Geoff Duke goes past the post at 92
British motorcycle great Geoff Duke died at the age of 92 on the Isle of Man, the sport's spiritual home where the six times world champion raced to six TT victories in the 1950s.
The man known as 'The Duke' in an era when British bike manufacturers and riders led the world, retired from the championship in 1959 after 33 grand prix victories.
One of Britain's top sports personalities in the post-war period, he was voted Sportsman of the year in 1951 and also entered motorcycling legend as the first rider to compete in one-piece leathers.
“Really sad to hear the passing of Geoff Duke. A true hero in our sport,” said current British MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow, a fellow Manx resident, on Twitter as news of his death in Douglas on Friday, May 1, became known.
Duke's son Peter told bikesportnews.com that the former champion had died peacefully after a long illness.
Italy's 15 times world champion Giacomo Agostini was saddened at the passing of one of his boyhood idols.
“He was a very good rider. I started to race after he had already stopped but I read about him, his victories. People called him 'the Iron Duke',” he told BT Sport at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez.
“I met him sometimes at some circuits...he did a lot for motorcycling.”
Born in St. Helens in north-west England, Duke served as a motorcycle despatch rider during World War Two and then took up road racing.
He won the 1950 Senior TT on a Norton, setting records along the way, and took three world championships before switching to the Italian Gilera factory and winning three more.
Duke won two 350cc titles with Norton in 1951 and 1952 while his other four were in 500cc -- one with Norton in 1951 and the rest with Gilera in 1953, 1954 and 1955.
After reaching the status of Team Sergeant in the Royal Signals Motor- cycle Display Team, The White Helmets, Duke was a prominent figure in racing in the 1950s, winning six world championships and six Isle of Man TT races. First entering the Isle of Man Manx Grand Prix in 1948, he retired after four laps of the Junior race.
He came to prominence after the 1949 events, finishing second in the Junior race, after remounting due to a spill, and winning the Senior race with a record lap and race-average speeds. He also won the 1949 Senior Clubmans TT. He signed to the Norton works team for the 1950 TT, finishing second in the Junior TT and breaking both lap and race records in the Senior TT.
After winning three World Championships for Norton, he moved abroad to Italian motorcycle manufacturer, Gilera in 1953.
With Gilera, he had a string of three consecutive 500cc world championships. His support for a riders' strike demanding more start money led the FIM to suspend him for six months, dashing any hopes for a fourth consecutive title. For 1953 he joined the sports car racing team of Aston Martin (Feltham, Middlesex) to race the DB3. Teamed with Peter Collins, the pair led the 12 Hours of Sebring until Duke's accident and resulting DNF. In 1955 he was declared the first rider to lap the Isle of Man TT course at 100 mph, though this was later corrected to 99.97.
As a consequence the official first 100 mph lap is credited to Bob McIn- tyre, also on a Gilera, in 1957. Duke was a non-starter because of injury. His final race was the 1959 Nations Grand Prix. In 1963, he formed a racing team – Scuderia Duke, with riders Derek Minter and John Hartle – to race the 1957 Gileras against Mike Hailwood riding the MV Agusta.
Duke was the most famous rider to adopt one-piece leathers - he had enlisted his local tailor to make the first of his now famous one-piece race suits. He was named Sportsman of the Year in 1951, awarded the RAC Segrave Trophy and, in recognition of his services to motorcycling, was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1953.
Highly honoured by the Isle of Man, where he made so many of his world record breaking rides, a point on the Mountain Course has been named after him. Three sharp bends at the 32nd Milestone between Brandywell and Windy Corner now carry the title 'Duke's'.
After retiring from racing, Duke became a businessman, initially in the motor trade and later in shipping services to the Isle of Man. In 1978 he was instrumental in setting up the Manx Line that introduced the first rollon-roll-off ferry service to the Isle of Man in competition with the 150-year-old Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. The FIM named him a Grand Prix ‘Legend’ in 2002. He died, at the age of 92, at his home on the Isle of Man on May 1 after being ill for some time.