The Smell of Baking Mud
THE LATE GREAT “DR”
Don’s untimely death in
early October (2004) creates a vacuum in the feet-up world that is
impossible to fill. The loss is all the more poignant due to
DR’s well-publicised ‘classic’ trials comeback, a return
that had promised some exciting cat-amongst-the-pigeons
situations, just as soon as he’d played himself in! DR’s
return, as we know, got under way in summer ’03.
Unfortunately, following a handful of exploratory rides it
was painfully curtailed, after damaging a shoulder during an
intensive practising session…for he was determined to regain
as much of the old magic as was physically possible. Though
frustrated by what proved a lengthy lay-off Don gamely
complied with the prescribed therapy. By September this year
he was gently riding along the local back roads, in
anticipation of a full-blooded return in the autumn. He’d
already undertaken a comprehensive series of ‘improvements’
– on the Tiger Cub purchased from Sammy Miller – and was
half-jokingly telling contemporaries he was going to win
next year’s pre-65 Scottish! Folk were pleased, for this was
the DR they knew and admired, and what a boost such a result
would prove to the classic scene. Don’s confident outlook
appeared to confirm a full recovery; cruelly, it wasn’t to
be.
“DR”, in his prime, was a
superb performer. For nigh on a decade he was one of the
best two or three trials riders in the world. It wasn’t
always the results, of course, that provoked the focus of
continual press attention, it was more the way those results
were achieved, and the highly ‘tweaked’ machinery upon which
he rode, that attracted the publicity. Permanently ready
with a snappy quote, irrespective whether he’d won, or
merely gained an upper level First Class, Don was an
inherently positive character, whatever the problems.
Profoundly linked with Greeves’ glorious years thru the
‘Sixties he enjoyed considerable success, too, on Montesa,
before applying his unique talents to Kawasaki’s embryo
trials programme, in the role of development rider &
engineer. Some of the “DR-in-Japan” anecdotes, like so many
incidents in his busy life, are the stuff of legend. Over
the years there has evolved a clique of talented riders
renowned for their story-telling prowess, former competitors
such as Allan Jefferies, Frank Bentham, Ted Ogden, and John
Avery are the culprits that immediately spring to mind…DR is
part of that elite clique. Funny thing but riders with the
gift of ‘story-telling’ are often responsible for creating
many of the highly amusing tales [that old comp riders so
enjoy] in the first place, indeed, DR is writ large in the
unofficial history of Greeves. In 2002 Don was a guest
panellist at Beaulieu’s Tribute to Thundersley forum,
where he predictably amused a full house audience with
endless colourful recall of competing in [and travelling to]
a variety of international events in the 1960s. His stories,
needless to say, had the audience in stitches. Verily, the
Larger-than-Life cliché applied perfectly to Don.
Senior readers will
remember when Don was a local friendly dealer, in the
swinging Sixties, with premises at Highams Park, directly
beside the ‘Norf Circ’. While ‘café racers’ ruled supreme,
back at the Ace Café on the identical road a few miles
further west, one of Don’s party pieces on his part
of the A406 were spectacular ‘wheelies’ up and down the
carriageway, astride a TES, as he dried out the brakes after
a hose-down. He surely ‘frightened’ just as many motorists
as the ‘ton-uppers’, except his speed was probably within
the limit, and he was casually smoking a ‘gasper’ into the
bargain! In pre-Dartford Tunnel days, with the shop’s row of
gleaming trials bikes spilling onto the pavement, it was a
sight for sore eyes, whenever en route to the Greeves
factory…along that notorious thoroughfare.
My
first meeting with Don was at Dover docks in May 1958; Triss
Sharp and I were on the way to an Ascension Day meeting at
Markelo, Holland.
Who should be boarded
alongside, destined for the same event, but Dave Bickers,
Derek Cornell, and Don, all crammed into Dave’s Morris
Minor pick-up…upon which they’d loaded two 500s and, if
memory serves, a 250 Greeves? Derek sponsored Don in
scrambles, at that time, on a period Tribsa type machine
with a catchy Red Indian name…like Comanche or
Cherokee. Our transport was a ‘hotted-up’ A50 pu –
loaded with a pair of Greeves – so, at the conclusion of a
lively hour of joshing on the boat, I [rather patronisingly]
said to the Eastern Centre aces that “we’ll hold back a
bit, follow us if you like...” Well, in the congestion
exiting Calais the Minor got ahead. Once on the open
road, however, and for the next three hours – in an
enjoyable high-speed scamper across the top of France, and
through Belgium – we were pushed to keep them in sight, even
when Triss took the wheel. On one occasion, on a long
stretch of uphill, we momentarily managed to ‘button’ them.
The grin on Don’s face, and his lurid hand signals as we
overtook, is an abiding memory.
DR seemingly progressed from
‘useful centre scrambler’ to ‘national trials ace’ in less
than a couple of seasons. From early 1960s onwards he was
the man-to-beat on Greeves, and became deeply involved with
the evolution – both at the instigation and evaluation
stages – of Greeves great series of Scottish models
[TES, TFS etc], as well as the later banana-forked
Anglian. His verbal battles with, shall we say, an
overly cautious Bert Greeves are well chronicled; one has to
say if only more of Don’s ideas had been incorporated, when
mooted, the Essex firm would likely have remained a major
force for a far longer period…give or take an engine
supplier, after Villiers withdrew. Don’s impatience and
sheer determination undoubtedly gave Mr Greeves a few
sleepless nights and, at times, must have tested Bill
Brooker’s diplomatic skills to the limit. Each new season
[and as that season unfolded] it was always DR’s current
Greeves that everyone closely examined. If Don cut off a
section of surplus engine casing -- and if said ‘mod’ was
pictured in MCN by Peter Howdle -- then every ambitious
centre runner was prompted to do the same. In Gordon’s
accompanying photograph one cannot be sure that every
member of the surrounding group is an active trials riders,
but one has the feeling that young Sandy McTavish is
carefully calculating the price of a new hacksaw blade, and
a drill bit [for the brake arms], while gazing in awe at
Don’s mount for that year’s Scottish.
Space precludes a detailed
analysis of DR’s numerous trials successes, but he won most
of the ‘Opens’ at one time or another. To his intense
disappointment, though, a win in the ‘Experts’, the SSDT,
and the Scott Trial, proved elusive. When questioned
concerning these ‘gaps’ he gave a totally straightforward
answer. Frowning, but with a smile, he’d growl, “mainly
thanks... to Samuel Hamilton Miller!” You can’t say
fairer than that. With Ralph gone we may never know which
rider beat Sam on the greatest number of occasions, but DR
would certainly be a hot candidate. [It could also explain
why SHM has framed a copy of the cheque Don wrote for the
‘Cub!] For a southerner DR was brilliant on rocks, but
arguably better still on mud and hills. Together with his
great chum and fellow teamster, Tony Davis, they were [I
believe] the sole riders to win the famous ‘muddy double’ –
that’s the Hoad Trophy & Perce Simon Trials – over the same
weekend. The European trials scene gathered unstoppable
momentum during the mid ‘Sixties; it was a very happy
hunting ground for Don, with three outright Championships.
His results in France and Belgium created a vigorous market
for Greeves.
It will be hard to
contemplate the classic trials scene minus DR. He made such
an enormous contribution to our sport and, yes, undoubtedly
trod on a few toes in so doing. Following a beautifully
choreographed Service at West Suffolk Crematorium on October
14th he was affectionately summarised by one of
his oldest friends, who said, “Don was the tops;
absolutely insufferable at times, of course, but utterly
lovable!” One has little doubt DR will win the St
Peter’s Cup Trial at his first attempt.
Written by Mike
Jackson. (The Old MJ)
