The Ken Redfern Trophy

This short blog is to be the first related to a hugely talented racer from the North East who did things a little differently than most: namely Ken Redfern.

This post is in relation to the trophy named in Ken’s honour. 

Ken’s life was tragically cut short in 1973 after a freak road traffic accident. Four or five weeks after the accident about 20 of Ken’s family and friends had a meeting at a local restaurant to honour Ken. From the meeting it was decided that in order to perpetuate Ken’s name with the sport he so loved, a trophy should be made and awarded annually; the Ken Redfern Trophy.

Ken Redfern Trophy with Ken's helmet

The design of the trophy was to replicate the logo on Ken’s helmet; a wild goose flying through a laurel wreath. The use of these two symbols were due to Ken's biggest passions in life: wildlife and motorcycle racing. 

A trust was set up in the autumn of 1973 to help cover the cost of manufacturing the one-off trophy which allowed friends, family and fans to donate any amount into. 

Middlesbrough Art College was given the task of designing the trophy. As part of this they manufactured a resin mould which would be used by a foundry to cast the trophy. Prior to Christmas 1973 an initial resin mould had been prepared and was shown to Ernie and Mike Redfern (Ken’s Dad and younger brother). A few small modifications were made following this review to allow the moulds to be completed. For the design and manufacture of resin models Middlesbrough Art College charged £1000. It was now time to find a suitable foundry.

After much research by Ernie Redfern a suitable foundry was selected: Morris Singer foundry in Basingstoke. They were the oldest fine art foundry in the UK and dated back to 1848. Notable artworks cast by Morris Singer include Jacob Epstein's "St Michael's Victory over the Devil" for Coventry Cathedral and the Single Form sculpture situated outside the UN by Barbara Hepworth.

Morris Singer foundry cast the trophy using the moulds; the laurel wreath out of copper and the wild goose out of 925 Sterling silver. The Morris Singer Foundry charged £2500 for casting the trophy.

Ken Redfern Trophy

The total weight of the metals in the trophy was a whopping 11.7kg! When put on a plinth the total weight was 13.5kg. 

In more recent times the silver was tested and hallmarked by the Sheffield Assay office. 

The North East Motor Cycle Racing Club (NEMCRC) were given custody of the Trophy and from that point onwards. Annual meetings were held. Ken's Trophy was first competed for in September 1974 at the Croft Circuit. The meeting was on Saturday 21st September and was a National meeting arranged by the NEMCRC. Race 7 at the meeting was the Ken Redfern Invitation for motorcycles of 250cc-1000cc which was held over 10 laps. There was a who’s-who list of donors for the prize money for the Ken Redfern Invitation, which included Paul Dunstall, Motor Cylce News, Motor Cycle magazine, Les Siddle (Lamplas fairings), Eddie Johnson, Dennis Pratt, Armstrong motorcycles, Keith Jeal (Ken’s mechanic) and Mike Redfern.

Big prize money was 'up for grabs' at the meeting to ensure a good grid entry with bonus awards for:

• The leader at the end of each lap
• The fastest lap
• The winner and cash down to 10th place

This incentive attracted the country's top riders for 50 years.

1974 programme cover

Entrants for 1974 Ken Redfern Invitation Race

The riders who entered up for the first Ken Redfern Invitation race in 1974 included top names such as Mick Grant, Roger Marshall, Steve Tonkin, Phil Gurner, Stewart Hodgson, Paul Cott, Austin Hockley, Tony Myers, John Webb, George Fogarty and a future World Champion from South Africa Kork Ballington. The race was won by Kork Ballington who led from the first lap to the chequered flag. Finishing behind Kork was Phil Gurner, Roger Marshall, Paul Cott, Austin Hockley and John Webb completing the top six finishers.

1974 and 1975 winner Kork Ballington with Ernie Redfern

The Ken Redfern trophy was competed for every year until the final running of the race in 2023 (apart from 2020 and 2021 due to COVID). Other notable winners of the Ken Redfern trophy include Roger Marshall, Steve Manship, Steve Henshaw, Joey Dunlop, Jamie Whitham, Ian Simpson, Jim Moodie, David Jefferies and John McGuinness. The full list of winners is presented at the end of the article.  

1976 winner Roger Marshall with Ernie Redfern

1984 winner Joey Dunlop with Mike Redfern

1988 winner Dave Leach with Mick Grant

The trophy currently still resides with the family, however, the time has come for it to look for a new long-term home either still linked to the sport or in a suitable private collection. If anyone has a serious interest I can put interested parties in contact with the family.

List of race track’s which held the annual meeting:

• Croft Circuit 1974 - 1981
• Oliver’s Mount Scarborough 1982 - 1989
• Knockhill 1990 - 1999 
• Croft Circuit 2000 - 2023

Trophy winners up to 2009

List of past winners of the Ken Redfern Trophy:

• 1974 - Kork Ballington
• 1975 - Kork Ballington
• 1976 - Roger Marshall
• 1977 - Steve Wright
• 1978 - Steve Manship
• 1979 - Graham Wood
• 1980 - Steve Manship
• 1981 - Graham Wood
• 1982 - Steve Henshaw
• 1983 - Mark Salle
• 1984 - Joey Dunlop
• 1985 - Mark Salle
• 1986 - Mark Phillips
• 1987 - Dave Leach
• 1988 - Dave Leach
• 1989 - Jamie Whitham
• 1990 - Brian Morrison
• 1991 - Ian Simpson
• 1992 - Jim Moodie
• 1993 - Jim Moodie
• 1994 - Andrew Stroud
• 1995 - Brian Morrison
• 1996 - Dean Ashton
• 1997 - Nick Jefferies
• 1998 - David Jefferies
• 1999 - Dean Ashton
• 2000 - John McGuinness
• 2001 - Dennis Hobbs
• 2002 - Dennis Hobbs
• 2003 - Dennis Hobbs
• 2004 - Dennis Hobbs
• 2005 - Keith Pringle
• 2006 - Kirk Jamison
• 2007 - Gavin Littlewood
• 2008 - Kirk Jamison
• 2009 - Joe Burns
• 2010 - Jimmy Storrar
• 2011 - David Paton
• 2012 - Andrew Tasker
• 2013 - Barry Teessdale
• 2014 - Barry Teessdale
• 2015 - Lee Wilson
• 2016 - Andrew Tasker
• 2017 - Lee Wilson
• 2018 - Barry Teessdale
• 2019 - Mikey Evans
• 2020 - COVID (no event)
• 2021 - COVID (no event)
• 2022 - Richard Evans
• 2023 - James Alderson

The Vic Wright Trophy

The following blog pays tribute to an extremely able motorcycle road-racer who lost his life in July 1974.

Motorcycle racing is a dangerous sport and sadly always will be. It is doubly sad when a tragic event is caused by something outside a rider’s control, something that he could do nothing about. His only failing therefore was to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 Vic was killed following an incident at the end of 250cc class practice at the Oliver’s Mount circuit. On being shown the chequered flag signifying the end of practice, the rider directly in front of him braked suddenly after crossing the start-finish line. As the start-finish line is on a gentle right-hand curve, it is taken at a relatively high speed before braking hard for the tight left-hand Mere Hairpin. In having to move off-line to avoid the slowing rider in front of him, Vic was pushed to the right-hand side of the track and into the picket fence immediately above the Paddock. He died instantly.

That 1974 Cock of the North meeting on July 7th was a tragic event. Phil Haslam was also killed when his 350cc Pharaoh Yamaha misfired on the steep climb out of Mere Hairpin and he pulled to the side of the track. In doing so he moved into the path of Steve Machin, who in the midst of the perusing group, hit him from behind. He was shunted forward against his screen, severing his jugular vein.

Victor J. Wright was a motorcycle mechanic by trade and worked at Wraggs Motor Cycles of Sheffield. Wraggs were a family owned firm of northern motorcycle dealers in the early 1970s, which also had branches in Chesterfield and Mansfield. The owner of Wraggs was a keen follower and supporter of motorcycle road-racing and sponsored many riders over the years. Their supported rider at this period was no other than John Cooper. Wraggs did not sponsor Vic Wright, but I feel certain they would have been extremely proud of the results he obtained on uncompetitive machinery over the years. Vic certainly became the talk of the Sheffield motorcycle fraternity, when on a Greeves Oulton he manged to lead John Cooper on his Yamsel at Mallory Park.

In 1968 Vic purchased a brand new Greeves Oulton - 35RFS116 from V.S. Bentley, another Sheffield motorcycle dealer based on Abbeydale Road. It was well known at the time that these RFS 350cc racers were a huge disappointment and Greeves halted production after just 2 months and 21 had been made. The dated cast-alloy frame was totally inadequate for a 350cc bike as were the brakes, resulting in a poor handling and woefully under-powered machine. To quote Derek Pickard “only 21 were made and no real successes were recorded anywhere”

However within 2 years, two people had these uncompetitive British machines flying.

One was Bob Stevenson of Spondon Engineering in Derby, the other a mechanic from Sheffield – Vic Wright.

Both of them took it in turns to hold the 350cc Race Record at Darley Moor. Don’t forget this was 1970 and the Junior class was awash with TR2 Yamahas. By now the 350cc Yamaha was producing 54bhp and challenging Agostini and the works MV Agusta for the World Championship.

I accept that Darley Moor is primarily a clubman’s circuit and as such the level of competition is not as great as that found in ACU National events. So let us move to the 1971 season opener at Mallory Park. This is a National meeting with a top-class entry of established British riders. Heat 2 of the Junior Race reads like a ‘who’s who’ of motorcycle road-racing stars.

Vic Wright finished 7^th on a Greeves Oulton.

Virtually everyone in front of him was on a Yamaha, all being sponsored and supported riders. Finishing immediately in front of him in 6^th place was Barry Sheene, in 5^th Jim Curry, in 4^th Dave Browning, in 3^rd Derek Chatterton 1970 British 350cc Champion, in 2^nd Steve Machin 1970 British 250cc Champion and the winner was Tony Rutter – Champion elect. What a result.

Ah you say….”it was only a heat”

Oh yes that is true, but Vic finished 9^th on the Greeves in the final.

Can you believe it….Greeves were in the money!

So let us look at the second Heat:

To finish 9^th in the Final with the quality of that combined field is truly amazing.

Since purchasing the machine in 1968, he had performed similar ‘giant-killing’ acts at various circuits throughout the UK, including a wonderful 6th place in the 350cc British Championship race at Oliver’s Mount Scarborough on 10^th May 1969.

Two weeks later he did even better at Cadwell Park in the Coronation Trophy 350cc race. Here he finished in 5^th place, in 4^th was Cliff Carr, in 3^rd Ken Redfern, in 2^nd Billie Nelson and the race being won by acknowledged Cadwell expert Derek Chatterton.

In September of 1971, Vic took 35RFS116 to the Manx Grand Prix for one last time. He lapped at over 92mph in practice, only to have a piston ring fail on the start-line whilst waiting for the off of the Junior race proper.

Victor eventually succumbed to the inevitable and bought a 250cc Yamaha. On this he finished 6^th in the 1972 Lightweight Manx Grand Prix and recorded an even better result the year later finishing in 3^rd position.

The Trophy

The Vic Wright Trophy

Following Vic’s tragic demise, a trophy was put up in his memory by his friends at the Sheffield Road Racing Club. This trophy was to be awarded to the 3^rd place finisher in the Lightweight 250cc Manx Grand Prix and honours Vic’s best result in that same race.

Previous winners are:    1974 Steve Ward

                                            1975 Ricky Burrows

                                            1976 Mick Grice

                                            1977 Clive Watts

All the above received the award based on this qualification.

Ten years later in 1987 the trophy was awarded for a last time to David O’Leary.