Where legends live on..

Eddie Crooks

Eddie rose to fame as a trials, scrambles and road racing star in the 1950’s, representing the army in the International Six Days Trials and achieving three gold medal awards.  A regular podium finisher in the Manx Grand Prix for many years, he won the 1959 Senior race achieving lap and race records in the process. In the 1960 TT he rode an experimental works Norton and was drafted in as part of the East German MZ factory team.

When Eddie retired from racing he started his own motorcycle business in Barrow-in-Furness and became one of the first Suzuki dealers in the UK.  Due to his love of road racing he saw the potential for turning Suzuki road bikes into race winners and that is what he did with his race team. 
Eddie’s “Crooks Suzuki’s won at National and International level, including Manx Grand Prix, TT and Thruxton 500 mile events.  In 1968 Eddie raced again at Monza, Italy with his team in a bid to beat the 350cc 24 hour world record, this was done on an oversize 250cc Suzuki T20 road bike.  The record, an average speed of 91.055mph over a 24 hour period, still stands to this day - testament to the reliability of the Suzuki T20 and the sterling efforts of the record-breaking team of riders.

In the 1970’s & 1980’s Eddie became one of the leading Suzuki off-road dealers, as well as competing himself he helped riders win British Championships as well as encouraging riders at club level.

When Eddie moved back to the Isle of Man in the 1990’s he did not retire, he ran a newspaper shop for some years and also enjoyed being an extra in the Manx film industry.

Eddie’s funeral will take place at 2pm on Friday 13th August at St.Mary's RC Church, Hill Street, Douglas, Isle of Man.