1958 Junior TT

Course name: Mountain (post 1914)

Course length: 264.25 miles (7 laps)

Description: Race report from the Isle of Man Times, 6 June 1958 (p.5) below which is a full list of competitors:

SURTEES WINS JUNIOR T.T.
NOTHING COULD TOUCH THE M.V.
Top Norton Riders Make an Early Exit
Grandstand, Monday.
JOHN SURTEES won the Junior T.T. for Italy to-day after a race in which he led all the way and was never seriously challenged.
One after another of the top Norton riders made an early exit, leaving Surtees to win as he pleased after the only other M.V. Agusta in the race had gone out with mechanical trouble soon after the start.
The crowds did not have long to wait for the sensations, and they came thick and fast. Geoff Duke retired with engine trouble at Sulby; another top Norton rider, Jack Brett met a similar fate at Ramsey, as did Dickie Dale at Glentrammon, then John Hartle (M.V.) at the Bungalow. Bob McIntyre (Norton), last year's winner at record speed on a Gilera, and lap record holder, was runner-up to John Surtees at the end of the first lap, then retired.
Thick early morning mist gave way to blue skies and warm sunshine as the 75 riders set off in the Junior T.T. in which, for the first year, there were no manufacturers' teams. Eleven club teams were nominated, including the Southern M.C.C, with Geoff Duke, George Costain and Alan Holmes.
FIRST LAP
Geoff Duke (Norton) made a very neat getaway and everyone wondered if he could beat the Foreign challenge. He reached Ballacraine speedily as Bob McIntyre (Norton) sped away with John Hartle (M.V.) close on his heels. D. G. Chapman (Norton) got no further than Crosby, where he retired with a seized engine. John Hempleman (Norton) lost three minutes as his machine failed to start. A plug change was necessary before he got away.
The Grandstand spectators were curious when Geoff Duke' s indicator stuck at Kirk Michael, whereas all the following riders were signalled through at Ramsey. It looked as if Geoff was out of the race on his first lap.
Bob McIntyre was about 19 seconds ahead of Hartle at Ramsey.
PACE TAKES HEAVY TOLL
The pace in the first lap had some of the potential winners out in the early stages.
Duke had stopped at Sulby with engine trouble and O'Rourke (Norton) retired there with a seized engine. Hartle's indicator board showed he was stuck on the mountain, and Bob McIntyre (Norton) who started in front of him, had pulled away, but went through giving the "thumbs down" signal. By this time Hartle's clock moved to the Mountain, and Jack Brett (Norton) retired at Ramsey with engine trouble.
Now came the news that John Hartle had stopped at the Bungalow with engine trouble, and was pushing his machine back to the Start, but his M.V. partner Surtees, was motoring very fast, and was very steady. The Swiss, J. Siffert (Norton), retired on the Mountain with engine trouble.
CRASH AT WINDY CORNER
A 25 - year - old motorcycle salesman, Ian Langlands (A.J.S.) came off at Windy Corner. He was taken to Noble's Hospital.
His wife left the stands to be with him, but fortunately he was not so badly injured as was at first feared.
Local riders' times were as follows: — Syd Mizen, 26 mins. 38 secs.; Jackie Wood, 26 mins. 15.6 secs.; George Costain, 26 mins. 4 secs.; Alan Homes, 25 mins. 10 secs.; A. R. Capner, 28 mins. 53 secs. Holmes' time put him in eighth position at the end of Lap 1.

SECOND LAP
The top men were falling out rapidly robbing the race of a great deal of interest. In addition to Duke, Brett and Hartle, Bob McIntyre went off the course at Quarter Bridge and motored up the Peel Road —an official retirement.
Yet another top man retirement, this time Dickie Dale, whose Norton suffered engine trouble at Glen Trammon on his first lap.
With McIntyre’s retirement a battle was developing for second place between Alistair King, Bob Anderson, Geoff Tanner and Keith Campbell, all on Nortons, who were separated by 25 seconds.
At the end of the second lap John Surtees pulled in, whipping off his goggles at the approach to the pits, stopped for three seconds, got new goggles and carried on.
Second lap growing times of the Manx riders were: Mizen, 52 mins. 44 secs; Wood. 51 mins. 6 secs; Costain, 51 mins. 38.8 secs.; Holmes, 49 mins. 58.4 secs; Capner, 57 mins. 46.8 secs. Holmes' time put him in ninth position at the end of the second lap.
C. A. Dunn hit the sandbags at Laurel Bank, but did not hurt himself, though he retired from the race.

THIRD LAP
Surtees was streaking round on the gleaming red M.V. with a pack of Nortons on his tail. His machine was incomparably faster than the single-cylinder Nortons, but any mechanical failure in the Italian machine would provide a battle royal with the men who were chasing him. The clouds had built up to kill the sunshine, and speeds were increasing as the leading men settled down to the third lap.
Howth (Norton) mounted the kerb at Signpost Corner but was able to pull up and proceeded.
Eric Hinton (Norton) stopped at Laurel Bank with engine trouble, but carried on later.
Hempleman retired at the Waterworks with engine trouble and Thomson had a broken con-rod at Sarah's Cottage.
Capner pulled in at the pits with a loose fluid chamber and after wiring it up he carried on.
A number of riders overshot their pits when coming in to refuel and lost valuable seconds.
Even Surtees took 32 seconds to fill up, rather a long time in these days. But he seemed to have a comfortable lead.
FOURTH LAP
With tanks replenished, the men set out on the fourth lap with Surtees over two minutes ahead of King, who seemed to have broken his record of bad luck, but Bob Anderson had dropped from third to sixth position and Dave Chadwick took over his third place.
But only 13 seconds separated the last four men on the leader board, which was an indication of the close match of men and machines.
Against Surtees' rather long fill-up time, Chadwick took 23 seconds and Bob Anderson 25 seconds.
At this stage everyone was keenly watching the titanic struggle between Chadwick and Tanner, who had been separated by one second at the end of the third lap and Campbell and Anderson, who were some 12 seconds behind Tanner.
Manxman Alan Holmes was reported as going slow past Sulby Bridge, and the indicator board showed he had fallen behind, but the trouble evidently righted itself, for Alan was clocked through on the Mountain and was said to be going at his usual speed. At nearly 1 o'clock John Hartle coasted into the pits on his silent M.V., but misfortune had not taken away his infectious smile.
The Manxmen at the end of four laps were in the following order: Costain (growing time), 1 hr. 44 mins. 3 secs.: Wood. 1 hr. 44 mins. 24.4 secs.: Mizen. 1 hr. 45 mins 11 secs; Holmes, 1 hr. 49 mins. 14.4 secs; and Capner, 1 hr. 57 mins. 16 secs
FIFTH LAP
With close on three minutes' lead, Surtees went streaking through at the end of the fifth lap, with his engine at full screech. In a class of his own, he was unaware of the changes going on with the remaining leader board men. Bob Anderson, who was third on the second lap, dropped to ninth place, and Campbell, who lay behind Anderson on the second lap, slipped to seventh position. South African rider, "Paddy" Driver (Norton), was now in 12th position—a very creditable performance for a man who was riding in his first Junior T.T.

SIXTH LAP
On performance and time nothing could touch the four-cylinder M.V. as its high-pitched whine brought people to their toes at the many vantage points. Surtees had established a clear lead right from the start, and not even the tenacious riding of Alastair King could diminish the supremacy of the Catford boy.
R. Fay (Norton) retired at the pits.
It was obvious that Alan Holmes had gone out of the race because his indicator stuck at Kirk Michael on the fifth lap, though no confirmation of his retirement was received.

SEVENTH LAP
Excitement ran high when Surtees streaked up from Governor's Bridge, but slowed down to pull in at the pits. He filled up in 19 seconds, pushed the machine, the engine of which roared into life and set off for his final lap.
With over four minutes in hand, he could well afford this second pit stop and he was making sure he did not stop with fuel shortage as he did two years ago when in the lead.
A minor sensation was Dave Chadwick's performance. He took second place, leaving Alastair King far behind. At the end of the 5th lap King had a 29 seconds lead on the Manchester boy, who put in a fast sixth lap to beat the Scots- man, and eventually it was seen that King had dropped to seventh place, but Surtees was increasing his lead still further and at Sulby Bridge his riding was described as immaculate, as he sped away to Kerrowmoar.
When the leading man on the road, Derek Minter, was signalled at Signpost, Surtees was on the Mountain, roaring steadily to victory. Alan Holmes telephoned from Sulby to say he had retired with engine trouble but was "all right."
Geoff Tanner and Surtees were signalled together at Signpost and shortly afterwards Campbell and Mike Hailwood, who had ridden a consistent race for the first time on the Island.
Everyone waited anxiously; one of the officials held the chequered flag, and soon there was heard the high scream of the M.V. Agusta and John Surtees had won his first Junior T.T.

Competitors

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