Italian Grand Prix motorcycle racer, Gilberto Parlotti is born in Zero Branco, Treviso, Italy.
After winning the first two races of the 1972 Grand Prix season in West Germany and France, Gilberto Parlotti was leading the 125cc World Championship riding a works Morbidelli and decided to race at the Isle of Man TT to take advantage of his main rival Angel Nieto's absence from the Mountain Course. Tragically, he was killed on the second lap of the race when he crashed in the pouring rain at the Verandah section on the A18 Mountain Road.
Parolotti's death helped bring about the end of the Isle of Man TT Races as a World Championship event. His close friend Giacomo Agostini, overcome with grief, declared that he would never race on the Island again and was supported by the MV Agusta factory. Agostini considered it too unsafe to be a part of the FIM World Motorcycle Championship calendar. At the time, the Isle of Man TT was the most prestigious race on the World Championship calendar. Other top riders soon joined his boycott of the event and by 1976, the event was dropped from the Grand Prix championship schedule.
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