Dave Simmonds


Dave Simmonds was a British professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Grand Prix world championships from 1963 to 1972. Simmonds is notable for winning the 1969 125 cc FIM road racing world championship.

Motorcycle racing career

Born in London, Simmonds began his motorcycle racing career riding a 50cc Itom motorcycle in 1960. By 1963 he had won the 125cc British road racing national championship on a Tohatsu. His impressive results earned him an invitation from the Kawasaki factory to race one of their motorcycles in the Japanese Grand Prix. Simmonds convinced Kawasaki management to loan him a motorcycle to compete in the 125cc Grand Prix world championships. In an era of unrestricted rules, the Kawasaki KR1 125cc twin cylinder was outclassed by the expensive, V4 engines used by the Yamaha racing team and the square four engines used by Suzuki. Without any financial or mechanical support from the Kawasaki factory, Simmonds spent the 1967 and 1968 Grand Prix seasons sorting out the motorcycle's reliability issues.
In 1969, the FIM changed its regulations in an effort to reduce spiraling costs in motorcycle racing. 125cc and 250cc machines would be limited to two cylinders and 6-speed transmissions. This regulation change caused the dominant Yamaha and Suzuki factories to withdraw their teams from Grand Prix racing. Simmonds and his aging Kawasaki won the 1969 125cc road racing world championship in an impressive fashion with only one race in which he failed to finish in either first or second place. The victory marked the first world championship for Kawasaki.
Simmonds dropped to fourth place in 1970 with improved competition from Dieter Braun, Ángel Nieto and Börje Jansson but, still managed to win the Finnish Grand Prix and scored two second place finishes in the Dutch and Belgian Grands Prix. Simmonds finished sixth in the 1971 125cc world championship with one win at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.
In 1971, he competed in the premier 500cc class with a Kawasaki H1R. He proved to be competitive by finishing second to Giacomo Agostini and the dominant MV Agusta at the Finnish Grand Prix and had third places in Holland and Italy. Simmonds won his first 500cc class victory at the season ending Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama when Agostini sat out the race after already winning the championship. In 1972, seven years after first his first appearance on the 125cc Kawasaki, Simmonds would race the bike to a remarkable third place at the Dutch TT.

Death

In 1972, while attending a non-championship motorcycle race at Rungis near Paris, Simmonds was killed in a fire caused by an exploding gas cylinder in a caravan owned by fellow racer Jack Findlay. Mistakenly thinking that Findlay was inside the caravan, Simmonds rushed to help just as the gas cylinder exploded, engulfing him in flames.

Grand Prix motorcycle racing resultsIsle of Man TT statistics at iomtt.com">

Points system from 1950 to 1968:
Position123456
Points864321

Points system from 1969 onwards:
Position12345678910
Points1512108654321


YearClassTeam12345678910111213PointsRankWins
196350ccTohatsuESP
-		GER
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		BEL
-		FIN
-		ARG
-		JPN
-		0-0
1963125ccTohatsuESP
-		GER
-		FRA
-		IOM
15		NED
-		BEL
-		ULS
-		DDR
-		FIN
-		NAT
-		ARG
-		JPN
-		0-0
196450ccTohatsuUSA
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
9		NED
-		BEL
-		GER
-		FIN
-		JPN
-		0-0
1964125ccTohatsuUSA
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
9		NED
-		GER
-		DDR
-		ULS
-		FIN
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1964250ccGreevesUSA
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		BEL
-		GER
-		DDR
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
196550ccTohatsuUSA
-		GER
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		BEL
-		JPN
-		0-0
1965125ccTohatsuUSA
-		GER
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		ULS
-		FIN
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1965250ccHondaUSA
-		GER
-		ESP
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		ULS
-		FIN
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1965350ccHondaGER
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		ULS
-		FIN
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
196650ccHondaESP
-		GER
-		NED
-		IOM
6		NAT
-		JPN
-		113th0
1966125ccTohatsuESP
-		GER
-		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		IOM
NC		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1966250ccHondaESP
-		GER
-		FRA
-		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		IOM
NC		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1966350ccHondaGER
-		FRA
-		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
5		IOM
8		NAT
-		JPN
-		223rd0
1967125ccKawasakiESP
-		GER
-		FRA
5		IOM
4		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
3		ULS
-		NAT
-		CAN
-		JPN
-		314th0
1967250ccKawasakiESP
-		GER
-		FRA
-		IOM
4		NED
5		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		CAN
-		JPN
-		510th0
1967350ccKawasakiGER
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		JPN
-		0-0
1968125ccKawasakiGER
-		ESP
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
4		314th0
1968350ccKawasakiGER
-		IOM
NC		NED
6		DDR
-		CZE
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		118th0
1969125ccKawasakiESP
-		GER
1		FRA
2		IOM
1		NED
1		BEL
1		DDR
1		CZE
1		FIN
1		NAT
1		YUG
2		901st8
1969250ccKawasakiESP
-		GER
-		FRA
-		IOM
NC		NED
-		BEL
9		DDR
-		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
8		YUG
-		531st0
1969350ccKawasakiESP
-		GER
10		IOM
17		NED
-		DDR
9		CZE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		YUG
-		340th0
1970125ccKawasakiGER
-		FRA
NC		YUG
-		IOM
NC		NED
2		BEL
2		DDR
4		CZE
3		FIN
1		NAT
-		ESP
-		574th1
1970500ccKawasakiGER
-		FRA
12		YUG
6		IOM
-		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
8		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		ESP
9		1020th0
1971125ccKawasakiAUT
-		GER
1		IOM
-		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
4		SWE
5		FIN
5		NAT
6		ESP
4		486th1
1971250ccKawasakiAUT
-		GER
-		IOM
-		NED
-		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
9		SWE
-		FIN
-		ULS
-		NAT
-		ESP
-		242nd0
1971500ccKawasakiAUT
-		GER
-		IOM
-		NED
3		BEL
-		DDR
-		SWE
6		FIN
2		ULS
-		NAT
3		ESP
1		524th1
1972125ccKawasakiGER
4		FRA
4		AUT
-		NAT
-		IOM
-		YUG
-		NED
3		BEL
7		DDR
-		CZE
-		SWE
-		FIN
5		ESP
4		446th0
1972500ccKawasakiGER
4		FRA
-		AUT
-		NAT
-		IOM
-		YUG
-		NED
4		BEL
-		DDR
-		CZE
-		SWE
4		FIN
5		ESP
2		427th0