On the ball
By: Web Editor
The article in October’s OBM about moto-ball brought back memories of my mother and I sat in the streamline Canterbury Adult sidecar attached to my father’s 500 Ariel twin, behind which was a trailer with his moto-ball bike. He was in the Basingstoke MCC who actually played Border who were mentioned in your article.
I enclose a Basingstoke MCC review of 1964 which includes an article about moto-ball. You may also find the sprinting article of interest as it was written by club member Denis Jenkinson who was one of Eric Oliver’s road racing chair passengers and was Stirling Moss’s navigator when he won the Mille Miglia car race.
My father Ken is in two of the pictures on the cover, the trials James which started life as a J9 rigid but by 1964 had acquired a K7T swinging arm frame and he is in the background of the moto-ball picture, which looking at the bandstand looks like a Basingstoke Carnival Match, on his sv 250 BSA wearing a bright yellow crash helmet (thank goodness for black and white pictures).
I also enclose the 1963 fixture list of the British Moto-Ball Association which surprisingly lists matches in Belgium and Germany – now that would have made the Ariel work.
Doug Hopkins
Hampshire
Doug, thanks for the information, I’ve received quite a bit of moto-ball stuff since the feature in OBM, including the assurance moto-ball is still played. TB
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