SuperBike Magazine July 2020

The year had much to commend it, Luton ace
Phil Read became the second rider to do the double
and there was the one and only appearance of
another legendary rider – John Hartle.
The Junior race provided its own bit of history as
Alan Shepherd and Phil Read crossed the finishing
line together. The pair had kept close company
throughout, Shepherd breaking Chadwick’s
long-standing class record sixth time round, only
to see Read reduce the time still further on the
final lap. By mistake no official was on the line
to see the riders finish and a judge’s decision
declared a dead heat verdict, which proved to be
slightly unpopular with spectators on the grandstand,
many of whom had their own opinion as to
who had won.
The previous year’s victor Ron Langston was
first away and led until lap three when Read and
Shepherd took over and he had to content himself
with third ahead of Dennis Pratt and Fred Stevens
on Norton’s.
Once again, the Island’s Governor set the 45
riders off at the start of the Senior race, with Alan
Shepherd leading Langston and Read clear of the
field.
By the end of lap three Shepherd had put
some space between himself and Read, who
had displaced Langston for second. Shepherd
smashed the lap record with a time of 2 minutes
55.8 seconds, 2 mph inside the old time, but failed
to appear at the end of lap four. As Read confirmed
his lead, news came through that Shepherd had
braked too hard at Cross Four Ways, locked the
rear wheel and been thrown off. Read maintained
his advantage to the end, Langston too finishing
well clear of Fred Stevens and Norman Storer.
A devastating display of high-speed riding gave
John Hartle and his Honda-4 a predictable victory
in the 250 race. His ride, however, was not without
incident as 30 riders had got away before the red
and silver machine burst into life. At the end of lap
one Hartle was third behind Arthur Wheeler and
Brian Clark. On lap three, the former TT winner was
ahead and on lap four he smashed the lap record
by 14 seconds. When on lap six the Honda began
firing on three cylinders his lead was such that
Wheeler on his Italian Guzzi and Dan Shorey, now
third on his NSU, could not overhaul him.
1961 - John Hartle on the 250cc ‘works’
Honda 4-cylinder machine
1969 - Charlie Freeman
1962: Sidecars enter the Southern
The first Sidecar race in the Southern ‘100’ turned
out to be an exciting affair with Charlie Freeman
and Fred Wallis disputing the lead to the very
end of the nine lap race, Freeman took the lead
on lap six and held it despite a neck and neck bid
from Wallis to regain it. E Peacock finished third,
two and a half minutes in arrears, having taken
over the position from Stan Nightingale who had
crashed without injury.
1968: Championship introduced
1968 saw the introduction of what is now the
premier race of the meeting, the Solo Championship,
for which at the time, the first 15 riders from
the three races held on the Wednesday evening