His father Bill was a butcher by trade, but he was also a grass track rider so as a boy, Mike inevitably spent most of his weekends at grass meetings.
He eventually made his racing debut at Leatherhead grass track in August 1947 on a KSS Velocette. By 1949 he had inherited his dad’s JAP special, which he modified and renamed the OM Special. With the OM fitted with racing tires, he started racing at the Haddenham circuit, where he recorded several second and third places. This led to the offer from Tom Arter of a 7R for the September 1949 meeting at Scarborough, where he finished a respectable eighth.
This story is from the September/October 2019 edition of Classic Racer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the September/October 2019 edition of Classic Racer.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Whatever Happened To? Michael O'rourke
Michael was born on April 11, 1931, in Plumstead London and the family later moved to Camberwell.
Webster Stars At Stafford
Steve Webster, the most successful sidecar racer of all time, will be guest of honor at the Carole Nash Classic Motorcycle Mechanics Show this October.
The Early Years Of Fausto Gresini
Before Gresini Racing became a world championship-winning team, Fausto Gresini was a fixture in the 125cc world championships as a rider. He won two 125cc world championships, finished runnerup three times, and third once, with 25 Grands Prix wins.
The Bob Mac
The SCRMC recently served up a full card of classic racing at the East Fortune circuit, for the traditional Bob Mac meeting. Against the backdrop of the former First and Second World War airfield, there was some real-life flying action around Scotland’s fastest road race venue, which has been in existence since the very early Seventies.
Record Breaking Weekend Of Classic Action
British Historic Racing’s third racing weekend of the year was held at the lovely one-mile-long Kent circuit of Lydden, just a few miles outside of Dover.
Specialist Spotlight Louigi Moto
We're shining a light on some of the biggest and best players In the Classic Racing world and this time we've been speaking to Louigi Moto's Richard Llewellin.
John Williams A Private Matter
Despite the interest fromYamaha and Honda, it was Suzuki who John lined up with in 1976 and it saw John and wife Margaret give up the life of the privateer, replacing it with the more luxurious comforts of a factory-backed rider. He also had an eye on his future though and included a gents’ boutique amongst his business interests.
Goodbye Gene
Gene Romero excelled in every aspect of motorcycle racing across a long and successful career. And he was known as ‘Burrito’.
Farewell Itoh-San
It is with great sadness that I write this tribute to a long-time Japanese Suzuki Team icon who was one of Suzuki’s flagship riders and my friend of 59 years.
Boxing Clever
Last September, after more than 10 years of trying, BMW finally scored a victory at the UK's annual Goodwood Revival. The top step of the podium came courtesy of double World Superbike champion Troy Corser and his Austrian teammate Herbert Schwab on a supercharged 1929 R57 Kompressor. Now the German manufacturer's BMW Group Classic historic vehicle division will be trying to make it two in a row in 2019, when the race reverts to its later format for bikes built before 1967 And they will be trying to do it on this — the RS500 OL Special.
