THE JUNIOR RACE
THE JUNIOR RACE
Gruelling Race won by J. H. Carr ( New Imperial) Record Lap by Pine : Leaders Fail on Last Lap . DESPITE the financial depression, which must have hit the motor • cycling community as hard as any one else, the entries for the September Races in the Isle of Man were bigger than
ever this year, and reached the record figure of 104, which is better than the total of the three trade-supported races in June. Of these 56 were entered for the Junior Race. After a night of heavy rain, Tuesday morning was dry and the official car re ported a favourable course, except for some water on the road on the Kirkmichael-Sulby side, and rather limited
visibility on the Mountain. Heavy clouds looked threatening however, and competitors were warned to look out for wet patches. At 10 o’clock No. 1, J. H. Blyth, on a Velocette was given the signal to start,
followed half a minute later by J. H. Carr, who had been doing well in practices, on a similar machine. There were only three non-starters, and the 53 competitors got away without incident. The first to arrive at Governor’s Bridge
was No. 2, J. H. Carr, with a substantial lead over J. H. Blyth. A fast man this, who was placed in both last year’s races, and sure to do well with an open road in front of him. R. Harris (New Imperial), gained also a number of places ; Gledhill (Norton) was three up ; and H. E. Newman who was next, had passed eight others in the first 37 miles. The riding so far had been variable, but everyone negotiated the hairpin bend quite safely, but the spectators had a considerable thrill in the arrival of No. 9, closely followed by No. 15, and only good riding averted a collision. A slight lull, and Muir, Daniell and Pidgeon reached the corner in close company, all of them having gained several places. Muir looked particularly determined. Another star rider, D. J. Pine, who won this race last year, followed closely behind.
Of the later numbers, the best were J. H. White (Velocette) and J. F. Clay (Velocette), No. 50, who had almost caught No. 42. The standard of riding was good, nearly all the riders taking the acute hairpin cleanly and close in.
1ST LAP LEADERS.
No. 28, J. M. Muir (Velocette), 32m. 19s., 70.06 m.p.h.
No. 2. J. H. Carr (New Imperial), 32m. 30s., 69.67 m.p.h.
No. 19. H. B. Newman (Velocette), 32m. 30$., 69.67 m.p.h.
No. 31. D. J. Pixie (Excelsior), 32m. 37s., 69.42 m.p.h.
No. 55. F. L. Frith (Norton), 32m. 47s., 69.07 m.p.h.
No. 39. J. H. White (Velocette), 32m. 55s., 68.79 m.p.h.
As was expected, the lap times were very similar to those of last year, and the leaders all riders who have been successful in former races. The first lap is generally a time of suspense at the pits, waiting to see what sort of speed one’s rival is likely to put up, so that the dead-heat of Carr and Newman would probably be about the speed that the leaders were trying to maintain. Meanwhile J. H. Carr was still leading the pack and had drawn further ahead. He took Signpost fast but steadily and was riding well within his limits. Harris (New Imperial) on the other hand, though he had pulled up several more places, was very disturbing and nearly came off. Gledhill and Newman were continuing their good work, and 3./Ioorhouse (Norton) who was also improving his position, was noticeably fast and steady. Muir and Daniell retained their positions, while
Pixie seemed to have dropped back.
The riding up to now had varied in speed but had been reasonably safe, but J. F. Cook (Velocette) and Leslie (Rudge) were both rather dangerous, the former very wide, while the Rudge rider nearly came to grief on the two bends following the corner. White and Edmondson on Velocettes made a terrific noise as they approached the corner abreast of one another, and departed down the road still scrapping.
The lap times of the leaders were amazingly close, an increase of 36 seconds costing Muir four places. Pine, who had
slacked off last lap had evidently received the full-speed signal, and pulled up to first place with a lap of 31 min. 44 secs., or four seconds better than his record lap last year. Muir dropped another place, and it looked as if he must have overstressed his machine in his excellent first circuit. The other leaders maintained an average speed of over 69 m.p.h.
Mills, a local rider, came to grief in this lap at the top of Glen Helen, and Edmondson (Velocette) got into a tremendous wobble near Sulby. On the whole, however, the race had proved singularly free from unpleasant incidents, in spite of the high speed and daring cornering of the faster riders.
3an LAP LEADERS.
No. 31. D. J. Fine (Excelsior), 1h. 36m. 32s. 70.36 m.p.h.
No. 19. H. E. Newman (Velocette), 1h. 37m. 2s., 70.0 m.p.h.
No. 2. J. H. Carr (New Imperial), Iht 37m. I4s., 69.86 m.p.h.
No. 39. J. H. White (Velocette), 1h. 37m. 15s., 69.85 m.p.h.
No. 55. F. L. Frith (Norton), 1h. 37m. 46s., 69.48 m.p.h.
No. 28. J. M. Muir (Velocette), lh. 38m. 14s., 69.18 m.p.h. Pine passed the Stand at a tremendous speed after a circuit in which he skimmed the hedges at every corner, but in his fourth lap he cut things a little too fine going up Glen Helen, and crashed there. This let Newman into first place again, and
with the departure of the Excelsior he was able slightly to relax his efforts. The other leaders each came up one place, while A. Munks, who put up a good show last yea’, appeared on the board for the first time.
Speeds dropped considerably as machines and riders grew more weary. No. 44, H. A. Chatwin (Velocette), crashed at the Gooseneck, while R. Rogerson had the infuriating experience of running out of petrol on the Mountain. C. J. Hands, who earlier on had been almost “hit for 6” at Governor’s Bridge by a following rider, retired from the struggle at the Start with a seized engine.
The order of the first three men remained unaffected, and Newman led by 26 seconds. Their speeds all showed signs of increase, however, and it looked as if they were preparing for a final spurt. Muir pulled up a place, and with less than three minutes separating the first five, it was still anybody’s race.
Carr, who was the first of the leaders to start was reported to be passing Kirkmichael at 12.51, travelling very fast, just as Muir was passing the Stand on his last lap. Twenty minutes later Carr passed the Bungalow, and at 1.15 completed his trouble-free run, amid cheers.
Something had happened to Newman, whose needle had fallen sadly behind ; he was reported as slow at the Gooseneck though going fast at 1.19 when he passed the Bungalow. It appeared that his gear control had broken passing the Quarter Bridge on his last lap, so that he was forced to work his selector lever with his hand. This of course was a tremendous handicap, and though his time was only five minutes more than the winner he had to be content with eighth place. With Newman out of it, the honour of leadership fell to J. H. White, who had been riding consistently, little slower than the unfortunate Newman. His pointer revolved at regular intervals as he passed the Mountain and Creg-na-baa, and then the yellow light showed that he had reached Governor’s Bridge. A second before he arrived, however, a shower of rain had wetted the .road, and with the prize within his grasp the unfortunate rider skidded and fell, ’10 complete his discomfort ure the engine refused to fire, and he was forced to push his machine
half a mile to the finishing line. An unhappy end to a fine ride !
These two misfortunes left J. H. Carr the winner, with J. M. Muir, who had left his spurt till too late, the runner-up. Pine’s record time of 3 hours, 13 mins. 15 secs. (69.59 m.p.h.) last year, therefore, stands unbeaten.
FINISFIERS.
1. J. H. Carr (New Imperial), 3h. 18m. as., 69.27 m.p.h.
2. J. M. Muir (Velocette), 3h. 17m. Os., 68.96 m.p.h.
3. A. Munks (Velocette), 3h. 18m. 4s., 68.59 m.p.h. 4. J. A. McL. Leslie (Rudge), 311. 20m. 25s. 67.79
5. J. H. White (Velocette), 3h. 20m. 415., 67.70 m.p.h.
6. j .S. Clay (Velocette), 3h. 20m. 58s., 67.60 m,p.h.
7. A. Pidgeon (Norton), 35. 21m. 29s.
8. H. E. Newman (Velocette), 3h. 21m. 395.
9. R. L. Daniell (Excelsior), 3h. 22m. 9s.
10. N. Gledhill (Norton), 3h. 22m. 18s.
11. N. Croft (Rudge), 35. 25m. 7s.
12. J. H. Blyth (Velocette), 35. 25m. 27s.
13. H. M. Lamacroft (Velocette), 35. 32m. 17s.
14. R. Allen (Velocette), 35. 33m. 27s.
15. H. L. Sikes (Velocette), 35. 34m. 20s.
16. R. S. Moorhouse (Norton), 35. 34m. 30s.
The above receive replicas.