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Woodside Avenue, Eastleigh. SO50 9ES
History
Compiled by Wilf Paskins, member since 1945
Sporting History - Scrambles / Moto Cross
In 1945, just over one month after the end of the war in Europe and when a small ration of petrol became available, the Club ran it s first Scramble racing event at Pinns Farm, West Wellow. The circuit was less than a mile long and was roughly a long narrow oval in a sloping meadow bounded by a thick hedge along the top side and by a small river along the lower side. From the start, the circuit followed the river to a sharp left over a bank, going up to a mud patch, around a large tree, adverse camber, a short straight then a long lefthander to return to the finish, winding along the edge of the river into which there was a six foot drop for the unwary. Two events were run at Pinns Farm that year and one on the side of a steep hill at Farley Mount. The latter circuit was not much more than a hill climb followed by a rapid descent. These first scrambles saw something like 30% of the Club s total membership competing, many of whom were enjoying their first ever motor cycle speed event. Some of those entered later enjoyed considerable, deserved success in other branches of the sport. There was Syd Lawton and Tommy Wood who became very well known in Road Racing; Freddie Williams, Charlie May, Bob Oakley, Cecil Bailey, and Tom Oakley made it in Speedway racing, Archie Appleby and George Hodges in both Grass Tracks and Trials on sidecar outfits, and Ken Edwards in Trials.
In the following year, 1946, a total of three events were run at Pinns Farm with one including a relay race contested by teams of four riders from other clubs in the Southern Centre Auto Cycle Union. In this race each rider was required to cover four laps wearing a coloured sash or bib which had to be transferred by the team manager to the next rider in the team. This was the first in a series of relay races run by the Club over many of the following years. The races in the series were called The Eric Fernihough Team Relay Race , so named after the trophy used, which was presented to the Club by George Allen, a notable ACU personage in prewar and early postwar days.
In 1947 four events were run at Pinns Farm and three in 1948 and, although the circuit was popular with local riders, it did not attract the best riders of the day, they preferred the dry paths of Bagshot Heath to the mud and the not uncommon excursions into the river at Pinns Farm. Nevertheless Phil Nex from the Gosport club seemed to like the mud and often ran out the victor over spirited local opposition.
By 1949 the club had formed an association with the Bishops Waltham club called The Ashton Combine and were promoting grass track races on an excellent circuit which was available to them near a village called Ashton. A Scrambles circuit at Dundridge, another village near Bisops Waltham also became available and, between 1949 and 1955, nineteen events were held at the venue. The circuit started on a straight, dropping down into a small overgrown quarry, turning left going up a ridge through some trees, a short straight, then a left to drop down across tree roots and re-crossing the ridge twice before joining the start/finish straight. Some exciting racing was seen with Phil Nex being joined by Dennis Kelly, Eric Cheney, Bob Stillo and Wimpy Davis to name but a few.
1955 saw the end of the Ashton Combine and also saw the Club negotiating with Lord Montague of Beaulieu with a view promoting scrambles on a part of the Beaulieu Estate. The first event was held in September 1956 at Old Park and it was officially opened by Lord Montague (1925 Sunbeam), Alec Bennet (1912 AJS) and Graham Walker (1928 Rudge) riding abreast along the finishing straight.
The circuit was clockwise in direction, about a mile in length and included traversing two disused gravel pits and
bumpy stretches of heather and grass. It proved to be more bumpy than had been anticipated so improvements were made using a digger and openings into an adjacent field were madeand a high ramp constructed in it s centre. The circuit was used for 10 years and hosted a number of televised events with top riders like Don and brother Derek Rickman, Ivor England, Brian and TrissSharpe and sidecar exponent, Rufus Rose. In 1962, a series of seven meetings were run for ITV.
In January 1963, the Club brought the world Moto-Cross champions Rolf Tibblin and Torsten Hallman over from Sweden to provide opposition to the locals. The meeting was televised by the BBC on a day when most other sporting events had been cancelled as the country was in the grip of a severe winter with compacted and frozen snow lying on the ground. This of course, suited the Swedish lads who were able to show their considerable skills in what, for them, must have welcome conditions. Not only on their Husqvarnas either as, on their arrival, they did not require the assistance of the farm tractor to get in but just drove smoothly across the frozen entrance and field and calmly reversed their car/trailer outfit into their allocated space in the pits.
The last event was held at Beaulieu in February 1966. Some resentment to the disturbance of the Beaulieu Estate s pheasant stock had been building up for three or four years and eventually the pheasants won. While the Club was running what were considered prestige events at Beaulieu, non-expert riders had not been forgotten, meetings for them had been promoted at Pinns Farm, these had proved enjoyable and were appreciated by the riders, officials and the few spectators attending.
There followed a lean period of five years when no circuit was available to the Club and the Relay Race was promoted by the XHG Tigers club at Christchurch with our assistance. In 1971 we were able to obtain permission to run an event on War Department land at Bulford Army Camp and two more in each of the following two years until another piece of WD land, at an affordable price, became available nearby. This venue was at Chalk Pit Hill, Tidworth and the Club ran an average of two events each year until 1982. The circuit consisted of a start/finish straight, followed by a left turn up the steep face of the hillside, turning left down the steep descent then turning sharp right to repeat the up-down sequence three times before a long left to return to the finish. Most of these events were well supported by riders , one held in 1980 attracting no less than 167 solo machines and one in 1982 no less than 36 sidecar outfits.
In 1977, through a contact made with the Maltese Sports Minister who was visiting the UK, the Club was invited to send a team of six motocross riders to Malta to race against six of their best. The Club chose young riders; Chris Small, Nigel Parvin, Norman Emery, Steven Real, Pete Brading and Chris Jarvis. The races in Malta resulted in commanding wins by the Club s team. The return leg was run on an artificially contoured circuit in a rough grassed area behind the control tower at Thruxton Aerodrome when the Club s
team was again successful. Both legs were accompanied by a full social programme which combined to make the association both enjoyable and memorable.
A few summer evening events were held on the makeshift Thruxton scramble circuit but they were not well supported by the public and the course was dusty in the dry, clingy in the wet and, as it included no natural hazards or hills, further efforts were abandoned.
The Club has not run a Scramble or MotoCross event since 1982.