From one of the best Motocross riders of the 60's


"For the first time I was selected for the Motocross des Nations as
part of a four-member British team. Harold Taylor, the one-legged
disciplinarian who we knew as "The Colonel," was our team manager.
My teammates were Les Archer with his camshaft Norton, Geoff Ward on
the AJS and Brian Stonebridge, like myself, on a Gold Star. Before the
race we all agreed to share any prize money we might win. At first only
Harold Taylor was at the signaling point. Stonebridge led, I was in
second, everything looked perfect and the signal was to "hold
position." This meant we must be winning! Suddenly Les Archer was
standing next to Taylor, waving us on. The next lap Stonebridge pulled
off into the pits and I was now leading by 43 seconds from Sweden's
Bill Nilsson, who was also riding a Gold Star. Next time round all of
the rest of the British team were standing with the Colonel, waving me
on like mad. By the finish I had increased my lead on Bill to over a
minute. But the Swedish team had won. This was the exact opposite of
what had happened the previous year when Nilsson was the individual
winner but the British team had won. Nevertheless, my teammates were
overjoyed at my finish. First-place money meant we would have a party
after all! My interests turned more and more to motocross and Gold
Stars carried me to many successes throughout the 1950s. By 1960 the
writing was on the wall for the Gold Star despite its spectacular
performance, and the BSA Competition Department began the process of
transition to smaller, lighter power units with integral gearboxes. The
transition perhaps took three years, at the end of which the lighter,
less powerful, but more nimble, B40 derivatives had extinguished the
Gold Star. The two-stroke was also rearing its head as the major threat
it would eventually become. I used the B40, 420 and 440 during the
mid-'60s, when BSA for a time dominated the world motocross scene. In
1962 Gold Star production slumped to six units a week and then was
closed down. The great era of the multi-purpose motorcycle had end and
specialization in every branch of the sport became the norm."

Guess it was another typo huh Robert? you Bonehead!

Joe