Ducati News Today

The Lion of Jesi
He brought a motocross derived style to World Superbikes in the late 80′s along with a sense of Italian crash or win flair. Almost frightening to watch, he was nevertheless fast enough to bother giants of the class such as Raymond Roche, Carl Fogarty and Scott Russell. Inevitably, given his aggression, his career ended early after a horrific, coma inducing crash but Giancarlo Falappa’s legend lives on as a Ducati Hero.

Giancarlo Falappa truly had a spectacular albeit brief career. Already an accomplished motocross racer, in 1987 he took a borrowed Kawasaki GPZ600 Ninja in street trim to within 1 second of the Italian Sport Production class lap record despite just 60 minutes on track! He went into debt to buy a GSX-R1100 and promptly won his first road race. A strong performance that year in the final race of the Italian Sport Production championship saw him signed for 1988 by Bimota and he won the Italian championship. This catapulted him into World Superbikes for 1989 and he took 1 pole position, 3 wins and 5 podiums in his rookie season!

A switch to Ducati in 1990 saw him teaming up with Raymond Roche on the booming 888. He took victory in just the second round and thrilled the crowd with his introduction of the flamboyant stand-up wheelie that is now common place. His season was cut short whilst running third in the points when a crash in practice at Zeltweg, Austria saw him suffer 27 fractures and be out for the rest of the season. Giancarlo came back in 1991 against the advice of his doctors but it took until 1992 before his fitness was good enough for full competitiveness. That year he took 4 poles, 4 wins and 9 podiums for 4th in the championship. In ’93 he took 7 wins and 10 podiums to finish 5th. Things would take a dramatic turn for the worse. In Falappa’s own words:

“My last race was on 29 May 1994 at Misano. I was leading the championship and my team mate Carl Fogarty was fourth. We were in Albacete for the next round when Ducati asked me to test an electronic gear change there – since my huge crash in Austria in 1990 I couldn’t bend my left knee, hence the new system. “During the test I beat the Albacete lap record by 1.8 seconds. But then the system got stuck between second and third gear and I came off.”

link: Visordown

Coming off is one way to describe it. Giancarlo was high sided into orbit and landed on his head and was in a coma. The outlook was bleak. News only slowly filtered back from the hospital saying he wouldn’t make the night but he kept on making it. Day after day after day.

On July 19, 1994, famous Italian television commentator Giovanni Di Pillio stopped by Giancarlo’s hospital room in Imola. He had been the Italian broadcaster for many of Falappa’s World Superbike races; he sat next to Falappa’s bed, talking to him like he was announcing a very dramatic race.

“Giancarlo,” he said, “wake up! You must wake up, Scott Russell is coming too close to you! He’s going to pass you, speed up! Speed up!”

link: Superbikeplanet

And at that moment the Lion of Jesi woke up. 38 days of coma were over. And so was his racing career. A test in 1997 showed that mentality he could no longer handle the speed and he hung up his helmet for good.

I miss racing but I know my time has passed. My favourite memory is Brands Hatch, 1993. I won both races and, as I stood on the podium, a spectator lay naked in the rain at my feet! I did stand up wheelies to give the public an added show. The spectators were my first sponsors – they paid, travelled, stood under the sun and the rain just to watch the races, so I wanted to give them something back.

link: Visordown

You can see a little of Giancarlo’s style in the videos below. In his brief Superbike career he won 16 races, took 30 trips to the podium, recorded 8 pole positions and set 11 fastest laps. The fans loved him because he gave his all every race and his unorthodox style made it look like he was out of control. The Lion of Jesi raced with his heart.

Want More?
Check out Giancarlo Falappa’s Racing Stats

Become a Facebook Fan of Ducati News Today

Try These Related Posts:

1. Ducati Heroes: Ben Bostrom
2. They Don’t Burn like they Used To – Mertens 1992 Ducati 888 Crash