www.alexmcleodspeedway.com

 This page is brief pictorial history of our machinery

When I first got the idea of taking up Speedway, my Father took me to Weymouth Speedway almost every Friday through the winter of 2003/4 for the 'Wildcats' training schools. ( Which was great for me as it rekindled Dads passion for the sport )

Over that period we met and spoke to many people including Max Richards of PEGASUS SPEED NEEDS who came to my rescue with my first training bike for the Spring of 2004                                          

The bike had a Honda CB100 4 stroke engine  in a Jawa upright frame on Talon Gold anodized wheels ( 21" & 18" trial for reduced height )

The next stage was to fit an upright engine guard, a rear wheel spoiler and paint a few things up to get me out at Weymouth & Eastbourne

After a few training days at Weymouth, Eastbourne & Reading I persuaded Dad to give the bike a change of colour.

My dad then obtained a Honda CG125 Brazilian engine to give me more power and make a step up, but decided to look for another rolling chassis rather than take the 100cc out of the bike we had. We bought a Godden rolling chassis but until we built it up we used the full sized wheels in the Jawa along with a change of engine & rear sprocket and new 520 chain. These small changes got me sliding !

 We then started work on the 125 by stripping the frame down and cleaning and on rebuilding done a touch of paintwork and added new  Black / Red fibreglass guards and Fork cover.

We then fitted the engine which was a good condition CG125 Brazilian unit ( a bargain on E Bay ) however the engine plates seemed to push the engine a bit too far forward making it difficult fitting the exhaust so on the next training session we decided that we would have new engine plates made as we also found the chain fouling the rear frame bolt

We used the plates from the Jawa as a template because the mounting of a CB100 and CG125 is Identical ( Thanks to Gary T & G Fabrication) and we also had a King silencer fitted ( Thanks to John at J & T Tubes )

This done the trick, the bike ran well and I really enjoyed riding with the extra power which helped me a lot with the sliding. 

Just before Xmas 2004 the engine blew and it was while dad had another engine rebored and rebuilt, I took my first tentative steps around Weymouth on a wonderful  500cc Godden upright machine owned by our close friend Guy Curtis                                  

In the New Year of 2005 I was advised that it was the right time to move up to a 500cc machine so we obtained my first  Jawa full size machine. It had a longstroke engine, delorto Carb & NEB Clutch and is shown in the Hans Anderson GP Covers it came with.

We experimented with colours -  Black / White and Blue / Silver Glitter

While my training was going well and were travelling some distance to ride, a similar machine became available from an ex 'Wildcat' and as this bike was set up for league racing it became my No 1 bike. It was also a Jawa longstroke with NEB Clutch except it had a BZ Carb ( which we later come to use for all our machines )                                           

In the spring of 2006 we fitted both machines the new matching guards, from Howard at Just Concepts ( EV Fibreglass ) and the covers from Malcolm at SF Racewear.

After a series of engine problems at the end of the season we decided to obtain another, more up to date machine from a Premier league rider we know and having a shortstroke engine would mean a change in my riding, but I adapted to it well and my training improved tremendously through the winter of 2006 / 7.

With that success came the decision to obtain a second shortstroke engine and we run on those full time now.

At this stage we now have 3 machines, All Jawa - 2 Shortstroke & 1 Longstroke and all with NEB Clutches & BZ Carbs.

After intense racing and training through the 2007 Season and the Autumn & Winter general wear and tear has taken its toll on the machinery, so it was time to replace a full machine to gain a 3rd engine for rotation purposes.

The decision was difficult as we felt that I should have a Longstroke to go along side the 2 shortstrokes and as the original Jawa longstroke was relatively dated and would need an expensive rebuild, we thought that we should get a newer engine and in the process change over to Alex's first GM.

So in January we purchased a reasonably recent machine along the the lines of the equipment we already have,ie Jawa frame, BZ carb & NEB clutch, but  it housed a GM longstroke.

All the personal changes were made , such as guards, covers, seat, Handlebars etc and we are hoping to try it out at the Mildenhall training in Mid January 2008.

Things were going very well on the longstroke with Alex improving and getting faster on the bigger tracks but unfortunately when Alex was riding hard at the Poole Press & Practice, the primary chain went and sent him into the air fence resulting in the main diamond snapping clean in half. So with a new diamond the following week we rode at the Somerset Press & Practice and the bad luck hit again when the GM engine blew up.

When dismantled it was found to have been a rocker arm roller had broken up and sent pieces around the motor, destroying the valves, springs, caps, rocker arms, cam and the resultant heat seizure took out the piston, con rod and barrel.

The engine had the expensive rebuild only to blow again on the start line at Plymouth having only completed 4 laps since the work !!!  This time a £4 valve spring cap broke in half and sent the valve into the barrel totally destroying head, piston & barrel.

So back onto the shortstroke engines and some thinking !!

Having made big strides on the Longstroke we decided to purchase a brand new Jawa longstroke engine that was offered to us.

Alex is currently riding this and learning its ways as this is the strongest motor we have ever had.

Our GM is awaiting some parts and will be rebuilt shortly so hopefully in a short time we will have 4 motors,  2 x Jawa  S/S,  1 x GM L /S  and a Jawa L/S which will mean, for the first time, we can move away from using tired engines and have them serviced on the dot whilst always having an engine to replace them.

 Having spent some time on longstrokes Alex has been making huge strides in his racing especially at Poole in the Academy meetings but unfortunately in August suffered a bad crash at Poole, when out wide in deep dirt on a damp night he hit a rut, picked up, and sent him flying into the Airfence at speed resulting in an operation to repair a bad break and fracture to his forearm with a plate and a wrecked bike !

The enforced break will give us time over the following weeks to rebuild the equipment for a hard winters training and be fresh for the start of season 2009 !    

With Alex well on the mend, our attention now turns to rebuilding the bikes for a hard winters training starting with the return of the rebuilt of GM longstroke motor from R.N.R. and the Jawa longstroke will be serviced shortly to give us 2 fresh motors. This will leave 2 x Jawa shortstrokes as spare.                                     We are going through all the spare bits, keeping good and 'binning' the rubbish and making sure we have 2 good machines for the training.                               Also we are sorting out new guards, covers and colours etc for next season.