Witney biker and pensioner John Ansell tells how a dream came true when he found himself in the top three of a grand prix championship - at the tender age of 68 I AM 68 and dreams can come true. I do not feel 68, my inner self is still 29 and this year I am third in the North Gloucester Motor Cycle Racing Club's championship for 125cc Grand Prix machines.
I never thought that I would be in the first three in a championship again - it is the thing that dreams are made of and mine have been realised.
I have won two championships in my racing career, the Kent Combine 125cc championship at Brands Hatch in 1989 when I was 58 and the British Motor Cycle Racing Club's 125cc championship in 1994 when I was 63. There is no age grouping in Motor Cycle Road Racing and I was mostly competing against men in their twenties and these Grand Prix machines race up to speeds of 130mph.
I have competed in one or more championships every year since 1987 and have had five third placings, one second place and two championship wins and all at an age when most motor cycle racers have hung up their racing leathers and retired.
I started racing when I was 53 years old and I have had my share of wins and crashes, good fortune and bad luck. I have memories of sliding down the track and seeing my bike tumbling away, breaking bits off itself. Memories of fighting for the finishing line and winning, fighting and losing. A wonderful memory of being awarded the huge and prestigious Matchless Trophy and receiving it from the hands of John Surtees, who himself had won it three times.
Memories too of Geoff Duke (retired) removing his anorak just before a race and placing it over the radiator of my bike to warm it more quickly and memories of a charity meeting when World Champion Wayne Rainey was on the same programme as myself.
He was one of the guests of honour - I was a lowly competitor but he still found a moment to congratulate me on my third placing in the race I was competing in.
Memories, yes, but I will be trying again in next year's championship. I have won over 100 trophies for racing and hope next year that there will be some more. Dreams, perhaps, but I will try.
None of this would have been accomplished without the help of Janet, my wife. Janet backed me when I first said that I wanted to race. She learnt to be a pit mechanic, to change wheels at speed and all that needs to be done on race day. When Janet says, "All is well with the machine" then all is well. She is wonderful!
So it is together that we have achieved success.
This year we have taken up mountain biking together. So far I have competed in one mountain bike race, in which I broke my chain and which Janet and I mended in great haste, our experience of pit work coming in handy. I finished the race although I was the last to do so. I have also raced in three cyclo cross races and what wonderful racing it is too. I shall be out racing again next weekend.
Janet was never much of a bicycle rider, so she had a lot to learn and has spent over 70 hours so far developing her skills and is becoming quite proficient at off-road riding now. We may both be racing yet. Janet is a quiet achiever, she is a modest person in her own accomplishments.
Also this year we have gone back to motor cycle trials riding. Janet has returned to her newly fettled Yamaha Whitehawk and we have added a Gas Gas to our stable of machines. We still have the trials Triumph Cub for pre 65 trials. After a lay off of about 15 years, I managed a convincing class win at a local trial on the Gas Gas and was well chuffed with that. Many times I have been asked my age and, with a smile, I used to reply - 27 - but since I became an OAP I smile a little broader and say 29!
Story date: Wednesday 24 November
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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