1952 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

Umberto Masetti won his second and final 500cc World Championship title in 1952.

Geoff Duke (pictured in 1951) successfully defended his 350cc World Championship title.

The 1952 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the fourth F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix season. The season consisted of eight Grand Prix races in five classes: 500cc, 350cc, 250cc, 125cc and Sidecars 500cc. It began on 18 May, with Swiss Grand Prix and ended with Spanish Grand Prix on 5 October.

1952 Grand Prix season calendar[]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 500cc winner	Report
1	18 May	Swiss Grand Prix	Bremgarten		Fergus Anderson	Geoff Duke	Jack Brett	/	Report
2	13 June	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain	Cecil Sandford	Fergus Anderson	Geoff Duke	Reg Armstrong		Report
3	28 June	Dutch TT	Assen	Cecil Sandford	Enrico Lorenzetti	Geoff Duke	Umberto Masetti		Report
4	6 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps			Geoff Duke	Umberto Masetti	Oliver /	Report
5	20 July	German Grand Prix	Solitude	Werner Haas	Rudi Felgenheier	Reg Armstrong	Reg Armstrong	/	Report
6	16 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Clady	Cecil Sandford	Maurice Cann	Ken Kavanagh	Cromie McCandless		Report
7	14 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Emilio Mendogni	Enrico Lorenzetti	Ray Amm	Leslie Graham	/	Report
8	5 October	Spanish Grand Prix	Montjuïc	Emilio Mendogni			Leslie Graham	Oliver /	Report

Standings[]

Scoring system[]

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Only the four best races counted in the Sidecars, 125cc and 250cc, while in the 350cc and 500cc championships, the five best results counted.

500cc final standings[]

Pos Rider Machine SUI MAN HOL BEL GER ULS NAC ESP Pts 1 Umberto Masetti Gilera Ret 1 1 Ret Ret 2 2 28 2 Leslie Graham MV Agusta Ret 2 7 Ret 4 Ret 1 1 25 3 Reg Armstrong Norton Ret 1 4 Ret 1 Ret 6 5 22 4 Rod Coleman AJS 5 4 5 5 Ret 2 Ret 15 5 Jack Brett AJS / Norton 1 Ret 9 4 Ret 4 7 14 6 Ken Kavanagh Norton 32 3 2 Ret 3 14 7 Geoff Duke Norton Ret Ret 2 2 12 8 Nello Pagani Gilera 4 6 6 3 4 12 9 Cromie McCandless Norton / Gilera 6 1 9 10 Ray Amm Norton 6 3 Ret 3 Ret 9 9 11 Carlo Bandirola MV Agusta 3 Ret Ret Ret 4 Ret 7 12 Bill Doran AJS 2 6 13 Bill Lomas AJS / MV Agusta 5 Ret Ret 3 Ret Ret 6 14 Norton / AJS 8 12 Ret 3 Ret 6 5 15 Norton 7 5 Ret Ret 2 16 Norton 10 5 2 17 Giuseppe Colnago Gilera 17 5 Ret 2 18 Hans Baltisberger BMW 6 Ret 1 19 John Surtees Norton 6 1 20 Libero Liberati Gilera 7 8 8 16 0 21 BMW / DKW 11 7 0 22 Norton 13 Ret 7 Ret 0 23 Norton 14 7 0 24 George Brown Norton 7 Ret 0 25 Norton / AJS Ret 8 Ret 9 0 26 Ken Mudford Norton 8 10 0 27 Norton 8 Ret 0 28 Gilera 8 0 = Norton 8 0 30 Matchless / Norton 11 9 0 31 Norton 9 0 = Norton 9 0 = Norton 9 0 = Norton 9 0 = Norton 9 0 36 Norton 10 11 0 37 Norton 16 10 0 38 Norton Ret 10 0 = Horex 10 Ret 0 40 Norton 10 0 = MV Agusta 10 0 42 Norton 17 Ret 11 0 43 Norton 11 0 = AJS 11 0 = Norton 11 0 = Triumph 11 0 47 Norton 12 Ret 0 48 MV Agusta 12 0 = Norton 12 0 = Norton 12 0 = Norton 12 0 = Norton 12 0 53 Norton 13 Ret 0 54 BMW 13 0 = Gilera 13 0 = Ewald Kluge DKW 13 0 = Velocette 13 0 58 Moto Guzzi 14 0 = Triumph 14 0 = AJS 14 0 = Triumph 14 0 62 Norton Ret Ret 15 0 63 Siegfried Vogel Norton 15 0 = Norton 15 0 65 AJS 16 0 66 Velocette 18 0 = BSA 18 0 68 Robin Fitton Norton 19 0 = Norton 19 0 70 Norton 20 0 = Norton 20 0 72 Arthur Wheeler Norton 21 Ret Ret 0 73 Triumph 21 0 74 Norton 22 0 75 Syl Anderton Norton 23 0 76 Norton 24 0 77 Norton 25 0 78 Norton 26 0 79 Norton 27 0 80 Harry Stephen Norton 28 0 81 AJS 29 0 82 Norton 30 0 83 AJS 31 0 84 Leslie Harris Norton Ret 33 0 85 Norton 34 0 86 AJS 35 0 87 Norton 36 0 88 Norton 37 0 89 AJS 38 0 90 Triumph 39 0 91 AJS 40 0 92 AJS 41 0 – Vincent / Norton Ret Ret Ret Ret – Bob Matthews Norton / Matchless Ret Ret Ret 0 – Alfredo Milani Gilera Ret Ret Ret 0 – Matchless Ret Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret Ret 0 – Horex Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret Ret 0 – Sidney Mason Norton Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret DNS 0 – Gilera Ret DNS 0 – Rudge Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Edgar Barth Norton Ret 0 – Felice Benasedo Moto Guzzi Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Gilera Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Peter Fernando Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – MV Agusta Ret 0 – AJS Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – BMW Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Horex Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Vincent Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – BMW Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Eric Oliver Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – BSA Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – AJS Ret 0 – Cecil Sandford BSA Ret 0 – Simon Sandys-Winsch Velocette Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – AJS Ret 0 – BSA Ret 0 – Velocette Ret 0 – Velocette Ret 0 – Tommy Wood Norton Ret 0 – BMW DNS 0 Pos Rider Bike SUI MAN HOL BEL GER ULS NAC ESP 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

350cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Geoff Duke		United Kingdom	Norton	32	4
2	Reg Armstrong		Ireland	Norton	24	1
3	Ray Amm		Southern Rhodesia	Norton	21	1
4	Rod Coleman		New Zealand	AJS	20	0
5	Ken Kavanagh		Australia	Norton	16	1
6	Jack Brett		United Kingdom	AJS	12	0
7	Bill Lomas		United Kingdom	AJS	9	0
8			United Kingdom	AJS	7	0
9			United Kingdom	AJS	4	0
10			Austria	AJS	3	0
11	Ewald Kluge		Germany	DKW	2	0
=			Belgium	Norton	2	0
13	Leslie Graham		United Kingdom	Velocette	1	0
=			Ireland	AJS	1	0
=	George Brown		United Kingdom	AJS	1	0
=			Germany	Horex	1	0

250cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Enrico Lorenzetti		Italy	Moto Guzzi	28	2
2	Fergus Anderson		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	24	2
3	Leslie Graham		United Kingdom	Velocette	11	0
4	Maurice Cann		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	10	1
5	Rudi Felgenheier		Germany	DKW	8	1
6	Bruno Ruffo		Italy	Moto Guzzi	7	0
7	Werner Haas		Germany	NSU	6	0
=			Germany	Moto Guzzi	6	0
=	Alano Montanari		Italy	Moto Guzzi	6	0
10			Germany	Horex	4	0
=			United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	4	0
=	Arthur Wheeler		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	4	0
13	Ewald Kluge		Germany	DKW	3	0
=			United Kingdom	Velocette	3	0
=			Germany	Moto Guzzi	3	0
16	Roberto Colombo		Italy	NSU	2	0
=			United Kingdom	Velocette	2	0
=			Italy	Parilla	2	0
=			United Kingdom	Velocette	2	0
20			Italy	Moto Guzzi	1	0
=			United Kingdom	Norton	1	0
=			Netherlands	Moto Guzzi	1	0

125cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Cecil Sandford		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	28	3
2	Carlo Ubbiali		Italy	Mondial	24	0
3	Emilio Mendogni		Italy	Morini	16	2
4	Leslie Graham		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	10	0
5			Italy	Morini	9	0
6	Werner Haas		Germany	NSU	8	1
7	Angelo Copeta		Italy	MV Agusta	7	0
8	Bill Lomas		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	6	0
9	Guido Sala		Italy	MV Agusta	5	0
10			United Kingdom	Mondial	4	0
=			United Kingdom	MV Agusta	4	0
12	Romolo Ferri		Italy	Morini	3	0
=	Cromie McCandless		United Kingdom	Mondial	3	0
=			Germany	NSU	3	0
15	Hermann Paul Müller		Germany	Mondial	2	0
16			United Kingdom	EMC-Puch	1	0
=			Netherlands	Mondial	1	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.