Nico's Stories. Gianfranco Bonera: from junior classes to MV 500 in two seasons
He was from 1945, he was staying in Monza, he had few means: he started with a bicycle and only came to the motorcycle when he was 26. In his debut with MV he could have won the 500 title, then team games prevailed. His life is an adventure. Here he recounts tasty episodes
He won every race in the 1972 Junior 500 class championship, then a phone call from Renzo Pasolini in early May 1973 (just before the tragedy at Curvone) changed his life. Here's how it went. The following year Gianfranco, after a resounding victory at Misano with the track record, was already riding the MV Agusta 500 in place of Agostini, who had switched to Yamaha.
He was going strong, that 1974 world title could have been his: he led the championship standings after the Nations victory at Imola, then was slowed down in favor of the first guide, Phil Read. Today Bonera is 79 and lucidly recounts how it went. Read and the MV, Ago and the Yamaha, Barry Sheene, Walter Villa, the victory at Montjuich with the 250, the medium and the big ones (which he preferred), the Suzuki 500 and the Yamaha 750 with which he won at Assen.
Gianfranco hung up his helmet in 1980 and then devoted himself to the Bonera dealership in Cinisello Balsamo. A large family: his younger brother, Paolo, recently passed away, working on engines was his great passion. And with passion Gianfranco still takes to the track in re-enactments, rides motorcycles on the roads of Sardinia, and follows MotoGP (where his son, an engine driver, works). Here's what he thinks about Marquez and electronics, aerodynamics, etc.
