Leslie Graham
Leslie Graham DFC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Wallasey, Wirral, England | 14 September 1911||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 12 June 1953 Isle of Man | (aged 41)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Robert Leslie Graham
Early Career (1929–1939)
Les Graham started racing at
In 1936 he managed to purchase a near new 250 cc OHC OK-Supreme cheaply, because it had dropped a valve. He rebuilt it, and entered it in the 1936 Ulster Grand Prix. After completing a lap of the Clady Circuit, the big end seized. He rebuilt it for 1937, and entered Northern Ireland's North West 200, and lead the Lightweights for a while until he came off. He remounted, joined the field, and was running third behind a couple of Excelsiors, when the valve gear broke. He rebuilt the engine again, and won his next race at Donington Park. He then entered the Ulster Grand Prix, and came fourth.
After this he was approached by John Humphries (the son of OK-Supreme's founder) to join the firm, and was given a job assembling the OHC engines. OK-Supreme produced short track racers with JAP engines. Les Graham, Andy McKay, and John Humphries soon became known as the
He came 12th in the 1938 Isle of Man TT Lightweight on an OK-Supreme. In 1939 he entered the IOM TT riding a Rudge engine Chris Tattersal St. Annes (CTS), and was running fourth on the second last lap, when the gearbox broke. Jock West was watching the race, and signed Les up to ride a Velo in 1940, but the War intervened, and that did not happen.[1]
World War II
Graham served as a pilot in the RAF during World War II. He was assigned to the 166 Squadron from 1940, flying Lancaster bombers over Germany. He attained the rank of Flight Lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1944 for bravery.[2] Afterwards, he flew with Transport Command, until he was demobilised in 1946.
He had an invitation from Wing Commander J.M. ("Jock") West, OBE, to join sales and competition at
Post War Career (1946–1953)
Afterwards, he returned to racing in the late 1940s as a member of the
The
won. A rider's best three finishes counted. Graham had 2 wins & a second, Pagani had 2 wins & a 3rd. Graham took the title even though Pagani's overall score was higher.In
For 1952, Graham began with no points in round 1 in Switzerland, 2nd in the Isle of Man TT though a missed gear change and subsequent loss of power undoubtedly robbed him of a win. Reg Armstrong (Ireland), riding a factory Norton took victory, a very lucky one with Armstrong's chain breaking as he crossed the finish line, with Les Graham 33.4 seconds behind. He failed to score points in the Dutch TT or the Belgian GP. He finished 4th with the fastest lap at Solitude in West Germany. He suffered another non-finish but fastest lap in the Ulster (Tyre tread problems with his Dunlops). He followed this with MV Agusta's first ever 500 cc win plus the fastest lap in front of an enthusiastic Italian crowd at Monza. This was followed by a second win in Spain. He finished the season second to Gilera's Umberto Masetti in the championship. In the 250 cc class, he finished 3rd using Velocette and Benelli machines and claimed 4th in the 125 cc class for MV Agusta.
For 1953, Graham was the pre-season favorite and tipped to win the championship again. Alas, this was not to be. On the Thursday, he finally won an Isle of Man TT, winning the Lightweight 125 cc class for MV. In the Friday's Senior TT, he lost control of his bike at high speed, as he took the rise after the bottom of Bray Hill, and was killed instantly. The crash was caused by the bike's forks getting jammed on full compression.[8] Carlo Bandirola and the rest of the MV racing team withdrew from the Championship that year as a mark of respect.[1] The commemorative Graham Memorial shelter was built on the Snaefell mountain road in 1955.
Motorcycle Grand Prix results [9]
1949 point system
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Fastest lap |
Points | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1 |
Points system from 1950 to 1968
Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Points | 8 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
5 best results were counted until 1955.
(key) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Year | Class | Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Points | Rank | Wins |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1949 | 350cc | AJS | IOM NC |
SUI 2 |
NED - |
BEL - |
ULS - |
8 | 7th | 0 | ||||
500cc | AJS | IOM 10 |
SUI 1 |
NED 2 |
BEL - |
ULS 1 |
NAT 6 |
30 | 1st
|
2 | ||||
1950 | 350cc | AJS | IOM 4 |
BEL - |
NED - |
SUI 1 |
ULS - |
NAT 2 |
17 | 3rd | 1 | |||
500cc | AJS | IOM 4 |
BEL - |
NED - |
SUI 1 |
ULS 2 |
NAT - |
17 | 3rd | 1 | ||||
1951 | 125cc | MV Agusta | ESP - |
IOM NC |
NED 3 |
ULS - |
NAT - |
4 | 8th | 0 | ||||
350cc | Velocette | ESP 2 |
SUI 1 |
IOM 10 |
BEL - |
NED - |
FRA - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
14 | 6th | 1 | ||
500cc | MV Agusta | ESP - |
SUI - |
IOM NC |
BEL - |
NED - |
FRA - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
0 | - | 0 | ||
1952 | 125cc | MV Agusta | IOM - |
NED - |
GER - |
ULS - |
NAT 3 |
ESP 2 |
10 | 4th | 0 | |||
250cc | Velocette | SUI 3 |
IOM 4 |
NED - |
GER - |
ULS 3 |
NAT - |
11 | 3rd | 0 | ||||
350cc | Velocette | SUI - |
IOM NC |
NED 7 |
BEL 6 |
GER - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
1 | 13th | 0 | |||
500cc | MV Agusta | SUI - |
IOM 2 |
NED 7 |
BEL - |
GER 4 |
ULS - |
NAT 1 |
ESP 1 |
25 | 2nd | 2 | ||
1953 | 125cc | MV Agusta | IOM 1 |
NED - |
GER - |
ULS - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
8 | 5th | 1 | |||
350cc | MV Agusta | IOM NC |
NED - |
BEL - |
FRA - |
ULS - |
SUI - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
0 | - | 0 | ||
500cc | MV Agusta | IOM NC |
NED - |
BEL - |
GER - |
FRA - |
ULS - |
SUI - |
NAT - |
ESP - |
0 | - | 0 |
Sources
- ^ a b c [1] TheBikeMuseum Les Graham - The Unassuming World Champion Download (Retrieved 27 October 2006)
- ^ [2] Archived 18 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine HellZaPoppin Looking for information on Robert Leslie Graham, pilot with 166 Squadron (Retrieved 27 October 2006)
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 13 March 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) IOMTT 1947 Senior TT (Retrieved 28 October 2006) - ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) IOMTT 1948 Junior TT (Retrieved 28 October 2006) - ^ [3] MotorSportsEtc MotoGP & GP 500 World Champions (Retrieved 28 October 2006)
- ^ 1950 ISDT at www.speedtracktales.co.uk Archived 14 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ [4][permanent dead link] ClassicCarsMagazine Lot 381: 1948 Velocette 348 cc KTT MkVIII Racing Motorcycle (Retrieved 27 October 2006) [dead link]
- ^ Oxley, Mat (1 December 2023). "Remembering Cecil Sandford, MV Agusta's history man". Motor Sport Magazine. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
- ^ Leslie Graham career statistics at MotoGP.com