A short look at the history of Roland Pike.

Roland Pike

Via: The Pike-BSA's

Roland Pike was a very successful racer / engineer in British and Continental road racing events in the 1935-1952 period. He entered 168 racing events, scored 29 first, 38 second and 13 third places.

Mainly on home-brewed pre-war 250cc Rudges he competed against “state of art” factory racers. He wasn’t afraid to race the little Rudges in 350 and 500cc events. Like one time in 1947 at Cadwell when he won a 500cc heat and finished fourth in the final.

Known for always immaculately prepared machinery, his bikes were always the first to fire when starting, and went into first corner with the rest of the field still pushing off.

During the German GP held at the Solitude rennstrecke at the 25th of July 1954 Dennis lost his life in a racing accident in the 500cc heat. In front of 400.000+ spectators Dennis blocked his front wheel in braking in the penultimate lap, slid into the side of the road and died instantly of a broken neck.

“The winner is who crosses the line first, not the one that crosses the line fastest” was his theory