Uncategorised | Nick Harris

Happy 100th anniversary Suzuki

It’s an amazing racing heritage that has played such vital part in that 100-year Suzuki success story. As the Japanese factory celebrated its one 100th anniversary last week just reflect what an impact and influence, they have had in their 60 years of Grand Prix racing. Like all the major Japanese factories their success on the racetrack has enabled them to lead the world in innovative motorcycle manufacturing.

Suzuki followed Honda by understanding that success in the ultimate challenge, Grand Prix racing. They travelled to the legendary TT races in the Isle of Man. Just one year after Honda they competed for the first time in the 1960 three lap 125cc race. Two years later they took their first ever Grand Prix victory when Ernst Degner won the 50cc TT race round the infamous 60.721 kms mountain circuit. Since that day on the Isle of Man Suzuki have won 157 more Grands Prix. Including that first victory, they have won 30 in the 50cc class, 35 in the 125 and 93 in the 500cc/MotoGP™ classes. Degner followed his 1962 TT win with further victories in Holland, Belgium and West Germany bringing Suzuki their first World title the same year.

Suzuki led the revolution in bringing their two-stroke expertise into the premier 500cc class that had been dominated by the British and Italian four-strokes. In 1971 New Zealander Jack Findley re-wrote the history books at the Ulster Grand Prix. Not only did he bring Suzuki success for the first time in the premier class but also the very first two-stroke victory against the all-conquering four-strokes. The floodgates opened with a long haired loud British legend Barry Sheene spearheading the Suzuki onslaught riding the magnificent RG 500 four-cylinder rocket ship. Sheene brought Suzuki the 500cc World titles in 1976 and 77. He was followed by Italian’s Marco Lucchinelli and Franco Uncini in the early eighties.

Then Honda and Yamaha dominated before a hard riding rear tyre smoking Texan won back the title in 1993. Nobody embodies the Suzuki spirit of racing these incredible frighteningly fast and unpredictable two-strokes than the 1993 World Champion Kevin Schwantz. Once again Honda fought back but as the two-stroke stroke era was coming to a close the son of a rider who’d so often been the thorn in the side of Suzuki brought them their last World title. Kenny Roberts Junior closed the chapter on the all-conquering RG 500 story with a successful conclusion. The American clinched 2000 World 500cc title before Valentino Rossi and then the four-strokes took over.

Australian Chris Vermeulen brought Suzuki their first four stroke win at Le Mans in 2007 but these were tough times. After a brief respite Suzuki returned to the fray and were rewarded four years ago when Maverick Vinales brought them their first win for nine years. Last year in Austin Alex Rins put Suzuki back on the top step of the podium fighting off nobody less than a certain Valentino Rossi. The Spanish rider repeated their success at Silverstone with a famous win over World Champion Marc Marquez to add to the list of Suzuki Grand Prix winners.

Heading the honours board are New Zealander Hugh Anderson and Schwantz with 25 wins apiece. Schwantz took all his wins in the 500cc class but Anderson, on route to two 50cc and 125 cc World titles, won eight 50cc and 17 125cc Grands Prix. Sheene won 21 Grands Prix for Suzuki. Three in the 125cc class and 18 and two World titles on the 500

Suzuki embark on their new decade in great shape on the racetrack that has played such a major part of their history. Rins and Joan Mir look certain to continue that winning tradition embodied by Anderson, Degner, Sheene and Schwantz over the last 60 glorious years.

By Nick Harris| April 2nd, 2020|News and Events, Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Top 10 motorcycling books

Here are a selection of the best motorcycling books that you can enjoy while we #StayAtHome. Which books would you have on your list?

Nick’s picks:

WAYNE RAINEY HIS OWN STORY – MIKE SCOTT
I will never forget that cloud of numbed silence that engulfed the Misano paddock on September 5, 1993. Nobody could or wanted to believe the news about Wayne. His life before the accident and even more after is vividly illustrated in a way that only Michael Scott can portray. A stunning read about darkness, courage and love.

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES – CHE GUEVARA
It was only when I read the book that I realised I had ridden a large part this legend’s route through Argentina. In 1982 Peter Clifford and myself embarked on an incredible motorcycle journey from Buenos Aires to Chile before the Argentinian Grand Prix. Guevara’s steed was a 1939 500cc Norton nicknamed Poderosa 11. We rode a lot more modern Hondas. He went onto lead the revolution while our main worry was getting out of Argentina before the Falkland Islands War started.

THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE RACING – MIKE HAILWOOD AND MURRAY WALKER
This was my bible when I was growing up thinking that I was going to be a motorcycle racer. Those dreams ended in a muddy ditch beside Tumbledown Hill just outside my home village. I’d followed Hailwood’s advice about riding fast in the wet and discovered that I neither had the skill of courage to follow in his footsteps. Not many or if any others did.

STEALING SPEED – MAT OXLEY
This could have been a John L’Carre novel, but it was a true story brilliantly conveyed by my old friend Mat Oxley. In 1961 Ernst Degner defected to the West after the Swedish Grand Prix. Not only did the rider and his family defect but he brought with him all the two-stroke secrets from the East German MZ factory which he gave to Suzuki ultimately leading to World Championship success for both the rider and factory. Even John Le Carre would have struggled to make this story up.

THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN – ROGER DONALDSON
What an inspiration this book about New Zealander Burt Munroe is to everybody and especially to people of my age. Burt Munroe followed his dream of setting a world speed record on his home built Indian Motorcycle. He defied all the odds to build the bike, travel to America and then ride to a new world record. Both the film starring Anthony Hopkins and the book graphically illustrate that you must never give up on your dream.

Martin’s picks:

STORY SO FAR – BARRY SHEENE
Like Valentino Rossi now, Barry Sheene was a rider whose fame went far beyond the world of motorcycling as well as a rider who came out on top of the 500cc world championship in both 1976 and 1977. This book was published after his World title win in 1976 and covers his rise to fame as well as his World Championship endeavours. The book is special to me as it covers the time when I first started to attend race events – the first of which was at Oulton Park in Easter 1972 when the young Sheene racing in white leathers stormed to victory in the 250cc and 500cc races. From that event onwards I was hooked!

TECHNIQUES OF MOTORCYCLE RACING – KENNY ROBERTS
This the modern version of the Murray Walker book that Nick has in his list. Written by Roberts in conjunction with Peter Clifford, who adds the engineering expertise, this book explains the physics of racing technique. When he arrived in Europe Roberts changed the approach to racing and this book explains how he did it, with a more analytical approach to understanding why and how a motorcycle responds as it does.

THE AGE OF SUPERHEROES – MAT OXLEY
If a photo can tell a thousand words then this is the book that confirms it – but in addition to those wonderful photos Mat, in his usual brilliant way, tells the story behind the photos. If you want to read about those heroes who rode the 500cc monsters without any electronic aids – then this is the book for you.

THE PRIVATEER – JON EKEROLD
In my 48 years of watching motorcycle racing, there may have been harder racers than Jon Ekerold – but I am not sure who they would be. In the 70s and 80s racing was very different from it is now: it was possible to go GP racing with a couple privately owned machines and a transit van. The existence was very much hand-to-mouth and the prize and start money from one race paid for the fuel to get to the next one. Jon Ekerold was one of many such racers, but one of the few to win a World title. This book tells the real story of Grand Prix racing in that era.

JARNO SAARINEN – KLAAS TJASSENS
For me the racing book that I wish had never been written. Jarno Saarinen is my all-time hero of racing. I cannot read this book without feeling great emotion these many years later: great sadness, along with anger that the riders of those days were treated so poorly with regard to safety. In the early 70s Saarinen was the man who was taking the Grand Prix scheme by storm, by challenging the dominance of the great Giacomo Agostini and his fabulous MV. Saarinen won the 250cc World title in 1972 and then was signed by Yamaha to lead their attack on the 500cc title in 1973. After dominating the early season events he arrived at Monza leading both the 250cc & 500cc championship standings, before events at Monza on the fateful day in May 1973 when he lost his life alongside Italian legend Renzo Pasolini.

By Nick Harris| March 26th, 2020|Martin Raines Blog, News and Events, Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

Click your fingers and they would arrive

It seems only a few years ago that you could just click your fingers and they would arrive from across the Atlantic to win Grands Prix and in many cases, World Championships. It was like the Pilgrim Fathers in reverse as Kenny Roberts led the charge from America closely followed by Eddie Lawson, Freddie Spencer, Wayne Rainey, John Kocinski and Kevin Schwantz. Even in the 21st century the likes of Kenny Roberts Junior and Nicky Hayden kept the Stars and Stripes flying high on foreign soil.

It was only when Joe Roberts took that magnificent Moto2™ pole in Qatar last week I realised just how the exploits of those American heroes were confined firmly to the history books. American success in the all three classes in the MotoGP™ World Championship was long overdue. Incredibly, a decade overdue.

Fittingly it was at an iconic legendary American venue that Ben Spies grabbed the very last American pole position. It was in the 2010 MotoGP™ race at the Indianapolis Speedway that the Yamaha rider started the 28-lap race from pole position after leading qualifying. Spies finished second in the race behind the Honda of Dani Pedrosa. I’m sure there would have been many more poles and race wins for Spies if his career had not been cruelly cut short by injury.

That same year an American rider grabbed his country’s only ever pole position in the Moto2™ class. Never has the media centre celebrated a pole position with such noise when Kenny Noyes crossed the line at Le Mans. His father Dennis was a doyen of the Grand Prix press core for many a decade and I think we all felt part of his pride.

That was that. Ten barren years and to be honest not much sign that times were about to change until that memorable Saturday night in Qatar.

It was back in 1978 a dirt tracker who was never afraid to express his opinions arrived in Europe to compete in the 500cc World Championship. Kenny Roberts is the biggest single influence in the 71-year history of the sport. The Californian simply turned the Grand Prix racing on its head both on and off the track. He dominated the 500cc World Championship for the next three years with a sliding style that had been honed on the mile-long dirt tracks under the floodlights back home. The European riders led by double World Champion Barry Sheene had never seen anything like it and had no answer. Off the track Kenny led the riders in their fight to improve appalling lack of safety and financial rewards. He was successful on both counts.

If that was not enough, he then brought the likes of Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson from the States to join the likes of Spencer and Schwantz to carry on the American domination of the 500cc World Championship. He set up his own British-based Grand Prix team and produced a son who carried on the family and American tradition by winning the 2000 500cc World title. The only father and son to win a World title.

Pat Hennen was the first American Grand Prix winner when he won the 1976 Finnish Grand Prix at Imatra. Two years earlier Kenny Roberts had popped over the Atlantic to test the water with a 250cc ride in Assen. He started his Grand Prix debut on pole. We should have realised then just what an impact he was going to make.

When you have the same surname as a true legend you have so much lot to live up to. Joe made a start in Qatar.

By Nick Harris| March 18th, 2020|News and Events, Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A SAFE SUCCESSFUL NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

Best Wishes,

Nick and Martin
Nick Harris Media Communications

We are not sending out Christmas cards this year and instead are donating to Homeless Oxfordshire.

By Martin Raines| December 20th, 2019|Uncategorised|Comments Off

NEARLY THREE MILLION FANS VOTE ON THEIR FEET

The weather was not always perfect and Mark Marquez may have clinched that MotoGP World title five rounds from the finish in Thailand but still the fans voted on their feet. To be precise an average of 150,691 pairs of feet propelled those fans to each grand prix this season. A staggering average attendance for the three days which makes up a grand prix weekend. Over two million eight hundred thousand race fans travelled to the 19 grand prix this season and next year with Finland making a welcome return to the 20 race calendar there are going to be more.

When I returned to full time grand prix motorcycle racing after a six year defection to Formula One 19 years ago there was concern about just how people were attending or in some cases not attending certain circuits. You could almost count the number of spectators on one hand in many of those vast empty Sepang grandstands in Malaysia. Just 18,500 fans made it over the three days for the 2000 British Grand Prix at Donington Park .Jeremy McWilliams who finished third behind Valentino Rossi and World Champion Kenny Roberts in the 500cc race, the Doctor’s first premier class victory, nicknamed Great Britain as Superbike Island and he was right.

Roll on 18 incredible years of four strokes, Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez plus so much more and it’s a very different story. This year Sepang. which has dropped its Formula race because of poor attendances, attracted over 170,000 spectators cheering on their home based Petronas Yamaha SRT team. This year it was a case of counting the empty seats on one hand. Last year the British Grand Prix at Silverstone has to be cancelled on race day because of heavy rain which the new track surface could not handle. This year nearly 115,000 returned to this classic re-surfaced venue to witness a classic Marquez/Alex Rins fight to the flag. Even more will return next year.

Three circuits attracted over 200,000 spectators this season. The massive crowds packed two classic venues at the Sachsenring in Germany and Le Mans in France. Innovative marketing and spectator events such as concerts, stunt riding and rider appearances has doubled the Le Mans attendance over the last decade with double World titles for Johann Zarco playing their part.

There was no home – based World Champions or even race winner to cheer on in Thailand but still the Chang International Circuit at Buriram attracted the largest crowd of the season for the second year running. A staggering 226,655 fans travelled to the track in East Thailand. MotoGP has a massive new following in Asia and with Indonesia poised to join the Championship in the next couple of years those crowds are just going to get bigger and bigger.

Of course increased attendances are not the only indication of just how successful the MotoGP World Championship has been over the last couple of decades but surely 2,863,119 fans can’t be wrong.

By Nick Harris| November 27th, 2019|Uncategorised|Comments Off

The Mike Hailwood of MotoGP™

When I was growing up with totally unrealistic dreams of actually racing a motorcycle I eagerly devoured every word in a book on just how to do it by my hero nine times World Champion Mike Hailwood. The book suggested you should be able to place an imaginary sixpenny piece on every corner round the TT mountain course in the Isle of Man. Then for every lap of the six lap race, a mere 364 kms, you should be able to ride over every one of those sixpences to ensure smooth consistent lines. Hailwood could do it but very few others could. Without a shadow of a doubt Jorge Lorenzo would have hit that imaginary sixpence or euro in his case, on every single bend. In this era of tough aggressive encounters Lorenzo was almost a throwback who reminded me so much of the legendary Hailwood. Of course he could mix it and had to win those five World titles. Even the King of Spain had to step in to calm the explosive feud between him and Dani Pedrosa as they fought for the 250 cc title. Then when he joined the MotoGP elite and everything that goes with it. Lorenzo also had to deal with team-mate Valentino Rossi on and off the track.

I vaguely remember having to add the name of a teenager from Mallorca by the name of Jorge Lorenzo to the entry list on the Saturday of the 2002 125 cc race at the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. It was the day of his 15th birthday and he was too young to ride in the first two practice sessions on Friday. A year later he won his first grand prix in Rio but I’d already got to know Jorge. He was more nervous about having to speak English at press conferences than he was about riding grand prix motor cycles. We would meet up ten minutes before the conference and he would practice his answers in English to my questions. It was good training and soon no practice was required because he was such a frequent participant in the pole setters and race winner’s press conferences on route to those two 250 cc World titles.

He arrived in MotoGP with a bang. Pole positions, some mighty big crashes, especially that high side in China and that first win in Estoril were the stand out moments of that 2008 season. World titles on the Yamaha followed in 2010, 2012 and 2015 which was almost forgotten in the furore of the Marquez/Rossi war. Like Rossi he made the move to Ducati and struggled in the same way to adjust in that first year but then glimpses of that immaculate smooth style returned with three grand prix wins for the Italian factory.

In the end the pain of so many injuries finally took their toll this year. Lorenzo knew more than most that you paid a price for winning 68 grands prix and five World titles. Who would ever forget that weekend at the 2013 Dutch TT in Assen. Lorenzo crashed and broke his collarbone in the wet second practice session. He was flown to Barcelona to have a titanium plate fitted with ten screws to repair the broken bone. He returned two days later to ride the Yamaha into fifth place after 26 laps of excruciating pain. Winning World titles and grands prix was never easy.

To some people Lorenzo played second fiddle to first Valentino Rossi and then Marc Marquez but on his day and especially if he got away at the front, Jorge Lorenzo was quite simply unbeatable. Mike Hailwood would have approved.

By Nick Harris| November 22nd, 2019|Uncategorised|1 Comment

Take heart Fabio, at least it’s not another four years

It was a difficult Sunday for the French in Japan. While France was knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by Wales the mighty impressive Fabio Quartararo clinched the MotoGP™ Rookie of the Year title in Motegi but for the fourth Grand Prix in succession could not beat the rampant Marc Marquez to secure that first premier class victory. Surely that first win will come as rich reward for the 20-year-old during the final three races of the year. He should take heart that others have had to wait longer before the floodgates opened while some who started with a bang never went on the win the ultimate prize.

Mick Doohan had to wait until the penultimate round of the 1990 Championship to secure that first win at the Hungaroring on the outskirts of Budapest in his second season in the 500cc class. The Australian went on to win 53 more on route to five World titles. What a contrast to Max Biaggi who arrived in the 500cc class with a bang at Suzuka in 1998. The Italian had dominated the 250cc Championship for the previous four years and what a premier class debut he made at the opening round of the Championship. Max won comfortably on the Honda to send a shiver down the spine of his rivals to become the first rider in 25 years to win a premier class race on his debut. It was quite a day with Biaggi the first European winner of a Premier class race in Japan but he never went onto win the World title. He won 12 more Grands Prix but in the final reckoning always had to play second fiddle to his bitter rival Valentino Rossi.

Even The Doctor didn’t strike first time out and it after a trip to hospital in nearby Nottingham following a practice crash he won for the first time at the ninth round of the 2000 Championship at Donington Park. The rest is history with 88 victories to follow that brought the Italian seven World titles and a legendary status. I’m sure it’s no great surprise to learn that Marc Marquez won at Austin in 2013 in just his second premier class race and went on to win the title at the first attempt.

I remember two maiden premier class wins by two riders who went onto win the ultimate prize. Twenty five of us travelled to Assen in 1975 to support Barry Sheene just four months after his horrendous Daytona crash that made him more famous than any World titles back home in Britain. I’m still convinced our vocal beer-fuelled support for Barry as he crossed the line on equal time as legend Giacomo Agostini convinced the timekeepers to award the race to the British rider who went on to win 18 more and two World titles

Seven years later I ran down the track with notebook in hand towards the legendary Eau Rouge corner at Spa in Belgian determined to be the first journalist to speak to Freddie Spencer after his maiden Grand Prix win. As I breathlessly arrived Freddie was trying to turn the three-cylinder Honda with no steering lock round at the bottom of the hill to get back to pit lane and the celebrations. Unfortunately, after averaging 157.873 kph to win the 20 lap race an exhausted Freddie fell off at around 5 kph and the exclusive interview had to wait. Freddie went on to win 19 more premier class Grands Prix, two 500cc titles and is still the only rider to win 500 and 250cc titles in the same season just three years later.

So take heart Fabio, that first win will come. At least you get another chance at Phillip Island on Sunday while the French rugby team will have to wait four long years.

By Nick Harris| October 24th, 2019|News and Events, Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

A very long last lap

I always thought by the time we arrived at Misano we were on the last lap of the season, but beware – many a race, or in most cases the World Championship, has been decided on that last lap. Sure, the Marquez brothers seem well on their way to an incredible MotoGP™/Moto2™ double but despite the nights drawing in and autumn approaching fast, there is still an awful long way to go before that prize-giving in Valencia on November 17.

To be precise there are still seven Grands Prix left starting on the Adriatic coast of Italy on Sunday. That’s well over one-third of the season remaining. Seven races in just nine weeks of frantic action and frenzied travel. One hundred and seventy-five points up for grabs in that period of time when MotoGP seems to fill every inch of your brain and every hour of your day. It’s tough; it’s tiring but so incredibly exciting and rewarding. Travelling with a group of like-minded souls across the globe and by the time you reach Valencia one part of you is glad the travelling is over while the other part just craves for one more adrenalin rush before Christmas arrives. Then the process starts all over again.

The real crunch period for the riders and the teams are those three races in two weeks starting at Motegi in Japan, then just popping down to Phillip Island in Australia before starting back home via Sepang in Malaysia. Seventy-five points that have so often decided the outcome of the Championship even before that final round in Valencia. Three races staged on three so different race tracks. Three races held in often totally contrasting weather conditions. There can be fog in Motegi, rain and wind at Phillip Island and then searing heat and torrential rain in Sepang while adjusting to just travelling to and then around three such contrasting countries and lifestyles.

My other memory of Misano is after weeks of speculation at last finding out the provisional calendar for the next season and then working out the best time to tell your loved ones back home especially with the massive end of season trip about to start. When I started covering Grand Prix racing in 1980 there were ten races on the calendar although it dropped to eight with Venezuela cancelled because of financial problems and Austria snowbound. Next year there is double that number scheduled in an amazing calendar that crisscrosses the globe in almost nine months of racing and travel.

As round 13 approaches this weekend I’m sure Marc and Alex Marquez and Lorenzo Dalla Porta know that so much can change so quickly in the next nine weeks. I hope that everybody planning to embark on next year’s adventure have already shown the 2020 calendar or perhaps at least given a hint to their loved ones about their plans for next year. Don’t leave it until Valencia.

By Nick Harris| September 13th, 2019|Uncategorised|Comments Off

Northern soul

There has been plenty of midnight sun, ice racing, vodka sampling, saunas in the forests by the lake, smorgasbord, Mika Kallio and even the end of the Abba era but there has been no grand prix motorcycle racing for nearly three decades but this could change in the future.

The long awaited and much anticipated return of MotoGP to Scandinavia took a giant step forward with the first test at the brand new KymiRing circuit in Finland.

It’s 29 long years since the last Swedish Grand Prix was held at the Anderstorp circuit. You have to go back another eight years to the last grand prix to be staged in Finland in 1982 at the legendary Imatra circuit.

Two more contrasting circuits both on and off the track would be hard to imagine. Anderstorp the flat aerodrome track south of Gothenburg which you entered through an industrial estate. Imatra the road circuit snaking through the forest next to the lake and the outskirts of the town just a couple of kilometres from the Russian border.

Anderstorp where it was difficult to buy alcohol and where a gang of Hells Angels had set up camp in the nearby forest. Imatra where buying alcohol and especially vodka was never a problem and where the partying in the midnight sun was a legendary part of the weekend.

Anderstorp where many a Championship was won and lost because the Swedish Grand Prix was always near the end of the season. Freddie Spencer and Kenny Roberts had a mighty coming together on the last lap in the penultimate round in 1983. Freddie surprised Kenny with his aggression to take a famous victory to set up his first World 500cc title. Two years later Freddie clinched the 500cc part of his historical double. I celebrated Barry Sheene’s last grand prix win with his great friend Marco Lucchinelli clinching the 1981 World title and Wayne Rainey blew away his Championship chances in 1989 when he crashed chasing Eddie Lawson’s Honda.

Imatra was so different and so dangerous. I will never forget my first visit in 1980 with the smell from the massive wood pulp factory a constant reminder of how close was the Russian border, the midnight sun, the long nights of partying and those white leathers of Dutchman Wil Hartog flashing between the trees at over 200 kph on route to his last grand prix win. Barry Sheene took me down to the infamous corner where the riders raced over the railway lines. Barry, who a year earlier had burnt down the appalling paddock lavatories, told me the only surprise about the track was that they actually stopped the trains running on race day. The 500cc machines stopped a year later and in 1982 grand prix racing tragically came to an end following the fatal accident of my great friend World Sidecar Champion Jock Taylor.

The new era of grand prix racing starts in Scandinavia at the KymiRing next year. Welcome back but beware of that midnight sun and vodka.

By Nick Harris| July 25th, 2019|News and Events, Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|1 Comment

MotoGP70: Birth of a dream

A 425.047km race around the most demanding circuit in the world was how it all began. Seventy long years ago on the morning of June 13th 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing began its incredible journey on an island in the middle of the choppy Irish Sea situated between the rugged coastlines of Ireland and England. One year earlier than its four-wheel counterparts, the first ever World Championship race was staged on the legendary mountain circuit in the Isle of Man. This was no 45-minute fight for every corner and inch of tarmac that is the blueprint for modern day MotoGP™ racing but a seven-lap marathon round the 60.721km TT Mountain circuit for 350cc machines.

Freddie Frith became the first ever Grand Prix winner riding the British built Velocette, with a lap record on his last lap of 135.50kph. All 75 finishers in the race were riding British built machinery but there was also a poignant reminder that riders chasing their dream could pay the ultimate price when Ben Drinkwater was killed when he crashed on the fourth lap.

Four days later bespectacled Harold Daniell won the first ever premier class 500cc race riding the Norton to success in another seven laps of the Mountain circuit. He averaged an incredible 139.887kph for the race, which took him over three hours to complete. A few years earlier Daniell was refused entry into the armed forces because of poor eye sight. Irishman Manliff Barrington won the first 250cc Grand Prix riding the Italian Moto Guzzi after another seven-lap marathon encounter. Three weeks later the 125cc class made its debut round the 7.280km circuit at Berne in Switzerland where Italian Nello Pagani brought Mondial an historic victory.

Seventy years on there are 19 Grands Prix visiting 15 countries in five continents with riders from 19 countries competing for the ultimate prize in the three classes Moto3™, Moto2™ and MotoGP™. In 1949 there were six Grands Prix all in Europe and, apart from Monza in Italy, all on circuits that were public roads for the rest of the year. The six circuits picked to stage these pioneering races were the Isle of Man, Berne in Switzerland, Assen in Holland, Spa -Francorchamps in Belgium, Clady in Northern Ireland and Monza in Italy. There were four solo classes 125, 250, 350 and 500cc and of course the magnificent sidecars. The 500cc class was staged at every round, but the 350cc at five, the 250cc at four and the 125s at just three.

Motorcycle racing pioneered the World Championships in 1949 and continues to lead the way 70 years later. Never afraid to incorporate changes and welcome new countries, it’s still way ahead of the others.

Happy Birthday Grand Prix motorcycle racing – long may it continue!

By Nick Harris| June 12th, 2019|Nick's Blog, Uncategorised|Comments Off

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