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Les Graham

Leslie Graham
Nationality British
Born (1911-09-14)14 September 1911
Wallasey, England, United Kingdom
Died 12 June 1953(1953-06-12) (aged 41)
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Active years 19491953
First race 1949 500cc Isle of Man TT
Last race 1953 500cc Isle of Man TT
First win 1949 500cc Swiss Grand Prix
Last win 1953 125cc Isle of Man TT
Team(s) AJS, MV Agusta
Championships 500cc - 1949
Starts Wins Podiums Poles F. laps Points
33 8 19 N/A 5

Robert Leslie (Les) Graham DFC (14 September 1911 in Wallasey - 12 June 1953) was a British motorcycle road racer who competed in the 1930s and 1940s. He won the inaugural Grand Prix motorcycle racing 500 cc World Championship in 1949.

Les Graham started racing at Liverpool's Stanley Speedway on dirt. In 1929 he entered a race on the Oswestry Park Hall circuit, riding a second hand Dot-JAP, and came second to Henry Pinnington on an AJS. For the next few years he raced a succession of Rudge hybrids with varying success.

In 1936 he managed to purchase a near new 250 cc OHC OK-Supreme cheaply, because it had dropped a valve. He rebuilt it, and entered it in the 1936 Ulster Grand Prix. After completing a lap of the Clady Circuit, the big end seized. He rebuilt it for 1937, and entered Northern Ireland's North West 200, and lead the Lightweights for a while until he came off. He remounted, joined the field, and was running third behind a couple of Excelsiors, when the valve gear broke. He rebuilt the engine again, and won his next race at Donington Park. He then entered the Ulster Grand Prix, and came fourth.


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