AGO’S NIGHTMARE

For the race that put him on the map, Johnny Cecotto wore a pair of Giacomo Agostini replica boots from which he had removed the signature of the Italian rider, who at the time was the man to beat. It was a telling move…

It was the 1975 Daytona 200, and that detail proved that the 19-year-old from Venezuela, South America, had no awe for the factoryYamaha and former MV rider, who had more than 10 world titles under his belt and who was widely considered – perhaps alongside Mike Hailwood – as perhaps the greatest motorcycle racer of all time.

Cecotto, who rode a private Yamaha, started the race from last position: 80th. And yet he finished on the rostrum, racing against people like Kenny Roberts and Steve Baker, both local heroes from the United States. Plus Ago, of course, who had won the previous year’s race – the