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Terry Swatten 1982-1983 |
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Terry, a transplanted Australian living in Toronto, was the first person to set forth on a “Tired Iron Racing” motorcycle, he was also the first person to fall off. Not only was the bike notoriously unreliable but it was equipped with an absolutely monstrous Yamaha 4 leading shoe front brake. Terry got de-tuned pretty quickly and when it finally flung him off at turn 5 at the old Shannonville track he decided discretion was the better part of valour. He went back to restoring his original AJS 7R and has never raced since. It's been about 10 years since we saw Terry but we believe he is now retired and still living in Toronto. |
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Frank Whiteway |
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Frank is the team member that never was. Originally we had planned to put the Crooks Suzuki Team back together for the 1984 Classic Manx Grand Prix by reuniting Frank, Les Trotter and Eddie Crooks all on TR250 Suzukis. Work commitments prevented Frank participating in 1984 so he became "the team member that never was". Frank, has an impressive racing resume having scored several victories on the Isle of Man in both the Manx Grand Prix and the TT Races and not to mention the British National Championship on a TR50 Suzuki. As a frequent visitor to Canada we manage to have a get together on a semi regular basis with Frank and his wife Dot. |
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Dave Hughes |
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Dave, who owns a pretty formidable collection of period Yamahas himself and has been a good friend to the team over the years… not to mention a valuable source of free parts. Ever quick with help and advice he has been a steadfast supporter of Tired Iron Racing despite the fact he will not admit that a Suzuki TR250 could possibly be faster than his beloved TD1C Yamaha. On one occasion Dave stopped by the pit to congratulate us on a good performance and to remark that the new 30mm carburetors on the TR250 were long overdue and in the future I should not be so cheap! Good… I thought, "perhaps I can get them back on his shelf before he misses them!" I clearly recall Dave's very first words to me at a race meeting in Shannonville around the early part of 1982 "Hello my name is Dave… you look like the sort of person who would enjoy a drink" The friendship has endured for 25 years… and I am still waiting for that drink….. |
Connie Florio
Connie has been an integral part of the team for the past 14 years. A travel agent by profession it has been her lot in life to get us where we are going… and it's not been easy for her. She had never heard of the Isle of Man.
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Connie sure knows where the Isle of Man is now but she insists on calling it the Isle of Woman; she does that just because she knows team Manager Kevin Fletcher is from the Isle of Man. Years of practice has given her a good grasp on where the major race tracks in North America are and a good handle on the location of most of the world's international events. In addition to all the help with travel her fluency in the Italian language has been more than helpful on occasion. Her new Vespa(a present from husband Bruno)has become notorious in the west side of Toronto for excessive speed and an aggressive riding style. Giacamo Agostini will be shaking in his boots. If you have a travel requirement email Connie at: |
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Steve Butt |
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Steve who joined the team 2 years ago is the new “Roy” in Canada. His first event was with Adam Bennett at North Bay in 2004 which turned out to be a trial by fire, the bike simply did not want to run. The fault was eventually traced to the ignition but it took all day Saturday and most of Sunday to find it. It is no coincidence that Steve’s father-in-law is Frank Whiteway, former Manx Grand Prix and TT winner and member of the old Crooks Suzuki team back in the 60’s and 70’s. |
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Roy Dixon |
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Unknown to me when we signed Les Trotter back in 1984 Roy kind of came as part of the package! Les and Roy go way back to the late 60’s, with Roy swinging the wrenches on the bikes Les rode. I don’t think there is anyone in the world that has spent as much time on TR250 and TR500 Suzukis. Just look at the photograph (in the gallery section) from the Manx Grand Prix in the early 70’s, not a grey hair in sight! Now compare that to the photograph (left) from Daytona 2001, quite a contrast. Many a race has been won because of Roy’s efforts and of course he was there when Les won the Senior Manx Grand Prix in 1976 on a TR500 Suzuki. |
Guests:
There have been many guests over the years that have ridden or tested the teams machinery, here are a few of the names:
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Eddie Crooks |
Eddie rode in the 1984 Manx Grand Prix as part of the Dorman Diesels (Tired Iron Racing) Team on a TR250 Suzuki. |
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Alan Cathcart |
The well respected motorcycle journalist tested the Kawasaki KR750 at Loudon in 1985. |
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Sam Shinaberry |
Sam raced the KR750 at Nelson Ledges Ohio in 1985 and still has the grin on his face to this day! |
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Bob Szoke |
Bob, the father of former Canadian Superbike Champion Jordan Szoke, rode the KR750. He did a few test laps at Shannonville Motorsport Park and he still has a grin on his face as well. |
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Mac McDiarmid |
Mac tested the teams original TR250 for Classic Bike (Published Oct 1987) and managed to seize the engine! |
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Adam Bennett 2003–Present |
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Adam was recruited in 2003 at the Mosport Park event in the August of that year. Prompted by Les Trotter’s suggestion that the T20 lightweight race bike needed more track time for development we took a stopwatch and went to watch the 125 race at the top of turn 2. All was revealed, Adam was fast on a 125 so we approached him about riding for Tired Iron Racing. |
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Unknown to us at the time Adam had an impressive and varied racing background on two wheels and four. Adam worked for many years as a technician with March Engineering in the UK building Formula 1 cars for Ronnie Peterson and Hans Stuck; then later he worked for UOP Shadow building the Can Am cars that won both Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta in 1974. Not all his activities were on the "dark" side however, he spent time with "Dimension 4", this being the team that built John Hobbs's famous Weslake powered drag bike "The Hobbit". Listen |
Les Trotter 1984–Present |
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After many years of successful racing in the UK, including a Senior Manx Grand Prix win in 1976, Les decided to retire from motorcycle racing after the 1982 season. Having spent many years with the Crooks Suzuki team he had raced with some of the best including Stan Woods, Malcolm Uphill and Charlie Williams (to name just a few), all of whom had been Crooks team members at some stage. His career had seen him line up against Phil Read, Barry Sheene, Barry Ditchburn, Mick Grant and a host of other international stars. |
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Unknown to Les however, I went to see Eddie Crooks in the fall of 1983 and suggested that we put the old Crooks Suzuki Team of Frank Whiteway, Les Trotter and Eddie back together for the Classic Manx Grand Prix of 1984. Eddie agreed and Les was promptly “un-retired” (it did not take much persuasion) and the rest is history. After the Manx Grand Prix Les decided to keep the bike for the 1985 season and compete in the Kenning Classic Championship. The TR250 bike finally got back to Canada in the fall of 1994 some 10 years after first going to the Isle of Man. In the intervening period we had won the Kenning Classic Championships twice and finished runner-up twice. Additionally we had run the bike at the Manx Grand Prix and almost won it one year. Leading the last lap by a comfortable margin an ignition fault struck at Governors Bridge… Les pushed in to finish in 6th place. We did not get that close again until 1995 when Les finished 2nd to Bud Jackson in the Lightweight Classic Manx. |
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Phil Mahood 1984-1985 |
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Phil was the President of the Vintage Road Racing Association (VRRA) in 1984 and a strong campaigner on his beautiful Vincents. At the time there was a considerable anti 2 stroke group in the association and Phil was believed to be in this group. He soon proved his unbiased position by campaigning the team’s Kawasaki A1R disc valve twin in a variety of events in both Canada and the US. Phil subsequently moved to Alberta and that brought his racing to a halt. On returning to Ontario he campaigned a Honda RC51 for a while but gave that up after a bad crash. Having recently purchased a Ducati he will be back racing in 2007. We can't help but wonder what his appetite is for 2 strokes again as we have spoken about the Hi Tac. |
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Geoff Hadwin 1984 |
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Geoff was drafted into the team for the 1984 Manx Grand Prix by Eddie Crooks to replace Frank Whiteway who was unable to compete. Geoff is a resident of Ulverston in the English Lake District and a long time competitor on his T20 based Suzuki racer. No stranger to success Geoff has been the Northwest UK Classic Champion on a number of occasions and recently won the East Yorkshire Classic Hillclimb Championship for the 3rd. time. Geoff has competed in the Classic Manx Grand Prix on a number of occasions and looks forward to another good season in 2007. |
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Paul Bowyer 1983-1984 |
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Paul was a very experienced 2 stroke rider having given a very good account of himself over the years on Yamahas. Paul gave the team it’s first ever win in September of 1983 at Shannonville Motorsport Park when the Suzuki stayed in one piece long enough to finish a race. Paul is a man of unshakable resolve and a fierce competitor, nonetheless after enduring some atrocious seizures on the bike he christened the machine "Whispering Death" after the similarly unreliable factory 250cc Square 4 Suzuki of the mid 1960's. If memory serves me correctly the end came after a particularly unpleasant seizure going down the hill at the old Loudon track in New Hampshire. I must admit he looked a little de-tuned when he got back to the pits after the incident. Paul, a teacher, is still an active competitor today and currently rides a very fast 500 Norton. |
