Pierfrancesco Chili

Pierfrancesco 'Frankie' Chili, (born 20 June 1964 in Bologna, Italy) is a former motorcycle racer who competed in the Superbike World Championship and the 250 cc and 500 cc classes in Grand Prix. In September 2020, he confirmed he was suffering from Parkinson's disease.

In the World Superbike championship, Chili had a record number of starts, as well as ten poles and 17 wins. He retired at the end of the season. Chili also won the 125cc European Championship in 1985.

500 cc Chili spent several years on a Gallina HB Honda, with some works backing. He won the 1989 Nations motorcycle Grand Prix when most of the top riders didn't race due to the track being too slippery due to rain, but was generally upper-midfield at best. His best championship finish was sixth in 1989.

250 cc Chili stepped down to 250s, finishing third overall in 1992.

Superbike World Championship Chili switched to the Superbike World Championship in on a private Ducati, taking a win at Monza and three further podiums, as well as the fastest lap in four races, en route to eighth overall. Curiously, in each of -, he won race two at Monza after crashing in race one. In , he took two wins as well as his first two poles, coming sixth in the championship. He was seventh-placed in , taking three wins and three poles but only three more podiums.

Results in on a factory Ducati were an improvement - Chili won five races to come fourth place overall, his best ever finish. However, at Assen he battled too hard with Carl Fogarty (also on a factory-backed bike, although a separate team), falling on the final lap, and was sacked at the end of the year. In , he raced for Suzuki, coming sixth with two more wins. His first win came in race two at the A1-Ring, after crashing while leading the first race.

In , Chili repeated the ten podiums and fourth place overall of , although with only a single win as Colin Edwards dominated. Over the next two years, he made the podium just three times, coming seventh and eighth in the series. Although he was only seventh again, represented something of a resurgence for a rider nearing forty years of age; with five third places and one win. The year was even better for the PSG-1 Ducati team, fifth overall with another nine podiums. In , he moved to the Klaffi Honda team with rookie Max Neukirchner, coming tenth overall. was ruined by a broken pelvis, which caused him to miss several races. Following his retirement, he became team manager of the Guandalini Racing team in World Superbikes for the 2009 season.

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Class Bike 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pts 1984 125cc MBA NAT SPA GER FRA NED GBR SWE RSMRet NC 0 1985 125cc MBA SPA GER NAT AUT NED BEL FRA GBR SWE RSMRet NC 0 1986 500cc Suzuki SPA14 NAT7 GER16 AUT9 YUGRet NED BEL6 FRARet GBRDNS SWE RSM 10th 11 1987 500cc Honda JPN4 SPA11 GER6 NAT7 AUT10 YUG6 NED9 FRA2 GBR12 SWERet CZE9 RSMRet POR7 BRA9 ARG9 8th 47 1988 500cc Honda JPN14 USARet SPA7 EXPDNS NAT6 GER6 AUT5 NED6 BEL8 YUG11 FRA8 GBR8 SWE9 CZE4 BRA7 9th 110 1989 500cc Honda JPNRet AUSRet USA7 SPA6 NAT1 GER4 AUT6 YUG9 NED5 BEL6 FRA6 GBR9 SWE7 CZE5 BRARet 6th 122 1990 500cc Honda JPN7 USA3 SPA5 NATRet GERRet AUT4 YUGRet NED8 BELDNS FRA GBR SWE CZE HUN AUS9 11th 63 1991 250cc Aprilia JPN17 AUS6 USARet SPA5 ITA3 GERRet AUT4 EURRet NED1 FRA4 GBRDNS RSM8 CZERet VDM7 MAL8 7th 107 1992 250cc Aprilia JPN5 AUSRet MAL3 SPA6 ITARet EUR6 GER1 NED1 HUNRet FRA2 GBR1 BRARet RSA3 3rd 119 1993 250cc Yamaha AUS10 MAL9 JPN7 SPA12 AUT8 GER7 NED8 EURRet RSM8 GBR4 CZE8 ITA8 USA6 FIM8 10th 106 1995 500cc Cagiva AUS MAL JPN SPA GER ITA10 NED FRA GBR CZE BRA ARG EUR 27th 6

Superbike World Championship

Races by year (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) Year Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pts R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 1995 Ducati GER15 GER9 SMR4 SMR4 GBRRet GBR2 ITARet ITA1 SPA4 SPA2 AUT11 AUTRet USARet USARet EUR6 EURRet JPN15 JPNRet NEDRet NEDDNS INARet INA3 AUS6 AUS10 8th 160 1996 Ducati SMR3 SMR3 GBR4 GBR5 GERRet GERRet ITA4 ITA1 CZE8 CZE10 USARet USA7 EUR1 EUR2 INA4 INARet JPNRet JPNDNS NED2 NED4 SPARet SPARet AUS8 AUS9 6th 223 1997 Ducati AUSRet AUSDNS SMR1 SMRRet GBRRet GBR2 GER5 GER7 ITA7 ITA1 USARet USA6 EUR1 EURRet AUT4 AUTRet NED3 NED2 SPA5 SPA7 JPN10 JPNRet INARet INARet 7th 209 1998 Ducati AUS4 AUSRet GBR3 GBR5 ITA5 ITA3 SPA1 SPA5 GER3 GER1 SMRRet SMRRet RSA1 RSA1 USA7 USA4 EUR9 EUR6 AUT2 AUT3 NED1 NEDRet JPN12 JPN23 4th 293.5 1999 Suzuki RSA7 RSA8 AUSRet AUS13 GBRRet GBR5 SPA5 SPA5 ITA3 ITA3 GERRet GER5 SMR4 SMR6 USA7 USA3 EUR3 EURRet AUTRet AUT1 NED4 NED6 GERRet GER1 JPN7 JPN7 6th 251 2000 Suzuki RSA5 RSA2 AUSRet AUS3 JPN3 JPNRet GBR2 GBR3 ITA1 ITA2 GERRet GER3 SMRRet SMRRet SPARet SPA9 USA5 USA6 EUR8 EUR3 NEDRet NEDRet GER6 GER6 GBR10 GBR2 4th 258 2001 Suzuki SPA7 SPA7 RSA6 RSA8 AUS7 AUSC JPN8 JPN8 ITA14 ITA5 GBR2 GBR1 GER4 GER5 SMR12 SMR10 USARet USARet EUR4 EUR4 GER6 GER6 NED4 NED4 ITARet ITA9 7th 232 2002 Ducati SPA9 SPARet AUSRet AUSRet RSADNS RSADNS JPN JPN ITA4 ITARet GBR4 GBR11 GER6 GER6 SMR6 SMR7 USA12 USA7 GBR8 GBR7 GER5 GER7 NED5 NED2 ITA7 ITARet 8th 167 2003 Ducati SPARet SPARet AUSRet AUS3 JPNRet JPN3 ITA5 ITA3 GER2 GER11 GBR7 GBR7 SMRRet SMR3 USA1 USARet GBR9 GBR7 NED3 NED5 ITA5 ITARet FRARet FRARet 7th 197 2004 Ducati SPA2 SPA4 AUS9 AUS3 SMR3 SMR1 ITARet ITARet GER3 GERRet GBR3 GBRRet USA2 USA5 EURRet EUR2 NED2 NED4 ITA7 ITARet FRA6 FRA5 5th 243 2005 Honda QATRet QAT5 AUSDNS AUSDNS SPA7 SPA10 ITA7 ITA7 EUR5 EUR5 SMR7 SMR5 CZE5 CZE5 GBRRet GBR13 NED10 NED14 GERRet GER10 ITARet ITAC FRARet FRA10 10th 131 2006 Honda QAT8 QATRet AUS16 AUS14 SPA SPA ITA ITA EUR EUR SMR20 SMRRet CZE10 CZERet GBRRet GBRRet NEDRet NEDRet GERRet GERRet ITA16 ITA18 FRARet FRA15 22nd 17