Not many riders had the chance to challenge or even beat Andy Ruffell during the 1983 to 85 years, but one guy who did was Hutch’s Simon Bailey from Doncaster.
It was the 1984 NBMXA Nottingham re-run National. The original Nottingham National earlier that year had run out of daylight during the semi finals, so another date was set to finish the meeting. The real challenge was getting everyone who had raced the first National to show up for the rescheduled one later in the year.
With Tim March a no show, the 17 plus main event looked like a breeze for Andy Ruffell against the regular NBMXA riders. But Simon Bailey had other plans, taking the win from start to finish, with Ruffell second and John Lee third.
Bailey never went on to win a National number 1 plate, but he did win the NBMXA British Championships that same year at Derby, dethroning reigning champion Mark Cracknell. He also raced the 1985 Kellogg’s series before retiring at the end of 85.
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