The
1950 Isle of Man Tourist Trophy festival was the second year the
Isle of Man TT races were part of the
Grand Prix World Championship.
After his win in the 1949 Isle of Man Clubman event,
Geoff Duke entered the 1950
Isle of Man TT only to find himself racing against formidable opposition in his first
Senior TT, not only from his experienced
Norton team mates,
Artie Bell,
Harold Daniell and
Johnny Lockett, but also
Les Graham on an
AJS Porcupine,
Reg Armstrong and
Bob Foster on
Velocettes. Geoff was wearing the first set of one-piece leathers and he beat them all, breaking both lap and race records in the Senior, and finishing second in the
Junior TT. It was the beginning of a spectacular racing career for Geoff Duke.
The Norton team had the new
Featherbed frame on their racing bikes that had excellent handing characteristics. It was another Norton ridden by Artie Bell that won the Junior, with Norton occupying the first three places of the Senior and Junior races. The Lightweight TT went to the
Italian bikes, with first and second being Dario Ambrosini on a
Benelli, and Maurice Cann on a
Moto Guzzi, respectively.
As in 1949, four
Clubman races were included in this year's festival; Clubman 1,000 cc, Clubman Senior, Clubman Junior and Clubman Lightweight. IOMTT.com results database (retrieved 5...
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