Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE C anadian motorcycle racing fans were hungry for a World Championship road race in 1989. The Great White North had only hosted a single Motorcycle Grand Prix race at Mosport, and that was way back in 1967. That race was notable in that it was the last 500cc Grand Prix race (and win) for the legendary Mike Hailwood. But that was it for Canada. And then came World Superbike in '89. The burgeoning series came to Mosport and the fans came in droves. It was 30,000 strong, likely the largest crowd ever to watch a motorcycle race in Canada up to that point (only to be eclipsed by AMA Supercross when it started coming to Toronto). It was early June, one of the first really nice week- ends in Ontario, and there was a festive atmosphere. The very fact that World Superbike even made it to Can- ada (or anywhere for that matter) was a major accom- plishment. The New Zealand-based financial backers of the World Superbike abandoned the series and left it high and dry just days before the start of the 1988 sea- son. Only emergency measures kept the series going and financially it was fair to say it was on life support. Yet in spite of the behind-the-scenes issues the series was coming into its own in terms of the teams and riders. Mosport was the third round of the series that sea- son and defending champ, American Fred Merkel came to Canada with a narrow point lead over Italian Fabrizio Pirovano. But the talk of the series was wildman Giancar- lo Falappa. Falappa was a motocross racer who'd only started road racing the year before. It was stunning that a rider with so little road racing experience was even al- lowed to race in a World Championship event, but there he was, incredibly unconventional in his riding style, shoving his bike down through the turns with his arms while sitting straight up on top of the leaning bike with his shoulders turned - often in the opposite direction of the direction he was cornering. His lines were erratic and it would be kind to say he made his fellow competitors nervous. After the first round in Donington Park, veteran road racer Roger Marshall pulled into the pits after race one and asked, "Who's the wanker on the Bimota?" It didn't help that when Falappa took his helmet off it revealed a fierce looking visage of ruthless boxer or perhaps an unnerving gangster. Amazingly the inexperienced pit bull Falappa scored a victory at Donington, not bad for a rider who'd never road raced outside of his home country of Italy, and had less than a year of pavement racing under his belt. There was a real buzz at Mosport on a beautiful race day. The crowd came to the fences after a night of par- tying and they were almost immediately raucous, ready to resume the party and watch some good racing. The race was nationally televised in Canada. A helicopter with a big gyro-stabilized TV camera hovered above the track. This was big stuff. The anticipation was even more intense since a few of their Canadian country- men promised to be very competitive with the World Superbike regulars. Canadian Superbike Champion Rueben McMurter and a very young Miguel Duhamel MOSPORT '89 P128 Fred Merkel leads Giancar- lo Falappa at Mosport in 1989.