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Wednesday 3rd to
Thursday 4th - Jerry Wood’s and beyond
The auction, the
Banquet and beyond!
For the next two days we’re displaying
our bikes at Jerry Wood’s auction in DeLand but the high point is
the evening banquet we’re holding in honour of the 1954 BSA riders.
Although we started selling these in advance of the event, sales
were slow and we worried that we might have a hall full of riders to
celebrate, but no-on to do the celebrating. In the event we needn't
have worried - it was as sell-out with people turned away at the door.
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"It
was a nice ride..." said Bobby |
Jerry Wood, whose auctioneering
experience makes him accustomed to public speaking had agreed to be
our MC for the night. First up is BSA scrambling legend Jeff Smith,
one of our guests of honour. He delivers a talk full of anecdotes
from BSA during the golden period of the 50's and 60's. His stories
are peppered with thumbnail sketches of some of the more
idiosyncratic employees at Small Heath.
More often than not these individuals
were 'gaffers' and more often than not are referred-to using 'pet'
names that they might not have been pleased to hear! Jeff is very
good at this kind of talking and clearly enjoying himself, as is the
audience.
After Jeff it's time for the '54 riders
to take the stage. To laughter Bobby Hill describes
his win in 1954 as “ a nice ride” and how unbelievable all this
attention is 50 years after the event.
Dick Klamfoth responds by telling us
that while for years he had let Bobby tell people that Dick had let
him, but tonight he would reveal after 50 years that in fact, Bobby
had just plain beaten him!
Tom McDermott takes the stand next and
expresses his surprise and gratitude at all the attention the bikes
and riders were getting 50 years after the event. He also mentions the
’54 BSA riders who couldn't be with us tonight – Al Gunter and “My good buddy
Warren Sherwood” who had both passed away years earlier.
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Worried about attendance...? we shouldn't have been! |
Like Bobby Hill, Tom McDermott is a
little overwhelmed by
it all and clearly moved, cuts short his
speech and sits down to great applause.
The night continues in the same way with
the other riders standing to tremendous applause. Then Jerry
introduces the special guests and includes to my great delight Colin
Washbourne, who as an apprentice at BSA in 1954 was part of the team
who built the twin that Bobby Hill rode to victory. Colin had helped
us in the research phase of the project and we were delighted when
he said he was coming to Daytona for the event.
To have one of the people who built the
bikes meet the men who rode the bikes seemed like a great way to tie
two ends of the Daytona story together and was another example of
Project Daytona's ability to bring together people who had a shared
history but who had never met.
And after the guest stars it was the
turn of the Project Daytona team - Myles Raymond, Don Bradley,
Harris Turner, Bob Birdsall and John Lodgson - to stand and accept
applause from everyone. For me, a fully paid-up BSA nut just
being in the company of people like Hill, Klamfoth, McDermott,
Eggers and Thiessen was life about as good as it can get. But to
receive applause from them.... !
After the speeches are over the it's
'meet the riders' time and they are crowded with people asking
questions and getting autographs on anything that stays still long
enough to sign.
I stand back and look at the smiles on
peoples' faces. After 4 years planning, researching, finding parts,
making parts, building the bikes, doing the website and organising
the 50th events I certainly feel a sense of great achievement. And tonight the riders realised,
if they were ever uncertain that Project
Daytona was as much about them as the bikes - after 50
years, this was
their night.
What Happened Next
- Cycle World Beach Photo Shoot.
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