Mike Kelly, one of the Isle of Man’s leading road racers of the late 1950s and early 1960s, died on January 27 in the Victoria Lakes area of south-east Australia.

Aged 88, he had suffered with severe dementia for several years following a stroke.

Brought up alongside the Mountain Course in Glen Vine and Crosby, he managed to purchase his first motorbike at the age of 15 when he was an apprentice mechanic, however as he was too young to ride on the road he had to be content with riding it round the Highway Board yard at Ellerslie until he gained his provisional licence.

He rode a few scrambles and made his Manx Grand Prix debut in 1957 on a 350cc BSA Gold Star, finishing seventh in the Newcomers (from 70 starters) and 37th in the Junior proper won by fellow local Alan Holmes.

Mike was sixth in the following year’s Senior and 13th in the Junior, after which he never finished outside of the top-10 again.

He was ninth (in the Junior) and seventh (Senior) in 1959, averaging 90mph on his Norton. With backing from Reg Dearden, he was eighth (Junior) and fifth (Senior) in 1960, the latter won by Phil Read who would become a multiple TT winner and world champion.

Mike made it onto the podium with third place in the 1961 Senior behind Ned Minihan and Dave Williams, followed by a brace of fifth places in 1962.

Switching to another highly respected tuner, Francis Beart, in 1963, he qualified well but did not enjoy the best of fortunes during race week. He retired early from a wet Junior race and crashed out of the Senior at the Waterworks when holding onto fifth place, breaking a collarbone.

In his final year of racing he was fourth in the 1964 Junior and third in the Senior at an average speed of 94mph, receiving the Lady Hill Rosebowl for a second time.

The race was won by Welshman Selwyn Griffiths, who preceded Mike by a fortnight. The latter also rode the Clubman’s TT, North West 200 and Southern 100, but never stepped up to the full international TT as a rider.

He did a stint as a travelling marshal, making his debut in the 1959 TT when he was among the first to carry radio communication equipment on the rear of his machine.

A Manx MCC committee member, he was deputy clerk of the course to Neil Hanson for the MGP and a regular course car driver.

Mike leaves a wife Pat in Australia, a daughter Charlotte, to his first wife Margaret, and two brothers – Brian (the long-time former vicar at St German’s cathedral in Peel), and Juan, a leading member of Marown Bowling Club.

Mike is to be cremated in Australia next Monday. His daughter is hoping to have his ashes returned to the island for a final lap of the Mountain Course on a Norton during Manx Grand Prix fortnight.

Pat, originally from Scotland, and Mike had been sweethearts in their younger days before Pat and her family emigrated to Australia on a £10 passage.

The two only got back in touch again after each of their first marriages failed. They were happily married for 37 years and initially enjoyed six-month stints in both the Isle of Man and Australia.