WSB legend Fabrizio Pirovano has died

One of the original entrants to the World Superbike championship, Fabrizio Pirovano – ‘The King of Monza’, has died aged 56.

The awesome Italian former motorcycle racer from Biassono in Italy was one of the first racers in WSB, taking part in the 1988 championship and continuing in the series for several years. He was runner up in the series in both 1988 and 1990, he finished in the top five a further four times.

Pirovano won 10 WSB races in total and made the podium another 37 times. He also won the Italian superbike title four times.

During 1995, a second place finish at the season-opener at Hockenheim was his only podium, and he left the championship at the end of the year, switching to the world supersport championship in which he became champion in 1998 with five wins that season. He finished in the top 10 in the four other seasons he contested.

He was semi-retired since 2006 but won a one-off race in the Suzuki GSX-R Cup at Misano in June that year.