Bill Lomas

Record type: Motorsport Biographies

Biography: Age 25, Bill Lomas has had countless short-circuit successes since he started racing in 1946. His first experience of the T.T. course was in the Lightweight Manx Grand Prix of 1948, in which he finished seventh on an Enfield. He rode a 350 Enfield 'Bullet' in the 1949 Clubman's Junior, but retired on the second lap. In the Manx Grand Prix the following September he rode a Velocette KTT in both Junior and Senior races. He finished sixth in the Junior at 78.25 mph, but retired in the fifth lap of the Senior. In 1950 he won the 350 race at Ansty in April, and both the Lightweight and Unlimited class at the Cadwell Park Easter meeting.

He rode a Velocette in the 1950 Junior T.T., but retired. On the Continent he was placed in the first eight of the Belgian and Swiss Grands Prix, the Dutch T.T. and the Grand Prix des Nations, 350 c.c. classes.

Bill, a motor engineer from Milford, Derbyshire, finished fifth in the 1951 Junior T.T., averaging 86.084 mph on a Velocette. His best Lightweight ride on the Continent was in the French Grand Prix, where he finished fifth. In the 350 class he was third in the Belgian Grand Prix.

In 1952 he rode in all three T.T. races. He retired after two laps in the Lightweight, but finished fourth in the Junior at 86.26 mph and fifith in the Senior at 88.71. Both his 'finishes' were on A.J.S. machines, and he won two silver replicas.

Again riding and Ajay, he was fifth in the 350 class of the Belgian Grand Prix and third in the same class of the German. His best meeting of the year was the Ulster where, having 'turned foreign,' he was second in the 125 race at 76.33 mph and third in the 500 at 96.47, on Italian M.V.'s.

He was entered by N.S.U. for the 1953 125 and Lightweight T.T. races, but a crash in practising caused him to be a non-starter. He changed stables fot the 1954 season and rode M.V. machines in the Junior, 125 c.c. and Senior T.T. races. In the Junior event he was seventh, at 95.98 mph on the 350 c.c. 'Four', but he failed to finish in the other two races.

He was the winner on a Guzzi of Monday's Junior T.T. at the record average speed of 92.33 mph.
(TT Special, 8 June 1955, p.9.)

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