1955 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

Geoff Duke (pictured in 1951) won his last 500cc World Championship title in 1955.

The 1955 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the seventh 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 1 May, with Spanish Grand Prix and ended with Nations Grand Prix in Italy on 4 September.

1955 Grand Prix season calendar[]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	350cc winner	500cc winner	Sidecars 500cc winner	Report
1	1 May	Spanish Grand Prix	Montjuïc circuit	Luigi Taveri			Reg Armstrong	/	Report
2	15 May	French Grand Prix	Reims	Carlo Ubbiali		Duilio Agostini	Geoff Duke		Report
3	10 June	Isle of Man TT	Snaefell Mountain	Carlo Ubbiali	Bill Lomas	Bill Lomas	Geoff Duke	Schneider /	Report
4	26 June	German Grand Prix	Nürburgring Nordschleife	Carlo Ubbiali	Hermann Paul Müller	Bill Lomas	Geoff Duke	/	Report
5	3 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps			Bill Lomas	Giuseppe Colnago	/	Report
6	16 July	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen	Carlo Ubbiali	Luigi Taveri	Ken Kavanagh	Geoff Duke	/	Report
7	13 August	Ulster Grand Prix	Dundrod Circuit		John Surtees	Bill Lomas	Bill Lomas		Report
8	4 September	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	Carlo Ubbiali	Carlo Ubbiali	Dickie Dale	Umberto Masetti	/	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 were counted.

500cc final standings[]

Pos Rider Machine ESP FRA MAN GER BEL HOL NAC Pts 1 Geoff Duke Gilera Ret 1 1 1 Ret 1 3 36 2 Reg Armstrong Gilera 1 3 2 Ret Ret 2 2 30 3 Umberto Masetti MV Agusta 3 4 3 1 19 4 Giuseppe Colnago Gilera 7 5 1 Ret 4 13 5 Carlo Bandirola MV Agusta 2 11 3 Ret Ret 10 6 Bill Lomas Moto Guzzi 7 1 8 7 Pierre Monneret Gilera 10 2 Ret 6 8 John Hartle Norton 13 2 6 9 Libero Liberati Gilera 2 Ret 6 10 Walter Zeller BMW 2 6 11 Bob McIntyre Norton 5 4 5 12 Dickie Dale Moto Guzzi Ret 3 4 = Ken Kavanagh Moto Guzzi Ret 3 4 14 Léon Martin Gilera 3 4 15 MV Agusta 6 4 Ret Ret 4 16 Duilio Agostini Moto Guzzi Ret 4 3 = Jack Brett Norton 4 Ret 3 18 Gilera 4 3 = Gilera 4 3 20 Bob Brown Matchless 16 11 5 2 21 Alfredo Milani Gilera Ret 14 5 2 22 Matchless Ret Ret Ret 5 2 23 Norton Ret Ret 5 2 24 Norton 5 Ret 2 = Nello Pagani MV Agusta 5 Ret 2 26 Jack Ahearn Norton Ret 6 7 Ret Ret 1 27 Matchless / Norton 14 16 6 1 28 Matchless Ret 6 1 = BMW Ret 6 1 = John Storr Norton Ret 6 1 31 Norton 6 1 = Matchless 6 1 33 Norton 7 8 0 = Norton 8 7 0 35 Florian Camathias Norton 7 Ret 0 = BMW Ret 7 0 37 Norton 7 0 38 Norton 20 Ret 8 Ret 0 39 Norton Ret 8 Ret 0 40 Norton Ret 8 0 41 Norton 8 0 = Alfredo Flores Norton 8 0 = BMW 8 0 44 Bob Matthews Norton 11 9 Ret 11 0 45 Matchless 23 Ret 9 0 46 Matchless 9 Ret 0 = Percy Tait Norton Ret 9 0 48 Norton 9 0 = Norton 9 0 = Matchless 9 0 51 Norton 14 13 10 Ret 0 52 Norton 10 Ret 0 = Ernst Hiller Matchless 10 Ret 0 = Maurice Low Triumph / BSA Ret 10 0 55 Gilera 10 0 = Norton 10 0 56 Robin Fitton Norton Ret 11 Ret 0 = Matchless 11 0 = Norton 11 0 59 Matchless 30 12 0 60 John Hempleman Norton Ret 12 Ret 0 61 Norton 12 0 = Norton 12 0 63 Matchless Ret 13 0 64 Norton 13 0 = Norton 13 0 66 Angus Martin Norton 40 14 0 67 Norton 14 0 68 Arthur Wheeler Matchless 17 15 Ret 0 69 Matchless 15 0 = Norton 15 0 = Norton 15 0 = Norton 15 0 73 Ralph Rensen Norton 33 16 0 74 Matchless 18 17 Ret Ret 0 75 Norton 17 0 76 Norton 18 0 77 Norton Ret 19 0 78 Norton 19 0 79 Matchless 43 20 0 80 Norton 21 0 = AJS 21 0 82 Matchless 22 0 = Ivor Lloyd Norton 22 0 84 Norton 24 0 85 Dave Chadwick Norton 25 Ret 0 86 Frank Perris Matchless 26 Ret 0 87 Norton 27 0 88 BSA 28 0 89 John Surtees Norton 29 Ret Ret 0 90 Norton 31 0 91 Norton 32 0 92 BSA 34 0 93 Norton 35 0 94 Terry Shepherd Norton 36 0 95 Norton 37 0 96 Norton 38 0 97 Norton 39 0 98 Norton 41 0 99 BSA 42 0 100 BSA 44 0 101 BSA 45 0 102 Norton 46 0 103 Norton 47 0 – BMW Ret Ret Ret Ret 0 – Keith Campbell Norton Ret Ret Ret 0 – BSA Ret Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret Ret 0 – Matchless Ret Ret 0 – Norton Ret Ret 0 – Dick Thomson Matchless Ret Ret 0 – Fergus Anderson Moto Guzzi Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Horex Ret 0 – Gilera Ret 0 – BSA Ret 0 – Louis Carr Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Matchless Ret 0 – Matchless Ret 0 – Gilera Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Gilera Ret 0 – Moto Guzzi Ret 0 – AJS Ret 0 – BMW Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Gilera Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Matchless Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Matchless Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Triumph Ret 0 – BSA Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – BSA Ret 0 – George Salt Matchless Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Norton Ret 0 – Georg Braun Horex DNS 0 – Matchless DNS 0 – Norton DNS 0 – Matchless DNS 0 – Norton DNS 0 – Norton DNS 0 – Norton DNS 0 – BSA DNS 0 Pos Rider Bike ESP FRA MAN GER BEL HOL NAC 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	Bill Lomas	72	United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	32	4
2	Dickie Dale		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	18	1
3	August Hobl		Germany	DKW	17	0
4	Ken Kavanagh		Australia	Moto Guzzi	14	1
5	Cecil Sandford		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	13	0
6	John Surtees		United Kingdom	Norton	11	0
7	Duilio Agostini		Italy	Moto Guzzi	8	1
8	Bob McIntyre		United Kingdom	Norton	8	0
9	John Hartle		United Kingdom	Norton	7	0
10	Roberto Colombo		Italy	Moto Guzzi	7	0
11	Keith Campbell		Australia	Norton	4	0
12	Enrico Lorenzetti		Italy	Moto Guzzi	3	0
=			Belgium	Velocette	3	0
14			New Zealand	AJS	3	0
=			Germany	DKW	3	0
16			Australia	Norton	2	0
17			Netherlands	DKW	2	0
18			France	Norton	1	0

250cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Hermann Paul Müller		Germany	NSU	16	1
2	Cecil Sandford		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	14	0
3	Bill Lomas		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	13	1
4	Luigi Taveri		Switzerland	MV Agusta	11	1
5	Umberto Masetti		Italy	MV Agusta	11	0
6	Sammy Miller		United Kingdom	NSU	10	0
7	John Surtees		United Kingdom	NSU	8	1
=	Carlo Ubbiali		Italy	MV Agusta	8	1
9	Hans Baltisberger		Germany	NSU	6	0
=			Germany	NSU	6	0
11	Arthur Wheeler		United Kingdom	Moto Guzzi	6	0
12	Enrico Lorenzetti		Italy	Moto Guzzi	3	0
13	Dave Chadwick		United Kingdom	RD Special	2	0
14			United Kingdom	Velocette	1	0
=	Helmut Hallmeier		Germany	NSU	1	0

125cc Standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Carlo Ubbiali		Italy	MV Agusta	32	5
2	Luigi Taveri		Switzerland	MV Agusta	26	1
3	Remo Venturi		Italy	MV Agusta	16	0
4			Italy	Mondial	11	0
5	Angelo Copeta		Italy	MV Agusta	8	0
6	Romolo Ferri		Italy	Mondial	7	0
7			United Kingdom	MV Agusta	5	0
8			Austria	Mondial	4	0
9	Bill Lomas		United Kingdom	MV Agusta	3	0
=	August Hobl		Germany	DKW	3	0
=			Germany	MV Agusta	3	0
=	Tarquinio Provini		Italy	Mondial	3	0
13			Germany	IFA	2	0
=			Germany	MV Agusta	2	0
=			Germany	DKW	2	0
16			Spain	Montesa	1	0
=			Italy	Mondial	1	0
=			Germany	IFA	1	0
=			United Kingdom	MV Agusta	1	0
=			Germany	MV Agusta	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.