Mike O'Rourke

Record type: Motorsport Biographies

Biography: Age 30, Michael O'Rourke is a butcher, and comes from South East London. He did not ride in last year's T.T. races, but between 1950 and 1958 he rode in no fewer than eighteen of them, his best place being eighth in the 1957 125 c.c. race.

In 1952 on an A.J.S., he was sixth in the 350 c.c. class of the Ulster Grand Prix at 87.64 m.p.h. He also scored a fourth place at the Boreham International, a second at Ibsley, and firsts at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

He began the 1953 season on his A.J.S. by winning one of the 350 c.c. race heats at Thruxton on Easter Monday, whilst at Snetterton aerodrome in May he was second in the 350 c.c. race and third (on a 350 machine) in the "500." He was 15th in the Junior T.T., riding an A.J.S., and won a Silver Replica, but retired in the Senior race on the third lap.

He continued the good work in 1954, winning events at Silverstone, Brand's Hatch and elsewhere. He then crossed to the Island for the T.T. where he finished in both Junior and Senior races, in 27th and 46th positions respectively.

In 1955 he was successful at Aberdare, Brand's Hatch, Oulton Park, Snetterton, and Ibsley. In the Senior T.T., Norton-mounted, he was 12th at 89.64 m.p.h., winning a Silver Replica.

Michael entered for each solo class in the 1956 T.T. series on Nortons and M.V.s but finished only in one race, the Senior, in 12th place at 89.72 m.p.h. In the Junior T.T. he retired on the last lap and he stopped in lap 3 in both lightweight races. At Thruxton in August 1956 he became 125 c.c. champion in the British Championships meeting.

He again rode in all four solo T.T. races in 1957—and this time he finished in all of them—10th in the Senior, with a Silver Replica and Bronzes in the other three. In 1958 he was 11th in the Lightweight on a G.M.S., but retired in both Junior and Senior races.

Last year Michael was seventh on his Ariel in the Lightweight, with a Bronze Replica, and was also winner of the Motor Cycling Challenge Cup per his entrant Harold Daniell. Harold has entered him again for this year's races. Hobbies: Model making, swimming, and "controlling twin girls." (TT Special, 16 June 1961, p. 7)

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