Derek Chatterton (Born 31 January 1945) is a British former professional motorcycle road racer. __TOC__

Motorcycle racing career

Born in

Lincolnshire, England Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire an ...

, Chatterton's motorcycle

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

career spanned thirty years, beginning in 1961 at the age of 16. His first race was at

Cadwell Park Cadwell Park is a motor racing circuit in Lincolnshire, England, south of Louth, owned and operated by MotorSport Vision, a business associated with former racing driver Jonathan Palmer. Sited on former parkland across a steep-sided valley wit ...

in Lincolnshire on a 1949

Velocette Velocette is a line of motorcycles made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling almost as many hand-built motorcycles during i ...

, early promise that year didn't initially translate to good results until

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course ...

at the end of the season where Chatterton, riding an NSU Sportmax, finished third in the Junior race collecting 'Rider of the Meeting' in the process. In 1967, riding a Ducati framed Yamaha TD1, he won the British 250cc National championship. Chatterton also won the 1970 British 350cc National championship. In 1974 Chatterton scored an impressive 500cc class victory over multi-time world champion

Giacomo Agostini Giacomo Agostini (; born 16 June 1942) is an Italian multi-time world champion Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Nicknamed Ago, he amassed 122 Grand Prix wins and 15 World Championship titles. Of these, 68 wins and 8 titles came in the 500 ...

at Cadwell Park. Chatterton also competed in

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

. His best season was in

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

when he finished the year in 15th place in the 250cc world championship. At the 1977 500cc British Grand Prix, Chatterton finished in seventh place on a Suzuki RG500. He was also a two-time winner of the

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a Northern Irish motorsport event established in 1929 for road racing motorcycles held on a street circuit known as ''the Triangle'' between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast ...

road race in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, winning the 250cc event in 1971 and 1975 on a Yamaha. Chatterton was a regular

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

competitor from 1968 until 1991, his best result was a second-place finish in the 1975 Lightweight 250cc race on a Chat Yamaha. During practice for the 1991 Isle of Man TT races, he suffered a high speed crash on a Honda RS250 at Ballaspur which resulted in multiple injuries which ended his racing career.

Later career

Chatterton is still involved in the motorcycle industry however, running his long-standing motorcycle business Chatterton Motors and is still active in

historic motorsport Historic motorsport or vintage motorsport, is motorsport with vehicles limited to a particular era. Only safety precautions are modernized in these hobbyist races. A historical event can be of various types of motorsport disciplines, from road ...

events such as; the 1998

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed'. The event attained world champ ...

Centennial meeting at Assen, the 60th anniversary Scarborough meeting at Olivers Mount, the 2014 Cadwell Park 80th anniversary meeting and at the

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, still owned b ...

Classic Motorcycle Festival where he paraded a Yamaha TZ 350cc racebike.

References

External links

Derek Chatterton MotoGP career statistics

Derek Chatterton Isle of Man TT career statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterton, Derek 1945 births Sportspeople from Lincolnshire British motorcycle racers 250cc World Championship riders 350cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders Isle of Man TT riders Living people