British cycling champion Phil Readnicknamed the ‘prince of speed’, died this Thursday at the age of 83, leaving behind the image of a rider who was once talked about but who was crowned with seven world titles, including two in the queen category of 500cc conquered against ‘ king’ Giacomo Agostini.
His death was announced by the manufacturer yamahawhere he competed in the Grand Prix.
Born on January 1, 1939 in Luton, near London, he won his first races in road events such as the Manx Grand Prix and the Ulster 200 in the early 1960s.
He made his world championship debut at the famous circuit of Isle of Man in 1961, won the 350cc race. In 1964 he won his first world championship on a Yamaha 250cc, the first of the Japanese brand.
He repeated this feat in 1965 and then in 1968, also winning the 125cc title that year, not without controversy that would tarnish his reputation on the track for a long time.
After seeing Read take the 125cc title, the public, and Yamaha, expected him to let his teammate and compatriot, the popular one, take the lead. Bill Ivy, is done in 250cc. But in the final race at Monza, Read didn’t give Ivy a chance and also won the championship in this class.
“We were both in the front row and I told him that if he wanted to win the championship he had to beat me first,” he recalled in a 2019 interview.
Ivy would commit suicide a few months later, and Read’s popularity would suffer long from this episode.
In 1972 came the assignment. the italian brand MV Agustawho dominated the championship in 350 and 500cc, offered him to come and support the multiple world champion Giacomo Agostini. He quickly took the measure of his famous partner and won 50 titles in the following year. Ago then decided to leave MV to join Yamaha, leaving Read to win the 500 title again in 1974, the last for the legendary Italian brand. In 1975, he finished second, still in MV, behind Agostini.
Although he retired from Grand Prix motorcycle racing in 1977, Read continued to compete, mostly in Tourist trophy of the Isle of Man. In 1978 he faced the legendary mike hailwood, and his Grand Prix opponent fifteen years earlier. At 38 years and 11 months, after his retirement, he returned to the TT for one last race. To everyone’s surprise, she succeeds him Ducatiwho was forced to retire with Hailwood behind him in the final lap.
“Then I heard that Hailwood’s engine broke before the finish line. If I had stayed with him until the end, I would have pushed him and probably it would have broken earlier. But I would have won the TT forever. in the worst way,” said Read in the same interview with an English veterans club.
After his definitive retirement from competition in 1983 at the age of 43, Phil Read continued to be a regular at vintage motorcycle rallies, never hesitating to wear his leathers and his famous black helmet with white flames to ride bicycles. debated over the course of his career.
Source: La Verdad
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