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    Frits Selling in an event in South of Holland. Photo taken in 1966.
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  • #2
    From the same area, but a year earlier, it's Bill Brooker on MEV 9C being followed by one of the BMWs.
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    • #3
      Originally posted by Brian Catt View Post
      From the same area, but a year earlier, it's Bill Brooker on MEV 9C being followed by one of the BMWs.
      Hah! I wouldn't fancy riding a heavy great BMW through that mud!
      Nice light Greeves is perfect. Great pics Brian.

      Cheers,
      Andrew

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      • #4
        Andy, pics are from a Dutch source, but I cannot be specific to the photographer. The BMW boys......were real men!!!!

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        • #5
          I dont think Brian was demeaning other riders by his remark, just that those BMW riders needed super strength & riding ability. The BMW's were basically modified road machines & with the low horizontal cylinders were certainly no advantage in deep glutinous mud like in the pic. Bill Brooker is struggling on his purpose built Greeves. I well remember Herbert Schek riding his BM in the 1975 ISDT in the IoM. A giant of a man & he needed to be. http://speedtracktales.com//?s=Herbert+Scheck&search=Go
          Last edited by John Wakefield; 08/10/2015, 11:32 PM.

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          • #6
            Reaction!

            Thank you for your comments John! I never realised that so few words would create such a response!
            As John posted, the BMWs of that era were thinly modified roadsters and weighed in at nearly twice the weight of a modified 250 scrambler. The ability and strength needed to get these beasts round any 6 Days course was beyond all but a few.
            In my travels, I supported our riders from the UK and as a gesture of respect, we helped the BMW riders by showing the lines through the bogs and hills that had been traversed by the rest of the field twice already. Although they were our "class competitors", we made sure that our Triumphs and their BMWs were offered every support at these difficult areas and have some photos to accompany that comment.
            The most memorable incident occurred while I was actually changing film in Spain in 1970. Kurt Tweesman arrived on the piste on the edge of an escarpment that we nicknamed the Devil's Staircase (for obvious reasons). He was closely supported by the Red Cross lads on their Bultacos, and the reason became obvious in that when he came to a hairpin bend, he had virtually no control and a conveniently placed Bultaco and rider stopped him from collapsing. This happened 3 times within my sight. The tactic obviously worked and all 3 BMWs finished the event intact.
            Nobody cared how much State finance was behind this team, they were real men on real bikes! I might add that allied to this incident, I was present when one of the British Army riders collapsed on top of us while at a check-point. We couldn't do much about the damaged shoulder he had sustained before riding on to this check, but super strength of will got him "home" to his supporters.

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