Notes:
Originally from Genoa, Italy, where he was born in 1897, Guido Mentasti was a talented motorcycle rider. In his brief career of just three years, he became one of the most popular road racers in his country, in the 1920s.

A strong-willed and silent competitor, in 1923 he won the gruelling Raid Nord-Sud Milano - Napoli, riding a Frera 500. It was the fifth edition of the about 880-kilometer (547-mile) race along the Italian peninsula from Milano to Napoli in one stage, passing through open roads. Guido Mentasti managed to reach the finish line in first position, despite he fell down twice, on the Porretta descent, near Bologna and on a gravel road near Viterbo. Second finished Primo Moretti, also riding a Frera 500 and third Isacco Mariani on a Garelli 500. In the last stages Mentasti was pushing hard and set a record time of 16h51min25sec, at an average speed of 52.037 km/h (32.34 mi/h), fifty seconds faster than Amedeo Ruggeri, who won the race in 1922, riding an Harley-Davidson 1000 cm³. Mentasti's record lasted until the last edition of the Milano-Napoli road race, held in 1925. Then the race was suspended for seven years and returned only in 1932.

Owing to his success, Guido Mentasti was hired to become the first factory rider of Moto Guzzi. Founded in Genova in 1921 by Carlo Guzzi, Giovanni Ravelli and Giorgio Parodi, the company factory was located in Mandello Lario, province of Como - now province of Lecco - in Lombardia region, northern Italy.

At his debut with his new team, Guido Mentasti won the 1923 Giro Motociclistico d'Italia, riding a Moto Guzzi Normale C2V. It was a five-stage 2,500-kilometer (1,554-mile) tough road race that started from Milan, Italy. Only seven over 53 starters reached the finish Line and Guido Mentasti won, averaging 49.268 km/h (30.6 mi/h), from Aristide Fergnani riding an Indian, and Emilio Cavalieri on a Jap-Garanzini.

Competing in Italy and Europe along with his team mates Primo Moretti and Ugo Prini, the following year Mentasti won the first edition of the European Motorcycle Championship, held at Monza on 07 September 1924, in a single race. He won the 500 cm³ class, riding a Moto Guzzi 500 C4V. Britain's Jimmie Simpson won the 350 cm³ class on an AJS, and the Belgian Maurice van Geert on a Rush-Blackburne, the 250 cm³ class.

Among his career's best results were his victories in the Lugano-Monte Bré hillclimb in Switzerland and in the German Motorcycle Championship race at Rüsselsheim; his second places in the Circuito del Lazio and in the Como-Brunate hillclimb. He also set the fastest lap of the race in both the Circuito di Cremona and Circuito di Tortona.

Guido Mentasti lost his life as a result of a road accident that happened on Monday afternoon, 06 April 1925, while getting back from the Circuito Motoristico di Brescia on his Moto Guzzi machine. The Italian Motorcycle Championship race which was held the previous day on public roads close to that Italian town, was won by Pietro Ghersi's Sunbeam. Mentasti had just set the fastest lap of the race, when his motorcycle had a punctured front tyre, while battling for the lead. He was forced to drive for almost ten kilometers with the flat tyre before reaching the boxes at Brescia.

It is believed that the rim was slightly damaged and this caused his fatal accident of the next day. While traveling towards Milan, the tube of the front wheel of his bike came out of the rim and blew up once again, along the statal road 11 Padana Superiore, in the village of Mandolossa, neighborhood to Brescia. Mentasti was thrown into air, landing several meters ahead. He hit his head into a stone, suffering massive injuries from which he died at 16h30 in Brescia hospital. Guido Mentasti was 28 years old.

Monument erected in Guido Mentasti's memory near the place of his accident, in the village of Mandolossa, neighborhood to Brescia, Italy. The stele reads:

"Here
GUIDO MENTASTI
undefeated motorcycle champion
fell defeated
by the dark pitfall
of case

Photo courtesy of Carlo Fertitta. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.

Career Summary:

• Book "Milano-Taranto. Una corsa motociclistica" by Sandro Luciani and Claudio Porrozzi, Giorgio Nada Editore, Milano - Italy 1994, ISBN 88-7911-120-5.
• Book "Il Motogiro - La Sfida Temeraria" by Arturo Rizzoli, images by Walter Breveglieri, Minerva Edizioni, Loreto (AN) 2007.
• Book "Quando il Mondiale non c'era... Il Racconto del Campionato Europeo di Motociclismo (1924-1948)" by Maurizio Mazzoni, Il Paese delle Corse, 2012.
• Magazine Due Ruote, issue of February 2010, pages 86/87.
• Magazine Motociclismo d'Epoca, issue of February 2021.
• Newspaper La Vanguardia (Barcelona, Spain), issue of Tuesday, 09 September 1924, article "El Gran Premio de Europa motociclista", page 10, retrieved by website http://www.lavanguardia.es/hemeroteca/index.html .
• Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy), issue of Tuesday, 07 April 1925, page 7, article "Il Campione motociclista Mentasti vittima di mortale sciagura", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,7/articleid,1165_01_1925_0083_0007_17255940/anews,true/ .
• Newspaper La Stampa (Turin, Italy), issue of Friday, 10 April 1925, page 3, article "Le onoranze funebri di Brescia al corridore Mentasti", retrieved by website http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,3/articleid,1165_01_1925_0086_0003_17256107/anews,true/ .
• Newspaper El Mundo Deportivo (Barcelona, Spain), issue of Saturday, 11 April 1925, article "Un Campeón que desaparece ¡Guido Mentasti,ha muerto!", page 4, retrieved by website http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/hemeroteca/index.html .
• Website Moto Guzzi, page http://www.motoguzzi.it/storia/tecniche.asp and page http://www.motoguzzi.it/storia/storia2.asp .
• Website Guzzipedia, page https://www.guzzipedia.it/persone/guido-mentasti/ .
• Website Circuiti, by Guido de Carli, page http://www.gdecarli.it/Circuiti/ITA/ITA Brescia 1907.htm .
• Website Racing Memory by Vincent Glon, page http://racingmemo.free.fr/M%20HISTOIRE/M-HIST%201925.htm .
• Website Moto Guzzi Club Mandello, page https://www.guzziclubmandello.it/index.php/galleria-fotografica-di-mandello/11-tomba-di-guido-mentasti?jjj=1633446010535 .
• E-mail by Andy Marlow, dated 24 January 2005.
• E-mail by Marco Vasile, dated 07 October 2005.
• E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 01 October 2021.
• E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 17 May 2022.
• E-mail by Carlo Fertitta, dated 25 May 2022.