Faithful old motorcycles finish 2020 DJ Run

STEPHEN Knight finished the 50th commemorative Durban-Johannesburg (DJ) regularity trial for classic motorcycles on his 1934 Levis 500cc with a total error of 519 seconds, the lowest time penalty amongst the Natal Classic Motorcycle Club’s 2020 DJ participants, placing him 14th overall.

Stephen got caught in a thunder and hailstorm around Umlaas Road, near Camperdown, and at the same time his clutch cable broke. “I managed to ride to the finish, but riding with a broken clutch cable was not easy and cost me valuable points as I was not able to rally properly from then on. But otherwise my DJ went well,” he told Autodealer.

This was Stephen’s fourth DJ, competing the previous runs also on his rare Levis, which is only one of 15 running in the world and the only known one to be running in South Africa. Levis motorcycles were manufactured from 1911 to 1940 by the Butterfields and Daisy was one of the siblings, who Stephen has named his motorcycle after. The 86-year-old motorcycle has always been registered and on the road since leaving the factory in April 1934, and interestingly Levis is a Latin abbreviation for levis et celer, meaning – light and fast.

Of the 107 DJ entries, 97 motorcycles started from the Heidelberg Museum on Friday, 13 March, and 73 were welcomed home the following day by a good turnout of spectators and supporters waiting for them at the Shongweni Club. The ‘youngest’ competing motorcycle was 84 years old and the oldest was 108, but sadly the 1918 Harley-Davidson, entered by Durban’s motorcyclists Samantha Anderson, had to retire close to the final control in Hillcrest with a lack of spark for the 1,000cc V-twin engine. Sam was one of three women riders this year, with Bev Jacobs finishing first, and 46th overall, on her 1935 Triumph.

Peter Gillespie’s centenarian ABC Sopwith was thus the oldest motorcycle to finish the 2020 DJ Run. Gillespie, a real fan of this little-known British motorcycle brand, which only produced motorcycles from 1914 – 1923, restored his 1920 machine himself using many specially made parts. He finished a creditable 52nd. The oldest and youngest finishers on the 2020 DJ Run were Neville Smith (84) and Darryn Binder (23).

Out of the 18 entries from the Natal Classic Motorcycle Club (NCMC), 17 started in Johannesburg and 12 motorcyclists made it back home, including the club’s novices Hennie de Jager on a 1935 Triumph and Trevor Davids on a 1930 BSA Sloper. Billy Thomas finished 33rd overall on a 1929 AJS M8 and had the second lowest penalty score of 1,333 among the NCMC riders, followed by Derek Pirie (1,561) finishing 35th overall on a 1922 BSA H2 and winning the Forte Velvet Trophy in the Best Performance up to and including 31 December 1925, in Class D over 500cc.

The overall winner of this year’s DJ was Mark Broady (43), a mechanical engineer living in Randburg who surprised many experienced DJ motorcyclists when he won. He accumulated an error of only 146 seconds at the time check points on the 596km route. Mark, who had the second best score on Day 1 (behind three-time winner Gavin Walton) and best score on Day 2, is a lifelong motorcyclists, both as a commuter and competitor in all forms of two-wheel motorsport.

This was only Mark’s third DJ Run, having finished 40th in 2018 and 6th last year. The 1935 Velocette MAC he rode is the same motorcycle on which his father, Barry, had been running a close second in the inaugural commemorative DJ Rally in 1970, when a timing gear stripped and he had to retire about 20km from the finish at City Deep in Johannesburg. Barry Broady was also well known for winning the inaugural Roof of Africa in 1969 and following up with another win in 1970, both times riding a Honda. His son, Mark, is now restoring the Honda he rode in 1972.

Second overall this year was Ralph Pitchford on a 1936 BSA Blue Star with an error of 173 seconds. Pitchford, an experienced off-road racer and Dakar competitor, is a preparer of immaculate motorcycles and won the DJ in 2016. Third place was filled by Keegan Ward (32), and is another rider with fairly limited experience in regularity rallying on a motorcycle. His error was 188 seconds.

A keen motorcyclist his whole life and son of Mike Ward, a regular DJ Run participant and winner of the 2004 event, Keegan has competed in only four DJ rallies, with the last time being 2018 when he finished 15th. He did much of the work restoring his 1936 Norton himself and says his rally navigating skills have benefited not only from advice from his father, Mike, but also from two other experienced rallyists, Stuart Cunninghame, and Martin Davis.

The Binder family trio of father, Trevor, and his famous road racing sons, Brad and Darryn, all qualified as finishers. Darryn (23) fared best, placing 43rd on a 1928 BMW R52, and collecting the award for the youngest rider to finish the event. He had previously ridden the DJ on a 98cc Francis Barnett when he was 16 and not permitted to ride a larger capacity motorcycle. He was forced to retire after a number of punctures on that occasion.

His brother, former Moto3 world champion and now a KTM rider in MotoGP, Brad, finished 54th on a 1935 Sunbeam. He had problems with a broken rear mudguard bracket which required lots of cable ties to try and secure it. He also had a bolt come loose in the clutch assembly. However, the big thing is that he finished, as did his father, Trevor, who came 44th on his 1925 Indian Scout.

The results on the DJ Run are calculated on arrival times at various checkpoints on the route and the riders try to stick as closely as possible to the set speeds, which they choose to run in from three speed groups: 50, 60 or 70km/h. The arrival times at checkpoints are logged electronically by an instrument carried by the rider, and downloaded at the end of each day. The rider with the lowest time penalty is the winner.

According to the Clerk of the Course Larina MacGregor, this year’s event was certainly not easy for the big field with motorcyclists being in the saddle for almost 11 hours on the second day. “Although the weather played along on day one and most of day two, the exception was a heavy squall of rain and hail which passed over the route on Saturday afternoon and affected the performance of several competitors, including drowning the electrics of some of the motorcycles. The secondary roads that made up most of the route were also rutted and potholed, while the many speed humps also put a heavy strain on the riders and their machines,” said Larina.

Overall results
1. Mark Broady (1935 Velocette MAC), 146 penalty points
2. Ralph Pitchford (1933 BSA Blue Star), 173
3. Keegan Ward (1936 Norton Model 18), 188
4. Gavin Walton (1936 AJS 9), 206
5, Kevin Walton (1931 BSA Sloper), 219
6. Martin Davis (1930 Sunbeam 9), 228
7. Allan Cunningham (1936 Velocette MSS), 237
8. JC van Rooyen (1936 Ariel NH 350), 255
9. Adrian and Gerald Hollis (1935 Sunbeam Lion sidecar combination), 257)
10. Mike Ward (1936 Velocette MSS), 259

Special awards:
Best performance by a woman rider – Bev Jacobs (1935 Triumph 21)
Best performance by a first time rider: Kevin Kohler (1934 Triumph 350)
Lowest score on Day 1 – Gavin Walton (1936 AJS 9)
Lowest score on Day 2 – Mark Broady (1935 Velocette MAC)
Oldest motorcycle to complete the course – 1920 ABC Sopwith ridden by Peter Gillespie
Oldest rider to complete the course – Neville Smith (1936 Ariel Red Hunter) who is 84
Youngest ride to complete the course – Darry Binder (1928 BMW R52) who is 23
Nominated team – Team Prado (Martin Davis, Keegan Ward and Mike Ward); Club team – Vintage Motorcycle Club (Mark Broady, Ralph Pitchford and Keegan Ward)
Most DJ Runs completed – Kevin Robertson (28 out of 30)

How the motorcyclists of the Natal Classic Motorcycle Club fared in the DJ Run 2020
1. Stephen Knight (1934 Levis D34) 519 penalty points
2. Billy Thomas (1929 AJS M8) 1,333
3. Derek Pirie (1922 BSA H2) 1,561
4. Hans Coertse (1921 Harley-Davidson R1000) 1,840
5. Dennis Pullen (1920 Sunbeam 8HP) 1,928
6. Hennie De Jager (1935 Triumph 3.1) 2,590
7. Trevor Davids (1930 BSA Sloper) 3199
8. Robert Thompson (1936 Royal Enfield J500) 3,292
9. Robin McDonald (1934 BSA Bluestar) 3,596
10. Raymond Meyer (1934 BMW R11) 5,099
11. Grant Vacy-Lyle (1931 Ariel SF31) 7,617
12. Terrence Chesterton (1935 BSA B35-2) 9,480
Non-finishers
Samantha Andrson ( 1918 Harley-Davidson 1000V Twin)
Hank Raatgever (1929 AJS M8)
Jayson Anderson (1929 AJS M6)
Rodwyn Thomas (1928 OK Supreme SV)
Douglas Watson (1935 Sunbeam Lion)
Andrew Mather (NS) (1933 OK Supreme GS33)