Italian, Romolo Ferri was born this day in 1928 and became a Grand Prix motorcycle road racer in 1951. He had his most successful year in 1956 when he won the 125cc German Grand Prix and finished the season in second place behind Carlo Ubbiali, considered to be Italy’s greatest ever rider until Agostini came along. But that’s another story.
The bike that almost took Ferri to the title was a Gilera 125cc twin . It produced about 20hp at 12,000rpm and had a top speed of 115mph (185kph)
Although Ferri retired from full-time Grand Prix racing in 1956, he was back for two rounds in 1958 as part of the Ducati team that was racing it’s new desmodromic 125cc machine. The bike has already proved itself at it’s debut in 1956 when it destroyed the opposition in the hands of Gianni Degli Antoni in Sweden but at the next round at Monza, Antoni was killed in a crash during practise and Ducati pulled out of racing the following year.
The 1958 IoM TT brought the desmo Ducati back again. Ferri finished second in that round and second again at the Begian round at the fast Spa circuit, where the Ducatis took the top two steps of the podium.
