This time Jake pulled out of Charlie's slipstream to finish a wheel ahead at the end of lap one. Charlie just led again on lap two, with Jake in close company. A lap later Jake was ahead by two lengths on crossing the line at the Fork, but on the Railway Straight Charlie picked up this distance and as much again, to cover the flying-start half-mile in 21 2/5 sec (or at a speed of 84.1 mph). He was still leading at the end of lap four, and was going so well that hopes of an English victory ran high.
Then it happened! Shortly after the half-distance Charlie's handle�bar-mounted ignition switch jumped into the "off" position due to track vibration. By the time he had located and remedied this fault, Jake had gained a half-mile lead. To pick this up in the remaining four laps was a hopeless task. Nevertheless, Charlie went like a demon, to finish only twenty seconds behind Jake, who, leaving nothing to chance, went all out until the finish. So Jake de Rosier won on aggregate by two races to one. Result:
THIRD (AND DECIDING) COLLIER-DE ROSIER MATCH RACE (27.18 miles). Rolling start at Fork. Fork finish.
1. J. de Rosier (994 Indian) 78.64 mph
2. C. R. Collier (998 Matchless-JAP) 77.40 mph
Jake's hand was bleeding at the finish, the skin having been chafed right through. His back and leggings were covered with engine oil, which had been thrown from his back tyre after being spewed from his auxiliary exhaust ports.
This meeting was certainly a traumatic one for the Brooklands' motor-cycle-racing fraternity: their champion had been beaten fair and square. Yet even then many refused to admit what the facts had proved - namely, that a good chain-driven machine will always beat a good belt-driven one of equivalent horse-power development.
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