Bill Swallow had asked to have a race on my Scott. As most of you know, Bill’s father, Ken was a lifelong Scott enthusiast. He was in the famous “All Scott Race” at Cadwell in 1946. Bill had brought this bike along to show.
The meeting from our point of view, was a tribute event to the memory of Bill’s eldest son David who died so tragically earlier this year. Bill was riding with No 86 which was David’s riding number on David’s Ducati.
I put No 86 on the Scott, but on the reverse side of the boards was Paul Dobbs 186. It was my hope that the spirits of these two fine men would enjoy the ride! Bill had six races on the Scott and won all six and in one race where they were running two races together, the other group was the “Up to 1972 unlimited capacity Specials” These were big late bikes with lots of tuning allowed. The 72 class was let off first and had about 1/4 lap start before the “Up to 1948” Class was flagged off. Bill rode in his immaculately smooth manner and had almost caught the leader of the 72 class, despite the long staggered start handicap at the end. Bill won on David’s Ducati to the great satisfaction of the many close family and friends who had come.
The weather was not kind to us, but for six Scott wins, even a monsoon would not dampen our spirits. I had made a new strong crankcase for son Richard and his 1930 single downtube model behaved beautifully and really looks the part. It needs a better exhaust system to get more power, but that costs money and at least we finish the season with both bikes intact and ready to roll out next year. I am 70 on Feb first and intend to have a good season’s racing in 2011 as an act of defiance at the calendar. Kindest Regards to All Roger
