25 Years of World Superbike: medals for Italian duo
As part of the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the Superbike World Championship, two Italian legends of the category, Pierfrancesco Chili and Piergiorgio Bontempi, were welcomed into the SBK Hall of Fame at Imola. The ceremony took place in parc fermé on Sunday just before the start of race 2, when both riders received medals from Paolo Flammini (CEO Infront Motor Sports).
Bologna man Pierfrancesco Chili, aka ‘Frankie', raced in World Superbike for a total of 12 years, producing some of the championship's most memorable moments and rapidly becoming a true favourite of the public as well as quite a heartthrob for the female fans. With 276 races to his name (third in the all-time list), including 17 wins and 61 podiums, Chili was a perfect incarnation of the Superbike spirit between 1995 and 2006, racing mainly with Ducati and Suzuki, but also Honda in his final two seasons. Twice classified fourth in the overall standings (in 1998 with Virginio Ferrari's Ducati ADVF team and in 2000 with Suzuki Alstare), Chili still ties with Max Biaggi on 17 wins as the most successful Italian rider in World Superbike. Four of those wins came at Monza, one of his preferred tracks, and the last one was race 2 at Misano in 2004 at the end of a spectacular recovery on his PSG-1 Ducati 998R.
Team-mate to Chili (albeit in different categories) in 2002 with Ducati NCR, Piergiorgio Bontempi was one of the key players in World Superbike and Supersport, where he raced full-time and as a wild-card for 17 seasons from 1989 to 2005. For much of his career, he was tied to Kawasaki, with whom he rode from 1991 to 1998, even winning the Le Mans 24 Hour race. In 1999 he switched to Supersport, winning at the Nurburgring with the Yamaha Belgarda team. After this, the man from Ancona returned to Superbike in 2004 with the Suzuki Zongshen bike (finishing 15th overall), before taking part in his last international race at Misano Adriatico in 2005 on a Team Selmat Ducati 749R in Supersport. With a total of 195 races to his name in Superbike, and 45 in Supersport, Piergiorgio Bontempi has without a shadow of doubt one of the longest careers in the championship, and this consummate professional also fully deserves his place in the SBK Hall of Fame.
