Father's Day

For the 150,000 Italians who jammed the city of Monza (pop. 69,000) one day last week, the final of the world championship motorcycle race was the sport event of the season. They got their lira's worth out of the race; it was a thriller. They also got an unscheduled added attraction in the performance of Flagman Giovanni Curli, official in charge of signaling the start and finish. Flagman Curli literally stopped the show.

When Curli flourished his flag at the start, 39 speed-happy cyclists roared off around the treacherous four-mile asphalt course. Soon, as expected, the race settled down to a duel between Italy's Umberto Masetti, 23, riding a Gilera, and Britain's Geoffrey Duke, 27, on his Norton. For the world title, Masetti held a slim lead, 22 points to 19, based on six previous races this summer (eight points for first, six for second, four for third, etc.). In the final at Monza, all Masetti needed to clinch the 1950 title was to finish no worse than second to Duke.

Duke was soon careening around the turns at a hairbreadth 100 m.p.h., with Masetti just behind. On the tenth lap, Masetti gunned to the lead, scored the fastest round of the day: 118 m.p.h. But the effort burned him out. By the 16th lap, halfway through the 200-kilometer race, Duke regained the lead and began to widen the gap with each succeeding round. Four and a half miles from the finish, he was leading Masetti by almost two miles. That was when Giovanni Curli suddenly waved his big checkered flag, signaling the end of the race. Startled but obedient, contestants throttled back, stopped, heard the amazing explanation.

Flagman Curli had just heard what seemed to him vitally important news: Cyclist Masetti had just become a father, and in the excitement of the moment, it seemed to Curli that father Masetti deserved to know at once. The officials made the only decision really possible: the race had ended where the flagman stopped it. That gave the race to Duke, but the world title to Masetti, on points, 28-27.

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