The Classic MotorCycle – September 2019

End

An easy onetostart with,what’s your full
nameand howold ar eyou?
I’mCecil Pearson andI’m75.

Your accent is unmistakably Irish, are you
Northern Irelandborn andbred?
Yes, I’ve movedfourtimes andstill live on
the sameroad asI’ve alwayslived on, never
gonefar butbeenall over,ify ou see what
Imean. WhereIlivenow hasascrambles
trac kinthe garden andthe NorthernIreland
Classicscramble at Bangor is onmy trac k.

Thoughthe classicscenerecognises you
as ‘theblokewith theJAPs...’haveyou
alwaysbeen involved in bikes?
Well, Iracedinthe 1960s,scrambles and
grasstrack, whileIwas trainingtobeaheavy
plantfitter, whichishow Iearn ed my living.
Latter ly Imoved into housebuildingand
planthire, too.

Looking at yourmotorcycling life, is there

ahistoryofmotorcycling inyour family,

or are you theblack sheep?

Definitely the blacksheep,noone in the

familyhadanythingtodowith bikesbefore

Istarte d–thoughnow my son-in-lawraces

and my granddaughterZoeTurtleraces in

the junior classes.

Howlong have you beenracing for?

Istarte dwhen Iwas 17 thenhadabreak

for40years or so at theend ofthe1960s. I

got backintothe classicscene because I

enjoyed racing the JAPs so much all those

years ago.

Givenyour backgroundasaheavy

plantfitter,isi tfair tosayyou’rehandy

with tools?

I’ve alwaysbeenkeenonworkingonmy

bikes.TheonesIracedyears agoIbuilt

myself andthesamewith the bikesinTeam

JAP–there’salotofpersonal in volvementin

theirbuilding.

Do you have afabulousworkshopwith all

theequipmentyou need to doeverything?

Idohaveaworkshopwith alot of

equipment–alathe,mill,press and that sort

of thing, butIdon’t doeverythingmyself.

What was yourfirst bike?

Ibuilt aJAP engineintoaRoyal Enfield

frame for useonthe tracks.Isold that on

and built aMetisseJAP.Att he time,weall

sold ourbikes for nexttonothinginorder to

fund the nextmachine.

Onceyou gotbackintothe sceneithad to

be JAP?

Oh,yes,justbecause of the earlyyears of

my racing and Iwante dtoget theflavourof

that back.

Howdid Team JAPhappen?

Itookafew bikes alongtoamodern meeting

as ademo and theorganisers asked if I’dlike

to go outonthe track.Therewasn’tarace

for older bikesbut Iknew JamesThompson

there, he wasonamodern machin e, and he

agreed to race my JAP. He jumped on it ,went

to thestartline and wonhis race against all

the modern stuff.FromthereIwas asked to

moreeventsand hadafew morebikes –all of

asuddenI’mateamowner.

What’s thefutur efor Team JAP?

Well, we’vegot arange of bikes nowwhich

sort of coverusfor all the classesand the

lads I’ve got on them areprettygood all

round.Thebikes arebuilt tobe used,so

we’reexpectinggreat things.

As thingsgo, you’reprettymuchracing a

1930s bikeagainst supposedly superior,

latermachinery, yet it’s unusualto not

seeyour bikes or riders at thesharp end.

Howmuchworkgoesontomakethe

bikes competitive?

Well, theJAPmotor is meanttobe

revved –ify ou lookat speedwayand

gras strack they’reprettymuchflat-out

sports and all the componentswe useare

trie dand tested, thoughIdokeepontop

of maintenance.

Last butnotleast –what’syour favourite

bikeofall time?

It hastobethe BSA-framedJAP I’ve just

built.Harry Stitt–one ofmy teamracers –

built the frame from T45tube and therest

of the bikewas assembledfrombits I

had–and it just looksright.

TheimpressiveTeamJAP line up.The aluminiumand redfinishisateamsigna ture.

Right:Take a1930s

engine, insta ll in

later-type chassis,

and go racing.

That’sthe formula.

Left:Different

machinesare bu ilt

to compet ein

different classes.

THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019 73

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