Acclaimed Mike Scott completes his first DJ

This ardent Velocette enthusiast, who is the honorary secretary of the Velocette Owners’ Club of SA, rode a 500cc 1936 Velocette MSS and collected only 136 penalty points for late or early arrival at the many secret checkpoints en route from Hillcrest outside Durban, to Germiston.

Second overall was Mike Ward on a similar British machine, with 144 penalty points, while Martin Davis (1930 500cc Sunbeam 9) took the last step on the podium with 154 penalty points. His performance also completed a clean sweep of the first three places for the Vintage Motorcycle Club of Johannesburg.

Robertson has now won more DJs than any other rider, while the first three in the 2015 DJ Rally are all former winners of the famous event and ensured that it was ultra-competitive. This year less than five minutes separated first place and the 12th placed finisher, with the latter position being taken by last year’s winner, Allan Cunningham on yet another Velocette MSS.

The competitors had a very tough rally this year. They started from Hillcrest in drizzling rain which continued until Pietermaritzburg. The next day, riding the section from the overnight stop in Newcastle to the finish at the Classic Motorcycle Club’s clubhouse in Germiston, saw them encounter lots more rain. In addition, this year’s route included many sections where road-construction work was in process. This was particularly a problem on the section between Perdekop and Balfour.

The route totalled almost 650km, made up of 350km on the first day and 295km on the second. There were 68 finishers from an original field of 100 motorcycles, which was very good considering the age of
the motorcycles.

Unfortunately two of the riders were involved in collisions: Alan Crookes (1936 Ariel Red Hunter) collided with a bakkie in Newcastle due to a combination of rain and non-working traffic lights because of load-shedding, while Kevin Duncan of Cape Town, took a spill when his 1935 BSA W35 hit a big bump. Both riders sustained bruising, sprains and abrasions, but fortunately nothing was broken.
This year’s event celebrated 102 years since the staging of the first race for motorcycles on public roads from Durban to Johannesburg. Racing on public roads was banned after the 1936 race, so only pre-1937 machines are eligible for the commemorative DJ Rally, which is a regular event in various speed groups.

Dorian Radue, a former South African now living in Australia, once again took the honours for the best performance by a woman rider, on a Rudge. She placed an excellent 10th overall with 255 penalty points.
The other two women also finished, with Chantal Madgwick (1936 600cc Panther) taking 52nd spot and Samantha Anderson notching up another DJ finish on the oldest bike in the event, a 1909 Humber pedal cycle with a 500cc engine that often needed help from the pedals, particularly on the climbs out of Durban.

Internationally acclaimed motorcycle journalist, Mike Scott was very pleased at finishing the DJ Rally in his first attempt. Riding a 1936 BMW 12 which belongs to Simon Fourie, the editor of Bike SA, Scott had to contend with a few mechanical gremlins, such as a flooding carburettor, but still finished 51st, which was an improvement on 59th at the restart in Newcastle.