘must-do’ at this time.
Legendary weigh-in days on the Sunday were spent in the Ben Nevis Hotel where froth was blown off more than a few pints, a chance to socialise with mates from all over the country.
More professional teams were becoming the norm, so, with Yamaha and the assistance of Merle and Alan Morewood, we moved up a gear in the Parc Ferme. Using our Yamaha contacts, we persuaded Dunlop to join in, and Roger persuaded the Army to do the fuelling — and hasn’t it developed into a terrific backdrop to the trial?
Soon Roger left to go to Honda, and I was asked to take over as team manager, which was a great honour. We always had a lot of fun as a team, ‘Apres Trial’ being quite popular. I remember Jordi Tarres turning up with an airbrushed sign-written truck: a ‘whir’ of hydraulics, and out of the back came the prototype water-cooled Beta. He did a 180º flick turn on the road outside, rode up to the practice rocks and gave a spectacular display of machine control, demoralising everyone!
The first day, Monday, dawned: bleak, overcast – and down came the rain. At Fersit, I watched Harold Crawford have a stunning ride, looking more like a powerboat than a motorcycle. Tarres, meanwhile, had broken down; his machine seized up due to a blocked radiator. Fast forward to The Mercury Hotel and 03.00 in the morning, and Harold is dragged away by his wife Audrey and his sister after celebrating his ‘best on the day’ award.