In the World Championship he was deputy freight in 250 in 1965, then he had decided to change sex and start writing books: he was 86 years old
Motorcycling cries the former Canadian pilot of the world championship of the 1960s Michelle Duff, who died from illness at 86 years old. Before the change of sex of 1987, when it was called Mike, he was a high -level pilot: his best season was that of 1965, with a second place in the 250 motorbike on the official Yamaha and with Phil Read as a teammate.
career
–
He began to run in the National Tenders of Canada in 1957, starting his worldwide adventure in 1961 with a Matchless G50 and an Ajs 7r, 15th in the Junior TT (350) and 14th in the Senior TT (500). Then he touches the podium with an excellent fourth place in the 500 at the Belgium of Spa behind Gary Hocking (MV Agusta), Mike Hailwood (Norton), Bob Mcintyre (Norton). Few races still for lack of money. Again a fourth place in 1964 at the TT Senior and a sixth in the 350. In the same season he became Yamaha 250 official pilot: the first world championship victory in Belgium in Spa (fast lap at 193.592 km/h, never before he had shot so strong in the quarter -liter) in front of Redman (Honda), Shepherd (MZ), Robb (Yamaha) Provini (Benelli). In 1965, his best season won in Assen in 125 with the 2 -cylindrical Yamaha 2 -stroke rotating disk by burning the Suzuki of Yoshima Katayama and Hugh Anderson in the sprint and also putting himself behind champions such as teammate Bill Ivy and the Honda Officer Luigi Taveri. In the same season Vittoria in the 250 in Finland with the second places in the America’s GPs, Germany, Tourist Trophy, Czechoslovakia, Ulster effectively losing the World Cup for retreat in the last race in Monza. Many placings on the podium also in the 350 displacements, with shaded victories for falls or for bad luck. In the Duff World Championship he ran until 1967 winning, as mentioned, 3 great prizes and, as a best seasonal result, in 1965 he graduated deputy world champion in the 250 team behind teammate Phil Read and in front of Jim Redman (Honda). Beyond the three world championships, also 24 world podiums and many others in national races. Season, that of 1967, ended with a great flight in the Yamaha tests of the end of the season with the breakdown of the pelvis and the hip, ending six months in the hospital. Then the return to the track on a private Matchless 500, with third place in Canada behind Hailwood and Agostini and the encore in the 200 miles of Daytona. Duff closes with races at the end of 1969, after winning the Canada championship in the major displacements.
change
–
The two weddings are closed with the races and skipped, Duff decides to change sex. Thus, in 1987 he became Michelle, begins another life and begins to write books and novels focused on the world of racing. Among these, the best known internationally is “The Mike Duff Story: Make Haste Slowly”. The former pilot exceeds its isolation phase by intervening, mostly with the Yamaha 250 official twin cylinder, in the international events dedicated to vintage motorcycles. During a re -enactment to Spa in 2008 Duff said goodbye to the motorcycles after a high -speed fall that caused him different fractures, a lung collapse and a fracture of the skull. For Duff life narrows to the thoughts of a past that will no longer return. When asked if he wanted to be a woman from a young age, he replied dry: “No!”, Because he could not have done what he had loved most: the runner.