Umberto Masetti
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| Complete name: Umberto Masetti |
| Birth date: 04.May.1926 |
| Birth Place: Borgo delle Rose (PR), Italy |
| Death date: 28.May.2006 |
| Death Place: Torre Maina di Maranello (MO), Italy |
| Nationality: Italy |
| Gender: male |
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Notes:
Umberto Masetti
1926 - 2006
Photo taken in 2002 by Vincenzo Zaccaria. Reproduced under kind permission, all rights reserved.
Two times World Motorcycle Champion in the 500 cm3 class, in 1950 and 1952 riding a Gilera, Umberto Masetti was the first Italian rider to win the title.
Son of a Gilera agent in Parma, Masetti was a slim and nervous man who started his career in the early years after the end of World War II, riding a 65 cm3 machine in "Third Category" races. In 1949 he progressed to "First Category", making his debut in the newly introduced World Motorcycle Championship aboard a Moto Morini. Masetti finished third in the 125 cm3 class behind Nello Pagani on a n FB-Mondial and Renato Magi on another Moto Morini. In the same season he also raced a Benelli in the 250 cm3 class and a Gilera in the 500 cm3 class.
In 1950 Masetti, aged 24 was signed up by team Gilera and rode a 4-cylinder Gilera 500 winning the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps and the Dutch TT at Assen. He grabbed the World Championship by one point ahead of Duke, nevertheless the British rider scored three Grand Prix wins in the season on his Norton. In 1951 Umberto Masetti won the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuïc Park, being third in the World Championship, 500 cm3 class, behind Geoff Duke's Norton and Alfredo Milani's Gilera. Finally in 1952, still riding for Gilera, he won again the World title, again taking victories at Assen and Spa-Francorchamps.
He soon became the best opponent to another prominent young rider from England, Geoff Duke. Masetti’s rivalry with the British "Iron Duke" was also the first major duel in the World Motorcycle Championship history. Umberto Masetti was a very pleasant fellow, nice, praised by the fans, his two World Championship titles gave him enormous popularity in Italy. He conquered the pages of newspapers and magazines not only for his sporting endeavours, but also for his love affairs, the most notorious of all being the one with the Italian actress, the queen of the Italian circus, Moira Orfei. As many other racing stars in the following decades, Masetti did not live as an exemplary sportsman, rather as a reckless jet-set protagonist.
In 1953 Geoff Duke and Reg Armstrong joined team Gilera and they dominated the championship such as the other teams abandoned the series for the last two Grands Prix of the season. Umberto Masetti who was entered by team Gilera only in the Italian Championship, refused to go on with the team, after the Dutch TT at Assen. He was fired by Gilera but remained in the World Championship riding for team NSU in the 250 cm3 class. Unfortunately he sustained a huge accident at Imola which prevented him from competing for a large part of the season. He came back in September at Monza for the Gran Prix des Nations, finishing sixth. One year later Masetti was at Monza in the 500 cm3 class race of the same event, once again with Gilera, scoring a second place behind his team mate Duke. In 1954 he won his fourth Italian Championship in the 500 cm3 class.
By the end of 1954 Umberto Masetti joined team MV Agusta, with whom he remained until 1958. He participated in both the 250 and 500 cm3 classes, scoring one win at Monza in 1955 in 500. After an unsuccessful 1958 season, he announced his retirement from motorcycle competition, and moved to South America, living longtime in Chile. Four years later he was again in the field with a Chilean licence, riding a Moto Morini 250 cm3 in the 1962 Argentine Grand Prix at Buenos Aires. He finished runner-up to Arthur Wheeler's Moto Guzzi. He did the same in 1963, then aged 37, scoring a third place in the Argentine Grand Prix at Buenos Aires, 250 cm3 class, behind Tarquinio Provini on another Moto Morini and Jim Redman's Honda. This was his last start in the World Motorcycle Championship.
During his career between 1949 and 1963 he made 33 Grand Prix starts, taking six outright wins, all in the top class, and 23 podium finishes. Umberto Masetti returned to Italy in 1972 and lived in Torre Maina di Maranello, province of Modena, with his wife and their two sons. He worked in an Agip service station along the Autostrada del Sole A1, Milano-Roma motorway, near Modena, and occasionally participated in sportscar events and hillclimbs, driving different cars, including the Aguzzoli Condor Alfa Romeo 1600. In later years, he worked as team manager consultant for team Aprilia.
Umberto Masetti passed away of pulmonary strokes on Sunday 28 May 2006, at the age of 80. He had been in hospital for several days with serious respiratory problems |
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Career Summary:
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Sources:
- Book "I Giorni del Coraggio - Storia dei Motomondiali 1949-1969" by Ezio Pirazzini, Edizioni Calderini, Bologna 1975, page 408.
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Magazine Auto Italiana, issue 06 August 1964.
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Website Motociclismo, page http://www.motociclismo.it/edisport/moto/Notizie.nsf/RisultatoRicercaNelSito/D35367527FDBF484C125717D00638512?OpenDocument .
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Website Automobilismo d'Epoca, page https://www.automobilismodepoca.it/condor-aguzzoli-1-introduzione-auto-115 .
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Website Gazzetta dello Sport, article "Addio a Masetti, fu re in 500", page http://www.gazzetta.it/Motori/Motomondiale/Primo_Piano/2006/05_Maggio/29/masetti.shtml .
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Website Road Racing World, page https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/umberto-masetti-rip/ .
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Website Racing Memory by Vincent Glon, page http://racingmemo.free.fr/MOTO-GP-1962.htm .
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Website Italiane da Corsa - Aguzzoli Condor, page https://www.italianedacorsa.it/2018/02/24/aguzzi-condor/ .
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Website MotoGP, page https://www.motogp.com/en/news/2006/05/29/umberto-masetti-first-italian-500cc-champion-dies-aged-80/140847 .
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Website A Million Steps, page https://amillionsteps.velasca.com/en/umberto-masetti-first-motorcycling-star/ .
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