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Whois IanBerry?
Ian Berry is an East Anglianformer
trialsrider who citeshis best result
as Best Novice in the BeggarsRoost
trial in 1976.He has apassionfor
scramblingand MX. Anoted author
on scramblingwith acoupleof books
and loadsof articlesunderhis belt,
Ian teachesEnglishin Portugal.Ian Berry
T
he schoolboymovementofthe late
Sixtiesrevolutionisedthe sportof
motocrossand afew yearsdownthe
line wouldproduce worldchampions
inGrahamNoyce, NeilHudson and Dave
Thorpe. But long beforethesesuperstars
materialised, tearawayteenagershad been
makingtheirmarkinthe sport, muchto the
annoyance of the establishedstarsofthe day.
One such youngsterwasfuturedoubleworld
champion,Jeff Smith.Having madehis markas
atrials rider and capturedthefirs toftwo ACU
Starsin1953 at the age of 18, the precocious
teen turned to scrambling,winningthe DutchGP
in 1954and takingboth the supporting races
at the BritishGP thesame year;his father
wouldn’tlet him race in the GP as he thoughtit
wastoo dangerous.
Moresurprises were in store the following
season,ashewon the prestigiousExperts
GN, beating his illustriousBSA team-mates
BrianStonebridge and John Averyand days
after his 20th birthday, won the Lancashire
GrandNational, toughest scramble of them
all, beating the likesofGeoff Ward, at the time
adoubleACU Scrambles’ Star winner,and
BSAteam-matesTerryCheshire andDavid
Tye. Jeff went on to reachthe verypinnacle
of the sport, but wasonly afew days shortof
his 30th birthdaybythe time he wascrowned
world champion. Likeagood winehematured
with age.
Withinafew years Jeff, inturn, wouldfind
himselfchallenged by younger riders such as
Greeves’star in the making,DaveBickers, and
VicEastwood, adeceptivelystrongriderwho
handledhis 500 Matchless with greataplomb.Bickerswould achieve greatness at atender
age; just 22 yearsold when he won thefirstof
his two 250ccEuropean championships and
Eastwood, who wasdealtsomuchbad luck
in along career,emerged as the strongest
challengerto Smith’sdomination in the 500
class,winningACU Star racesonthe heavy,
outmoded Matchless, before joining BSA
in 1965.
In 1967,Viccame veryclosetowinning his
firs tGP, an honour he experienced the following
year whenhe famously wonthe British GP at
Farleigh Castle, on aHusqvarna,inspiteof
arear wheelpuncture. Sadly, thatwinter an
horrendouscrashinaTV meeting at an ice-
bound HawkstonePark, effectively curtailed his
career. He cameback strong,but mostwho
had seen him race in 1968agreethat hewas
never quitethe same rideragain.
Anotherrider who camegood as ateen
wasBryan Goss. Mentoredby grasstrack
ace LewCoffin, ‘Badger’ wasaprolificwinner,
especially on his homepatchin the South-
West, where on his lightweight two-strokes he
took on the Sharpbrothers,Trissand Bryan,
and the Rickmans, Don andDerek,all on
full-500s. Early successesattractedCotton,
who supplied hisfirs tfactory machine, but he
wasthen snapped up by Greeves, joiningthe
likes of Bickers and AlanClough.Thoughhe
challengedfor 250 honours for several years,
ironicallyhis British championship success
camein 1970ona400 Husqvarna, when he
wascrownedchampion justafew days short
of his30thbirthday.
In the mid-1960sanew crop of very
talented ridersemerged, led by the likesofJohn Banks,MalcolmDavisand BryanWade,
all multiple British champions. Bankswon a
factory ride with Dot as ateenager andenjoyed
250 GP experiencetravellingwith Bickersand
Dotteam-mateJohn Griffith s. Buthematured
into achampion in his mid-20s and came
withinapoint of being world championon
his BSAin1968. Davis andWade were great
rivalsfor 250 titles in the late 1960sand
their contrasting styles, Davis asilky-smooth
rider and Wade raggedand frequently pushing
beyond the limit (tagged ‘Wild’ by Murray
Walker), entertainedspectatorswith each rider
having his band of loyalfans.
But as mentionedin my opening paragraph,
anew training groundfor futurestarswas
takingshape as the Sixtiesdrewtoaclose.
SchoolboyScrambling Clubswere being
establishedacrossthe landand by the early
Seventies anationalchampionship hadbeen
established.Amongst theearliest success
inthis newventurewas GeoffMayes, brother
of 1966250ccBritishchampion,Freddie,
himself averyearly starter.SeniorSchoolboy
champion in 1970, he maynot have scaledthe
headyheights of Noyce, Hudsonand Thorpe
as an adult, but improved steadily enough to
emulate his brother whenhe became British
champion in 1980.
So, by the mid-1970s theBritishmotocross
sceneappearedtobeinaveryhealthystate
andthere wasgreat hope that one of the
graduatesfromthe schoolboy rankswouldfill
the void left by JeffSmith andDaveBickers.
We all know how that panned out,but I’ll pick
up on that againnext time.
To be continued...“
...takingboththe supporting
races at theBritishGPthe same
year;his father wouldn’tlet him
raceinthe GPas he thoughtit
wastoo dangerous...
”
YOUNGGUNS
’’’CCCCRRRROOOOSSSSSSS WWOORRDDSS
Thinkyouthis anewthing?Thinkagain...
Having some fun
PART
ONE
061 Crosswords_044.indd 61 01/08/201715:22:50