Walter Villa (13 August 1943 – 18 June 2002) was an Italian professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from to , most prominently as a member of the Harley-Davidson/Aermacchi factory racing team where he won four World Championships. He was known for his quiet, unassuming nature off the bike who became a ruthless competitor once the races began.Walter Villa Obituary - The Guardian.co.uk

Motorcycle racing career Villa was born in Castelnuovo Rangone in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, between Maranello and Modena, the heart of Italian motor sport country. Villa began racing at 13, on a 175cc Moto Morini. In his first race, he finished third, beating Giacomo Agostini, who went on to become Italy's greatest-ever bike racer.

In the early 1970s, Harley-Davidson bought the ailing Aermacchi factory near Milan, with the aim of selling a range of bikes from 125cc machines to complement the traditional big V-twins built in the United States. First, they marketed Aermacchi's horizontal single cylinder four-strokes, and then began to develop their own two-strokes.Walter Villa Obituary - Telegraph.co.uk

The Aermacchi / Harley-Davidson factory hired Walter Villa for their racing effort in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing circuit after the death of Renzo Pasolini at Monza in May . During the winter of 1973 -1974, the factory under the direction of Dr. Sandro Colombo, made huge progress in developing their machines in order to compete with Yamaha. This progress allowed Villa to take victory in the championship, with Villa winning the first 250 cc championship race of the year - in Italy by 45 seconds.

Villa went on to win the and 250cc world championship together with the 350cc title in 1976. In addition to the four World titles, he won eight Italian Championships. After he retired at the end of the 1980 season, Villa became a key player in the grand prix historic motorsport circuit, riding in high speed demonstrations in addition to becoming his country's top trainer.

He died of a heart attack, aged 58, on 18 June 2002.

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 Wins 1967 125cc Montesa ESP- GER4 FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NAT- CAN- JPN- 3 15th 01969125cc Montesa ESP3 1811th0 Villa GER- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- NAT4 YUG- 250cc Villa ESP- GER- FRA- IOM- NED- BEL- DDR- CZE- FIN- ULS- NATNC YUGNC 0 - 0 1970 125cc Villa GER- FRA18 YUG- IOM- NED- BEL10 DDR- CZE- FIN- NAT6 ESP- 6 29th 0 1972 350cc Yamaha GER- FRA- AUT- NAT7 IOM- YUG- NED- DDR- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP- 4 28th 01973 250cc Yamaha FRA10 AUT7 GER8 IOM- YUG- NED- BEL- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP- 8 26th 0350cc Kawasaki FRA6 2311th0 Yamaha AUT2 GER- Benelli NAT5 IOM- YUG- NED- CZE- SWE- FIN- ESP-1974 250cc Harley-Davidson GER- NAT1 IOM- NED1 BEL6 SWE2 FIN1 CZE1 YUG- ESP- 77 1st 4 350cc Harley-Davidson FRA- GER- AUT6 NAT4 IOM- NED9 BEL- SWE- FIN- CZE- 15 16th 01975 250cc Harley-Davidson FRA- ESP1 GER1 NAT1 IOM- NED1 BEL3 SWE1 FIN- CZE- YUG- 85 1st 5 350cc Harley-Davidson FRA- ESP8 AUT- GER- NAT- IOM- NED- FIN- CZE- YUG- 3 36th 01976 250cc Harley-Davidson FRA1 NAT1 IOM- NED1 BEL1 SWE- FIN1 CSK1 GER1 ESP2 90 1st 7 350cc Harley-Davidson FRA1 AUT2 NAT7 IOM- NED- FIN1 CSK1 GER1 ESP6 76 1st 41977 250cc Harley-Davidson VEN1 GER- NAT- ESP- FRA- YUG- NED4 BEL1 SWE- FIN1 CSK2 GBR9 67 3rd 3 350cc Harley-Davidson VEN- GER7 NAT7 ESP- FRA- YUG- NED8 SWE- FIN8 CSK- GBR- 14 18th 0 1978 250cc Harley-Davidson VEN- ESP- FRA- NAT- NED- BEL3 SWE- FIN- GBR- GER- CSK8 YUG- 13 16th 01979 250cc Yamaha VEN1 GER- NAT4 ESP5 YUG- NED9 BEL- SWE- FIN5 GBR- CZE9 FRA- 39 7th 1 350cc Yamaha VEN2 AUT5 GER- NAT- ESP- YUG- NED3 FIN- GBR- CZE- FRA3 38 7th 01980 250cc Yamaha NAT- ESP- FRA- YUG9 NED- BEL- FIN- GBR- CZE9 GER- 4 29th 0 350cc Yamaha NAT3 FRA6 NED- GBR10 CZE- GER- 16 9th 0Sources:

References