MGP & Classic TT 2026 - 50th Anniversary 1976 10 Lap Production Race

Andy J

Andy J

Hero member
Location
Isle of Man
If any Laverda owner is visiting the IOM for the MGP/Classic TT and wants to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ray Knight and Mick Hunt finishing 3rd in class on Roger Slaters 3CE in the 10 Lap Production Race then come along to Jurby Day on 23rd August where I will have a small Laverda Display and will be 'parading' a couple of Laverdas.
Depending on the weather/race day changes/people crashing and closing the course I'm also planning a celebratory lap of the whole course on Tuesday 25 August. If you want to be involved let me know so I can keep you informed of timings etc.
 
Owing to the dire weather forecast for the end of the week the racing has been rescheduled over the next few days which means tomorrow’s event has been postponed. I will decide nearer them time whether (no pun intended) the event will go ahead. The same goes for the planned lap of the course on Tuesday. ☹️
 
As mentioned above the planned events didn't come to fruition thanks to the rescheduling of racing and Jurby Day. However, I went along to Sandygate with my Viking chums to find out how Ray's getting on.
Unfortunately, following his wife Yvonne needing an emergency fitting of a pacemaker - and it really was an emergency, a routine scan was stopped mid scan and she was rushed to the airport and flown straight to Liverpool for it to be fitted that day - meant Ray was packed off to hospital for a short stay whilst Yvonne was taken care of. An assessment was made whilst he was there and it was decided he would be better off being cared for in a home as he has developed dementia and needs to be looked after 24 hours a day. He has good days and not so good days in terms of recall and conversation and Yvonne said on her most recent visit he was going on about his Laverda experiences - top man!
Although I didn't manage to arrange a Laverda ride out around the course to mark Ray and Mick's achievement 50 years ago, I reckon Stuart Metcalfe probably did the equivalent of 10 laps on his Jota during his trip to the island for the MGP/Classic TT. For those that don't know, Stuart's bike was the last bike Keith Nairn worked on before he passed away, so Stuart was giving the bike some welly over the mountain as a tribute to Keith. By extension, it was also a fitting tribute to Ray and Mick's exploits in 1976.
I've attached a couple of the posters I prepared for the event at Jurby but which didn't get an airing.
 

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Andy J said:
As mentioned above the planned events didn't come to fruition thanks to the rescheduling of racing and Jurby Day. However, I went along to Sandygate with my Viking chums to find out how Ray's getting on.
Unfortunately, following his wife Yvonne needing an emergency fitting of a pacemaker - and it really was an emergency, a routine scan was stopped mid scan and she was rushed to the airport and flown straight to Liverpool for it to be fitted that day - meant Ray was packed off to hospital for a short stay whilst Yvonne was taken care of. An assessment was made whilst he was there and it was decided he would be better off being cared for in a home as he has developed dementia and needs to be looked after 24 hours a day. He has good days and not so good days in terms of recall and conversation and Yvonne said on her most recent visit he was going on about his Laverda experiences - top man!
Although I didn't manage to arrange a Laverda ride out around the course to mark Ray and Mick's achievement 50 years ago, I reckon Stuart Metcalfe probably did the equivalent of 10 laps on his Jota during his trip to the island for the MGP/Classic TT. For those that don't know, Stuart's bike was the last bike Keith Nairn worked on before he passed away, so Stuart was giving the bike some welly over the mountain as a tribute to Keith. By extension, it was also a fitting tribute to Ray and Mick's exploits in 1976.
I've attached a couple of the posters I prepared for the event at Jurby but which didn't get an airing.
Click to expand...

For us active riders in Germany in 1976 we celebrated the victory of Helmut Dähne and Hans Butenuth on the BMW. 😉
 
piranha-bro2 said:
I hope Ray and Yvonne both get the care they need. That's a class shot of Mick grinding the 3CE - and a nice hole in the alternator cover!
Click to expand...
I’m sure they are, Yvonne is back home and I’d doing remarkably well looking after herself. She’s a pretty tough cookie.
As for the Mick Hunt photo, that’s him on his Jota as I still haven’t been able to locate a photo of Mick on Roger’s bike at the TT in ‘76.
 
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