Mike learned to ride a farm bike while on vacation with his uncle, so it didn’t take long for him to want to have his own bike.

“For my 15th birthday, my parents bought me a Yamaha 50. It was a road motorcycle, FS1 two-stroke, 50cc. They bought it from Hugh Anderson at Whites Motorcycles in Hamilton.

But young Mike was disappointed.

“I was expecting to get a British motorbike, like a Triumph or something, but Hugh said it would be better to learn to ride a small motorbike. In hindsight, he was right.

The sooner Mike learned to ride, the sooner he learned to fall.

“I was trying to go too fast, I always wanted to attack faster in the corners.”

Through holiday jobs, he saved up to buy a bigger motorcycle – a Yamaha 350R5 – then turned his attention to motocross racing, through a friend from Fraser High School.

At first Mike just watched, but that didn’t last long and he got himself a Honda Elsinore 250.

“Most people had some experience racing motocross, but the only training I had was right before (my first) race.”

After a while, one thing became clear to him: “I got better results on less bumpy courses. I should have realized at that point that I’m better at running on a road surface track.

But he continued racing motocross until the late 1970s, when many of his friends stopped racing because they started going overseas. It was the first in a long series of attempts to abandon the race.

However, Mike’s love affair with motorcycles was just beginning.

“One Friday afternoon, my friends and I were visiting all the bike shops in the area. It was a big part of my youth. We lived what they got and dreamed of what we could have if we had more money.

And then, one summer afternoon, he saw it: a 1977 Ducati 900SS. It was love at first sight.

“I went for a test ride and couldn’t believe it. It was so different from Japanese bikes and the sound was just beautiful, like British bikes.”

Unfortunately, he crashed it on his way to a girlfriend’s house, while trying to avoid an accident with a bicycle.

“The front end was completely finished. I would have fixed it, but I wanted to go abroad.

As part of his overseas experience, Mike has visited Australia, Bali, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma, Jordan, India, Nepal, Greece, France and London.

During his trip, he comes across an advertisement for the latest Ducati: it is a replica of the motorcycle on which Mike Hailwood made his return to the Isle of Man. New Zealander Mike was intrigued.

“When I came back to New Zealand in 1982 I repaired my 900SS… When I went to Hugh Anderson I saw he had the replica for sale… it had only traveled 300 km, because (Hugh) originally bought it for himself it was brand new, but he was having problems with his knees, so he decided to sell it.

To get his hands on the Hailwood replica, Mike decided to sell the 900SS.

“I managed to sell it for more than I paid for it, but I had to put up $5,000 more to buy the Anderson replica. It was a huge amount of money at the time – probably half a deposit on a house.

But for Mike, it was worth it. He even honeymooned there when he and his wife took a motorbike trip to the east coast of the North Island.

“On the way back to Hamilton we stopped off at Taupo where the Hamilton Motorcycle Club held a track day. After that, I thought I might ride the Ducati and fit it into a Bears meeting.

No sooner said than done. The Ducati replica made its debut on the race track during the Bears’ competition at Pukekohe in 1985.

He had a few successful runs, a few third places.

“One day it was my wife’s birthday and I wasn’t supposed to run, but I couldn’t help myself and went to a track day at Baypark.

“I came out. That’s when I realized I had a son and a daughter, a young family, and I came to the conclusion that racing and family don’t mix very well.

So Mike decided to hang up his racing leathers – again.

“I still had a dirt bike, but I kept racing. I didn’t even follow it and just focused on the kids.

Instead, he started playing guitar. The break with motorcycle racing will last 10 years.

“The kids were getting older and after a while I started doing classic motocross with an old BSA 500 that I transformed into a dirt bike.”

He bought a Harley Davidson V-Rod, which he raced at Meremere, but Mike really wanted a Ducati again.

“I wanted to ride a little faster, so I bought a Ducati Streetfighter… But it was a little too fast. With this bike, it was the only time I tried to outrun a cop.

In 2015 he joined the NZCMRR, riding a 1982 Ducati 600 TT2 with a Glyn Robinson engine.

“It was fun racing but I had a lot of problems with the bike… It took me three meetings to get to the bottom of it.”

Soon after, he purchased a Ducati-powered Bimota DB1 750 replica built by Graeme Cole.

“We all race bikes that we like,” Mike said.

“I like Italian motorcycles because of their visual appeal, Italians have always been known for their style.

“And Bimota is a small Italian manufacturer known for making bikes that handle well. In fact, it was the best handling motorcycle I’ve ever ridden.

Mike said he loves running, especially with the register.

“Classic racing is not just about racing, but also about motorcycles, engineering and people.

“All the joy of preparing for the race, of making the bike work properly. And after a really good race, people come and congratulate you, tell you that you’re improving, it’s just something else.

However, he admitted that he enjoyed “fighting with someone.”

“I have always had a competitive spirit… I like the adrenaline rush, making efforts and surpassing myself. Well, and speed is a good kick,” Mike said.

“Going fast is almost like traveling in time. When I came off the track, my partner would sometimes tell me that I looked 10 years younger.

For him, the best feeling was knowing he had completed the track as best he could and becoming one with the bike.

When Pukekohe Raceway, Mike’s favorite track, closed its doors to motorsport events last year, he decided to stop racing again. At least that’s what he thought.

“I thought I had given up after Puke, but I was convinced to go to Manfeild.”

The first classical festival in Manfeild got off to a wet and eventful start with a few accidents. One of them was Mike.

“On the first lap, two guys in front of me went out and I ended up passing one of them.

Instead of being on the trail, Mike spent six hours in the emergency room and had to miss work for two months. In April, he was still recovering from the accident.

As a result, he decided to wave the checkered flag – for real this time.

However: “Never say never, but I definitely won’t be racing for a few years and definitely not in the same leathers – they were all cut after the accident.”

Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist and deputy news director at Waikato Herald. She joined NZME in 2021 and is based in Hamilton.