DIMINUTIVE DUO ASPAR'S 1988 80cc and 125cc GP bikes
Consult the motorcycling history books and you’ll find the answer to the question: exactly 30 years ago this year, Spanish star Jorge Martinez ‘Aspar’ (a nickname given to him thanks to his dad’s job as a cobbler) won both the 1988 80cc world crown for the third time, (to complete a hat-trick of titles on his Barcelona-built Derbi tiddler), as well as the first-ever 125cc world championship to be restricted to single-cylinder machines, for the same marque.
Aspar’s 1988 double-up title year was a vintage season for team underdog, because in winning the inaugural single-cylinder 125cc world championship with las balas rojas – the red bullets – he and Derbi not only tweaked Japanese giant Honda’s nose, but also showed that the age of the European factory in GP racing was far from over, as commonly supposed.
Aspar, the reigning 80cc world champion, gave the new 125cc Derbi a triumphant debut on home ground at Jarama in spite of a broken exhaust, then went on to win nine of the 11 GP races held that year to clinch the title one round early, with just a single DNF at a drenched Nürburgring.
He had a good excuse for that though – having just spent 40 minutes splashing to victory in the 80cc race, he’d then been whisked directly from parc fermé to the front row of the grid for the 125cc race without even the chance to change into a dry set of leathers, let alone attend the rostrum presentation. Hardly surprising that he was
