Dave Simmonds (25 October 1939 – 23 October 1972) was a British professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1963 to 1972. Simmonds is notable for winning the 1969 125 cc FIM road racing world championship.

Motorcycle racing career Born in London, Simmonds began his motorcycle racing career riding a 50cc Itom motorcycle in 1960. By 1963 he had won the 125cc British road racing national championship on a Tohatsu which he kept racing with his brother Mike in the following seasons. His impressive results earned him an invitation from the Kawasaki factory to race one of their new 125cc motorcycles in the 1966 Japanese Grand Prix. Simmonds convinced Kawasaki management to loan him a motorcycle to compete in the 125cc Grand Prix world championships in 1967. In an era of unrestricted rules, the Kawasaki KA-1 125cc twin cylinder was outclassed by the expensive, RA31 V4 engines used by the Yamaha racing team and even the RT67 twins used by Suzuki and he finished 7th of the world championship. Without any financial or mechanical support from the Kawasaki factory, and just spare parts sent from time to time, Simmonds spent the 1967 and 1968 Grand Prix seasons sorting out the motorcycle's reliability issues.

End of 1967, the FIM announced a change in its regulations, applicable as from 1969 onwards, in an effort to reduce spiraling costs in motorcycle racing. 125cc machines would be limited to two cylinders and 6-speed transmissions. This regulation change caused the dominant Yamaha and Suzuki factories to withdraw their teams from Grand Prix racing. Simmonds and his aging Kawasaki won the 1969 125cc road racing world championship in an impressive fashion with only one race in which he failed to finish in either first or second place. The victory marked the first world championship for Kawasaki.

Simmonds dropped to fourth place in 1970 with improved competition from Dieter Braun (Suzuki RT66), Ángel Nieto (Derbi) and Börje Jansson (Maico) but, still managed to win the Finnish Grand Prix and scored two second place finishes in the Dutch and Belgian Grands Prix. Simmonds finished sixth in the 1971 125cc world championship with one win at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.

In 1971, Simmonds competed in the premier 500cc class with a Kawasaki H1R. The H1R had poor road handling characteristics so, Simmonds had his H1R rebuilt around a Ken Sprayson-designed frame that greatly improved the machine's handling. He proved to be competitive by winning the preseason invitational 500cc Mettet Grand Prix then, finished second to Giacomo Agostini and the dominant MV Agusta at the Finnish Grand Prix followed by third places in Holland and Italy.Simmonds won his first 500cc class victory at the season ending Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama when Agostini sat out the race after already winning the championship. His victory in Spain also marked Kawasaki's first premier-class Grand Prix victory. Simmonds ended the season ranked fourth in the 500cc World Championship despite missing four rounds. In 1972, seven years after first his first appearance on the 125cc Kawasaki, Simmonds would race the bike to a remarkable third place at the Dutch TT.

Death In 1972, while attending a non-championship motorcycle race at Rungis near Paris, Simmonds was killed in a fire caused by an exploding gas cylinder in a caravan owned by fellow racer Jack Findlay. Mistakenly thinking that Findlay's mother was inside the caravan, Simmonds rushed to help just as the gas cylinder exploded, engulfing him in flames.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing results Points system from 1950 to 1968: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 Points 8 6 4 3 2 1

Points system from 1969 onwards: Position 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Points 15 12 10 8 6 5 4 3 2 1

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Class Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Points Rank Wins1963 50cc Tohatsu ESP- GER- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- FIN- ARG- JPN- 0 - 0 125cc Tohatsu ESP- GER- FRA- IOM15 NED- BEL- ULS- DDR- FIN- NAT- ARG- JPN- 0 - 01964 50cc Tohatsu USA- ESP- FRA- IOM9 NED- BEL- GER- FIN- JPN- 0 - 0 125cc Tohatsu USA- ESP- FRA- IOM9 NED- GER- DDR- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 - 0 250cc Greeves USA- ESP- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- GER- DDR- ULS- NAT- JPN- 0 - 01965 50cc Tohatsu USA- GER- ESP- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- JPN- 0 - 0 125cc Tohatsu USA- GER- ESP- FRA- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 - 0 250cc Honda USA- GER- ESP- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 - 0 350cc Honda GER- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- ULS- FIN- NAT- JPN- 0 - 01966 50cc Honda ESP- GER- NED- IOM6 NAT- JPN- 1 13th 0 125cc Tohatsu ESP- GER- NED- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- IOMNC NAT- JPN- 0 - 0 250cc Honda ESP- GER- FRA- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- IOMNC NAT- JPN- 0 - 0 350cc Honda GER- FRA- NED- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS5 IOM8 NAT- JPN- 2 23rd 01967 125cc Kawasaki ESP- GER- FRA5 IOM4 NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN3 ULS- NAT- CAN- JPN- 3 14th 0 250cc Kawasaki ESP- GER- FRA- IOM4 NED5 BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- CAN- JPN- 5 10th 0 350cc Kawasaki GER- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- ULS- NAT- JPN- 0 - 01968 125cc Kawasaki GER- ESP- IOMNC NED- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT4 3 14th 0 350cc Kawasaki GER- IOMNC NED6 DDR- CZE- ULS- NAT- 1 18th 01969 125cc Kawasaki ESP- GER1 FRA2 IOM1 NED1 BEL1 DDR1 CZE1 FIN1 NAT1 YUG2 90 1st 8 250cc Kawasaki ESP- GER- FRA- IOMNC NED- BEL9 DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT8 YUG- 5 31st 0 350cc Kawasaki ESP- GER10 IOM17 NED- DDR9 CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- YUG- 3 40th 01970 125cc Kawasaki GER- FRANC YUG- IOMNC NED2 BEL2 DDR4 CZE3 FIN1 NAT- ESP- 57 4th 1 500cc Kawasaki GER- FRA12 YUG6 IOM- NED- BEL- DDR8 FIN- ULS- NAT- ESP9 10 20th 01971 125cc Kawasaki AUT- GER1 IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE4 SWE5 FIN5 NAT6 ESP4 48 6th 1 250cc Kawasaki AUT- GER- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE9 SWE- FIN- ULS- NAT- ESP- 2 42nd 0 500cc Kawasaki AUT- GER- IOM- NED3 BEL- DDR- SWE6 FIN2 ULS- NAT3 ESP1 52 4th 11972 125cc Kawasaki GER4 FRA4 AUT- NAT- IOM- YUG- NED3 BEL7 DDR- CZE- SWE- FIN5 ESP4 44 6th 0 500cc Kawasaki GER4 FRA- AUT- NAT- IOM- YUG- NED4 BEL- DDR- CZE- SWE4 FIN5 ESP2 42 7th 0

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