5. International six-day trip

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The 5th International Six-Day Tour took place from August 6th to 12th, 1923 in Sweden and Norway.

After the Swiss Motorcycle Association had held the International Six Day Ride twice in a row , it waived the renewed right to host it. Instead, it was suggested that the Swedish and Norwegian Motorcycle Associations should host the competition in 1923. The Swedish team won it, but the result was controversial for a while.

competition

The organizing associations declared that the event should take place with the same regulations as in previous years. To simplify the rules, the final inspection of the motorcycles should be avoided. This proposal was accepted by the FICM . However, the presentation of the final competition regulations was delayed. Preliminary rules were discussed at the FICM Congress on July 16, 1923. However, since no representatives from Norway and Sweden were present, a final clarification could not be made.

The final rules for the 5th International Six-Day Race contained two important changes compared to the regulations of the previous year's events. The use of the specified route was not mandatory. Repairs did not have to be carried out exclusively by the driver and only with the spare parts carried.

82 drivers started. 40 drivers came from Sweden, 17 from Norway, 13 from England, 6 from Switzerland, 5 from Denmark and one from Belgium.

During the competition there were several protests by the participating teams. However, these were all rejected by the jury.

1 day

The route on the first day of the competition led from Stockholm to Rättvik over 365 kilometers.

2 day

On the second day, the 400-kilometer route between Rättvik and Karlstad had to be covered.

3rd day

On the third day, the stage from Karlstad to the Norwegian capital Christiania led over 267 kilometers.

4th day

On the fourth day it was 354 kilometers from Christiania to Gothenburg, Sweden.

August 10th was a day of rest in Gothenburg.

5th day

On the fifth day, 341 kilometers had to be covered between Gothenburg and Norrköping .

6th day

On the last day, the route from Norrköping to Stockholm was 249 kilometers. The last test was a kilometer race with a flying start. The Norwegian Lunde with a 1000 cm³ Harley-Davidson was the fastest with 31.3 seconds.

Bottom line

Trophy rating
space team Points
1. SwedenSweden Sweden
Bernhard Malmberg ( Husqvarna )
Gustav Göthe (Husqvarna)
Gunnar Lundgren (Husqvarna) 		2663
2. United Kingdom 1801United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom
Bert Kershaw ( New Imperial - JAP )
Frank Giles ( AJS )
De la Hay (Sunbeam) 		1797
3. SwitzerlandSwitzerland Switzerland
Hans Dinkel (Condor)
Eduoard Gex ( Motosacoche )
Franconi ( Motosacoche ) 		1747

The individual evaluation of the drivers gave the following result. In the motorcycle class up to 250 cm³, the Briton Bert Kershaw won on New Imperial - JAP with 900 points. In the motorcycle class up to 350 cm³, the Brit Bird won on BSA with 900 points, ahead of the two Danes Schmidt (899 points) and Heedegard (896 points) both on FN

In the class up to 500 cm³ the Norwegian Vaumund won on Triumph with 900 points ahead of the Swede Gustav Göthe on Husqvarna with 899 points and the Norwegian Haug on BSA (898 points). In the 750 cm³ class, the Norwegian Graff (900 points) won ahead of the two Swedes Larsson (898 points) and Stenkil (898 points). Everyone was traveling with Husqvarna. In the 1000 cm³ class, five drivers were rated first with 900 points, the Swedes Larsson and Erik Westerberg on Harley-Davidson, the Swede Pettersson on Excelsior and the Norwegians Wiger and Vaumund on Harley-Davidson.

In the 600 cm³ sidecar class, the Swiss Souvarian on Motosacoche and the Brit Peterson on Dunelt came first with 900 points. In the 1000 cc sidecar class, the Swiss Edouard Gex on Motosacoche and the Swede F. Westerberg on a Harley-Davidson were tied with 900 points in first place, followed by the Brit Ellis on Matchless .

All drivers who finished the competition with the maximum number of 900 points received the gold medal.

Harley-Davidson won the brand classification with the maximum number of points of 2700 points, ahead of Husqvarna IV (2689 points), Husqvarna II (2688 points), FN (2685 points), AJS (2676 points) and Motosacoche (2647 points).

The club championship was won by the SMCK with 2690 points, ahead of the Copenhagen MC (2685 points), the Norsk MC (2683 points) and the M C. Stockholm (2673 points).

Aftermath

The Swiss FICM Vice President Jules Neher reported to the association congress on December 4, 1923 about various irregularities observed during the six-day trip. On the one hand, he referred to the rule changes that had been carried out, which in his opinion would not do justice to the demands made on the competition. He also reported on various rule violations. In summary, this would have led to an inadmissible preference for the Swedish winning team. For this reason, he applied for the results of the 5th International Six-Day Tour not to be recognized and for the trophy to be returned to the world association. He also called for the rules to be drawn up by the FICM alone in future and monitored by an international jury.

The FICM secretary Thomas Wynn Loughborough, who was also the head of the jury for the six-day competition, responded to Jules Neher's presentation. He found that the regulations had shortcomings, but were accepted by all those involved. Since no representative from the Swedish Association was present, no clarification of any kind regarding individual points of the changed regulations could be made from this side.

The delegates saw fewer problems with the result of the competition, but rather in the change in basic rules that were no longer in the sense of the intended competition idea. Thus the Congress decided with seven votes in favor, one against and two abstentions not to recognize the results of the 5th six-day trip.

The following year at the FICM Congress on October 7, 1924, the issue was taken up again after the Swedish and Norwegian associations had given detailed replies to Jules Neher's allegations. In particular, it was stated that the rule changes would not have favored the home team. The allegation that local drivers would be overreached by not stipulating the route, as they could use better or shorter routes, was replied to the fact that there was usually only one road between two specified checkpoints. Regarding repairs with outside help and outside means, it was replied that there was no evidence of this. In total, only four protests were made regarding the violations of the rules raised by the Swiss Association. These were all turned down. A permissible appeal to the World Association was not made in any of the cases. The association finally came to the conclusion that, despite the incomplete regulations, the Swedish team was not given any preferential treatment.

The results of the 5th International Six-Day Race were finally confirmed. However, the organizing associations were reprimanded for not having done everything to ensure that the competition gave all participants the same opportunities. In addition, the conflict also led to the creation of the "Commission Sportive Internationale" (CSI), which was supposed to take care of the sporting and technical aspects of the competitions of the world association.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FIM Vintage: The 1923 Affair ( Memento from March 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) gives 94 starters, 23 of which were canceled.