It was in the Twenties that Moto Guzzi decided to advertise its vehicles via a very powerful medium: races. The first was the Milan-Naples in which two Guzzi vehicles took part.
The riders were Mario Cavedini in 21st place, and Aldo Finzi in 22nd. A good result for a first race held on an 800 km track. By the following month Guzzi had its first victory with Gino Finzi at the Targa Florio and from then on it continued to chalk them up until it had no fewer than 3,329 wins in the speed competitions alone until 1957, the year in which it withdrew from racing. The credit for the many trophies won by the Eagle brand between the Twenties and Forties goes to two riders: Tomaso Omobono Tenni and Stanley Woods. Let’s look at their stories.
His name was Tommaso Omobono Tenni and everybody knew him by reputation or by his nickname “The Black Devil”. He was a great Moto Guzzi champion during the ‘30s and ‘40s and his career spanned no fewer than 24 years. In 1933 he began racing for the Mandello company with the Biciclindrica 500 on the Littorio circuit at the Rome “Trofeo della Velocità” (Speed Trophy). For two years running, 1934 and 1935, he won the Italian championship in the 500cc class; but his most famous victory was on a Moto Guzzi 250 at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy in 1937. In fact he was the first non-British rider to win what was considered at that time to be the most important race in the world. It was a particularly lucky year for him, because he also won the title of European Champion in the 250cc class. After a serious accident in 1939 and a halt during the War, he returned to racing in 1945 and again demonstrated that he had what it takes to be a great champion by winning the Italian championship in the 500cc class and gaining second place in the European championship in 1947. Everybody loved him because of his crazy acrobatics and courage. During practice for the Bern Grand Prix in 1948 he died after crashing at the Eymatt corner. Moto Guzzi dedicated a monument to him, which can still be seen at the Mandello del Lario Museum, and a special version of the “V11 Le Mans”.
Another story was that of Stanley Woods. Irish and the son of a confectionary salesman, he always preferred motorcycles to studying. A very famous rider (he had already won six Tourist Trophies), he began racing for Moto Guzzi in 1934, a year after Omobono Tenni. He immediately won the 250cc and 500cc classes in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona on the Biciclindrica that he described as “a monster of interesting driveability”. His most important race with Guzzi was the T.T. in 1935, when he won both the 250cc and 500cc titles. After the war he re-established relations with the Eagle brand and organized participations in various races. In the saddle of a Dondolino he also took part in the “parade of champions” in 1972 combined with the Imola 200 Miles; in 1989 he took part in Legendary Motorcycles at the Grand Prix. He returned to Ireland where he enjoyed retirement until his death in 1993.
