Now that the 2nd Annual Rails & Roads Show is in the history books it’s time for me to let those of you who weren’t able to make it or stay to the end what happened.

Last year we didn’t have any Kawasaki motorcycles at all but this year Team Green was well represented by some fantastic machinery including an H1R road racer

First I’d like to thank everyone who came out & brought a bike. Second I’d like to thank our generous sponsors & door prize donors;

1. The Motorcycle Law Group      

2. Carolina Honda    

3. T&T Distributing

4. Grainger    

5. Bryan Bentley (Swamp Fox Motorcycle Restoration)

Over 300 people cast ballots for their favorite motorcycles in each category this time. Thank to all of you as well. Some of you may have noticed that on show day I was a little bit sick as I’m suffering from a sinus infection that made speaking and thinking difficult so I apologize if I made a mistake or 2 . Without any further ado let’s get to the results of this years show.

Class 1; American

In the right of the photo above is our third place winner, the 1989 Harley Davidson FLHTCU of Glenn Black. On the left side of the photo is the Second place winning 1977 Harley Davidson XLCR owned by Keith Seymour. First place went to the stunning red 1952 Harley Davidson K model that belonged to Carl Senne shown in the center above. Unfortunately no Indians ,Popes or Excelsior Hendersons made the show this year.

Class 2; British/European

Last year this class had a good mix of iron from across the pond, but this year only 1 Moto Guzzi showed up to stave off the British domination of the class. Third went to Ben Doar’s 1966 BSA Thunderbolt. In second place was the 1969 BSA Thunderbolt of Scott & Robin Dials. First place went to the bike featured above, an immaculate 1928 BSA Sloper owned by Robin & Scott Dials.

Class 3; Japanese 1-200cc

This tends to be my favorite class probably because I own at least 4 or 5 small displacement machines. Third place went to Gene Morgan and his 1983 Yamaha MX100. Everybody loves a Honda CT70 and Dan Mcqueen took 2nd place with his very nice 1973. First place went to bike pictured above, the exquisitely restored 1965 Honda CB160 belonging to Bryan Bently

Class 4; Japanese 201-600cc

Folks I have a confession to make, I really screwed up this class & that’s why you see 2 pictures above. It was hot that day, and if you were there you know that I was sick but there really was no one that I could hand my responsibilities off to. A serious clerical error was made while I was in a fog of antihistamines & borderline heat stroke. I was so excited to see the Hercules & it’s Wankel engine that when I asked the displacement the owner said it was 300cc, so my fevered brain stuck it into the Japanese medium size class. Hercules is an orphan brand but it’s a German brand not Japanese. Even so the results of the voting will stand & I’m not going to change a thing, just wanted you to know how a German built motorcycle wound up winning a Japanese class. My apologies to anyone who is upset with me & I shall endeavor to do a better job in the future.

At any rate class 4 finished up like this third place went to the fantastic Kawasaki H1 of Chip Tucker. In second place was the fantastic 1971 Kawasaki H1 of Mike Mcsween, (see above) In first place was the 1975 Hercules of Ryan McKeitham

Class 5; Japanese 601cc & up

These are the big boys, and there were some truly heavy hitters at the Rails & Roads Show this year.  No Kawasakis were present last year but this year they made up for it with a vengeance.

3rd place in this class went to Kent Mangold’s 1979 CB750. 2nd place went to Chip Tucker and his gorgeous 1975 Kawasaki Z1B. Chip also took home the first place trophy with his 1983 Kawasaki KZ1000 Eddie Lawson Replica.

Class 6; The Motorcycle Freak Show

Open to any truly custom motorcycle from anywhere this years class had winners from 3 different countries. From China was the Hardknock Kikker of Mike Krenger in 3rd place. From England came the 1969 Triumph TR6 of Steve Pope and the 1st place trophy went to well done Bratstyle 1972 Honda CB350 owned by Dave Mims

Last years best of show winner was a highly customized Honda but this year it went to the beautiful old 1928 BSA that won the British /European class. I’d like to thank the Dials for bringing it to the Rails & Roads Show, and we hope to see you again next year.

Let’s not forget the important part, we were able to present the South Carolina Railroad Museum with $501 in donations to go towards their operational expenses. And we are making plans for 2019 but are planning to move the event a little deeper into the fall to hopefully avoid the scorching hot temperatures next year.

Restoration in progress at the SC Railroad Museum