Leslie Graham

Leslie Graham

Nation:	United Kingdom
Motorcycle world championship
statistics
Starts Victories Poles SR 24 8th - 5
World title:	1
World Cup points:	145
Podiums:	19th
According to class (es): 125 cc class First start: Dutch TT 1951 Last start: Isle of Man TT 1953 Constructors 1951-1953  MV Agusta World Cup balance World Cup fourth ( 1952 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 4th 1 - 1 World Cup points: 22nd Podiums: 4th 250 cc class First start: 1952 Swiss Grand Prix Last start: 1952 Ulster Grand Prix Constructors 1952  Velocette World Cup balance World Cup third ( 1952 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 3 - - - World Cup points: 11 Podiums: 2 350 cm³ class First start: Swiss Grand Prix 1949 Last start: 1952 Belgian Grand Prix Constructors 1949–1950  AJS  • 1951–1952  Velocette World Cup balance World Cup third ( 1950 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 7th 2 - - World Cup points: 40 Podiums: 5 500 cc class First start: Swiss Grand Prix 1949 Last start: 1952 Spanish Grand Prix Constructors 1949–1950  AJS  • 1952  MV Agusta World Cup balance World Champion ( 1949 ) Starts Victories Poles SR 10 5 - 4th World Cup points: 72 Podiums: 8th

Robert Leslie "Les" Graham (born September 14, 1911 in Wallasey , England , † June 12, 1953 on the Isle of Man ) was a British motorcycle racer .

Graham won the world championship title in the 500 cc class in the first season of the motorcycle world championship in 1949 .

Career

Before World War II

Leslie Graham contested his first motorcycle race on Stanley Speedway in Liverpool , a dirt track runway. From 1929 he also took part in street races. In 1936 he bought an almost new but broken 250 cc OK Supreme . Graham repaired the bike and started it at the Ulster Grand Prix , but after the first lap his engine broke and he had to give up the race.

The following year he started at the North West 200 in Northern Ireland , where he left with an engine failure. He then won the following race in Donington , at the Ulster Grand Prix Graham finished fourth that year. He was then hired by the motorcycle manufacturer OK-Supreme, where he worked in engine production and for which he also competed. At the Lightweight TT in 1938, Graham finished twelfth on OK-Supreme.

After a breakdown due to a technical defect at the 1939 TT, Leslie Graham was hired by Velocette . However, due to the outbreak of World War II, the Birmingham-based manufacturer was not to be used in races . Leslie Graham served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II .

post war period

In the late 1940s he returned to motorcycle racing as a member of the AJS factory team. In 1947 he finished ninth in the Senior TT . The following year he finished seventh in the junior race.

The motorcycle world championship was held for the first time in 1949 . Leslie Graham secured the title in the 500 cm³ class on AJS Porcupine, just ahead of the Italian Nello Pagani, who scored more points than Graham during the season, but because of the rule that only the three best results were in the World Cup , only became vice world champion. In the following season , Leslie Graham was third in both the 350 cc class and the 500 cc class.

In 1951 , Graham received an offer from Domenico Agusta to drive for MV Agusta . Frustrated by the lack of further development of his machine at AJS, he accepted the offer and switched to the Italians to drive and further develop their 500 cc four-cylinder machine . Leslie Graham couldn't score a single point in the 500cc class for MV this year. The machines were very powerful, but their chassis was not considered the best and made them difficult to control. Since MV Agusta did not take part in the 350 cm³ class, Graham started there for Velocette and finished sixth in the World Championship with a win at the Swiss Grand Prix .

In the 1952 season , Leslie Graham competed in all four classes. In the 500s he secured the first ever victory for MV Agusta in the premier class by winning the Grand Prix of Nations in Monza . A short time later, at the Spanish Grand Prix , he even managed another. In the overall standings, he came second behind Gilera driver Umberto Masetti . In the 250 cm³ class, Graham finished third on the Velocette and Benelli and fourth in the 125 cc class on MV.

For the 1953 season , Leslie Graham was the favorite to win the title, but it should not come to that. At the Tourist Trophy on Thursday, he was finally able to celebrate his first victory in the 125 cm³ class. On Friday, June 12, 1953, he lost control of his motorcycle at high speed in the 500 cc race, lying in third place, in the difficult section of Bray Hill shortly after the start and finish, and fell and died at the scene of the accident.

statistics

title

• 1949 - 500 cc world champion on AJS
• 8 Grand Prix victories

Isle of Man TT victories

year	class	machine	Average speed
1953	Lightweight (125 cm³)	MV Agusta	77.79  mph (125.19  km / h )

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Points	position
1949	350 cc	AJS	1	-	1	-	8th	7th
	500 cc	AJS	4th	2	1	-	30th	World Champion
1950	350 cc	AJS	3	1	1	-	17th	3.
	500 cc	AJS	2	1	1	-	17th	3.
1951	125 cc	MV Agusta	1	-	-	1	4th	8th.
	350 cc	Velocette	2	1	1	-	14th	6th
1952	125 cc	MV Agusta	2	-	1	1	10	4th
	250 cc	Velocette	3	-	-	2	11	3.
	350 cc	Velocette	1	-	-	-	1	13.
	500 cc	MV Agusta	4th	2	1	-	25th	2.
1953	125 cc	MV Agusta	1	1	-	-	8th	5.
total			24	8th	7th	4th	145	1 world title

Web links

• Leslie Graham on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship.
• Leslie Graham on the Isle of Man TT official website.
• Leslie Graham at www.motorsportmemorial.org (English)