article by Nicholas Pucci
Fate has reserved a tragic fate for Tom Herrontaking him away too soon, on May 27, 1979, little more than 30 years old, when this aggressive Northern Irish pilot from Lisburn, a citadel 12 kilometers from Belfast where he saw the light on December 14, 1948, met his death in the North West 200 at Portrush, the other major motorcycle road race. But his name nonetheless belongs to the legend of the great champions of two wheels, because precisely in the most prestigious challenge between centaurs, the Tourist Trophy, he was able to perform a feat like a true champion.
Herron, who in 1970 he entered the world championship racing in the 250 class riding a private Yamaha with which he is thirteenth in the Tourist Trophy, over the following years he competes occasionally, never missing the appointment on the Isle of Mann, where he is fourth in 1974 in the 250 class (Lightweight TT) and class 350 (Junior TT) and third in 1975 in the 350 class behind Charlie Williams and Chas Mortimer, a season that sees him finish ninth in the general standings also thanks to some good placements in Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, when he is fourth in both races.
Effectively 1976 is the year of full affirmation of Herron, who with a private Yamaha competes in three classes, 250, 350 and 500. And if in the 350 he will finally be fourth in the standings, as well as in the quarter-litre, finishing second in Yugoslavia behind the German Dieter Braun and climbing on the third step of the podium both in Finland (beaten by Walter Villa and Braun) and in Czechoslovakia ( once again in the wake of Villa and the Spanish Victor Palomo), that’s it in the 250 and 500 class, right at the Tourist Trophy, the Northern Irishman scores an anthology double.
The race is valid as the fifth round of the world championship, it runs from 7 to 12 June (it will be the last time that the Tourist Trophy will be valid for the world championship, given the danger Snaefell Mountain Course) e it starts with the Senior TT, or the 500 class. John Williams, Suzuki rider, set the best time in qualifying and leads the race for 5 of the 6 scheduled laps, boasting a lead of over two minutes over Herron, also setting the record time of 20 minutes 10 seconds on the second lap . But misfortune hits the Englishman, forced from the start to race with a problem with the clutch that he refuses to “detach“, who, not knowing how much fuel his motorcycle consumes, switches off the engine going downhill and then restarts it with momentum. The inconvenience does not seem to compromise Williams’ performance, but on the last lap a spring in the gearbox mechanism breaks and in the end Governor’s Bridgein too high a gear, his Suzuki stops not to restart, leaving the green light to Herron who, chasing at a distance, finishes with a 3″ margin on Ian Richards and 23″ on Billie Guthrie.
Fortune favors the bold, it is true, but that Tom Herron really is can also be proved in the other two races in which he takes part in those memorable July days, the Junior TT, or the 350 class, in which the Northern Irishman signs the pole position, finishing however only 26th thanks to a problem with the chain, and above all the Lightweight TT, the 250 class, with Herron who not only signs another pole -position, in 21’41”, but dominates the racepostponed by one day and marred by the death of Les Kenny ad Union Mills. Herron, in fact, took the lead from the start, battling with Charlie Williams, who remained close to him until he was forced to retire on the second of the four scheduled laps, setting the best time right on the second lap, 21 ’27″8 at 169.74 km/h, and then outdistancing the Japanese Takazumi Katayama and Chas Mortimer at the finish line.
Per Tom Herron it is the apotheosis of a career which, again, will see him on the podium another six times between 1977 (third in Yugolavia in the 250 class and second in Czechoslovakia behind Johnny Cecotto in the 350 class, finishing second also in the general classification behind Katayama) and 1978 (second and third in England and Germany in the 250 class, third and second in Finland and in England in the 350 class), and then, in 1979, fighting as a great protagonist in the premier class, the 500, with two third places in Venezuela and at Imola and fourth place in Austria. Until the tragic appointment with death.