Although out of contention in the over 350cc class, Leigh made it through to the final of the Allcomers class again this year finishing fourth in the comparatively slow time of 21.87sec. Nothing to shout about you might think but what I (and I suspect many others) missed was that on his way to that final, Leigh broke the hill record with a phenomenal 19.14sec.
Problems with the timing equipment initially showed it as 15.14sec – an impossible time in the circumstances. My earlier reports on the event failed to acknowledge the new time, but it has now been confirmed and I am more than happy to put the record straight.
But that is only part of the story of this famous event, set in the rolling hills of Worcestershire, revived in 2000 by the AJS & Matchless Owners’ Club, and now going from strength to strength in its Mark II form.
Easter Monday was always Red Marley time and this year was no exception. What has changed is the size of the entry. This year there were over 190 competitors; a good indication of the popularity of the event with most coming back year after year to take on the hill with its tricky undulations, road crossing and finally the notorious ‘pimple’ leading to the steepest part of the hill, a one-in-two gradient. Skill and courage (in large amounts) are needed to succeed; the hill needs to be attacked from start to finish and only those brave enough to keep the throttle wide open will win the day.
This year the record entry included 14 pre-1950 rigid machines, some of them girder rigids of 1930s vintage complete with hand change – a real handful over the Red Marley roughery. Regular winners here are the Priestley family from Shropshire and they again provided three entrants in the class. Joe, the eldest member of the clan, won from the youngest entrant in the class, Arthur Walton.
The up to 350cc class chalked up an impressive 45 entries but, at the end of the day, there was only one man in it. Ian Bain, winner of the class in 2007, was streets ahead of the rest of the field. His 350cc Greeves looks ordinary enough from a distance but it possesses a phenomenal turn of speed suggesting that Ian, an extremely competent engineer, has fettled it down to a fine art.
Young Matt Gardiner, a newcomer to the classic scene and aboard a very competitive Cheney BSA, looked as though he might upset the odds with his all-action style but, once again, it was Bain first with the three other finalists trailing in his smoky wake. The biggest class, the over 350s, provided the keenest competition of the day but it had one important non-starter. Arthur Browning had stripped the cylinder inserts on his own bike during practise and faced the prospect of a quiet afternoon. Nigel Bower came to his rescue with an arrangement that saw Nigel use his 600cc BSA Metisse in the over 350cc class and Arthur use it in the Allcomers. So the 2007 winner watched from the sidelines while Tim Manton and Piers Dowell from the bottom half of the draw, and James Newstead and Richard Williams from the top half, made it through to the final. Along the way, Tim Manton and Dave Bell had a hairy moment up and over the ‘pimple’, which eased Dave out of contention and eased Tim into the final. While in the other semi former enduro champion Derrick Edmondson lost control at the start allowing Richard Williams and James Newstead an easier run than they might have expected.
• End of online article. The full item is only found in The Classic MotorCycle magazine
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