1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1949 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the inaugural F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix season. The season consisted of six Grand Prix races in five classes: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc and Sidecars 600cc. It began on 17 June, with Isle of Man TT and ended with Nations Grand Prix on 4 September.

1949 Grand Prix season calendar[]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 600cc winner	Report
1	17 June	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain		Manliff Barrington	Freddie Frith	Harold Daniell		Report
2	3 July	Swiss Grand Prix	Bremgarten	Nello Pagani	Bruno Ruffo	Freddie Frith	Leslie Graham	Oliver / Jenkinson	Report
3	9 July	Dutch TT	Assen	Nello Pagani		Freddie Frith	Nello Pagani		Report
4	17 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps			Freddie Frith	Bill Doran	Oliver / Jenkinson	Report
5	20 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Clady		Maurice Cann	Freddie Frith	Leslie Graham		Report
6	4 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Gianni Leoni	Dario Ambrosini		Nello Pagani	/	Report

Standings[]

Scoring system[]

Points were awarded to the top five finishers in each race with an extra point for the race finisher with the fastest lap. All rounds counted towards the championship in the 125cc, 250cc and Sidecar categories, while in the 350cc and 500cc championships, only the best three results counted.

500cc final standings[]

Pos Rider Machine MAN SUI HOL BEL ULS NAT Pts 1 Leslie Graham AJS 10 1 2 Ret 1 Ret 30 (31) 2 Nello Pagani Gilera 4 1 5 3 1 29 (40) 3 Arciso Artesiani Gilera 2 3 2 Ret 2 25 (32) 4 Bill Doran AJS 8 Ret 1 4 3 23 5 Artie Bell Norton 4 Ret 4 4 2 20 (26) 6 Harold Daniell Norton 1 3 6 7 17 7 Johnny Lockett Norton 2 Ret 5 Ret Ret 13 8 Enrico Lorenzetti Moto Guzzi 10 3 7 9 Ernie Lyons Velocette 3 7 10 Gianni Leoni Moto Guzzi 6 Ret 6 4 6 11 Syd Jensen Triumph 5 Ret 9 5 12 Freddie Frith Velocette Ret 5 Ret Ret 5 13 Bruno Bertacchini Moto Guzzi Ret Ret 5 5 14 Jock West AJS 5 5 15 Ken Armstrong AJS 6 0 = Cromie McCandless Norton 6 0 = Fred Stevens Triumph 6 0 18 Velocette 7 Ret 10 0 19 Norton 18 7 0 20 Umberto Masetti Gilera 7 Ret 0 21 Reg Armstrong AJS 7 0 = Felice Benasedo Moto Guzzi 7 0 23 Harry Hinton Norton 9 8 16 0 24 Norton 31 Ret 8 Ret 0 25 Norton 8 0 = Moto Guzzi 8 0 = Triumph 8 0 28 Gilera 9 Ret 15 0 29 Sante Geminiani Moto Guzzi 9 0 = Gilera 9 0 31 Moto Guzzi 10 0 = Norton 10 0 = Triumph 10 0 34 Arthur Wheeler Triumph Ret Ret 11 0 35 Norton 11 Ret 0 36 Moto Guzzi 11 0 = Benoit Musy Moto Guzzi 11 0 = Triumph 11 0 38 Norton Ret 12 15 0 39 Norton 16 12 Ret Ret Ret 0 40 Gilera 12 Ret 0 = Triumph 12 Ret 0 42 Gilera 12 0 43 Triumph 13 9 0 44 Norton 13 0 = Gilera 13 0 = Gilera 13 0 = Triumph 13 0 48 Moto Guzzi 14 0 = AJS 14 0 = Norton 14 0 = László Szabó Gilera 14 0 = Triumph 14 0 53 Norton 15 0 = BMW 15 0 55 Triumph 17 Ret 0 56 Norton 19 0 57 Norton 20 0 58 Triumph 21 0 59 Triumph 22 0 60 Bob Matthews Norton 23 0 61 Norton 24 0 62 John Purnell Norton 25 0 63 Norton 26 0 64 Norton 27 0 65 Norton 28 0 66 Norton 29 0 67 Jack Brett Norton 30 0 68 Norton 32 0 69 Norton 33 0 70 Triumph 34 0 71 Norton 35 0 - Bob Foster Moto Guzzi Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 - Carlo Bandirola Gilera Ret Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 - Ted Frend AJS Ret Ret Ret 0 - Fergus Anderson Moto Guzzi Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret 0 - Triumph Ret Ret 0 - Norton Ret Ret 0 - Eric Oliver Norton Ret Ret 0 - Triumph Ret Ret 0 - David Whitworth Triumph Ret Ret 0 - Dario Ambrosini Gilera Ret 0 - Syl Anderton Triumph Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Jean Behra Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Charlie Brett Velocette Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Juhan Franta Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Arthur Good Norton Ret 0 - Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - BMW Ret 0 - Roger Laurent Moto Guzzi Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Leon Martin Gilera Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - BMW Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Gilera Ret 0 - Triumph Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 - Norton Ret 0 Pos Rider Bike MAN SUI HOL BEL ULS NAT Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Retired (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not practice (DNP) Did not arrive (DNA) Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

Constructors' 500cc World Championship[]

Pos	Constructor							Pts
1	AJS	6	1	2	1	1	3	32 (48)
2	Gilera	–	2	1	2	3	1	31 (46)
3	Norton	1	3	4	4	2	Ret	25 (37)
4	Moto Guzzi	Ret	6	10	3	Ret	4	13
5	Velocette	3	5	Ret	10	–	–	12
6	Triumph	5	Ret	11	9	8	Ret	5
–	BMW	–	–	15	–	–	–	0

350cc final standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Freddie Frith		United Kingdom	Velocette	33	5
2	Reg Armstrong		Ireland	AJS	18	0
3	Bob Foster		United Kingdom	Velocette	16	0
4			Australia	AJS	16	0
5	Johnny Lockett		United Kingdom	Norton	14	0
6	David Whitworth		United Kingdom	Velocette	12	0
7	Leslie Graham		United Kingdom	AJS	8	0
8	Ernie Lyons		Ireland	Velocette	8	0
9			United Kingdom	Velocette	8	0
10	Bill Doran		United Kingdom	AJS	7	0

250cc final standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Bruno Ruffo		Italy	Moto Guzzi	24	1
2	Dario Ambrosini		Italy	Benelli	19	1
3			United Kingdom	Norton	13	0
4	Maurice Cann		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	11	1
5			Italy	Moto Guzzi	11	0
6	Manliff Barrington		Ireland	Moto Guzzi	10	1
7	Tommy Wood		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	9	0
8	Fergus Anderson		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	8	0
9	Gianni Leoni		Italy	Moto Guzzi	8	0
10	Umberto Masetti		Italy	Benelli	7	0

125cc final standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Nello Pagani		Italy	Mondial	27	2
2			Italy	Morini	14	0
3	Umberto Masetti		Italy	Morini	13	0
4	Carlo Ubbiali		Italy	MV Agusta	13	0
5	Gianni Leoni		Italy	Mondial	11	1
6			Italy	Mondial	8	0
7			Italy	Mondial	7	0
8			Italy	Mondial	7	0
9			Italy	MV Agusta	6	0
10			Italy	MV Agusta	5	0

Sidecar final standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Eric Oliver / Denis Jenkinson		UK	Norton	27	2
2	/		Italy	Gilera	18	1
3	/		Belgium/United Kingdom	Norton	16	0
4	/		Italy	Gilera	13	0
5	/		Italy	Gilera	12	1
6	/		Switzerland	Norton	8	0
7	Roland Benz /		Switzerland	BMW	6	0
8	/		Switzerland	Gilera	6	0
9	Pip Harris /		United Kingdom	Norton	5	0

References[]

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949–2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06.