1952 Clubman Junior TT

Course name: Mountain (post 1914)

Course length: 150.92 miles (4 laps)

Description: Race report from the Isle of Man Times 14 Jun 1952 (p.10) below which is a full list of competitors:

Magnificent Win for Houseley
Record Lap Makes McIntyre Runner-Up

23-year-old E. Houseley (B.S.A.), member of the Chesterfield Club, of Clay Cross, won the Clubman’s Junior T.T. over four circuits of the T.T. Course on Monday afternoon in the record time of 1 hr. 54 mins. 45.2 secs., an average speed of 78.92 m.p.h.

His runner-up was R. McIntyre, of Scotstoun, Glasgow, who, with a shattering record last lap of 28 mins, 16.4 secs., drove his B.S.A. into second place, thus wresting that honoured position from K.R.V. James (Norton), the intrepid competitor from Parkstone, Dorset, who had been looked upon almost as a “cert” for runner-up. Instead he took third place.

There were no accidents, but there were plenty of thrills as rider after rider lowered the previous record lap (29 mins. 35 secs.).

The record lap, put up in 1951 by K.R.V. James, was 29 min, 35 secs. Take Houseley’s performance for a start. He broke that record on every lap. His first time was 28 min. 38 secs., his second, 28 min. 41 secs.; his third, 28 min. 29 secs., and his last, 28 min. 44 1-5th secs.

Take James. His first lap was accomplished in 28 min. 53 secs.; his second in 28 min. 40 secs.; his third in 29 min. 18 secs; and his final in 28 min. 33 1-5th secs.

Take McIntyre. His first lap was completed in 28 mins. 50 secs.; his second in 28 mins. 55 secs.; his third in 29 min. 16 secs. And then came his astonishing effort to gain second place (which he did) by putting up a record lap for the race of 28 mins. 16.4 secs., an average speed of 80.09 m.p.h.

At the start of the fourth circuit, McIntyre was 10 secs. behind James, and he must have known it. He put “all his skates on” to make up the leeway, and he managed it.

The three first men were not the only competitors to lower last year’s record. D.T. Powell (B.S.A.) did it for three laps, too. His first circuit was completed in 29 mins. 18 secs., his second in 28 mins. 56 secs., and his third in 29 mins. 16 secs.; whilst he was 29 mins. 51 secs. on his fourth lap, and eventually gained fifth place.

C.E. Stacey, from Shrewsbury (another B.S.A.-ite), who was not on the leader board on laps one and two, crept into the picture on the third lap and completed the circuit in 29 mins., bettering that performance by almost 15 secs. on his last lap.

HOUSELEY’S ONE SECOND LEAD
The race was indeed a close one. With half the distance gone, only one second divided Houseley and James for first place. Houseley was leading, it is true, but only by one slender second. James went after him for all he was worth, in an effort – vain as it turned out – to wrest the lead, but by the end of the third circuit, Houseley was streaking away from him. He had an advantage of 50 secs., and McIntyre was chasing James just as hard as James ever chased Houseley, because, on the last lap, McIntyre turned his time lag of 10 secs. into an advantage of seven seconds, by which margin he won his position as runner-up.

D. Ennett, of Castletown, had extremely bad luck. First two laps saw him on the leader board, first as fifth man (with a lap of 29.22) and the second as sixth man (with a lap of 29.9). On the third lap he still maintained his sixth place with a lap of 29.44, and then at Crosby he had to pack up with engine trouble, and H. Plews, of Wakefield, came into the picture to stay there until the finish.

The other two Manxmen in the race were J.W. Moore (B.S.A.), who did not finish, and 19-year-old Gwillym Owen (Matchless), who rode his machine into 52nd place (average speed 69.45 m.p.h). Considering this was Owen’s first major race, it was an excellent performance. The fourth Manx entrant, R. Capner (B.S.A.), was a non-starter.

Interesting story of the race was that a father and son rode. Father was F. Nowell, of Preston, who is 53 years old, and his son was H. Nowell (Mr Nowell’s other two sons were acting as pit attendants for him and his racing son). Neither finished.

Competitors

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