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1952 Clubman Senior 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:
1952 Clubman Senior TT
Hargreaves Triumphs on a Triumph
EXCITING AND THRILLING CLUBMAN’S SENIOR T.T.
60 Men Finish the Distance; One Accident

The Clubman’s Senior T.T. (run over four circuits of the T.T. Course on Wednesday) must surely rank as one of the most exciting events in its history.
B. J. Hargreaves astride a Triumph led from the first (and incidentally put up the fastest lap of the day in his first circuit, 27 mins. 16 secs., average speed 83.05 m.p.h. from a standing start), and ultimately finished the distance in 1hr.49 mins. 50 secs., an average speed of 82.45 m.p.h., ahead of Ken James (Norton), his runner-up, by 38.6 secs., whilst four seconds behind James came J.R. Clark with an average speed of 81.92 m.p.h. for third place.
The excitement of this race arose from the fact that seconds only separated the leading men, and Clark and Farrant stuck to each other “closer than brothers”; to such an extent, in fact, that spectators would not have been in the least surprised if their performances had resulted in a tie. However, as it turned out, Clark was able to get the extra “horse” out of his engine, and pulled away to romp home as third man.
The struggle between these two drivers started as they went away from the starting squares (in the Clubman’s Senior the competitors were despatched in groups of threes), so Nos.4 (Housleey), 5 (Farrant) and 6 (Clark) started together.
It was not to be Housley’s lucky day – he won the Clubman’s Junior on Monday afternoon, and race crowds had thought perhaps he would done a “Duke” act on Wednesday by pulling off a double, but it was not to be.
At the end of the first lap he retired at the Start with a broken oil pipe. At Handley’s Corner, the footrests of the machines of Housley and Clark were locked together for 40 yards. The drivers stuck on their mounts, and eventually the footrests were released.
To revert to Clark and Farrant, though. They both went past the Start with one lap completed almost wheel to wheel.
At the end of the second lap they pulled in for replenishments, again as close as brothers; they went away on their third lap simultaneously, and, for that lap, returned exactly the same time – 27 mins. 30 secs (an honour which was shared by D. Tye); and then on the final lap Clark pulled away from Farrant.
The winner’s consistent riding was remarkable. From a standing start he put up the fastest time of the race, 27 mins. 16 secs.; on his second lap he did 27 mins. 29 secs.; on his third 27 mins. 38 secs.; and on his fourth 27 mins. 27 secs.
Hargreaves stuck to his position throughout; so did James as runner-up, but there was a change in the other positions. Lap 1 saw Clark (Norton) as third; Farrant (Norton), fourth; D. Tye (Triumph) fifth, and H. Plews (Norton) sixth man. This order was maintained with half the distance over, but in the third circuit J. Bottomley (Triumph) came up “out of the blue” with a lap of 27mins. 37 secs. And “collared” third place, thus relegating the rest of the leaders (Clark, Farrant and Tye) to fourth, fifth and sixth men.
Even then the outcome was not sure, because at Handley’s Corner Tye (who had driven a remarkably steady race) had the misfortune to run out of petrol, and that let R.W.C. Kerr (Triumph) into sixth place.

Competitors

PositionCompetitor(s)TimeSpeedMachine
1Hargreaves, Bernard1:49:50.0082.45Triumph
2James, Ken1:50:28.6081.97Norton
3Clark, John1:50:32.6081.92Norton
4Farrant, Derek1:50:52.0081.68Norton
5Bottomley, Jack1:51:08.0081.49Triumph
6Kerr, Robert1:51:59.0080.87Triumph
7Ritchie, Bob1:53:12.2080BSA
8Tyndale-Powell, D.K.1:53:47.8079.58BSA
9Cook, A.M.1:53:54.0079.51Triumph
10Dobbs, Bill1:54:01.6079.42Norton
11Fox, Frank M.1:54:40.4078.98Norton
12Wilkins, David1:54:54.0078.82Norton
13Cooper, Bert1:55:30.0078.41Norton
14Prince, Ken1:56:47.0077.59BSA
15Birrell, David1:57:18.0077.25Norton
16Meadows, Ken1:57:32.0077.08Norton
17Oughton, E.G.1:57:46.4076.91Triumph
18Perris, Frank1:57:48.6076.88Triumph
19Shekell, G.W.1:58:13.0076.61Norton
20Harding, Billy1:58:31.0076.41Norton
21Brown, Harry1:58:48.6076.22Norton
22Pantlin, Eric1:59:47.0075.6Norton
23Matheson, I.G.2:00:33.0075.12BSA
24Wright, John2:01:03.0074.81BSA
25Cox, John2:01:18.0074.66Matchless
26Orton, Jack2:01:28.0074.56Vincent
27Corley, W.S.2:01:41.0074.42Norton
28Belcher, J.D.2:01:43.0074.4Norton
29Passmore, Fred2:02:12.0074.11Norton
30Newstead, Arthur2:02:54.0073.69BSA
31Netherton, Jack2:03:09.0073.54Norton
32Plews, Harry2:03:13.0073.5Norton
33Clark, K.2:03:38.0073.25Matchless
34Porter, James2:03:45.0073.18BSA
35Workman, Wilf2:04:30.0072.74Triumph
36Alcock, Geoff2:04:34.0072.7Norton
37Coleman, Frank2:04:36.0072.68Norton
38Ingram, Roy2:04:41.0072.63Matchless
39Shelley, J.2:04:49.0072.56BSA
40Neal, H.2:05:41.0072.06Norton
41Carr, Louis2:05:53.0071.94Norton
42Jowett, A.2:06:17.0071.71Triumph
43Waddington, Ken2:06:55.0071.35Triumph
44Prosser, R.L.2:06:59.0071.32Triumph
45Collings, Fred2:07:05.0071.26Norton
46Ollerenshaw, Henry2:07:09.0071.22Norton
47Boult, Dean2:07:10.0071.21Triumph
48Southward, T.2:07:11.0071.2Triumph
49Cheers, Eric2:07:50.0070.84Norton
50Minion, Peter2:08:00.0070.75Norton
51Broughton, Lennox2:09:06.0070.14BSA
52Avis, Stanley2:09:32.0069.91Triumph
53Robinson, Charles2:10:26.0069.43Norton
54Pusey, Fred2:11:35.0068.82Vincent
55Moore, A.C.2:14:52.0067.15Norton
56Mawson, Bob2:14:55.0067.12Norton
57Ratcliffe, Ken2:15:07.0067.02Norton
58Taubman, Ken2:16:18.0066.44Triumph
59Clough, Arthur2:17:46.0065.73Triumph
60Zoellner, Werner2:20:29.0064.46Norton
RBrough, KenBSA
RCruse, PeterBSA
REllis, R.BSA
RHunter, H.F.BSA
RLinskey, JimmyBSA
RTyson, H.T.BSA
RWilkes, JackBSA
RAndrews, DavidMatchless
RBrown, Gerald R.Matchless
REnnett, DerekMatchless
RGadd, Albert D.Norton
RLanyon, JimmyNorton
RWilshere, WillieNorton
RCronan, H.J.Triumph
RGoddard, EllisTriumph
RHamilton, J.S.Triumph
RHill, W.J.Triumph
RHouseley, EricTriumph
RModral, R.H.Triumph
RTye, DavidTriumph
RWebb, DougTriumph
RWilliams, J.E.Triumph
RWatson, Colin E.Vincent
RMartin, AngusTriumph
RWalsh, PatTriumph
RKeen, Robert F.Triumph

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