CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
P
ier Francesco "Frankie" Chili
knew from an early age that
he wanted to be a motorcycle
road racer. His uncle Pierluigi
Aldrovandi was European 125cc
Road Racing Champion in 1981
and also raced GPs, scoring
podiums in the 125cc GP class
three times in the early 1980s. As
a kid Chili worked in his uncle's
race shop. Sometimes young Chili
would "borrow" his uncle's race
bike and ride it on the roads on
the outskirts of Bologna.
With his uncle's help Chili be-
gan racing in Italy's Junior 125cc
road racing series and earned that
championship. He then followed
season. He scored three top-10
finishes including a season-best
sixth at Spa. He finished 10th in
the final series standings in spite
of missing the final three rounds.
In '87 Team HB Gallina
switched to Hondas and in his
sophomore GP campaign Chili's
results improved. In the rain at
Le Mans, Chili charged up from
12th on the grid and scored his
first-ever GP podium, finishing
second to Randy Mamola. Chili
credited the tractability of his
three-cylinder Honda for helping
him score his result in France.
He finished 1987 ranked
eighth in the final 500cc Grand
P138
in his uncle's footsteps to win the
European 125cc Championship
in 1985, just four years after his
uncle accomplished the feat.
Chili emerged from the Italian
and European road racing cham-
pionships in the mid-1980s and
without ever going through a full
season of GP support-class rac-
ing went directly into the 500cc
Grand Prix Championships in
1986 riding for Team Gallina
Suzuki on an aging RG500. He
was 21.
Talk about being dropped into
the deep end!
All things considered Chili
didn't do badly in his rookie GP
FRANKIE CHILI'S
FIRST REAL GP WIN
Frankie Chili was
thrilled to get his
victory in the 250cc
Grand Prix at Assen
in 1991. Here he
celebrates drinking
the champagne
atop the podium
alongside runner-up
Luca Cadalora (left)
and third place Wilco
Zeelenberg (right).
