Saturday afternoons in the 60's was spent watching Grandstand, and hopefully it if was on, Scrambling, and it would be even better if Dave Bickers was riding. One of my boyhood heroes. My Dad managed to get hold a of 250cc Greaves scrambler, similar to the one that Dave rode. I had a go riding round a grass track once, and it scared the **** out of me !!
I met Dave in 1970 at an InterAm in Sacramento at White Rock MC Park where I was the sole full-time employee (with Claus Neilsen as InterAm coordinator). I was parked next to him in the pits with my CZ lined up next to his. I spoke with him about the British scene. He was a very friendly guy and one of the main riders I admired in those early years as he was always a rider in Edison Dye's InterAm exhibition series riding on the CZ team with Roger DeCoster and Joel Robert.
A true legend of our amazing sport and what a life....with bikes day in and day out.....what a lucky man!. Made even more famous by the iconic Grandstand scrambles of my childhood, did he rock up in a huge truck..., did he demand hard standing, did he need a team of 20 to help him on the day....did he heck! he was an old school "gentleman" warrior that will never be forgotten.
Jason Bonham was another very good British motocrosser. Jason is the son of Led Zeppelin's drumming legend Jon Bonham. Since the age of 14, Jason has loved motocross. He was a factory rider who placed second in the British Junior National Championships, losing by only one point. "I won the last race of the season and my competitor had to come in 5th or better to place ahead of me in the Championship," Bonham recalls. "He was 8th on the last lap and three people crashed right in front of him allowing him to secure that last vital point."
I first met Dave way back in 1967 when i was 16 years old..I had help set up the Inter-Am course at Start-up, Washington an hour North of Seattle the week before and was walking along the entrance road very early when I hear "Oi, mate, gives us a push woulda?" and see a smile I later came to know well. It was that day meet and watch Dave, his protege a very young Roger DeCoster, Torsten Hallman, Bengt Åberg, and the Husky Team boss Bror Jauren, and marvel at the difference. It was around 30*F and had been raining so shin deep mud in many places and rain, sleet and light snow during the event so horrible conditions..3 30 minutes +2 lap motos. All the visiting europeans lapped all the American riders 3 times during that 30 minutes.. 3 times. That evening there was a reception organised by Terry Saxlund's shop University Honda-Bultaco. My riding partner Steve Zabranski and i wrangled some tickets from a couple of Canadian guys (Hi Bob Underhill and Piet Van Breughel!) and there we got to schmooze with all these guys.. I had decided that what i saw was what I wanted to do for the next 10 years....hey at 16 you have to plan so I asked Dave and Torsten and DeCoster , whoo were talking, a carefully formed question: "If I want to do what you were doing today, internationals--not World Championship events, just internationals, then what must I do?" They talked amonst themselves and really looked like they were thinking...They discussed wages for young people and concluded I should move to Sweden where the wages were good enough that a young guy could aford to have a car and get to events..So I said "OK, Sweden it is then" They all siad "Give yourself 10 years, if you can't do it in 10, you're not going to." And they all gave me their cards and said,"Well kid if you really make it give us a call and we'll do what we can to help you out.. A year and a month later I walked the 12miles from Ipswich, past Claydon out to Coddenham arriving sometime after 0100...There was dave with a old fashioned nighshirt and a big smile..He found me a nice car, a 1957 Austin A55 Estate, as he said "With the BIG 1.5 engine, it's great, cruise all day at 70" And then he took me out to learn to drive on the other side of the road and a 4 speed on the column.. Years later I ran into Dave several times in France, when after 11 years i was doing Internationals and he was mentoring a young Steven Beamish..Always smiling... Later when I was divorced and heading home to Washington from Sweden, I called and asked if he wanted to buy my van...an ex-postal van, a RHD MkII Transit with a 2,4 Your diesel...he bought it on the phone for nearly 3 times what I payed from the government surplus sales place..We spent a fun 3-4 days me working for him loading and moving about 180 crated motorcycles he was loaning some warehouse space for a friend of his using my van and a rented Tranny. days of running forklift and checking and double check serial numbers so we would load and not give away any of his bikes..When unloading the last of the bike this old geezer asks us "Oi You boys want to make a few quid and run a load of chemicals up to B'ingham?" Dave gets a big grin and says "well let me consult with me business partner" and asks "OK we take you van, return the rental and stay at a B&B, come back in the morning..You ready? 8) ?" Called Silvia and said "won't be home for dinner, John and I are going in the truckin' business together" Always the grin and twinkle, ready for anything. I followed what he was up to in the later years and always hoped I get a chance to sincerely thank him for the help at both the very beginning of my serious racing career and near the very end. Not really often you can say this about an individual, but he ready smile and open mind changed my life and I remain indebted and thankful.. Rest in peace, Dave..see ya one day I hope! John Vanlandingham, Seattle, USA
