




Ashby’s career blossomed with P&M, and he won numerous trials, plus a win in the German TT at Swinemünd, and a third in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa. He also won the 250cc event at the inaugural German Grand Prix at the Avus circuit on a Zenith-J.A.P., and took 3rd on the P&M in the 500cc race. In 1926 he won a Gold Medal in the 1926 ISDT on the P&M, although an Isle of Man TT win eluded him, and though the P&M TT racer was fast, and lay for most of his races in the top 3, mechanical failures dogged the team. His best result at the TT was in 1927, after he left P&M in favor of OK Supreme, when he took 3rd place in the Lightweight TT. Later that summer, the European Championship – at that time decided with a single race – was held on the newly opened Nürburgring circuit, and Ashby beat the two-stroke DKW and Puch racers of of Winkler and Höbel to win with his OK-Supreme, making him the Lightweight Champion of Europe. In the 500cc event, he rode a Rudge to 3rd place behind Graham Walker (Sunbeam) and Stanley Woods (Norton).


As I prepare my 1926 Indian to race at ThunderHill in 4 weeks, this article hits deep. I saw a fatal crash at Balacraine in 2008 when a rider hit a patch of oil and high sided into the stone wall. I tell my friends and coworkers that racing is safer than street riding as everyone is going the same direction and there is always an ambulance in the waiting. Yes, it does take a different state of mind to turn into a corner at 110 mph without letting off the gas and feeling the rear bounce and walk about. The racers of the past were real super heroes of motorcycling. I just hope we are allowed to recreate that past in this age of electronic suites and self driving vehicles.