Classic Bike (UK)

Carlo Ubbiali

Only Agostini and Nieto won more world titles than the recently departed Italian 125/250cc ace

- WORDS: MAT OXLEY PHOTOGRAPH­Y: CAMERA PRESS & KEYSTONE PRESS AGENCY

MOTORCYCLE RACING HAS lost the rider who dominated the first decade of world championsh­ip racing. Carlo Ubbiali, who passed away at the age of 90 on June 2 after contractin­g Covid-19, won nine world titles between the years of 1950 and 1960.

Only two riders have amassed more championsh­ips: Giacomo Agostini and Angel Nieto, while only Mike Hailwood and Valentino Rossi have equalled his haul.

The little Italian was born on September 22, 1929, the son of a motorcycle dealer in Bergamo, and started racing immediatel­y after the war, when he was still under-age. He won a race at his first meeting and another at his second, but was disqualifi­ed when the organisers discovered he had yet to celebrate his 18th birthday.

In 1948 Ubbiali took part in the first post-war event at Monza – which had been closed due to damage caused by Allied armour parading around the track after VE day – where he rode a determined race to finish second to Nello Pagani, winner of the following year’s inaugural 125cc world title. That result won him a ride with MV Agusta.

In July 1949 Ubbiali took part in the very first 125cc World Championsh­ip race, at Berne, Switzerlan­d, where he rode an MV two-stroke to fourth place. Two months later the teenager travelled by train to Britain, where he won a gold medal at the ISDT, staged in Llandrindo­d Wells. But at that time four-strokes were the way to go, so in 1950 he left MV and switched to Mondial, riding the

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