MOTO CLUB TERNI- L. Liberati P. Pileri
HISTORICAL RE-ENACTMENT MOTOGIRO D’ITALIA 2025 (34th edition)
18 – 24 May 2025
Marco Tomassini wins the Motogiro Historical Re-enactment – Fabrizio Donadonibus wins in the 60s motorcycles – The other winners: Maurizio Paoloni (Classic) – Michael Cassel (Motogiro) – Mauro Fortunati (Scooter)
The thirty-fourth edition of the Rievocazione Storica del Motogiro d’Italia, organized by the Moto Club Terni L.Liberati – P.Pileri and created in collaboration with the Italian and International Motorcycle Federation , an event valid as the first round of the Raid Vintage world championship, ended on Saturday 24 May in Pesaro , where it started on the 19th. A beautiful edition that celebrated in the best possible way the 100 years of the organizing Moto Club.
At the end of six stages and over 1500 kilometres, in the Historical Re-enactment of the Fifties category , the most prestigious one which directly refers to the race that took place from 1953 to 1957, Marco Tomassini from Foligno won aboard a 1954 Gilera 175 Super Sport 4T. In the Historical Regularity Re-enactment of the Sixties everything was quite easy for Pier Fabrizio Donadonibus from Bergamo aboard a 1967 Lambretta Innocenti 200 DL who repeated last year’s success. Terni wins in the Classic category thanks to Maurizio Paoloni with the 1970 MV Agusta 350. A family battle in the “ Motogiro” , with the German Michael Cassel on the Moto Morini Corsaro Avio who narrowly beat his wife Brighitte Benner with the Triumph Trident. Finally in the Scooters, victory for the Bolognese Mauro Fortunati on the Piaggio PX200, who finished on equal points with his fellow citizen Silvano Fabbri (Kimko New People), but the trophy went to the former, for having won one more special stage than his rival.
A s mentioned, the 50s Historical Reenactment saw the victory of Tomassini, one of the world’s leading experts in this type of race. The doctor from Foligno prevailed, after a thrilling finale, over the Lombard Marco Bonanomi, MV Agusta 175 CSTL from 1957 and his fellow Brianza native Giacomo Viganò with the Moto Morini 175 GT from 1956. Fourth, but far from the podium, was the standard-bearer of the Moto Club Misano Duilio Damiani, also on a Moto Morini 175 GT, who narrowly preceded the Monza native Paolo Mattioli from Seregno with the Morini Tre Sette from 1958.
The absence, after so many years, of the Dutchman Eric Willelmes, Tomassini’s historic rival, made one think that the Umbrian could win hands down, but that wasn’t the case. It was clear that luck wasn’t all on his side at the checks, when the splendid Mondial Sport, carefully prepared, refused to start, so at the last moment he fell back on the historic and trusty Gilera which, however, hadn’t been looked after as well. Despite this, Tomassini won the first four stages with a certain ease, but in the fifth, with start and finish in San Benedetto del Tronto, the only one adversely affected by bad weather, came the twist. Halfway through the stage the bike fell silent and, despite the attempts of the rider and the mechanics following him, it didn’t want to start again. This resulted in the maximum penalty being taken and so all the advantage acquired in the previous stages was cancelled out, so much so that at the start of the last stage, the San Benedetto del Tronto – Pesaro of almost 300 kilometers, Tomassini, who during the night had solved the electrical problem of the bike and Bonanomi were practically tied. The three final special tests with imposed time were therefore decisive. In the first the Umbrian prevailed by a tenth, in the second they both finished with zero, so everything was played out on the last one which again saw the Foligno rider prevail by a few hundredths, but enough to make him climb for the eleventh time, the fifth consecutive, onto the top step of the podium of what for years has been considered the most important itinerant event for vintage motorcycles in the world.
In this class, three Argentine competitors supported by their national federation will also be taking part, riding very rare 1954 Tehulche SS 75 cc 4-stroke bikes, the only motorcycle factory that existed in the South American country at the turn of the 1950s and designed by an Italian immigrant engineer, equipped with an engine that was futuristic for the time, completely made of light alloy and with a cascade distribution of gears. The group also includes a twenty-six-year-old girl: Ludmilla Nekola, originally from Czechoslovakia, a great motorcycle enthusiast and one of the youngest airline pilots in the world.
Not as exciting was the 1960s Historical Re-enactment category , where Donadonibus had no rivals, winning four out of six stages, the others went to the second-placed Giovanni Zanetti on a 1953 Norton Dominator M7 and to the journalist Claudio Antonaci (BSA 750 Rochet) from 1968 who finished fourth behind the American Hugh Schink on the splendid MotoBi Zanzani 6 Tiranti. Fifth place went to the British Roger Manning on a 1965 Honda CB. Worth mentioning was the American, Robin Webster, over sixty years old of Hawaiian origin, at her fifth appearance, who finished in the top ten of this class, riding a 1964 Ducati Monza JR 160 and the most photographed “couple” of the event, formed by Vittorio Catalano Gonzaga and Mimì, a dachshund who for the third consecutive year, did the entire route in her owner’s backpack. It is also worth mentioning the feat of the young Belgian JIM Hofmans who completed all the stages riding the small Romeo powered by a 50cc Minarelli.
The Classic was more uncertain with many foreigners at the start, especially Swedes, Germans, Norwegians, English and Poles; where, thanks to the first two perfect stages, Maurizio Paoloni won but risked compromising everything in the final stage by taking numerous penalties. In the end, however, he maintained the lead in the standings ahead of Andrea Angiolini on a 1964 Gilera Arcore 150 SV, Alfonso D’Aloia (BMW R80 GS) from 1983, Carlo Molet (BMW R100 RT) from 1982 and the Swede Johan Ohlin with the 1979 Moto Guzzi Le Mans III.
Resolved in favor of her husband Michael, the Cassel family duel, with Brigitte on the second step of the podium in the Motogiro class , saw Canadian Martin Mayer on a Ducati ST4 come in third, ahead of three-time world champion Pierpaolo Bianchi, who rode the new Benelli 125 4T, officially supplied by the Pesaro-based company and of which he was enthusiastic about its handling, rideability and reliability in all conditions of route and weather. Fifth place for Angelo Battistoni Yamaha SR 400 who preceded a large American group. Also competing was four-time Italian cross champion Italo Forni on a BMW, who came in mid-table.
In all the cities and towns crossed, the Motogiro caravan was welcomed with tables laden with the best food and wine products, made available by the local administrations, Pro loco and Moto Club. The convivials were so numerous that it is impossible to name them all, but two certainly stood out for quality, abundance and originality. That of Miranda on the hill overlooking Terni on the occasion of the fourth stage and that of Monte San Vito on the last, where the participants were welcomed with delicacies of every kind including a mega grill of blue fish.
In this edition of the Rievocazione Storica del Motogiro 154 competitors participated, of which 106 reached the finish line. The event was not disturbed by any significant incident.
Great satisfaction for how the entire event went was expressed by the President of the Moto Club Massimo Mansueti who thanked all the staff made up of over sixty people, in the circumstance he did not want to anticipate anything about the next edition, even if there are persistent rumors that most of the routes should be in Tuscany.
The Historical Re-enactment of the Motogiro 2025 was created in collaboration with the province of Terni, the municipalities of: Pesaro, San Benedetto del Tronto and Terni; the patronage of the municipalities of Loreto, Recanati and Senigallia. The event was also supported by: Misano World Circuit, Food Distribution by Serafini, SRF Spedizioni, Stegagno Trasporti SPA and Benelli, official supplier of motorcycles for the press and technical staff. The social media management and digital communication of the Motogiro d’Italia is handled by TF Agency (www.transformersagency.it), an agency specialized in online marketing and social media management.
Press Office – Celso Pallassini
Terni, May 27, 2025
celsopallassini@libero.it
tel. 328 8326609
