September 1946 “The First Oliver’s Mount Races”

Entries for the first meeting held on the 6-19 September included nearly all the leading racing figures in the country, many of them household names to racing fans. Among these were the stars of the 1946 Manx Grand Prix including Wakefield’s Denis Parkinson who had just taken third place in the Junior race at 72.87 mph and Eric Briggs, both riders were entered by the Bradford Motor Club who had just won the team prize at "The Island". Other well-known riders entered were Coventry’s Syd Barnett, Velocette manufacturer Peter Goodman, from Solihull, Jack Brett from nearby Leeds, Dudley’s Albert Moule and Phil Heath, of Leicester. Heath was competing on a 1938 Norton 350 Inter which had previously belonged to Johnny Lockett and which at one time had held the Donnington 350cc eight-lap record.

 

The Yorkshire A.C.U. alongside the Scarborough Motor Club vetted all riders and only those with considerable road-racing experience were allowed to compete. Norton machines which had monopolised the Isle of Man racing for many years formed the majority of the entrants, with chief opposition coming from Velocette riders and the great all-rounder and highly experienced Allan Jefferies riding a Triumph twin machine, believed to be similar to the experimental model on which Irish farmer Ernie Lyons rode to victory in the 1946 Senior Manx race. This machine had been built by the competition section at Meriden and it was said that Edward Turner, the boss of Triumph, was unaware of his factory’s connection with the bike until after the race.

 

The September motor cycle races were heralded as the biggest events of their kind to be staged on the British mainland since before the Second World War. To qualify for entry, competitors, had to ride ten laps, and complete four laps at 3mins, 15secs, each. On the first day of practice for the 350cc races, Eric Briggs (348 Norton) and Peter Goodman (348 Velocette) both lapped the 2.5 mile course in 2mins, 48secs, which was an average of practically 54mph. The practicing showed that speeds up to 90 mph could be attained on the upper straight, but that certain bumps on the lower straight called for caution.

Various practicing troubles occurred. Ben Drinkwater (348 Norton) and Reg Dearden (348 Norton) had clutch trouble and Phil Heath (348 Norton) had his magneto end plate come loose. The ball end of the gear control rod of Stan Miller’s Velocette snapped off and Tommy McEwan’s Norton tappet adjustment also went wrong. There were no accidents, but a flying stone went straight through Denis Parkinson’s goggles and the doctor had to pick lots of bits of glass out of his eye. Fortunately the eye was not damaged, although his face was badly gashed. Riders agreed that the course had a non-skid surface, but was rather bumpy. They also thought that the lower straight between the Mountside Hairpin and the Mere Hairpin was rather narrow. It was also said that the course was very heavy on clutches.

 

Crowds of nearly 11,000 watched Scarborough’s first motor cycle races, on Tuesday 17th September, which commenced with two heats for 350cc machines.

 

In the first heat, Eric Briggs, Tommy McEwan, Syd Barnett, Wilf Billington, Reg Dearden and Roy Evans rode on Nortons, with Jack Brett and Stan Miller on Velocettes. Brett got the best of the massed-start, but Barnett (Norton) was the first to complete the lap, and thereafter was never seriously challenged. Briggs had to change a plug, and so did Roy Evans. Barnett won at a speed of 52.63 mph, and Briggs made the fastest lap at 54.25 mph.

 

In the second heat Denis Parkinson, Phil Heath, Bill Doran, Bill Mundy, Allan Jefferies and Ben Drinkwater rode Nortons, Peter Goodman and Tommy Wood on Velocettes; with Fred Rist on a BSA. Goodman took the lead, but was overhauled by Parkinson who steadily increased his lead throughout the ten laps to finish at a speed of 52.47 mph. Both Goodman and Parkinson shared the fastest lap in 2m 48s (53.90 mph).

 

350cc Scratch Race Final

Norton mounted Denis Parkinson notched the first entry in the history books, when he took victory in the 10-lap 350cc scratch race at an average of 53.89mph. Parkinson took the lead from Brett after the first lap, and increased the dis­tance between them to100 yards or so. Goodman finished a further 24 seconds back in third, but shared the fastest lap with Parkinson in 2mins 44.0 seconds (55.50 mph). Barnett retired after one lap, not satisfying the expectations of his heat win.

It was said that during this race the vibration of the highly tuned motor-cycles shook the autumn leaves from the trees along the bottom straight.

 

 

 

350cc Handicap Races

Two handicap races followed, one for the Non-Finalists of the 350cc Scratch race, and the other for the Finalists.

In the “Non-Finalists " race, Fred Rist came out on top despite his BSA not being suited to the course, as it was still running a wide ratio box.

Peter Goodman, starting from scratch, had a fine win from Barnett in the "Finalists'" race. The race was run in spite of a heavy rainstorm. Parkinson came to grief when his throttle stuck wide open. He had tried to stop his machine by first turning-off the petrol and then pulling out the plug wire, but parted company with his Norton, ‘bending’ it so badly that it could not be repaired in time for the 350cc Invitation race. Tommy McEwan (Norton) developed clutch slip, which also put him out of the Invitation race.

 

350cc Invitation Race

Last of the 350cc races was the In­vitation Race. Briggs (Norton), Barnett (Norton), Billington (Norton), Brett (Velocette), Evans (Norton), Goodman (Velocette), Heath (Norton), Jefferies (Norton), Rist (BSA), Miller (Velo­cette) and Doran (Norton) were all on the grid.

Goodman led the pack, but was soon passed by the girder-fork Nor­ton of Allan Jefferies, then followed a three way dice for third place between Brett, Briggs and Heath. By the fifth lap Jefferies had built up a useful lead, but then skidded on one of the hair­pins because his tyres were made of horn bulb rubber," he alleged, and Goodman was once more leading. Phil Heath came up to second place, Briggs having fallen at Mere Hairpin. Heath later also had trouble at Mere Hairpin and this let Roy Evans in to the runner-up position. Jefferies was going again, but was not only racing for position but against whether the rocker box would stay on the cylinder head until the end of the tenth lap !

 

Peter Goodman stayed in front on his Velocette to win at a reduced speed of 48.78mph, due to the rain, beating the Norton’s of Roy Evans and Allan Jefferies. Bill Doran was fourth ahead of Syd Barnett who crossed the finish line with his ex­haust pipe underneath his arm.

 

 

Wednesday’s practising for 500cc machines began fair, but ended in rain, so that only those who went out for fast early laps achieved impressive speeds. It soon became evident, however, that the Senior 500cc machines had little, if any advantage on average over the Junior 350cc machines. Allan Jefferies, on a Triumph Twin, went off at a great crack, and did the cir­cuit in 2 mins 47 secs. But this was beaten by one second by Tommy Wood with his nippy Erswood-JAP, while George Brown's Vincent HRD was only one second slower. Parkinson's Norton became a handful on the lower straight and wobbled all the way. Tommy McEwan was still suffering with clutch trouble, while the rocker box of Briggs’ Norton came adrift.

 

As the weather improved so did the speeds for the five-hundreds on Thursday 19^th September 1946. Thursday’s racing programme started with two qualifying heats for the 500cc Scratch race.

 

In the first 500cc heat, Tommy Wood and his Erswood-JAP Special led for two laps, but when he had trouble at Mere Hairpin, Parkinson immediately went ahead to an unshakable lead, though Briggs was on his tail throughout.

George Brown (Vincent HRD) shot away with astonishing acceleration from the start of the second heat and led comfortably for 8 laps with Jefferies (Triumph) and McEwan (Nor­ton) running second and third. Then McEwan got by and when the Vincent HRD seized solid, he had a clear run in the last two laps. Barnett in turn took second place from Jefferies.

 

500cc Scratch Race Final

With Tommy McEwan deciding not to run in the 500cc Scratch final, there were 11 starters, and Coventry butcher Barnett now really showed what he could do. Taking the lead at once he increased his advantage lap-by-lap, three times he set record lap speeds, with 2m 37s, then 2m 36s, and finally 2m 35s, winning at an average speed of 56.78 mph.

Allan Jefferies was second for two laps on his Triumph Twin, but dropped back to ninth place on the third lap, retiring on the eighth lap after his complete manifold and carburettor fell off the cylin­der block of the Triumph Twin.

Parkin­son moved into second position, but his new Manx Norton was no match for Barnett's 1939 girder-fork Norton springer, which won by nearly a mile, not bad going in a 25-mile race. Third was Eric Briggs, ahead of the 350cc Norton’s of Phil Heath and Bill Doran, who had ridden well, but their machines were unable to compete with the speed of the 500cc machines.

 

 

 

500cc Handicap Races

The Handicap Race for non-finalists was won by Tommy Wood on the the JAP-engined Erswood wiping out his handicap from the back mark in five laps and taking a comfortable win.

The Handicap Race for finalists proved a real thriller. Syd Barnett who was scratch man, was just starting when Bill Doran was completing his first lap. However Doran completely foxed the handicapper, for he beat all his previous lap times. Barnett, riding magnificently, from a 3 minute handicap, only just failed to overhaul Doran in a very close finish. Denis Parkinson finished third.

This race eliminated Eric Briggs, who had a valve head drop through the piston, Tommy McEwan who burned out his clutch and Allan Jefferies_, who had a damaged gear box.

 

500cc Invitation Race

Syd Barnett scored a second brilliant success when he won the 500cc Final Invitation race at an average speed of 57.32mph. He created the first official outright lap record for the circuit at 57.49mph, in 2 mins 33 seconds and it was estimated that on the straight the riders were doing between 95 and 100mph. Parkinson led at first but was passed at the end of lap one by the ter­rific Barnett, who never looked back and who further lowered his best lap time by another two seconds.

Tommy Wood (Erswood) retired after two laps and Parkinson was slowly left behind with an almost equal distance between himself and Luton’s George Brown_, who had fitted a new piston to his works 499cc Vincent HRD in the competitor’s enclosure during the handicap races. The HRD used to be ridden by Stanley “Ginger” Wood before the war and had been tuned up especially for the Oliver’s Mount events.

Roy Evans finished fourth in spite of a trailing brake pedal. Goodman took fifth spot after passing Doran on the fourth lap.

Barnett continued to dominate, by the end of his ninth lap he had lapped three of the slower riders and was more than half a minute in front of any possible challenger.

Everyone was full of praise for Scarborough’s first road races and the 500cc Invitation Race had been a glorious round up to a truly good day.