Video clip - World 0-350, Milan, Italy 1988

[corin_huke]

You are welcome Eric - I knew you would be able to fill in some more detail!!!

Great link Doris!
I believe that was Mark "Boat Buster" Borges in the #15 Popoli. They brought that back to the states with limited success.

I surpises me that Mark Borges and the Popoli boat had limited success in the US. In their day, Popoli was THE boat to have. You'll recall that when the Italians raced in the States in the 250 and 350 Worlds they mostly had Popoli boats, plus the odd Mostes. Is the boat still about, or has it long since ben resigned to the fire - it would be 20 years old!

John Stevens was at that race too. After winning in Berlin the weekend before, besting Loth, Volenter and many more, with a beat up Krage Danisch, he borrowed a Popoli from......girl racer from Milan, traveled with her dad, won 125cc WC in 98 or 99?? They never got the set up right and John was off the pace.

"he borrowed a Popoli from.....a girl from Milan, travelled with her dad"- could that have been Nicoletta Mora and her father, Nico? Nicoletta did win the 125 Worlds a few years back

[jackus173]

ok thanks corin for the info !!!! and for the link whit a video !!!! ,soon as possible i post somme photo of 500cc,after i scan this photo!!!!

[David Weaver]

Harry B. had a couple Popoli's. I do not remember them being front runners here. Probably had to do with the race course set-ups here. I remember racing against Harry's 350 and it ran midldle of the pack. I recall also that the 700 was quick, but got killed by the US built boats on a long course like DePue (especially on the long back straight). I imagine on a tight course, those bots would have been very hard to drive around (on the outside).

[corin_huke]

Harry B. had a couple Popoli's. I do not remember them being front runners here. Probably had to do with the race course set-ups here. I remember racing against Harry's 350 and it ran midldle of the pack. I recall also that the 700 was quick, but got killed by the US built boats on a long course like DePue (especially on the long back straight). I imagine on a tight course, those bots would have been very hard to drive around (on the outside).

Thanks David - the expression "Horses for courses" springs to mind

Wouldn't mind seeing any pics of the Popoli boats racing in the US

Not disrepecting Harry B nor Mark Borges, but the Italians really did know how to get the most out of their design of boats (they still do!! ).

You cannot really see it on the video, but the way they cornered was poetry in motion. About 75 yards before the turn, they would give the steering wheel a quick flick and that would start the back end breaking free. As they approached the turn, the boat would almost be going sideways. At one point in the turn, the nose of the boat looked to be almost static and the rest of boat just pivoting around it, until they straighten up and blasted off down the straight. The nearest thing I can liken it to is this new car craze of drifting

Eric - my description of watching the Italians and Popoli boats turn is rubbish - you tell em how it was!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Interesting stuff guys. Hey Corin, since you were in Lakeland in 93, check out Random Shots from the Pits in a few days. I'll post some and you can I.D. them. Maybe even a pic of yourself.

[corin_huke]

Interesting stuff guys. Hey Corin, since you were in Lakeland in 93, check out Random Shots from the Pits in a few days. I'll post some and you can I.D. them. Maybe even a pic of yourself.

Thanks Wayne

The guy I crewed for, Paul Noone (#68), raced Ron Shurilla's boat - we brought our 5 port Konig over from the UK. With hindsight (and more money!) we should have shipped over our Russian trimaran boat, as in the hands on Tiziano Trombetta (#53), the trimaran design of boat ran petty well - I think Tiziano was 3rd or 4th if my memory serves me better. Oh well, you live and you learn!

More than happy to ID photos for you. And yes you may have one of me. I'm not very photogenic, so if there's a weird looking Limey on one of the, there's a chance it could be me!!!

[jackus173]

hello corin!!!
i dont now for a cresent engine search the site of hervé fressard!!!and ask !!
because me i dont no?? this photo is for you !!!!

[jackus173]

you want photo ok !!!! see this !!!

[epugh66]

Jackus,

Do you have a connection to Pierre Desertenne? He was a gentelman, so is his son Phillipe.

Corin, Horses for courses is correct. We never ran the tight turns and with out the jetty start, we never slowed down. Every WC ran in the US after Dayton '82 was a bastardized race course so the euro boats were never at the disadvantage we were going to europe.

Your discription of a Popoli turn is about right, it just doesn't work on a 75 foot radius turn. In comparison, an american boat turns on rails.

The year before this video, '87, Landini came to run our 350cc national championships. I believe he had won the 350cc WC that year and was pretty confidant. The end results was he was mid pack, he lost too much time in the corners.

[epugh66]

And it was Nicoletta that he borrowed the boat from...I think I owe her some money still?

That weekend was great. Hans backing the Krage truck into someones bus, knocking the open rear hatch off, Hans yelling at John that he should'nt have let it happen. John, Gary and I drinking Methanol(or something that tasted like it) in the early a.m. with Lazlo in the Volenter motorhome. Racing two stroke Go-Karts at the fair grounds across the street with lots of crazed italians. Good times!