Don Smith or ‘DR’ as he became known in the trials world, is best described as a larger-than-life character who not only rode trials, but also scrambled, rode Speedway for West Ham, was a country singer, and a parachutist, amongst other things which we will come onto later.

He was also a heavy cigarette smoker and the ‘fag hanging from the mouth’ when riding a section became his trademark. But there was much more to DR than that. He was a three times European Trials Champion, the equivalent in the 1960s to being a World Champion, as the series did not exist until 1975.

This article presents a fascinating insight into the life and times of a professional trials rider who was keen to grab the limelight at any given opportunity and exploited it to the maximum. This is the first time Don Smith’s trials career and life has ever been published and with the permission of his immediate family.

Trials Guru are very grateful to the Smith family for their encouragement, supply of personal information, photographs, and support for the writing of this article.

Credits:

the Edinburgh & District Motor Club Ltd; Tony Davis; Dennis Butler; Christian Rayer; Paul A. Smith; Karen M. Rabbitte; Amanda J. Lazenby; Claire Brooker-Milligan; Roger De Coster; Dennis Jones; Richard Sunter; Steve Wilson; Fumihiro Kato 加藤文博 ; John Quigg; Bob Adams; Michele Kilhams; Tommy Sandham; Tim Hughes; Olivier Barjon; Dave Austin; Chris Gascoigne; Mick Grant; Daniel Booker; Glen Scholey; Bert Harkins; the late Bill Brooker & the late Alec Wright.

Photos:

Iain Lawrie; Jimmy Young; Kenny McNamee; Gary Baker; Ken Haydon; Greeves Motorcycles (Invacar Ltd); Mike Rapley; Rainer Heise; Mike Davies; Ian Robertson; Peter Bremner; Olivier Barjon; Graham Forsdyke; Hugh Beesley; CMNSL – Netherlands; Barry Robinson Estate; Ken Eyre; Glenn Carney; Manuel Casado; Mrs. Florence Cameron; Justyn Norek; Jan Müller; Darrel Glover; Chris Gascoigne; Smith Family Archive (Don Smith Collection).

Main photograph: Don Smith in the 1964 Scottish Six Days Trial – Photo: Hugh Beesley

Early Life:

Donald Roland Smith to give him his full name, was born on 29^th December 1937 at Walthamstow in East London, E17. He had an older sister, Pamela Mary Smith, but their parents separated when he was still a toddler and they were brought up by their mother, Grace.

Don’s father was Roland Smith, but safe to say they did not have a close relationship, given that his parents had separated when Don was so young.

Education:

From 1950 to 1955, Don attended the Sir George Monoux Grammar School, (now College) in Chingford Road, Walthamstow, which made him an ‘Old Monovian’ and was recorded in their ‘Who’s Who’ on the official website.

When still at school, he took a liking to motorcycles after trying his hand at Cycle Speedway, a popular sport in the UK in the late 1940s through to the 1960s. However, it was mentioned that it was not quite the sport for a grammar school chap. That of course did not deter the exuberant Smith! He was a keen football player and took part in Inter-house boxing tournaments at his school.

DR rode for the Walthamstow Diamonds cycle speedway club and expressed a desire to ride professional speedway when he left school. Don rode along with Jimmy Morris who was the team’s rider manager and would figure in Don’s later life as a trials rider. By 1953 at the age of fifteen, ‘DR’ had built his first motorcycle trials machine, a ‘Bitsa’ using a 199cc Villiers engine in a home-brewed frame, so the interest in trials was already strong and so was the experimentation with ideas and their application.

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes:

Don turned sixteen in December 1953, and when the clock struck midnight, he was off on an ex-Police girder forked Ariel in trials trim, for his first legal run on the public highway.

It was time to earn a living and get some money, so he started work at a light engineering company and purchased a 1954 350 AJS model 16MCS, which was the spring frame competition machine which could be used for trials or scrambles with just light modifications to suit. The AJS was pressed into service at Wembley speedway in 1955 when Don raced it in second half races at which he became quite successful. By now he was a charge-hand at Artistic Wrought Iron Company.

The following year, Don moved a few miles further north to Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire and took up occupation as a maintenance welder at Stanstead Airport, this proved to be a good move as it allowed him time to fettle and repair his machinery. It was at this time he struck up a relationship with the owner of D.A. Cornell Motorcycles, this was to be a good arrangement. Derrick Cornell eventually agreed to sponsor Don on a Greeves as he held an agency for the Thundersley manufacturer. But first, Don had to ‘get some in’ as the state National Service was a mandatory requirement for young men at that time.

National Service:

UK National Service came into force in January 1949, this required that all physically fit males between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, had to serve in one of the armed forces for an eighteen-month period. 

Don joined the 33rd Parachute Light Regiment, Royal Artillery in 1957 and was enlisted as 23335242 GNR. Smith D.R.

Don was stationed at Aldershot at this time, the 33^rd had seen action in Aden during the conflict but had been re-equipped and were now stationed in the UK. The regiment also had formed part of the BAOR (British Army of the Rhine) post WW2. In 1958 Don volunteered to stay in the UK and this allowed him to continue riding trials. He had eleven jumps and was very proud of his well-earned Maroon Beret. Being stationed at Aldershot it was some ten miles from Bordon, which was the home of Army Military Training School where Bill Brooker was an instructor.

Bill Brooker, Competitions Manager, Greeves Motorcycles:

“If you did not get to meet Don Smith, then you missed out big time. I first met Don when he was doing his National Service in the late 1950s. We were parachutists in the airborne forces, and we used to ride in the Army motorcycle trials together. After he was demobbed, we lost contact with each other. In the 1960s, I came out of the regular Army and was offered a position at Greeves Motorcycles. I met up with DR again and our friendship was not only rekindled but grew.

To me, he was a ‘pop star’ of the trial’s world of yester-year. He was also an ambassador for not only the sport but the factories he rode for. Peter Gaunt, Don and I were known as the trio from ‘Last of the Summer Wine,’ but who was ‘Compo,’ Peter said it had to be Don. I am sure that the death of Don must have come as a shock to many in the trials community as it did to me. I shall miss his wit, humour, and most of all his friendship.” [7]

When Brooker left the regular Army, he secured employment at Greeves Motorcycles and eventually was the company Competitions Manager. Brooker and Smith struck up a friendship which was to be continued later in the 1960s.

There was also an amassed talent with Jeff Smith, Peter Stirland, Pat Brittain, Eric Adcock, and a whole lot more. They allowed practicing and competing all week on Army Matchless G3L machines, and each weekend Don was riding for Derrick Cornell Motorcycles. Derrick had secured the very first Greeves model 20TA off the production line for Don to ride. It was registered 858BRO in November 1957, effectively a 1958 model.

This 20TA was the first Greeves model to be named the ‘Scottish’ to commemorate the success of the Villiers 9E powered 197cc machines in the Scottish Six Days in the month of May, in the hands of Jack Simpson, Peter Hammond and Norman Storrer. Simpson had won the 200cc cup in that event.

DR rewarded sponsor Cornell with a third place in an Open to Centre trial, the Kenton and Kingsbury November Cup Trial, just a week after the machine was road registered.

Demobbed Don:

Demobilisation from the services came in 1959 and a return to civilian life where Don secured a new job as Shop Manager at Cornell’s at Bishop’s Stortford, this gave some stability and purpose, especially as Don was now a semi-works rider for Greeves, thanks to Cornell’s influence.

The following year, Don decided to strike out on his own by opening Don Smith Motorcycles at 192 Winchester Road, Highams Park, London E4 in 1960. He quickly arranged an agency agreement with Greeves along with agencies for Triumph, Norton, Ariel, and later on, Suzuki.

He had, by now, pretty much given up scrambles to concentrate not only on his new business, but on competing in trials. He had become quite successful at scrambles riding a home brewed TriBsa when working for Derrick Cornell.

By this time, DR had decided to settle down in Chingford and married his wife Ann in 1960, to whom he would have his three children, Paul A. Smith born 1961, Karen M Smith born 1963 and Amanda J. Smith, born 1967. No doubt Don’s wicked sense of humour participated in the choice of daughter Amanda’s initials!

When Karen was born, Don had a very busy schedule to maintain, so he popped in to see his new baby on his way between two trials!

1961 was a fairly successful and eventful year with DR taking part in his first Scottish Six Days on the Greeves 24TDS entered under the Grasshopper (Chingford) MCC. He picked up the ‘Ben Nevis Challenge Quaich’ as second-Best Newcomer, losing thirty-seven marks and a Special First-Class award, whereas the best Newcomer was Scott Ellis on a Triumph, losing 24 marks and overall winner was Gordon Jackson (AJS) who lost his world-famous single mark on Grey Mare’s Ridge.

At first Don was declared winner of the best first-timer trophy and it even appeared in the following weeks press report, but it was later discovered that Scott Ellis was in fact the best first timer.

One month later at the South Eastern Centre Home Counties trial, Don took the win on twenty-one marks with Six Days winner Jackson one mark behind. 1961 also saw Smith a regular competitor at national and open to centre trials, his diary recording no less than twenty premiers that season. Don also took part in a couple of scrambles again, as he could command some start money to ease the finances a little.

The following year 1962, Smith had a fine win at the national Hoad Trophies Trial and saw Don compete in the French St Cucufa trial near Paris, a favoured event with British riders as it was usually run on Remembrance Sunday when no events were allowed in the UK and he pulled off a fine win, now he was an international trials rider, simultaneously  promoting himself and the Greeves brand to favourable effect.

Don’s daughter, Amanda Lazenby added: “We had a plaque with ‘St Cucufa’ written on, hanging outside our house in Chingford for all the time we lived there.”

Around this time, Don was to meet a young Belgian who also rode a Moto Morini and Greeves machines in trials, his name was Roger De Coster, who would some years later become five times World Motocross Champion.

Roger De Coster, former factory rider for CZ, Suzuki, and Honda, five times World 500cc Motocross Champion, now living in California: “People don’t remember that I started out my motorcycle competitions in trials on a 50cc machine when I was seventeen years of age. At first, I was helped by a local dealer on a Morini which was a street machine which we cut the frame and fitted trials tyres. My main competitor in Belgium was Jacky Ickx who rode a factory Zundapp. He beat me in the Belgian 50cc national trials championship. The better trials were in the east of Belgium, like Aywaille in Liege and I took part in the Challenge Henri Groutar. I wanted a larger machine, and I was always watching the British riders, at the time they were the best, and I rode a 250cc Greeves in 1963, so I was very interested in Bill Wilkinson and Don Smith, who always travelled together. These guys were like Gods to me, they rode the sections so well. What I could not understand was why they rode with a shirt and tie. We only wore a shirt and tie when we went to church! The sections were always in winter in streams, when it was cold and muddy, then I realised that perhaps it was a good idea to wear a tie, then the mud would not go down your neck. I always remember Don Smith as a nice guy, very knowledgeable and capable rider, who rode sections with the cigarette in his mouth.”

Son, Paul Smith commented: “I remember Dad talking about the world motocross champion, Joel Robert visiting the Highams Park shop on his way back from a motocross meeting. He rode Greeves in his early career, that is how Dad got to know him. Joel was of course a legend and I remember Dad telling me how immensely strong Joel was, and Dad wasn’t easily impressed.”

The Miller Man:

The 1962 season rewarded Smith with a respectable third place in the British Experts held at Ludlow, the winner being Sammy Miller on his Ariel and runner up was Greeves team-mate Bill Wilkinson. Smith took the premier at the National Hoad Trophy Trial.

1963 was to be a busy and productive year, Smith won the John Douglas, Southern Experts and Mitchum Vase, which he did with a margin of twenty-one from rival Sammy Miller. He was also runner-up at the Don Mountstevens, fifth in the Beggars Roost and took part in the Eastern Centre Lambourne End Grand National Scramble winning the Junior and up to 350cc class. He also took part in the Welsh Three Day trial and in June the Valli Bergamasche in Italy riding a Greeves MDS machine adapted to ISDT specification. These were lead up events prior to the ISDT in the September at Jilemnice in Czechoslovakia.

Amanda recalls: “We have the trophy from the Valli Bergamasche trial – it was one of the very few which Dad kept on display.”

It is safe to say that one of Sammy Miller’s closest rivals was indeed Don Smith, in the period 1963 through to 1970. Don of course was four years younger than Sammy and that was in itself, an advantage, but Don would on occasion beat Sammy in events for whatever reason. That also included the European Trials Championships.

The rivalry between Sam and Don was intense at times with Sammy winning, but as Don was known to use a time-honoured phrase would say: “That all depends on who is telling the story!”

1964 was to be another successful year on the factory Greeves 24TES in which Don won outright the European Trials Championship and a third place in the Scottish Six Days Trial.

Don also won premiers at the Cotswold Cup, Begger’s Roost, John Douglas, the Waterlooville Hoad Trophies Trial, Southern Experts, the Ringwood club’s Perce Simon and the Ravensbury MCC’s Mitchum Vase trials.

DR’s fine third place at the SSDT was the highest position he achieved in the annual Highland classic, he rode an immaculate Greeves issued with riding number 175, on which he spent many hours polishing, plating, and improving.

Something he enjoyed doing, as his machine attracted much attention and praise at the ‘weigh-in’ at Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market on the Sunday prior to the start of the trial.

The eventual winner was Sammy Miller, his last SSDT on the Ariel losing thirty marks, with Mick Andrews (AJS) and Don Smith on thirty-eight marks each.

Paul Smith looks back: “I don’t remember Dad being at all frustrated with Sammy Miller, but I do remember him referring to Sammy as ‘Hamilton’ and with deep respect. I also recall Sammy and his wife Rosemary attending Dad’s funeral which was very nice of them to do so.” 

Don Smith on the Scottish Six Days:

“The Scottish is the one big trial that always eluded me. I usually finished in the first handful. But that all important win that would have meant so much never came my way.” [1]

The following year 1965, Don was riding trials, racing in some scramble events, racing with West Ham speedway, picking up the ‘Stars of Tomorrow Trophy’ at Kings Lynn. He also rode at the Welsh Three Day, the international style Bergamo Trial, winning five National trials and several Open to Centre events.

Scottish Connections:

By now Don had struck up a friendship with the quiet and introverted Greeves race mechanic, Allie ‘Beag’ Cameron who was from Fort William and worked at Thundersley. He was the race mechanic for Bryan Goss when he raced for Greeves. Allie or ‘The Beag’ as he was known in Lochaber was a handy trials rider and would easily have been Scottish Champion had he not ‘emigrated’ to Essex in the early 1960s.

Allie and DR would head off regularly for practice sessions at Poles Wood or Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood, South Essex, it was owned by a Mr. Parish. This area was famous for housing the underground secret Nuclear Bunker, but it was an easy commute from the Greeves factory at Thundersley, some twenty miles distant and it afforded some handy practice sections and a place to test out the machines. The area was used first by the Ilford club and then the West Essex MCC.

It was also around this time that Don struck up a friendship with Hugh McDonald, another resident of Fort William, who was known also to Allie Cameron, and this provided a handy place to stay mid-week when Smith was taking part in the annual Scottish Six Days.

Hugh McDonald and his brother Ally were both keen trials riders in the 1950s and early 1960s. Ally had a motorcycle shop and Hugh ran the family gent’s outfitters business in the town’s High Street. Hugh had a nice house on the Achintore Road called ‘Failte’ or ‘Welcome.’ The Smith family stayed at Failte when they were in the Lochaber area.

Thus, a bond was created between Don and the country of Scotland which would endure, not solely because of the Scottish Six Days which Don enjoyed riding, but he was generally accepted as a warm, humorous character.

Hugh’s youngest son, Alister McDonald: “The memories I have of Don was that he used to stay at our house when he was taking part in the SSDT and other trials. Don was very close to my Dad and they always had a wonderful time together. I can remember heading down to Ayrshire for a trial, we left early so had to go round by Kinlochleven as the ferry was not on that early. On passing several camping sites on the way, Don always gave a blast of the air horn fitted on his car. I had the pleasure to meet Don at the Scottish Six Days before he passed away, he always had time for a chat, he was a true gentleman, a real pleasure to have known him.”

1966 Smith had picked up ten consecutive International Trials wins, with a further fifteen lesser events. He was now racing Speedway for First Division West Ham under the management of Dave Lanning.

Goodbye Greeves:

Into 1967 and Don was crowned King of Europe for the second time amassing ninety-two points, beating Germans Gustav Franke (82 points) and Andreas Brandl (70 points) both riding Zundapps.

At the Scottish Six Days, he turned in a commendable sixth place, tying on marks with team-mate Jim Sandiford on fifty marks lost, but furthest clean breaking the tie. Smith was allocated number 40 on the factory Greeves 24THSA with Ceriani front forks, his last on the Thundersley mount. Greeves Motorcycles also picked up the Blackford Challenge Trophy being the manufacturers’ cup, comprising of Don, Bill Wilkinson, and Jim Sandiford. DR was also in the best club team riding for Sunbeam MCC they picked up the Andy Pattison Memorial Trophy, comprising of Don; trial winner, Sammy Miller (Bultaco) and Gordon Farley (Triumph). There were four Greeves machines in the top ten finishers that year.

Don missed out in winning the 250cc cup by losing a massive seven marks on ‘Pipeline’ which was used on the final day. Greeves team-mate and friend, Dennis ‘Jonah’ Jones who took the award along with a fine third place. Jones’ relationship with Greeves was short-lived, the controversial Midlander, being an outspoken character, was sacked by Greeves for ‘comments’ he made to the Manx Two-Day Clerk of the Course, later that same year.

Jones subsequently moved back to Sprite and eventually to ride Suzuki the following year.

It was customary in this era that factory riders, who usually rode a 250cc machine would have their machines entered in the Scottish with slightly odd capacity numbers such as 251cc. This was so that they could contest the 350cc award without much modification, or perhaps none at all. Sammy Miller regularly entered his Bultaco as a 252cc for that very reason.

During the 1967 season, the division between Smith and the Greeves concern widened into a complete severance, which saw DR effectively walk away from his contract.

DR was quite outspoken as far as the Greeves leading link, rubber in torsion front suspension was concerned, and the cast aluminium beam which formed the steering head and downtube of the Greeves frame. In short, he did not like the forks or the frame configuration, which was in direct opposition to the head of the company that made them.

Don preferred telescopic forks, they were less complicated, and the Greeves cast component did not allow that type of suspension to work properly as it tended to allow the mudguard to foul the downtube on full compression.

Smith always wanted the latest piece of kit and even back in 1963, his factory Greeves was running a 32A engine, with an alloy barrel and cylinder head fitted. He saw these modifications as an advantage over the opposition.

Quoting from Don’s 1975 book, ‘Ride It!’ he said: “For years I took my factory Greeves to big national trials. The great names of the time on their 350 and 500cc bikes almost pitied me and I was definitely the odd man out. But I knew we were on the right track and that, eventually, the two-stroke engine would develop the wide spread of power so essential in trials. This, coupled with a lighter machine was to spell the death knell of the big bangers. The last of the Greeves machines, the 250cc Anglian was fantastically popular, its numbers dominating trials all over England. But it was basically a rehash of models which had gone before. Up until 1967 the Greeves was still a force to be reckoned with, winning the team award in the Scottish Six Days Trial. But the writing was on the wall. For two years earlier the first 250cc Bultaco, developed by Sammy Miller, had made its appearance, and was gradually eclipsing all other makes. Greeves unfortunately, did not rise to the challenge. What was needed was a completely new machine. The result of a design exercise started with a clean sheet of paper. However, the factory management did not see it this way.” [2]

Going Bultaco, for a while:

Don purchased a production Model Type 27, 5 speed Bultaco Sherpa, registered SGH4F on 29^th September 1967 in Dennis Butler’s name, a machine he campaigned for the rest of the season.

This was the year of the first major outbreak of ‘Foot and Mouth’ disease and many trials events were cancelled due to travel restrictions. Don’s Bultaco still exists and is now in a private collection in France.

On the Bultaco, Don amassed in ten events, seven premiers, two runner-up placements and a third.

Smith was an ideas man and Bert Greeves was not sufficiently open minded to change or accept criticism of the alloy beam frame that was synonymous with the Thundersley product. Greeves was not listening to Don and Smith had become more and more frustrated with no development progress or innovation and there was only one viable solution, to quit Greeves and move on. It is fair to say that Don and Bert rarely saw eye to eye.

Don had however tried his best to convince the directors at Greeves to create a new and up-to-date trials machine, he even offered to do it himself, in effect his “clean sheet of paper.”

To his delight they eventually gave him the go ahead, but cruelly, they pulled their permissions at the very last minute.

Smith was not the only one to suffer frustration at the hands of Bert Greeves. Two well-known factory mechanics had fabricated a tubular frame at the Greeves factory incorporating improvements to the steering geometry. It was said that Bert Greeves walked in, took one look at the prototype frame, and ordered it to be cut up immediately.

Having said that, the firm eventually had to move with the times when the supply of Villiers engines was blocked by Norton Villiers Triumph, reserving the engines for their new AJS 37A-T trials machine in 1969.

Greeves were forced to source an alternative powerplant, in the form of the loop-scavenging two-stroke, 169cc alloy Puch engine from Steyr-Daimler-Puch based at Graz, Austria. This agreement saw the launch of the Reynolds ‘531’ tubular frame for the Greeves Pathfinder, which used small diameter Ceriani front forks in late 1969, debuted by the very capable Derek Adsett, who had been riding for Greeves since 1963. So, the all-British Greeves, became an Anglo-Austrian product.

Taking care of Business:

As mentioned, Smith decided to open his own motorcycle shop in 1960, but would require assistance. The shop consisted of three people, Don, Terry Busch who ran the workshop and Dennis C. Butler or ‘DCB’ as he was referred to by the Smith family. We invite Dennis to take up the story: “I had known Don since 1959 and I managed his North London shop at Highams Park from 1963 through to 1967.

One of my memories of those days was this. When returning from a Sunday trial, Don would leave his bike overnight in the open yard at the back of the shop, so that the mud was softened for washing the next morning. Mondays always began like this. Don would appear after breakfast in his blue overalls, cigarette in mouth of course, and kick the bike into life. Following a full-lock turn in the yard, he would exit the narrow gate across the forecourt, then ride over a two-foot six-inch wall onto the pavement. Then he would head towards the North Circular Road. There, still feet up and with an unobstructed view of traffic, he would wait for a gap. As soon as one appeared, he would flick the bike straight up onto the back wheel and ride off down the road between both lines of vehicles.“

“His route then took him across Wadham Railway Bridge, almost vertical, where, from the shop, we could see his head and hands through the lorry windows as he passed between vehicles.

Continuing on the back wheel, he then disappeared down beyond the bridge into Clapp’s Garage, our local petrol station. Having pumped up the tyres, he then performed the same operation on the return journey. The tyres had to be pumped up, before washing the machine, never afterwards, there was a good reason for that.

Once back at the shop, he would park the bike, turn on the hose and wash it off. This was the standard procedure every Monday morning. It certainly was not for show.

One of his party pieces that usually took place in the workshop, was to balance the bike with a dead engine, on trials tyre pressures, get his cigarettes out of his back pocket, replace the packet, then get his lighter out of his other pocket, light the cigarette, still balancing, whilst talking to you about something completely different.” – Dennis Butler went on to open his own motorcycle business at Bishop’s Stortford as D.C. Butler Motorcycles Ltd.

The shop in Highams Park became well known throughout Britain as Don was a great publicist. They came from far and wide to trade in trials machines and buy new replacements. Being a stickler for preparation and his links with Greeves, the second hand bikes were well prepared and many of the Greeves riders dealt with Don Smith Motorcycles. Terry Busch did much of the preparation of the second-hand Greeves trials machines, making them ready for sale, by replacing bent and damaged components and generally making them fit to compete on a Sunday. The shop’s reputation grew as a result.

Dennis Butler added: “One thing that springs to mind is that so many people claim to have an ex-works Greeves, this is because Don insisted in registering new Greeves machines through the shop. We used the shop’s insurance to do this and Don would personally sign the log book. Of course years later, people think that because it has Don’s signature it would be an ex-works bike. Don’s works bikes of course were registered by Invacar Ltd.”

1967 Opportunity Knocks – Montesa:

Don Smith’s international riding put him in touch with contacts across Europe and at last he was contacted by the Catalan firm of Permanyer S.A., who produced the Montesa brand.

This was to be the break that Don needed, a go-ahead company which appeared to welcome new ideas.

Montesa had been developing their ‘Trial’ model which was a development of their proven Impala motor. They wanted a trials machine that would equal or better the rival Bultaco Sherpa T, developed by Sammy Miller from 1964 onwards.

At this time, the Head of Competition at Montesa was Alberto Mallofre, a man who would eventually visit the UK many times and attend the Scottish Six Days which was an important event for Montesa.

What emerged with the input of Smith, Pedro Pi and Christian Rayer was the ‘Cota’ a 247cc soft powered tractable and purposeful machine. It sported a one-piece tank seat unit, all alloy motor with a long inlet tract and other refinements.

The UK Montesa importer at that time was John Brise who ran Montala Motors Ltd., at 107-115 Dartford Road, Crayford, Dartford, Kent, mainly to bring in Kart racing engines which Montesa built at their Esplugues factory in Barcelona.

John Brise was an accomplished Karting driver, as was his son Tony who progressed to Formula three and beyond to Grands Prix levels, he was part of the Embassy Racing team headed up by Graham Hill. Sadly, Tony Brise was killed in the aircraft accident that also claimed the life of Graham Hill.

An importer supported team was formed comprising of Smith, Tony Davis, Gordon Farley and Lawrence ‘Sparky’ Telling to promote the Montesa brand. All these riders had been contracted to Greeves. Brise also attracted former Greeves rider and Reigate and Redhill club member, Charlie Harris who was an active trials and scrambles rider to ride and help develop the new ‘Cota’ and the ‘Cappra’ motocross machines.

Brise eventually contacted Don and offered him the opportunity to test ride a prototype Cota and evaluate it. Don did so and Brise was poised with pen and paper to take notes of what improvements Smith would suggest.

Super Sprinter:

Don was already friendly with Hendrik Reinhard Hermanus ‘Henk’ Vink, the Dutch motorcycle sprinter who had a multi-franchise motorcycle business and had been developing his own trials Montesa. UK importer Brise was unaware that Don had already test ridden Vink’s machine, so he was ahead of the game. Vink would also feature later in Don’s motorcycling career.

Don had stated at the time: “I knew what John Brise was up to, he wanted my knowledge for free. I wanted a contract drawn up prior to giving an opinion, I was not going to say anything until I had an agreement in place.”

Smith was not prepared to just simply hand over his wealth of experience and knowledge without being paid for it.

The UK Montesa team would eventually be expanded in 1970 with the enlisting of former Cotton factory rider, Rob Edwards, but we will come onto that later.

Smith was out of his contract with Greeves and within a brief period of time was back doing what he did best, being a rider and a development man for the Spanish manufacturer.

Don received his prototype Cota 247 on 19^th April 1968, he wanted to debut it and get some success, but where and when? Never one to waste time, DR loaded up his new Montesa onto his Ford Zodiac estate and headed north to Fort William to his friend Hugh McDonald’s house. DR was a member of the local Lochaber & District MCC, and they had a trial planned for 21^st April, known as their Spring Trial, a bit of practice for the Scottish Six Days. Smith won the event, a fantastic way to debut his new steed. Lower risk than that of a national event and a great confidence booster at the same time. The Cota 247 had arrived on the UK trials scene in the hands of Don Smith.

Two weeks later Don was back in Scotland, but this time it was at Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market in the Slateford district for the start of the Scottish Six Days. DR was not the only Montesa rider that year, French rider, Christian Rayer was also entered for the Highland classic.

DR came home in sixth position on sixty-two marks, The eventual winner was Sammy Miller (252 Bultaco) on seventeen marks, second and best 250cc cup winner was Don’s replacement at Greeves, Gordon Farley on thirty-seven and third was Mick Andrews now on the Ossa prototype on thirty-nine marks. Martin Lampkin in only his second SSDT came in fifth position riding a C15 BSA, two marks ahead of Don.

Christian Rayer in his first SSDT was best newcomer and also the best foreign rider on his Cota 247.

Hugh McDonald’s brother Alister was best over 350cc cup winner on his 498cc Ariel HT5.

At this time trials competitors who were classed as factory riders usually benefitted from trade support. One such company was Shell-Mex. In 1969 they sent Don a cheque for £100 for winning the European Championship and a further £50 towards the cost of Don’s business cards and letterheads which incorporated the Shell logo.

European Trials Championship:

The forerunner of the European Championship was known as the ‘Challenge Henri Groutars’ and Don was keen to excel in this series. Named after the Belgian Vice-President of the FIM who passed away in 1959, this was the forerunner to the FIM World Trials Championship which began in 1975, with a Trans-America series in 1974.

The Challenge Henri Groutars was initially at team event and dominated by a European continent of riders such as Gustav Franke from Germany. The Challenge Groutars label continued until 1968 when it changed to FIM European Trials Championship, then Trans America in 1974 having taken in a North America round and finally the full World Trials Championship title in 1975.

Don Smith was to make his mark in the European scene, taking the title in 1964, 1967 and the Euro title in 1969. He was the only British rider to take European titles riding a British built machine, being Greeves in 1964 on a 24TES Mk2 ‘Scottish’ and again in 1967 on a model 24THS ‘Anglian’. In 1965 he was placed eighth on a 24TFS ‘Scottish’ and in 1966 he was runner up to Gustav Franke on his Zundapp, with Sammy Miller (Bultaco) in third spot.

Smith finished in sixth position in the inaugural European series in 1968 on his prototype Montesa with Sammy Miller victorious that year. Smith returned the following year to take the European title in 1969 riding for the Spanish Montesa manufacturer on his now famous Cota 247 registered UMV10F or ‘Umvieoff’ as he affectionately referred to it. That year it was a British podium, with Midlander, Dennis Jones on the small capacity Suzuki in runner up spot and Sammy Miller third on the Bultaco.

1969 the end of the Golden 60s:

Smith had made satisfactory progress as a development rider with Montesa and this in association with the UK Montesa ‘Dream Team’ ensured that the Cota 247 was established as a viable alternative to the well-established Sherpa T from Bultaco.

The Scottish Six Days was always a valid ‘barometer’ of trials riders purchasing trends and there was a noticeable number of Montesas in the 1969 Scottish.

Gordon Farley was firmly on board with Montesa having not renewed his Greeves contract, Malcolm Rathmell was still on an Anglian as was Yorkshire’s Bill Wilkinson. Miller was still contracted to Bultaco, now in his fifth year, his contract due for renewal at the end of the season.

Don almost missed the start of the 1969 Scottish, having slept in on the Monday, so it was a rush to the start at Edinburgh’s Gorgie Market on the Monday, 5^th May.

The results were a surprise, with Bill Wilkinson on the Anglian taking the win, pipping Sammy on the last day, Pipeline being the decider, but Miller faltered at Martuim on the West Highland Way a few miles further south and Wilkinson went clean, grabbing the honours from Miller and Mick Andrews on the Saturday.

Don came back to Edinburgh’s Blackford Hill finish line in fourth position on forty-two marks. Team-mate Farley was sixth on forty-six marks and Lawrence Telling ninth on fifty-four. Three Montesa Cotas in the top ten was significant, they won the Blackford Challenge Trophy, being the manufacturers cup and this would bode well for the advertising manager at Permanyer S.A.

For Smith 1969 was a good year, he was European champion for the third time, he had a fourth at the Scottish and picked up his eleventh consecutive Scott Trial Silver Spoon.

However, Don always kept busy, and the time came when he realised his feedback to Spain was not being actioned upon. The Montesa Cota was being improved with the fitment of smaller wheel hubs, as shown on Farley’s mount, a conical front hub from a moped, but Don was becoming frustrated again and was already looking to the land of the rising sun who were taking an interest in the sport of trials.

Don Smith reflected on Montesa in his trials book, ‘Ride It!’: “Again, I ran into management problems. Half of the company’s directors were eager to go, but the other half were very different as Bultaco were ruling the roost with their own machine on which Sammy Miller had just won the European championship. I finally managed to convince the company that I could better than the Bultaco but because of the boardroom split I had to settle for peanut wages.” [3]

Don had a unique way of dealing with people who perhaps knew him, but he didn’t know them. When meeting someone who he had perhaps met previously, he simply greeted them by saying: “Hello Ace, how are you?” This immediately put the person at ease and the belief that he knew immediately who they were!

Many years later, in 2006, just two years after Don passed away, trials rider Mark Kilhams from Chichester, decided to create a support mechanism for young British riders competing at World Championship level. This was encouraged by Don and Mark named it the ‘Ace Trials Team’ in honour of Don Smith who was friends with his father-in-law, Bob Adams. The Ace Team supported Lee Sampson, Donna Fox and Richard Ellwood.

One thing is clear, Don Smith was no fool, for sure he was an extrovert, a self-publicist that understood the value of public relations, self-promotion and using simple things to promote not only the product you were using, in his case a motorcycle for sport, but also himself. He also moved with the times.

The cigarette clamped between his lips when riding a section became like a trademark, everyone knew who the fag smoking trials rider was. Don was skilled at what he did, that there is no doubt.

On the other hand, Don was not indispensable and the easy going, popular, Rob Edwards left Cotton to take up the slack in the Montesa line up to become their brand ambassador, a position vacated by Smith. Montesa had moved on, without Don Smith.

Through the mist, emerged the STAG:

The new decade brought a lot of changes, the whole Greeves range of motorcycles was, by now, looking very tired, the Spanish factories were in full swing, and Ossa were making inroads with Mick Andrews on their 250. For the 1970 Scottish, Andrews was issued with an Ossa that looked like a factory bike should, it had a one-piece tank seat unit similar to the Montesa Cota and was a much more purposeful tool than the previous Plonker/Pioneer model.

Bultaco had still a grasp on the trials and motocross market but had Montesa breathing down their corporate neck and the rivalry was not only fierce in their home market but in North America and the rest of Europe.

Across the other side of the world, the Japanese factories were looking at trials with envious eyes and within three years, they would recruit Andrews to Yamaha, Farley to Suzuki and Miller to Honda, the times were changing yet again.

Smith was getting impatient and frustrated once again; he had a factory entry for the Scottish Six Days and his number 101 had been allocated as such.

Sunday, May 3^rd, 1970, came around and Edinburgh was basking in early spring-time sunshine, but it was not Smith’s immaculately prepared Montesa that trials enthusiasts were looking and talking about, it was something somewhat different. The 1970 SSDT official programme stated that rider 101 was listed as: ‘(Montesa Motorcycles) D.R. Smith, Montesa 247.’

Reality was somewhat different, when Don wheeled out his own creation and proudly parked it on the cobbled avenue within the Gorgie Market, it was the first appearance of the STAG MK1. The trials world held its breath as Smith was legally still contracted to Permanyer S.A. in Spain.

The STAG was to be the talking point of the ‘weigh-in’ Sunday of that year’s Scottish. Clearly it was a Montesa Cota engine with the large ‘M’ machined off both the ignition and clutch outer casings, it even had the unmistakeable long inlet tract of the Cota engine. The frame was not of Montesa design, but Don’s own, nickel plated and looks a professional job. It was a twin downtube cradle frame with engine mounts that could be easily changed to accept any similar sized two stroke engine. Rear chain tension was maintained by a trailing external spring-loaded tensioner. The rear brake was cable operated.

More information on the actual machine can be found here: Don Smith STAG.

The Contract Breaker:

The machine was registered in January 1970 in Greater London as AYN15H as a STAG and 247cc capacity, colour Blue.

The STAG’s appearance at the 1970 Scottish in May was much more than a publicity stunt, there was a calculated plan underpinning the project. By riding the new STAG and not a Montesa Cota, this effectively broke the contractual arrangement between Smith and the Montesa company.

Smith was never short of ideas, he had plenty to try, and the STAG would be his own private test bed, not necessarily with a Montesa engine either.

The STAG looked a purposeful machine albeit it was in effect a prototype and they are subject to change and improvements. Rather than make a new fuel tank, one was sourced from a Japanese machine, but years later Don could not recall which tank it was.

Don fabricated pressings to make the aluminium side panels and the choice of naming convention was quite simple, he copied the West Essex Motor Cycle Club’s badge which had a stag’s head as its centre, that made life much easier. Don even made the tank and side panel badges himself.

A set of REH front forks and both hubs laced to Dunlop steel rims finished off the package.

Don was more than happy to pose in the Edinburgh sunshine for anyone with a camera that day, promoting not only the new STAG, but himself. The press obliged within their weigh-in and first day report and photographs the following Wednesday.

It is quite possible that at this time, having now sold his motorcycle shop in Highams Park that the Smith finances were under a strain. It is believed that friend Hugh McDonald in Fort William may have ‘helped out’ Don with his enterprise. Certainly, Hugh ferried Don about in his car, during and after the Sunday weigh-in at Edinburgh and Don stayed with the McDonald’s during the event itself. After all, the STAG was not a factory financed venture, but a private one.

Don’s wife, Ann was of course fully committed to running the household and bringing up their three children, but to make the finances work better, she had taken a job at the local greengrocer’s shop at the end of the road in Chingford where they all lived. Eventually when the children were teenagers, Later on, Ann worked for BUPA, commencing as a filing clerk, and ended up as their branch staff trainer.

Youngest daughter, Amanda commented: “To be honest, things were often a case of feast or famine as a family, according to how Dad was faring. Dad was always busy doing stuff, so he mostly lived in his workshop at the end of the garden, and we would often spend time in there chatting and bringing him more tea.”

Don alludes to his lack of finance in his book, Ride It! he wrote: “I was free again, but this time my independent attitude misfired. Quitting Montesa before I had another job nearly put me on the breadline. I was almost standing on the white cliffs of Dover looking for the Japanese to beckon, and they did take their time.” [9]

The long wait was frustrating. Don was without a factory contract, he had left Montesa, sold his business and busied himself with his STAG development. He took on a job as instructor at Hackney Speedway, it was here that he decided to develop his folding footrest.

He believed that a folding Safety Footrest for Speedway racing was a worthwhile piece of safety equipment in a hazardous sport.

Speedway:

Scottish Speedway rider, Bert Harkins who rode for Edinburgh Monarchs, Wembley, Sheffield, Wimbledon, Wolverhampton, and Milton Keynes, he then became the importer of Scott Goggles and Acerbis products through his business, Bert Harkins Racing.

Bert knew Don when he rode for West Ham speedway: “Don, whilst being a top-class trials rider also rode Speedway for West Ham. He invented the right-side folding footrest for Speedway, a safety measure as it stopped the footrest digging in and flipping the machine over. Many riders used them but personally I did not really like them. I remember that Don also experimented with a Greeves twin-port two stroke engine for speedway, but it did not catch on. This was evaluated by Swede, Bengt Jansson who rode for Hackney.”

The Greeves Challenger 36MX4 powered speedway machine made its debut in 1968.

The standard capacity was 362cc, but Don upped the capacity to a massive 390cc, running the engine on methanol. Bengt Jansson liked the bike, but Don at that time was busy dashing to Spain and back developing the Montesa Cota and still had his shop, albeit managed by Dennis Butler. This resulted in a lack of time to further develop the Greeves speedway machine, even although Don intended it to be put into production.

Doing the deal – Going Dutch:

Smith had built his first ‘Springer’ motocross bicycle for the new sport of BMX racing in 1971. The sport which started in the USA was rapidly expanding and Don wondered if this was a market he should be involved in, more on this later.

Then the frustration was over, talks began with Kawasaki, again Henk Vink, 11 times Dutch trials champion was involved, having recommended Don to factory officials. Vink was the well-established Kawasaki importer for the Netherlands and raced a very rapid Kawasaki powered sprint machine and was a well-known drag racing competitor in Europe and the UK, attending meetings at Santa Pod raceway from 1972.

Multi-millionaire Vink was well known to Don Smith as he had made his name as the Dutch national trials champion, Henk became interested in sprinting in the late 1960s, and raced an early 500cc Kawasaki triple. There was no drag racing in the Netherlands until the mid-seventies, but with the sport enjoying growth in the UK, Henk made numerous appearances at Santa Pod Raceway. He had a full-time mechanic, Jan Smit, and his outfit raced under the name of ‘Team Big Spender.’

Vink was of a similar age as Don Smith, sadly Henk Vink died in 1988 on his 50^th birthday from a heart attack.

What is not well known was that Vink had created a Kawasaki trials machine of his own with the assistance of Bob Tuin. The basis was the Kawasaki 346cc rotary valve two-stroke ‘Big Horn’, a US specification trail bike. This was reported in January 1971 in the Motor Cycle [12]. Vink had ridden it in the Dutch Press Trial and it caused much excitement and interest. The bike had the fuel tank mounted under the seat and the exhaust and air filter occupied the area usually where the fuel tank would be fitted.

Blank Canvas and Crumpet:

The first prototype Kawasaki arrived on the 24th of April 1972, Don’s contract with Kawasaki Japan was to design, build, and develop a completely new trials machine, initially using the 450cc engine derived from the firm’s motocross model.

This 450cc machine was registered OLM93L and with close inspection it was apparent that it was inspired in part by Don’s STAG project. It had a frame similar to his STAG and was finished in metal flake gold paintwork. The side panels especially shouted ‘STAG’. Much work was needed to the engine to make it more tractable, this happened over the following five months.

The first appearance of the Kawasaki was at the Mitchell Trial in South Wales on 23^rd September 1972. Smith appeared with a bright yellow set of riding gear for maximum exposure for his new machine.

Don won the D.T.C. Comerford Cup Trial on the following day. The prototype was subsequently crated up and sent to Japan on 18th October for assessment and further development changes. Don flew out to Japan ten days later, the first of six similar trips to Kawasaki HQ.

Much to Don’s amusement was when Kawasaki executives announced the code name for their secret trials project, it was called ‘Kawasaki Crumpet for trials’. Don took delight in explaining the two meanings applicable to the word crumpet, the first being, a thick, flat, savoury cake with a soft, porous texture, made from a yeast mixture cooked on a griddle and eaten toasted and buttered. The other of course, is somewhat different!

Deal Maker:

Many years later, when attending the Scottish Six Days, Don told an impromptu audience in the bar at the Milton Hotel, Fort William in an evening in early May 2000, about his negotiations with Kawasaki in 1973.

He told of how he had hammered out much of his new Kawasaki contract, he needed four prototypes ranging from 250 to 450cc, salary, expenses, transport and when he was about to shake hands on the deal, he quickly snatched his hand back, uttering the words: “… and a Z1.”

What he wanted as an extra sweetener, was a brand-new Kawasaki 900cc Z1 superbike, just to let off steam with. This was agreed and a new Z1 was eventually delivered in August 1973 by Kawasaki Motors, registered ULP1M.

Book Time:

Much of Don’s activity with the Kawasaki development is covered in his first book, ‘Ride It! – The Complete Book of Motorcycle Trials.’ This was first published in 1975, reprinted the following four successive years by the Haynes Publishing Group. It was edited by Graham Forsdyke, Administration and Production Editor of the ‘Motor Cycle.’
Smith had begun making notes to assist with the writing of this reference book on trials in early 1972 when he was negotiating with Kawasaki. There were only a small number of books written on trials prior to Don’s and the best-known being ‘Trials & Trials Riding’ by Arthur B. Bourne and ‘Trials Riding’ by Max King, first published in 1955. Here was a gap in the market for Smith to make his mark. Max King’s work had been revised five times between 1955 and 1975.

‘Ride It!’ when published, offered in hard or paperback editions, quickly became the trials rider’s ‘bible’. It was so well written and in an informative, but easy, unpretentious style, covering just about everything a budding trials rider would face apart from attending a trials school, and Smith had that plan covered also.

It was so well written that much of its content still has value to this day and copies are still available on the second-hand book market and online auction sites, even although it has been out of print for some forty-five years. It has subsequently been described as the most definitive trials book of its era on the sport.

The Ride It! trials book was a remarkable success, witnessed by the fact that it was reprinted four times.

Don then wrote a second book on trials, published by EP Publishing Ltd., East Ardsley, Wakefield, West Yorkshire in 1980. Its title was ‘Trials Bike Riding’. This was not a simple re-hash of his ‘Ride It!’ book, far from it, he had more details about machine preparation, the different types of hazards encountered and how to ride these obstacles. Don had enlisted the assistance of Comerford’s of Thames Ditton and Colin Boniface who worked there and was an extremely good rider. This was a book that had no personal content on Don like his previous publication, and more about the actual application of riding knowledge. Again, this book was successful and retailed for £4.95.

Kawasaki planned a tour of North America to promote the KT250 trials model and Don Smith was a big part of that. It was a full on effort with a big budget.

The Rising Sun and Sunset:

“Don Smith’s many years’ experience in European trials competition and Kawasaki’s engineering capability assure you the KT250 represents the highest standard of trials machine development.” Proclaimed the glossy advertising brochure issued by Kawasaki Heavy Industries on the launch of the KT250 Kawasaki trials machine. [4]

The Kawasaki development continued, and Don had enlisted UK riders to get the product into trials, Don could not do it all himself, by now he was thirty-six years of age and past his best as far as a top line rider was concerned.

A three-man team was entered for the 1973 Scottish Six Days, a true test of the new machines. The selected riders were Richard Sunter; Mark Kemp (aka. Baron von Mylius) and former paratrooper, Jack Galloway. Smith arrived in the Edinburgh ‘weigh-in’ in a brand-new Ford Transit based motorcaravan to manage the trio.

The usual fettling in the cobbled avenues of Gorgie Market saw the Kawasaki riders making last minute adjustments to their mounts. These three 450cc machines, registered SGY37;38 & 39L arrived in the UK just three days prior to the start of the Scottish Six Days. Problems with starting had been caused by the Japanese technicians fitting hard spark plugs at the factory in Japan, once these were changed, the bright green and white Kawasakis fired up, the problem had visibly annoyed team manager Smith.

Yorkshireman, Richard Sunter was by this time an established name in the sport of trials who was enlisted by Smith to ride for Kawasaki.

Sunter recalls: “I was approached by Team Kawasaki Trials manager, the late Don Smith who was also their development rider. The first machine I had off Kawasaki was the 450 model, which was quite honestly a beast of a thing to ride. When I signed for Kawasaki, they had no motorcycles available for me to ride, so I continued to ride my own Ossa in the meantime and my expenses were paid by Kawasaki. I was never paid a salary; I was still earning a living from farming, and they covered my travel expenses to nationals and the European Championship rounds.”

Sunter posted a twentieth place overall in the 1973 Scottish, losing 137 marks and took home the best over 350cc award for his efforts, wrestling with the big bore machine and was the best performer of the Kawasaki team that year. All three Kawasaki riders finished in the top forty and with Special First-Class awards, not bad at all for a first-time team.

With the release of the new KT model, Richard received his pre-production 250cc machine from the factory in August 1973. Two months later, on October 2^nd, he came home a fine second place in the Scott Trial, this was to be his best Scott result finishing second behind Bultaco mounted Malcolm Rathmell.

The KT250 failed to sell in sufficient numbers which disappointed the manufacturer.

Ian Haydon from Exeter was the only rider to have won a UK national trial, the West of England in 1975 riding a production Kawasaki KT250, with support from Torbay Motorcycles.

Richard Sunter eventually moved over to join Montesa under Jim Sandiford of Bury not long after the recruitment of Cumbrian, Nigel Birkett who had been campaigning a privately funded Ossa with help from Eddie Crooks.

During the first half of the trials season in 1974 the results continued to improve and Don Smith, noticed Nigel’s talent and offered Birkett a works Kawasaki. Don rode a 250 Kawasaki in the SSDT and finished in 46th position.

Smith was involved with Alec Wright and the Kawasaki off-road team who wanted to hire a rider who would show the machine’s true capabilities. Birkett had his first competitive ride on the Kawasaki at the Allan Jefferies trial in Yorkshire and was rewarded with a fine sixth place and the Team Green was suitably impressed.

It wasn’t apparent at the time, but the innovative Birkett had altered the steering head angle of his Kawasaki at his Cumbrian home, when Smith found out it was evident, he wasn’t amused.

Smith asked Nigel to do four World rounds and it was made clear that he needed to score championship points to ensure a ride for the 1975 season. Unfortunately, he failed to make the points but finished in the top fifteen in Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia but rode well enough to claim tenth place in Switzerland and score one point. His trips to the events were the first time that Birkett had ever left England and gave him a taste of how life could be as a professional rider. Suddenly it was all change at Kawasaki, and it all ended on a sour note for all concerned. Kawasaki cut their budgets and tried to renegotiate their contract with Nigel and his team-mate, Sunter, on a machine and parts basis, no financial support which they both turned down.

Not only that but the recently revamped Kawasaki management company was given a generous budget to effectively sponsor private Kawasaki owners with a results bonus system in UK trials. The company would no longer support factory riders. It was an innovative stance to take and one that hasn’t really been repeated by a manufacturer since.

Nigel Birkett was a very unhappy man as he had left his job at Eddie Crooks Motorcycles to work in a nearby Hovercraft factory. When he explained he needed time off to go to the World rounds, he was told there would be no job upon his return. He planned to earn enough money to ride trials full-time, but now he had no job and no trials machine. So, it was back to Eddie Crooks and the Ossa. He started riding on the Ossa and found it easier to ride than the works Kawasaki. Sunter went to Montesa around the same time, but of course continued to farm as a living.

Don rode a 250 Kawasaki in the 1975 Scottish and finished in 67th position, with Kawasaki private owner, Chris Milner in 15^th position the following year. But sales of the production KT250 remained lacklustre.

Japanese trials champion, 1975, Fumihiro Kato was given the factory development KT330 Kawasaki to ride, and he spent some time with Don and his family at North Chingford. The machine looked quite like the standard 250 KT but sported a one-piece tank seat unit and special front suspension. Don liked this machine and felt it had potential.

Daughter Amanda takes up the story: “We had Fumihiro Kato stay with us and we shortened his name to simply ‘Hiro’. I was given the task of accompanying Hiro to get parts and other equipment from the local motorcycle shops, I was to be his interpreter, but of course I couldn’t speak Japanese and Hiro spoke no English. It was fun and we travelled over London so that he could buy things.”

Kato eventually returned to Japan and later rode for Yamaha and set up his own trials shop ‘Kato Riders Salon’ selling apparel and special parts for Yamaha trials machines. Kato retained his factory KT330.

Fumihiro Kato: “Don Smith taught me to ride trials. My life has of course changed since then, I’ve been to England many times to compete in trials. At first, we didn’t know anything about trials. KAWASAKI designers and engineers gathered to hear an explanation from Don. When the prototype was ready, Don came to Japan to check it out. I worked hard on the development, cutting the frame of the KT250cc prototype until Don liked it. He also taught me trial riding and I spent a lot of time with Don in England. The KT250 was produced and entered in competitions in the UK.“

“At that time, people wanted a machine with a larger displacement, and at Don’s suggestion, Kawasaki built a 450cc machine, but in the end, I rode the KT330 with Don in British competitions, including the Superstars Trial and the World Championships. I also visited Don Smith’s house many times. His wife Ann was a nice person and very kind to me. His eldest son Paul was thirteen at the time. He had two younger sisters and I have happy memories of them all. The family got on well and I remember going to the zoo with them. Paul visited Japan several times and I met him each time. There was also a shop called ‘Kato Riders Salon’, but it closed some years ago. Now I run a paragliding school called ‘ROLL OUT’. The KT330cc was very light, handled very well and was easy to ride. I had it with great care until about two years ago, but it was more than I needed. I wanted KAWASAKI to take good care of it and keep it forever, so I gave it back to KAWASAKI.”

Kawasaki decided to withdraw its trials venture in late 1976, Kato moved to ride for Yamaha in Japan.

Son, Paul Smith reflects: “With regards to the bikes Dad rode, I recall the Kawasaki 330 Prototype that Dad developed. This was a joy to ride, and Dad was very pleased with it, but then Kawasaki pulled the plug on the whole trials effort. The factory 250 bike was also way better than the production bikes.”

Dealing with disposals:

When Don had finished with a project, his intention was always to move the machines on to clubmen, this happened regularly when he wrapped things up.

John Quigg from Quainton near Aylesbury recalls this happening: “I bought my KT250 in 1976 and it was one of Don Smith’s development bikes. Three of us, members of the West Middlesex Amateur MCC bought our bikes direct from Don when he was shutting things down. All three bikes had used a common registration number, and we had to re-register ours as new. I am unable to shed any light on which bike I had and the only photo I have doesn’t show the registration number. They were all completely different bikes to ride with power delivery and rear suspension set ups that were also non-standard. So, if my old Kawasaki is still out there, the owner has an ex-development KT250.”

Alec Wright, former Greeves sidecar driver, Kawasaki Racing Manager and Team Green/Kawasaki UK manager wrote: “The most outstanding quality about DR was his pure enjoyment of life – he lived it to the full. PR as it is now known was second nature to Don. At the back of his mind, always, no matter what the activity, he was thinking how to give whatever he was doing a promotional spin. He was popular. And was the envy of his many fans. When privileged to know him as closely as I did, the adrenalin would kick in from the first moment you met. I’ll never forget those innumerable ‘white knuckle rides’ in his estate car, complete with bike-rack overhanging each side, and inevitably clocking an 80-90 mph average. Whether the trips were long or short, they were crazy, and you never forgot them. Joel Robert is the only other serious competitor who could compare to DR when it came to ‘fun-loving’ in the extreme. I could relate so many tales of my involvement with DR. When it came to business however, his ideas were outrageous. After shaking hands on a deal, you needed to count your fingers, because you drove away thinking ‘how the hell did I agree to that.’

“DR was well-known for his bike preparation, which was immaculate. We were very competitive and used to pinch one another’s ideas. He once borrowed my outfit and won the sidecar class in an Eastern Centre trial – not bad for a guy who’d never driven a sidecar outfit before!“

“The most recent memory I have of DR was of course with Kawasaki. The KT development was proving a disaster, but not, I would add, through any fault of Don’s. Kawasaki didn’t know the difference between trials bikes and trail bikes. To be fair, their production version trials bike was never going to be a market leader. DR however convinced the Big K that what was needed here was promotion. After convincing them of the size of the US market potential, off he went to the States, where with official approval, he drummed up a large truck, a bunch of mechanics, plus PR and marketing men, with an enormous twelve-month budget. Later. When he returned to the UK, he said: ‘Good fun! Ace! The best year of my life!’ Kawasaki were still paying the price over the next several seasons. It was during this episode that he first rode over a VW Beetle. ‘Promotion is the name of the game my son!’ No, there will never be another DR, but don’t be too sad – Don extracted more from life than most of us can ever expect. His last joke, surely, was when welcomed by St. Peter at the Pearly Gates: ‘Hang on a mo Peter, while I finish my fag!” [5]

Kawasaki KT250 Today:

Whilst the production Kawasaki trial machine did not sell in the numbers expected by the manufacturer, they did sell. There are still a number of these bikes in private hands.

We spoke to a current custodian, Daniel Booker of Dorking in Surrey, England, who was able to compare the KT250 to the Yamaha TY250 of the same vintage, having owned both marques.

Booker: “I’ve noticed that harsh comments are directed to the KT250 Kawasaki. I have a standard and a Gollner modified version that they dubbed ‘the Yellow Peril’ which I usually compete with, but sometimes I ride the standard machine. I also now have one of the three Kawasaki Competition Developments team bikes. These were ridden in the 1976 Welsh Two-Day enduro, where they got the gold team award, and Ian Haydon was the rider of the one that I own.

In my opinion the KT250 has a superb engine, I think Mick Andrews’ promotions and the Yamaha brand advertising was very good at the time and, of course, there were lots of Yamaha dealers.

The Kawasaki was very reliable and had more go in it than the Yamaha TY250. I am probably biased but I’ve owned a lot of bikes over the years and still would prefer my Gollner Kawasaki to say a Majesty Yamaha, the standard TY250 was a bit gutless.”

Moving on:

The dream job with Kawasaki was over and a new chapter in the colourful life of Don Smith was about to begin.

Don had promoted the Kawasaki trials venture to death, he had travelled across the USA and pushed the brand as hard as he could. At one point Kawasaki UK offered an incentive to private owners in so far if they won a major event, they would receive a payment. No other manufacturer or agent had openly offered such a deal.

Smith had exploited every given opportunity to promote the brands he was associated with, and it must have occurred to him that he was indeed a salesman, and a good one at that.

With the termination of the Kawasaki enterprise in 1976, Smith was bitterly disappointed and felt that the company could have scaled things back and continued, but numbers mattered to Kawasaki, they were a huge company and needed large numbers to make production viable.

Don entered the 1977 Scottish Six Days under West Essex MCC on the 330cc Kawasaki, listed as such in the official programme and results, but turned up and rode the event with a 250cc Suzuki, he finished the trial in 51^st position on 214 marks.

The Italian Stallion:

Don looked towards Italy where interest was growing from an unusual quarter, Fantic Motor who had built up sales in the UK with 50cc machines, which included the Fantic Chopper 50cc moped in 1972, which had proved popular with the sixteen-year-old learner class.

Fantic Motor of Italy had a range of small capacity enduro and motocross machines under the Caballero brand and were keen to break into the trials market. Fantic were first imported into the U.K. in 1972 by Barron Eurotrade Ltd., whose headquarters were based at 51 High Street Hornchurch, Essex. The engines were supplied by Motori Minarelli based in Bologna, Italy.

Don was enlisted to help develop and promote the 125 Trial prototype which landed him a smart, Turin registered, Fiat Mirafiori Sport estate car, which suited him down to the ground, having an Abarth tuned 2 litre DOHC motor with twin-choke Weber carburettor. These cars were known for their sporty performance and handling.

Don’s love of big and fast Ford cars was well known, having owned a line of Zephyrs, Zodiacs, Cortinas and Granadas, but the lively Fiat was a match for the Dagenham vehicles he ran previously.

The Fiat was decked out with ‘Olio Fiat’; ‘Fantic Motor’ and ‘Pirelli’ decals and fitted with a towbar for the bike trailer and really looked the business. Promotion meant everything to Don and the car, trailer and bike combination just shouted ‘promotion’.

The Fantic was a well finished machine with very good build quality and attention to detail. Don was entered for the 1978 Scottish in May, on the experimental 125 Trial and was allocated number 122. Don’s job title with Fantic Motor was Consultant – Trials Sport Co-Ordinator. He spent a month prior to the SSDT promoting his ride with publicity photographs taken and distributed to the motorcycle press. This of course generated the required ‘hype’ for his final attempt at the Scottish Six Days.

Unfortunately, Don failed to finish the event, but it publicised the brand. Geoff Parken on another 125 Trial Fantic managed a 44th position.

Back To School:

Don had by now started the popular ‘Don Smith – MCN Trials Schools’ across the UK. He joined up with Motor Cycle News to gain maximum publicity for this venture and it proved a remarkable success with young riders and their families. MCN ran a regular column with a suitable logo to report on the progress of pupils who attended.

Quoting from the 14^{th of} December 1977 edition of MCN, proclaiming that a substantial prize would be presented to the overall winner of a special test trial: “A brand-new trials bike of his choice worth about £850 will be the glittering prize waiting for the best of the graduates on the first Supertest organised by Don Smith and Motor Cycle News on Saturday. And one of the ‘pupils’ has already taken the liberty of beating the ‘teacher’ Don Smith in a club trial!” [8]

The Supertest comprised of qualifiers from the various Don Smith schools run throughout the year, culminating in a final competition to determine who would be ‘Pupil of the Year’. This took place at the Market Harborough club’s venue at Desborough, Northants on December 19^th, 1977. There was a tie on 58 marks each, settled by most cleans, between Glen Scholey from Grassington, North Yorkshire who rode a 250 Gollner Kawasaki and Steve Higgins from Clitheroe, Lancashire. Higgins was declared the winner of the event, so his prize was a new trials bike of his choice, which was a 250cc Beamish Suzuki, presented by their representative, Brian Fowler. Scholey’s consolation prize was an MCN bike cover.

Glen Scholey who soon after rode Comerford’s Bultacos said: “I was disappointed to come so close to winning the Don Smith Supertest Trial as I was fourteen years of age and rode a KT250 Kawasaki at that time, however I did keep the note that Don Smith gave me after coming runner up, it read ‘Tough being a good loser isn’t it? – Proud of you lad – Don’.

“I have kept that note for over forty-five years in my scrap book along with the press cuttings of reports from Motor Cycle News.”

By 1978, Trials and Motocross News Production Editor, Tommy Sandham encouraged Don to run his schools in Scotland, they used a disused quarry near Airdrie, Lanarkshire and Fintry, Stirlingshire. The Don Smith Trials School was taken all over the UK, using established trials areas such as Hawks Nest, near Buxton, Derbyshire; Kelvedon Hatch, Brentwood and Danbury, Royal Oak Pit and Kingswood near Frodsham.

Tim Hughes from Sible Hedingham, Essex tells of being at one of Don’s schools:

“My participation in the Don Smith Trials School came at a poignant time for me. My memories of the event are still fairly clear, even though it was forty odd years ago. I was fifteen years old at the time and in the last few months of school. I’d been riding trials for a couple of years, doing quite well and my Dad saw some potential in me. When Essex Schoolboys announced the trials school was on, my Dad signed me up. I recall it was a two-day event and took place during weekdays at Kelvedon Hatch, near Brentwood in Essex. Probably in the first half of 1980. At the end of the second day, a mini trials competition was set up so we could try out what we’d learnt. I had been applying for engineering apprenticeships at the time and had been invited to an interview on the morning of the second day of the trials school. My folks were insistent that I had to attend the interview, so when I finally made it back to the trials school, I had to be escorted to the sections one on one, so I could catch up with the group. I was riding a Montesa Cota 123 that I had for a while. At the end of the event, amazingly I had won the mini trial. I recall the owner of the nearby Fantic Motor dealership was there. I think they might have been sponsoring the event. I was presented with a Fantic riding shirt. Don approached my Dad and made some complimentary remark about my riding, adding I would do much better on a better bike. A while later I was presented with a Yamaha Majesty 200 for my sixteenth birthday, which I partly paid for when I started work. I became a regular rider in the adult events once I turned seventeen, never winning, but regularly in the awards. I learned two huge things at the trials school which really helped me. Don taught me the art of re-inventing the route through the trials section. He said you should seize every opportunity to make turns wider, trampling down bushes and branches if needed, avoid hazards, and generally scupper the clerk of the course’s intended route. The skill of un-loading your weight off the footrests as you rode over logs, roots and gulleys. He explained that the back of the bike would follow the front if there was no weight on it. I quit trials in my early twenties, when my girlfriend, now wife came on the scene. I occasionally go and watch events if they’re taking place nearby. Each time I come away remembering how much I miss taking part.”

Supertest winner, 1977 – Steve Higgins recounts his win:

“I remember going to the Trials School in Derbyshire, all of us young schoolboys, I was fifteen at the time. We were all of us a bit nervous. Don was quite forthright and didn’t mince his words. One thing that sticks in my mind was when we were practicing and wobbling up the steep ‘Hawks Nest’ section with Don shouting to us ‘stop pussyfooting lads, if you don’t ride the bike, it’ll ride you’. “

“Don did also allow my little brother David ride the school on his TY80 aged thirteen. He showed us all up and went on to be a great trials rider. I was really amazed to win the Supertest, I didn’t feel that I’d had such a good ride. I took silly dabs here and there, and to win on cleans wasn’t the best. I will always remember my involvement with the Don Smith Trials School. Such great memories.”

A little bit Country:

Don Smith was without doubt, a fun loving extrovert, so when he was invited to the ESTC presentation of awards in December 1978, he found out that there was a country band booked as the night’s entertainment.

So Don being Don, rehearsed with the band and appeared on stage to perform a song or two. The band, called ‘Country Shack’ had released a couple of albums and the current album at that time was ‘Which Way Was Gone?’ released in 1977 on the Sweet Folk & Country label.

Family Man:

Youngest daughter, Amanda Lazenby commented on Don Smith and his family:

“My older brother Paul was a good footballer, first playing for the school and district and then for a team called SENRAB in East London who have produced many Premier League players. Paul’s knees let him down though, so he had to stop playing. He then took up cycle speedway and rode for Edmonton Panthers. Dad had a big hand in improving the club and managed the team, getting them a resurfaced track and eventually hosting an event where his speedway friend Bengt Jansen, Benga as we know him, came to present the prizes. After that phase, Paul was runner up in the Nationals event in Bristol, he then dabbled in trials but was more drawn to motocross where he got to expert level.

We used to go every weekend in the season and Dad ‘modded’ our Bedford Van so that it could sleep three of us. It had an ‘extension’ awning with seating, stove, kettle with a ladder on to the roof where he had designed a frame which could be slotted together. The base used for sleeping on slid in to form the floor and then had an awning over for shelter – we then could put deck chairs up there on our very own viewing platform. We used to roll up on the Saturday, walk the course and suss it all out and then have dinner, watch the portable black and white TV and then get our heads down. This meant that Paul arrived rested and not rushed or stressed. Anyway, what really put pay to it was at some point Paul got knocked off his road bike in West London whilst working as a despatch rider and broke his leg quite badly and so suffered with pain, so he eventually had to stop riding motocross. He decided in about 1988 to ‘go and have a look’ at America and he’s still looking! He’s now a US citizen and living with his wife in California.”

Amanda: “My older sister, Karen and I live locally to each other at Warlingham in Surrey. Our Mum Ann was also just round the corner. Karen moved this way first, followed by Mum a few years later and then John and I moved here too as were fed up driving from North East London through to the other side of South London all the time. We have lived here now since 1999. Karen is married to Gerry with two grown up sons and now has three Grandchildren. John and I have three sons plus John has an older daughter from his first marriage. Karen has always been into horse riding and did that a lot when we were kids. She still keeps a retired horse who she has had forever. Of course, we used to go to trials often too. I recall sitting on the tank of Dad’s bike as he rode between sections and really loved it. One really good memory was the times spent at West Essex Motorcycle Club in High Beech in Epping Forest not too far from Chingford. Dad made and maintained close friendships from those days, namely Jim Morris, famously injured and lost on the Moors during one Scott trial in Yorkshire. Dad raised the alarm and a few of them went out looking for him on the moors and thankfully found him, very cold and suffering from hyperthermia. Dave Hobbs who was also a Metropolitan Police Motorcycle Officer, possibly the only one who never arrested anyone Dad always joked, Bob Adams and Fred Kent. The annual family fireworks nights at the club were legendary, all the mums used to make hot dogs and tea, whilst the dads fettled the fireworks and tried not to blow each other up. Us kids always knocked about with each other, this included Michelle Adams, now Kilhams, the mother-in-law of trials rider James Dabill. I’m pretty sure there were a few ‘beano’s’ down to the coast in the summer too, plus of course we would see each other at varying trials on Sundays.”

Sales, Sales, Sales:

Amanda talks about work after trials: “To be honest, Dad worked for various direct selling companies, starting with OBAS for a few years (orthopaedic beds); Dolphin Bathrooms and a few kitchen companies too. He also sold Double Glazing; the longest period of time was for Yorkshire Windows. Thing was, he was a great salesman and could pretty much sell anything simply by chatting & listening to people. He particularly liked it when customers had pets as he was a big animal lover too and he reckoned if the animals took to him then a sale was most likely to follow. The kitchen and bathroom stuff was good for his design skills too.”

“Dad’s partner of many years was Irene, known as ‘Reney’. They were together from 1982 until she sadly died aged just 59 in 2002. She was a really lovely person and she and Dad laughed so much together even through some really hard times. I never resented her in any way and if I’m honest they were perhaps better suited than him and our Mother. Dad nursed Reney at their home in Suffolk at the end, she had cancer and of course he even ‘modded’ the oxygen supply set up, so it was more discreetly hidden within cupboards in the bedroom. To think he died so unexpectedly only two years later aged only 66. He did pack a lot in to his years though.”

Amanda continued: “Mum and Dad separated in 1978 but didn’t finalise their divorce until 1982. We never really had a conventional family set up as of course Dad didn’t really have a ‘normal’ job. That’s not to say he wasn’t at home because he was – it was just that he spent the majority of his time in the workshop he had built in the garden of our home in Woodland Road, Chingford. He named that house St Cucufa after the French trial.”

2004:

Don Smith enjoyed his millenium ride at the 2000 Pre65 Scottish and the hospitality afforded by the Edinburgh & District Motor Club by taking part in the SSDT Sunday parade along the Fort William High Street in 2003 on a Greeves.

He was in the company of Peter Gaunt and Bill Brooker. He started making plans to ride the Pre65 Scottish once again in 2005, but he had found the 2000 event tough and was unfit as far as riding a motorcycle off-road was concerned.

Don purchased a Triumph Cub from his old sparring partner, Sammy Miller at New Milton and began preparing the machine and attended to his fitness.

Don suffered a brain aneurysm alone at his home, his neighbours became worried and called the police, who had to break in. The police officer who broke in was an ex-Paratrooper as it happened. The family was alerted, Karen and Amanda made their way to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. Don couldn’t speak which was very frustrating for him.

Amanda: “Dad seemed to be improving over the next couple of days, but I noticed on the Sunday that something had changed in his eyes, and then on the Monday evening, Tuesday morning, he suffered another aneurysm. Sadly, we had to make the decision to switch off his life support as that was all that was keeping him alive. We were with him at the end and held his hand. Paul had flown over from Japan where he was living and working at the time. Trials rider, Doug Theobold and his wife had been visiting Dad often, and got there before us, they were lovely. Also, some old speedway mates visited, plus he had calls from all over the place asking for updates. Fred Kent was his ‘brother’ each time he called from Georgia in the USA.”

Donald Roland Smith died in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Hills Road, Cambridge, on Wednesday 6th October 2004 aged 66 years.

The Ashes Tour:

After Don Smith’s death in October 2004, it was decided to scatter his ashes, but not in a single location. Half were scattered in the garden of remembrance of West Suffolk Crematorium, Bury St. Edmunds where Rene’s ashes had been scattered some years previously.

Half were to be scattered in a magical place in Scotland, on the ‘Devil’s Staircase’, Lochailort on the path known to the locals as ‘the Coffin Road’.

A group of his friends made their way to Scotland and his family refer to it as ‘The Ashes Tour’.

Friendships:

Bob Adams a long-time friend of Don recounts: “Don was always known to my kids as ‘Uncle Don’ who was of course a dealer. A group of us, as very young lads, used to meet at his shop every Saturday for laughs and fun and to discuss trials that we rode. We all rode as a group in Eastern Centre Trials, we also met up every week at our club at High Beech Village Hall. In 1965 Don started selling the first Bultacos. Although we couldn’t all afford to, we all bought one to support his shop. Then many years later we did the same with Montesa. I rode round with Don in his very last trial just shortly before he died. He was on a Triumph Cub that he had bought from Sammy Miller. It was the Old Codgers Trial near Midhurst. When he passed away, we had a private ceremony up in Scotland. Just a handful of us to scatter his ashes on the famous ‘Devils Staircase’ at Lochailort. At the family’s request, immediately after, we rode the section through his ashes and cleaned it. The ‘friendship group’ comprised of Alan Ketley ‘Ketters’; myself ‘RF’; Jimmy Morris ‘JT’; Dennis Butler ‘DCB’; Peter Gaunt ‘Top Gear’; Terry Bush and Dave ‘Hobbo’ Hobbs.”

Tributes to Don Smith (1937 – 2004):

Former GP rider and seven times TT winner and sixteen podium appearances, Mick Grant: “I got to know Don Smith through my friendship with Peter Gaunt and I have to say that Don was a gentleman, he made for easy conversation, and we hit it off well. I used trials during the winter months when I was testing and not actually racing and was mates with Malcolm Rathmell and used to get the use of bikes he had finished with. However, in 1975 through to 1978, I was contracted to Kawasaki and their UK boss wasn’t happy that I was riding a Montesa in trials, so he insisted that I rode a Kawasaki. I wasn’t too enamoured as I had heard that they weren’t the best trials bike around and I was right. Having said that, I did get the bike I rode back through Bradford dealers Cobb and Jagger some years later. I then sold it on again, which I later regretted. With hindsight, I shouldn’t have moved it on as I reckon now, I could have played around with it and made it quite a competitive motorcycle, given what I know now compared to what I knew back then.”

Dennis Jones, former Sprite, Greeves and Suzuki rider, European points scorer, and friend: “Well sometimes the stars of the trials world are something extra, Don Smith was one of those men. On my first national trial, the Clayton in the Buxton area, I arrived on my BSA Gold Flash cost £7.50, sidecar removed, and my trials bike resting on two planks of wood and tied with rope. I parked next to a Ford Zodiac with an immaculate Greeves on a rack on the rear of the car. After riding from Birmingham, I was already for action. I knew it was one of my favourite riders, Don Smith putting on a perfectly clean Barbour Suit to go with his immaculate Greeves. ‘Alright son where are you from?’ ‘Birmingham,’ I replied. ‘Cold on the road today?’ said Don smiling, ‘have a good day.’ Four years later I won the Clayton on my Gaunt Suzuki beating Don by one mark. Always friendly when I rode the 1965 Scottish, Don looked at my home bodged machine, the first Sprite and commented that it looked right, ready to ride. Always a smile and a fag and a chat for all. Years later I was driving my truck round the North Circular Road when the half shaft sheared. Even though it was 6pm, I walked into Don’s shop and informed him of my problem. OK, I borrowed some tools and started to dismantle, a few minutes later Don turned up with a new half shaft. I fitted it and left, by the way I had no money and Don paid, I do not remember if I paid him back. How cool was he? It was a pleasure to know him.”

Steve Wilson, former trials, scrambles and speedway rider, builder of Wilson BMX bicycles: “I remember Don Smith vividly as an outgoing figure when he rode trials, and this continued into the world of Bicycle Motocross or BMX as it was known. He was primarily involved in the early part of the 1980s, having retired from top line motorcycle trials.“

“Don built a scrambles looking small bicycle around 1971 and took it round key cycle trade people, unfortunately he didn’t get much interest, probably ahead of his time. He discovered Andy Ruffel when he was fifteen years of age from Walthamstow London, arguably the best racer and freestyle rider in Britain at the time, between 1980 until 1986. Don was marketing and promotional boss for Ammaco Mongoose, based in Maidstone in Kent.“

“They were the very early Mongoose BMX bike importers in the UK, run by Malcolm and Sue Jarvis. They had the first private BMX track in their garden. Halfords had the first purpose-built track in Redditch which was open for racing from August 1980, it was run and improved by me as I had left trials and moved onto building the Wilson brand bikes for Halfords. Don was involved with some track developments, and he was an obvious flamboyant presence in the early days of the sport, he even had a white Ford Granada with the personalised registration, ‘BMX 1T’ and also wrote the book on the new sport.”

From Christian Rayer, six times France National Trials Champion:

“In 1962, when I was just fifteen years old, I was riding a motorcycle with my moped with some friends in the forest just behind the family home in the Paris region.“

“My friends were older than me and some of them have made motorcycles to ride with in the nearby forest, it is a sport they call ‘Trials.’ That is how I found myself one Sunday in 1962 as a spectator at the St Cucufa trial, held in wooded area in the suburbs of Paris, a very famous event where the best European riders of this discipline perform and especially British Riders reputed to be the best in this field. I was very excited to discover the names are given to me, Sammy Miller, Gordon Jackson, Roy Peplow, and a man named Don Smith who in fact came out big winner of the event that day with a curious machine that I had never seen before a Greeves motorcycle with a very curious front fork. It seems for the time to be completely unusual. This was completely designed for trials riding. Don Smith does wonders in riding this machine, so I had only one desire, to be able to ride this bike one day which seems fabulous to me.

But I will have to wait several more years to finally be able to afford the machine of my dreams. It was at the end of 1963 that I became an international rider and had to empty my cash drawers to be able to pay myself.

My Greeves 24TES that I bought new and that I rode to become Trials champion of France in 1965 (I make it short), because now having progressed well in the discipline in 2 years I find myself in international trials in competition with the best foreign riders, English, Germans, Belgians, Swiss and so on. I then find myself in an incredible situation. I was in competition with Don Smith who in the meantime had become European Trial Champion, a hell of a reference! While we are competitors, we are going to hit it off because Don is a happy, open, and friendly person and we are almost riding the same machine? Mine was always a little behind technically compared to his obviously, he is the official rider of the GREEVES brand and benefits from the latest technical improvements on his bike! He was the one who had to talk about me to Mr. Preston-Cobb at the Factory so that I could get the latest model of the brand in 1966 at favourable conditions for the time, thank you Don!

With this latest machine, the 24TFS ‘Anglian’, I will be able to obtain very good results in international competitions, which at the end of 1967, it was to open the doors of the MONTESA firm, to participate in the development of their future trial machine, the Cota 247.

I will drive in the championship of Europe and France all the year 1967 with this prototype, called simply ‘TRIAL’ on the other hand, Don left GREEVES so that he would eventually in May 1968, join me at Montesa with the arrival of the Cota 247 at the Scottish Six Days. What was incredible for me I found myself with a team-mate named Don Smith. For me Don was a legend and I have never ceased to admire his way of driving with finesse and efficiency he was an incredible role model, I watched him a lot in competition, and he taught me a lot by his talent, but I especially keep the memory of a conceived and an exceptional man of kindness”.

Tommy Sandham, former Production Editor at Trials & Motocross News and author of The Honda Trials Story and several books on the Scottish Six Days Trial:

“Don Smith? Where does one start? He was a man of many parts, Don Smith attracted more than his fair share of controversy. He was in dispute with the Haynes Publishing group over unpaid royalties. The last time I spoke to him, a few weeks before his premature death, he was in dispute with neighbours over a boundary wall or fence and five figure legal fees were being discussed. He was a remarkable self-publicist with the trademark fag in mouth, his attempt at branding.

All this some forty-five years ago, so my memory is a bit distorted if not missing altogether. I think I first met him in 1977 at the Scottish Motorcycle Show held in the McLellan Galleries in Glasgow. Shortly after that we had him up to Scotland to do the first trials school north of the border. He arrived at my house in a big Ford Granada with a twin bike rack running from the rear bumper to the roof but no bike, telling me how he had raced up the road driving without shoes! He was always trying out something like this, claiming it gave him a better feel on the pedals. He rode my Honda TL250 up the wall, a trick I was never able to repeat. We ran the trials school in a quarry near Airdrie and it was well attended. At the end of the day there was a ‘passing out’ test. For the one and only time Don was beaten by a pupil, Billy Matthews from Oban. Don blamed the brake lever on my Honda TL150, which he claimed was bent. Anyway, twenty-five years later during our last conversation, he was still complaining about that defeat.“

“We ran another school near Fintry, Stirlingshire, but the going was probably too easy with that one, but still well attended.

Don would bend over backwards to help you out. I bought a 125cc Fantic which I thought was a great little bike until a gear broke in the six-speed gearbox. The replacement gear was quickly supplied but I couldn’t get the box back together again. I had done four-speed Triumph boxes but never a six-speed. So, I phoned Don. “Call this number, ask for Roy, tell him you’ve been talking to me.”

Ten minutes later I’m sat on the floor in the spare bedroom, the engine on a load of newspapers, Roy on the phone in one hand, my other two hands assembling the gearbox. Five minutes later it’s all done!

I next encountered Don when he was promoting BMX or bicycle motocross. Morecambe Press, home of Trials and Motocross News were either looking at, or discussing a BMX newspaper and Don paid a visit. By that time, he had another big, white Ford Granada with the registration number ‘BMX 1T’. That cherished number was obtained by the crafty use of a Police computer to find out who owned that number plate followed by a home visit and eventual purchase.

Don had authored a book “The Complete Book of Bicycle Motocross” published by Haynes. The authors signed a standard contract whereby they were paid 10% of the selling price of the book, from memory around £5.95. Haynes probably printed 5,000 copies and expected that would be an end to it. But the book sold over 25,000 copies, but Haynes allegedly didn’t want to pay what was due. Another controversy!

I know that at one point in his career he was hugely frustrated by a competitor. No matter how hard Don tried, he felt he was always beaten by one S. H. Miller.

We sort of lost touch for a while, just the occasional phone call. He then popped up with his image on a set of Isle of Man stamps. He bought a Triumph Tiger Cub and intended to win the Pre-65 Scottish on it, having never managed to win the Scottish Six Days. A shoulder injury sidelined him for a while, then came his tragic death in 2004, very much gone too soon.”

A Good Friend and Rider – by Tony Davis, former Greeves, Montesa, Suzuki, BSA and Bultaco trials rider:

“On our European travels together, I would travel down to Don’s shop on the North Circular Road early afternoon with the intention of leaving by mid-afternoon to catch the late afternoon ferry, but it rarely happened that way. On one occasion we left the shop very late on our way to the German round of the European Trials championships. DR only ever took straight lines on corners and roundabouts, and at great speed. Well, this day we went through the centre of London very quickly to say the least and later the inevitable happened when we overtook a Police patrol car in Kent on the inside, going all the way around a roundabout. The Police car was not hanging about either. It took the Police three miles to catch us and pull DR in. I will never forget the total look of innocence on his face when asked if he knew what speeds and manoeuvres, he had been doing. DR got out of the car and walked to the back of the trailer with the officers. Five minutes later, one of the officers asked me to wind down my window and proceeded to give me a good lecturing on navigating and timekeeping. Finally, he told me I should know better as a Police Officer and Patrol driver, but because this event we were travelling to was very important to me and the Greeves factory, they would overlook this incident as DR had told them he would drive more carefully and not listen to my instructions in future. That was DR and, needless to say, he won the round that weekend.

I will also never forget DR at the British Experts Trial at Llandrindod Wells, when my works Greeves broke down still within sight of the start. She would not start, and DR promptly loaned me his spare bike which he had been practising on all week. The bike was scrutineered, and I was allowed to re-start. I went on to win the trial, but a lone protest that night by a rider was upheld. Again, this was another big-hearted gesture of the man that not many people knew.

We remained good friends after our riding careers had ended. I personally miss his cheerful, cheeky smile, his words of wisdom, but above all, our telephone conversations on the world problems and the knowledge that he was always there to talk to.” [6]

Don Smith – Interesting registration numbers (* denotes factory machine):

858BRO – Greeves 20TA 197cc (November 1957) – First registered to D.A. Cornell

312WPL – Greeves 246cc (1961)

1 WNO – Greeves* 24TES (1962)

NWC318 – Greeves* 246cc TES (1962)

JWC751 – Greeves* 246cc (1963)

685HWC – Greeves* 24TES Mk2 (1963)

457JOO – Greeves* 250cc ISDT (1963)

BTR51B – Greeves* 246cc International (1964 – 1965)

JVW88C – Greeves* 252cc (1965)

NVW101C – Greeves* 24TFS ‘Scottish’ (1965)

SOO24D – Greeves* 24TGS 246cc Anglian (1966)

SVX39D – Greeves* 24THSA (1966)

SGH4F – Bultaco Sherpa T – Model 27 (1967)

UMV10F – Montesa* Cota 247cc MK1 (used 1967-1969)

AYN15H – STAG Mk1 (1970) Prototype

OLM93L – Kawasaki* 450 Prototype (1972)

ULP1M – Kawasaki Z1 900 (August 1973) – Road machine supplied by Kawasaki Motors UK.

ULP2M – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1973) – Issued to Richard Sunter, Healaugh, North Yorkshire and used by Nigel Birkett.

ULP4M – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1973) Prototype (also used by Jack Galloway)

ULT66M – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1973) Prototype

XLK974N – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1974)

XLK975N – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1974)

XLK977N – Kawasaki* 250 (August 1974) – issued to Nigel Birkett

HMM115N – Kawasaki* 250 (1975)

JMU344P – Kawasaki* 250 Prototype (August 1975)

JMU345P – Kawasaki* 250 Prototype (August 1975)

712R – Kawasaki* 330 prototype – 4 machines made (1976)

JMC68S – Fantic 125* (April 1978)

JMC291S – Fantic 125* (1978)

Bibliography:

References, Information Sources and Quotes:

‘Ride It! The Complete Book of Motorcycle Trials’ – Don Smith – Haynes, 1975 – ISBN 0854291652 [1] [2] [3] [9]

‘Trials Bike Riding’ – Don Smith – EP Publishing Ltd, 1980 – ISBN 0715807277

‘Ride It! BMX The Complete Book of Bicycle Motocross’ – Don Smith – Haynes, 1982 – ISBN 085429 269 1

Edinburgh & District Motor Club Ltd – Collection of Tributes to Don Smith – 2005. [5] [6] [7]

Motor Cycle News – December 14, 1977. [8]

Motor Cycle News – December 21, 1977.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries – KT250 Sales Brochure 1975. [4]

The ‘Scottish’ 1963 – 1989 – Tommy Sandham & John Dickinson – Willow Publishing, Magor – June 1989 – Photo: Don Smith SSDT 1964, Page 14. [11]

Cycle World Magazine – January 1st 1973 – Article Ivan J. Wagar ‘Kawasaki’s Prototype Trialer’ – online article publication: (https://magazine.cycleworld.com/article/1973/01/01/kawasakis-prototype-trialer?fbclid=IwAR0k5s8p0lS_XWPb2LMjqX0wpqafOxO9RPg5fHfmN5RyvuEupBn3Myud3Zg) [10]

The Motor Cycle (EMAP) 1971 – January 27 [12]

All quotes in this article are cross-referenced in this bibliography. All other quotes were taken from direct conversations and correspondence between the author and the subject in 2023. All quotes have been selected to comply with ‘fair dealing’. This article is not being published for any monetary reward or monetisation, be that online or in print.

Article Copyright: John Moffat/Trials Guru – 2023.

Photographic Copyright remains with the owner of the individual photographs.

Post-script to the Don Smith Story…

Update on Don’s Kawasaki KT250 JMU345P, which still exists and in retirement in England. Don was invited to ride his old bike back in 1993 at the Southend MCC, Gus Martin Memorial Trial – all photos by Darrel Glover: