Pierfrancesco Chili
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Pierfrancesco 'Frankie' Chili, born 20th June 1964 in Bologna, Italy, near the Imola race track, is a motorcycle racer who has raced in World Superbike and the 500cc and 250cc World Championships. In WSBK he had a record number of starts, as well as 10 poles and 17 wins. He retired at the end of the 2006 season.
[edit] 500c
Frankie spent several years on a Gallina HB Honda, with some works backing. He won a race at Misano 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 6th in 1989.
[edit] 250cc
He stepped down to 250s, finishing 3rd overall in 1992.
[edit] WorldSBK
He switched to Superbikes in 1995 on a private Ducati, taking a win at Monza and 3 further podiums, as well as the fastest lap in four races, en route to eighth overall. Curiously, in each of 1995-1997 he won race two at Monza after crashing in race one. In 1996 he took two wins as well as his first two poles, coming sixth in the series. He was seventh-placed in 1997, taking three wins and three poles but only three more podiums.
Results in 1998 on a factory Ducati were an improvement - Frankie 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 1999 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 2000 he repeated the ten podiums and fourth place overall of 1998, 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, 2003 represented something of a resurgence for a rider nearing forth years of age; with five third places and one win. The year 2004 was even better for the PSG Ducati team, fifth overall with another nine podiums. In 2005 he moved to the Klaffi Honda team with rookie Max Neukirchner, coming tenth overall. 2006 was ruined by a broken pelvis which has caused him to miss several races [1].
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