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Meetings 1951 - 1970

TT 1951

The Italian MV Agusta factory entered the fray in 1951 and lured Les Graham away from AJS to ride the four-cylinder 500 in the Senior and their single-cylinder 125 in the new two-lap Ultra Lightweight race.

Bill Doran replaced Graham in the AJS team, but it was once again Duke who stole all the headlines with a memorable double. He led the Senior throughout the seven laps, destroying race and lap records.

Earlier in the week Duke had become the first rider of a Junior machine to lap the Mountain Course at over 90 mph. Once again he led from start to finish, and on his second lap, he established a new record of 91.38mph.

Despite the presence of the new double-overhead-camshaft Velocette in the Lightweight class, the race, which was reduced to four laps, was dominated by Italian machinery. The Guzzi's of Fergus Anderson and Tommy Wood, sporting a new half-fairing, held the advantage at the end of the opening lap.

On the second lap Anderson upped the lap record, but retired on the third lap at Ballig with engine trouble. Wood moved to the front and went on to tale the victory by over weight seconds at the finish.

Despite having only 18 starters, the new 125cc race was a great success, with Cromie McCandless' s superb little Mondial averaging 74.85mph on its way to victory. Carlo Ubbiali and Gianni Leoni made it a one-two-three for the Italian factory.