Walter Villa
Walter Villa ( born August 13, 1943 in Castel Rangone (MO), † 18 June 2002 in Modena ) was an Italian motorcycle racer.
He won 1974-1976 a total of four world championships in the classes up to 250 cc and 350 cc of the motorcycle world championship to Harley -Davidson.
Villa was known for his quiet and modest disposition off-track, on the track but he was always the relentless fighter. His aggressive and swashbuckling riding style won him some serious falls.
Career
Walter Villa grew up as the second of five brothers in Emilia - Romagna, the region, which is considered the heart of Italian motorsports. At the age of 13, he played on a 175 cc Morini his first motorcycle races, beating Giacomo Agostini young. In 1966, he won the Italian 125cc Championship on FB Mondial and struck his brother Francesco, who had several times won this championship.
In the 1967 season, Walter Villa debuted at Montesa in the 125cc class of the MotoGP World Championship, but denied in the following years only a few Grand Prix races. In 1973, he won the Italian 250 cc Championship on Yamaha.
Then from the 1974 season, he started for Harley- Davidson, who used motorcycles built by Aermacchi, respectively, in the 250 - cm ³ - and the 350- cc class. In the first year villa was superior 250cc World Champion before the German Dieter Braun, even though he had played only six out of eleven races and won four. In addition, he chose the Italian 250 cc championship.
The following season he repeated his World Cup success. Villa played this year, seven of the eleven Grand Prix and won five of them. Even his Italian league title in the 250cc he successfully defended.
In the 1976 season managed Walter Villa then to defend his 250 cc title again and also to be 350cc World Champion. Overall, he won this year eleven of 16 races, including 13 times on the podium.
1977 Villa, despite three victories, behind Mario Lega and Franco Uncini only third in the 250 cc World Championship. The following year, he succeeded only decided a third place and Villa to part according to rank 16 in the overall ranking of the 250 class of Harley -Davidson.
In the years 1979 and 1980 Walter Villa for Yamaha launched respectively in the 250 and the 350 class. But he could not build on the successes of the past here. His only Grand Prix for the Japanese manufacturers - and thus also the last of his career - he won in 1979 at the Grand Prix of Venezuela in the 250 cc class. At the end of the 1980 season Villa decided to retire from professional racing.
Walter Villa died on 20 June 2002 at his home in Modena on a heart attack. In his career, he played a total of 87 Grands Prix, of which he won 24; 36 times he placed in the top three. Also, get him 21 pole positions and 20 fastest laps.