Grasby National 83, thanks to Tommy

[paulgray]

Grasby National 9th April 1983 (Edit - This was a Saturday, I think the Rufforth indoor race might have been the following day).

For more North East tracks see BigPlinkys thread here -> http://www.radbmx.co.uk/forum/index.php'topic=72968.0

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=grasby&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=9.534513,18.742676&ie=UTF8&ll=53.531086,-0.358145&spn=0.00117,0.002288&t=h&z=19

Keith Thompson (Taking his first national win  )


Big Tim




John Lee


(The two Mongoose riders watching John Lee are Steve and Paul Robinson from Guisborough)



Pete Middleton ?


Jamie Vince ?


Sidehacks



More to come ...

[paulgray]

These pictures are from a regional before the track was improved for the national, so they are late 82 or early 83.





Leader is (unknown), on the jump is Danny Trowsdale? (light blue lid, NE1),  Andrew Ramsey (from Guisborough), Paul Gray (me, black lid)

[DR VINOAH]

ace pix
im sure an action bike features this national
cant recall which issue
but its the john lee getting air that rings the bells

[keiththompson]

ace pix
im sure an action bike features this national
cant recall which issue
but its the john lee getting air that rings the bells

The 1st pic of "Big Tim" was in BMX Action bike, you can see (sure his name is Smith from guisborough, brother of Rob Smith) on the floor in the cammy jacket taking the photo. Ill have to see if I can find it.

[tony williams]

paul did u race novice that day and win ??
im sure i raced there 1st national was on holiday and come 2nd and im sure u was 1st or maybe not was a long time ago

[paulgray]

paul did u race novice that day and win ??
im sure i raced there 1st national was on holiday and come 2nd and im sure u was 1st or maybe not was a long time ago

Hi Tony, you're testing my memory but I think you're right. It was the first time I'd raced at a national and I decided to ride novice class (15 year old?). I remember Jack Galloway (Dan's dad) took us (Me and Keith) to the race and said we should race expert but we bottled it  . Pretty sure I won and so did Keith, he still brags about his national win to this day . That was the last time we raced at Grasby, I don't know how long the track lasted for after that. I have a feeling that there are some more photo's of me at that race meeting but I don't know if they were mine and I lost them or if someone else maybe Jack has them, will have to search for them, you might be on there too.

[Brandy Truffle]

I was there that day, remember John Lee bailed jumping and looking like he was running in mid-air 

Great Pics!! 

[se]

Steve I am pretty sure it was ABMX 8.

[tony williams]

paul i seem to have a good memory for strange things but u told me u raced novice because u didnt fancy the pro section mind u i was the same was not a bad in its day

[paulgray]

paul i seem to have a good memory for strange things but u told me u raced novice because u didnt fancy the pro section mind u i was the same was not a bad in its day

Wow you must have a good memory, mines full of holes. I probably was a bit intimidated by the pro section, I've never been a natural jumper, always had to work at it and that jump was bigger than anything I'd ever seen back then. Don't know about you but all the top riders like Terry Loyd and Nikki Mathews etc with their flash race suits and 'factory' bikes made me feel out of my depth   Damn it Tony we should have raced with the big boys that day, we might have upset the apple cart and got a photo in BMX Action Bike

Did you race against me often? My club went NBMXA so that's what I rode mostly up north, but I did get down to Hounslow and Slough and others when I got the chance. Never made it to Hersden as far as I can recall    I guess that was your home track ?

[tony williams]

hi paul
my home tracks were folkestone and herne bay but done nationals for about 4 yrs later on im sure we did cross bars back then i spent most of my regional club stuff racing charlie reynolds had the better of him at regionals but he just seem to do well at nationals where i seem to get hard motos or fall in a semi ect did get 6th at brits once and later on uk2 on criuser in 18x24 but had a great time like everyone else BMX is in my blood and made my return this week after 20 odd years .
you still racing paul up there in the north and did u once work for hot shot

[paulgray]

hi paul
my home tracks were folkestone and herne bay but done nationals for about 4 yrs later on im sure we did cross bars back then i spent most of my regional club stuff racing charlie reynolds had the better of him at regionals but he just seem to do well at nationals where i seem to get hard motos or fall in a semi ect did get 6th at brits once and later on uk2 on criuser in 18x24 but had a great time like everyone else BMX is in my blood and made my return this week after 20 odd years .
you still racing paul up there in the north and did u once work for hot shot

Firstly, congrats on the comeback  , havin fun's what it's all about but I bet it still feels serious when you're up on the gate yea?  . Don't think I ever made it to your corner of the woods but I remember Charlie as a quality rider, you had be be fast to beat him. Have you posted any photos from back then ? so I can look and see if I can remember you?

The last time I raced was in 89 at Chesterfield, I never thought that would be my last race but I felt I needed a break. I was still riding at Ayton Quarry a few years later but was having a lot of trouble with a niggling back problem and by then the sport appeared to be dead, plus I was gettin into road bikes (the roads are great around here) and I've spent the last fifteen years havin a brilliant time blasting ... err ... riding sensibly (honest ) around the north of England. 

I never worked for Hotshot but they were the only company that ever supported my BMX racing. I had an amazing time with them when they took me to race in Las Vegas, and I rode for them in SuperClass at the second Kelloggs series. When I turned Pro I rode BOSS and GT for them. Nice people, thanks for the help Les, Jane and Steve    

My current situation is that I've had to stop riding Motorcycles due to a chronic medical problem which I've had for 20 years but has worsened over the last twelve months  . The good news is that I don't feel or look ill and I can still dig jumps but I have to be careful not to injure myself which means I can't ride Motorbikes or BMX at the moment, however if/when things improve I might be tempted to give it a go, just for fun like 

I might try and get to MK09 to see some old faces.

How was your comeback?

[sweetbeats]

 

Quality pics...proper retro 

[paulgray]

I found another old photo album today and it had this inside. It had the date 3rd April 83 written on the back so not sure if it's from the Regional or the National.

Paul Gray (me) leading, Andrew Ramsey in the middle.



... and another, it must be from the national as the big jump is there.

[keiththompson]

Paul... from the back of my mind I think Jack took those pics and the 1st one with me, then gave em to us.
We will have to ask him or Dan if he has any others. He must have took some of Dan at Grasby as well. Lets hope he still has em.

[paulgray]

ace pix
im sure an action bike features this national
cant recall which issue
but its the john lee getting air that rings the bells

The 1st pic of "Big Tim" was in BMX Action bike, you can see (sure his name is Smith from guisborough, brother of Rob Smith) on the floor in the cammy jacket taking the photo. Ill have to see if I can find it.

His name is Ian Smith, I found it written on the back of one of my photos. Good to tie this loose ends up 

[keiththompson]

ace pix
im sure an action bike features this national
cant recall which issue
but its the john lee getting air that rings the bells

The 1st pic of "Big Tim" was in BMX Action bike, you can see (sure his name is Smith from guisborough, brother of Rob Smith) on the floor in the cammy jacket taking the photo. Ill have to see if I can find it.

His name is Ian Smith, I found it written on the back of one of my photos. Good to tie this loose ends up 

[/quote]

The same gadgey who took the photos of us up the quarry in the Diamond back gear (Never ever seen those pics, but I remember turning up for an evening meeting at margrove and some of the kids came up to me and said they had seen em and were brilliant, and asking me to do some jumps at the track. But it wasnt possible without the famous parachute jump).

[QUADROPHENIA]

in the first photo is that chris young in the skyway top ?

[paulgray]

The same gadgey who took the photos of us up the quarry in the Diamond back gear (Never ever seen those pics, but I remember turning up for an evening meeting at margrove and some of the kids came up to me and said they had seen em and were brilliant, and asking me to do some jumps at the track. But it wasnt possible without the famous parachute jump).

Yea you seen em, they're near the start of the Ayton Quarry thread, or are there more I don't know about?

[paulgray]

in the first photo is that chris young in the skyway top ?

Sorry bud, I can't help you with that one. I wonder who the sidehack riders are ?

[keiththompson]

The same gadgey who took the photos of us up the quarry in the Diamond back gear (Never ever seen those pics, but I remember turning up for an evening meeting at margrove and some of the kids came up to me and said they had seen em and were brilliant, and asking me to do some jumps at the track. But it wasnt possible without the famous parachute jump).

Yea you seen em, they're near the start of the Ayton Quarry thread, or are there more I don't know about?

Yeah I seen them, but he took loads of pics. I remember him turning up one day with his camera out the blue and took loads of us in jeans etc and he was impressed and came back the next day with the helmets and gear and told us he would send the pics to BMX action bike. I cant remember how we came to have those few pics though, didnt we take em?