Jim, I'll bow to your knowledge of Hagons and wait until my brains trust on such matters returns from his trip. Like I said, I don't really give a toss and suspect that it would pass scrutiny for pre 65 anyway. I'm just playing the devils advocate and presenting a hypothetical scrutineering situation.
In the 20 years I've been involved in this sport I've seen a couple of terrible scrutineering injustices, one of which is the case of Frank Veradis home built BSA B44 scrambler in WA. Frank has photographic proof that he was racing the bike in 1964 BUT every time he tries to enter the bike in pre 65 (it happened again at last years Coffs Nats)it is protested by a certain Western Australian serial pest who maintains that the bike has been in a continual state of modification over its life so therefore it's now a different bike to what was being raced in '64. I won't go into the pros and cons of that particular case here as I forget some of the details so I don't want to misrepresent either case. My point is that you'd have to have photographic proof that Arthur King did indeed have that frame on the track in 1964. Like I wrote earlier, that situation may never arise but if it did, you'd need that documentation. Silly? Sure, but you have to see these pedants in action to appreciate their audacity.
In the situation you have bought up regarding the eligibility of 4 valve conversions in the pre 75 2 valve slider class, their omission can be easily explained. The 2 valve class is exactly that, a class exclusively for upright 2 valve sliders. It is not a pre '75 class . The class was developed purely to create a theoretical level playing field class, thereby producing close and exciting racing. It is not and was never intended to be a vintage class in the true sense of the word. 4 valve engines are covered by the newly developed Evo class which allows for any upright 4 valve engine. Not everybody agrees with the 2 valve concept but at it's peak the racing was electric and many old champions like Kevin Fraser, John Langfield, Mick Cady, Gary O'Brien, Lenny Norris, Glenn McDonald, Phil Herne, Geoff Grabham and many more fought some amazing tussles. The 2 valve class was one of the more successful classes in classic racing. In recent years many of the old riders have again retired and a newer generation of 4v racers are coming onto the scene. The 2 valve class is still strong however with my old mate Alan Jones being the current champ. Alan has probably one of the best collections of 4v conversions and rare speedway engines in the world but still prefers to race 2 valves. He has said many times that if the 4 v engines would have been allowed back in the formative years the class wouldn't have become as strong and competitive as it did. A culture of the "rich guys" who could afford a Street or Rickardson conversion would have overpowered the "poor guys" who couldn't find or afford such technology. The "level playing field" wouldn't have existed. Thankfully those engines are now catered for in the Evo class.
