PEOPLE
The circumstances surrounding the riders’ strike at the 1955 Dutch TT have been well discussed over the years, but there can be little doubt that the riders were being exploited by the organisers.
In his autobiography ‘In Pursuit of Perfection’ Geoff Duke wrote: “Bearing in mind that we, the works riders, were sympathetic to the private riders’ cause at the 1955 Dutch TT, the Assen promoters were notoriously tight-fisted at that time. And with more than 100,000 spectators year after year, this did little to soften the financial frustration suffered by the men who were ‘putting on the show’, yet still finding it difficult to make ends meet – for it must not be overlooked that the members of the ‘Continental Circus’ were professional racing riders with no other sources of income.”
When the Dutch TT organisers/promoters (KNMV) tried to reduce their start money, claiming that they needed the money to pay for track re-surfacing, many of the riders decided to act, and threatened to pull into the pits after one lap of the 350cc race, a threat they duly carried out. With a promise to do the same in the later 500cc race, coupled with the verbal support from Geoff Duke, Reg Armstrong and the Italian members of the Gilera
