Alan Barnett made amends in the 500cc final. On Syd Lawton’s 382cc Aermacchi, Alan took the lead from Brian Kemp with 2 of the 10 laps of the 2.76 miles circuit left.

Quickly, he pulled out a 30 yard lead which he held to the end. Said Alan: “The Aermacchi was slightly down on top speed on Brian’s Seeley, but I had the edge on acceleration.”

Percy Tait, still needing a pusher at the start, pulled up to 3rd. After closing on the leaders in the early stages, he couldn’t finally make it and finished 16 seconds behind Barnett and 5 seconds ahead of 4th man Jim Curry (Seeley).

Charlie Sanby’s victory came in the 500cc final, after a race long struggle with Alan Barnett (382cc Aermacchi).

Sanby (Gus Kuhn Seeley) led from the start, shadowed closely by Alan Barnett. Both had something up their sleeve for a speed up over the last 2 laps, so that’s the way it stayed.

Only 25 yards behind came Geoff Barry on Charle Oakley’s Matchless. It was one of Geoff’s best rides on the track he always seems to do best on.

Scoring his first national victory, Percy May (Petite Norton) won the 500cc race to make some amends for running out of petrol when leading at the Mallory Park season opener.

May battled throughout with Brian Kemp (Higley Seeley). Kemp took the lead on lap 3 from Dave Croxford (Seeley) and held it until May squeezed past on braking for the chicane on the last lap. Said May: “I just got my front wheel an inch ahead at the chicane. It was touch and go who was going to get around first.”

There was no report for this race.

A man who cannot afford to contest all 8 British Championship rounds on Sunday won one of the most sensational races seen on short circuits this year. Percy May, a 30-year-old toolmaker from Farnborough, Hampshire, scorched to victory in the 500cc race at Mallory Park on Ray Petty’s Manx Norton. It was his second win in two 500cc Championship outings this year and it lifted him to 3rd place in the Championship table. Later he said: “I never really thought about going for the title, because I’m a family man, I don’t get start money and I couldn’t afford to ride in the opening rounds at Oulton Park and Cadwell Park. Oulton alone would have cost me £12.50 in petrol for my van.

But May underlined his talent in a 5 man dice for the lead that also featured Championship leader, Brian Kemp, Seeley works rider Dave Croxford, Gus Kuhn Seeley, Charlie Sanby and Tom Kirby’s runner Jim Harvey.

They swapped places around the 1.45 mile Leicestershire circuit for 14 laps, with May forcing into the lead from 7th place on the opening lap.

Then the rain fell halfway around the final lap and caused chaos. May got into a slide on Gerards, but managed to stay aboard. But Sanby, in 2nd place, went down on the fast right hander and took Croxford with him, both were very lucky to escape unhurt.

The big spill left Kemp in 2nd place, followed by Harvey and Bob Heath on the works “Motocross” engined BSA.

Paul Cott, a 24-year-old commercial fitter from Lincolnshire, who is well known in northern racing circles, caused a mystery in the dramatic 500cc race. His name was misspelled as “Coty” in the program and commentators and spectators were perplexed when this apparently unknown rider challenged Percy May for the lead.

May, the quiet man from Farnborough, led the race on Ray Petty’s Manx, but Cott, ignoring wobbles caused when the fairing of his Seeley grounded on the corners, stuck on his tail for 14 of the 15 laps.

On the final lap he got by to score his first win at a national meeting. “It’s only my second race on the Seeley. I must admit that I never thought I could win,” he said later.

The machine is owned by Wisbech, Cambs, businessman Stuart Willis, currently in the Bahamas.

The 500cc class maintained its reputation as one of the most exciting in racing, by producing a 5 man struggle for 3rd place. David Featherstone (Norton), Charlie Sanby (Gus Kuhn Seeley), Dave Trollope (Seeley), Dave Best (Petty Norton) and Bob Heath (BSA) changed places on every lap.

But Featherstone, a trainee RAF engineer in his first season of national racing, was ahead on the final corner, while Heath dropped back with engine problems.

Brian Kemp, who had not recovered from injury in time to race, still leads the 500cc Championship by just 1 point from Sanby, who made a promising reappearance after crashing at the Hutch.

Percy May and Charlie Sanby bidding to take the lead from injured Brian Kemp in the Championship.

Barry Ditchburn set a cracking pace on Ted Broad’s “over-size” Yamaha until it seized at the hairpin on lap 3.

This left stylish Jim Harvey to win his first national on Tom Kirby’s Matchless Metisse, he finished 600 yards ahead of Paul Cott (Seeley).

In 3rd place, Tony Jefferies set the fastest lap on the Munch, the third time he has had the fastest lap on his three outings on the 4 cylinder 500cc Munch.

May was 4th, with John Williams, on Tom Arter’s Matchless, holding off Sanby.

Because of the cost and the difficulty of getting time off his work as a toolmaker at Farnborough, Hants. May contested only 4 rounds, so all his scores counted. On “corrected scores,” he finished 4 points ahead of Kemp, who was 1 point ahead of Sanby.